During my first ever visit to Australia to judge the Victorian Wine Show, one thing that particularly impressed was the organizational complexity of its industry versus ours. The state of Victoria has 23 000ha out of Australia’s total area of 135 000ha under vineyard and approximately 750 wineries. This compares to South Africa’s 95 000ha and 546 wineries in total.
An affluent domestic population also means that wineries aren’t afraid to charge top dollar – if you want to drink the Carrodus Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 from Yarra Yering which all-powerful critic James Halliday rated 99 points, as made by Sarah Crowe, Halliday’s 2017 winemaker of the year, then you must be prepared to pay AU$275 a bottle, the equivalent of just over R2 800. I at least got to taste it and very fine it is, too.
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