Today, Australia is the fourth largest wine-exporting country in the world, boasting 62 wine regions and contributing in excess of $5 billion to the national economy through exports, employment and tourism.
The first vines
Australia yielded its first domestically cultivated wine at the beginning of the 19th century, although it is said that the first vines were planted as early as the late 1700s. Exports took off early too: a man called Gregory Blaxand was the first Australian winemaker to win an international award for the wine he produced and exported overseas.
The name best known in Australian wine history is James Busby, the man who returned from Europe with vine cutting and put them down in Australian soil. The prevailing climate confused winemakers. However, when European immigrants flooded into Australia, they shared their knowledge of viticulture and wine regions like Barossa Valley began to flourish. The wine trade in the country started to pick up considerably and by the end of the 19th century, Australian wine was making waves at European wine shows.
The big disease
Just when the Australian wine trade was taking off, the vines in most of the wine-producing regions at the time were struck by a plague of phylloxera, tiny insects that attacked the roots of grapevines. The same plague had wiped out two-thirds of the vineyards in Europe in the late 1800s. Somehow it made its way to Victoria and set about destroying Australian vineyards.
Australia immediately banned imports from Europe. The Australian government began destroying vineyards to stop the spread, but the damage continued. Eventually winemakers agreed to replant the infected European vines grafted onto American vines resistant to phylloxera. The move was successful, and vineyards all over the country survived the other option: systematic uprooting.
Today organisations like the Phylloxera and Grape Industry Board of South Australia keep a tight lid on the outbreak, advising wine estate owners about the dangers and how to monitor their vines to prevent it.
Recovery and success
Australia continued producing wines, albeit in less quantities, and is now an international wine-producing powerhouse. Australian wine is exported to over 100 countries and continues to win numerous awards for its masterfully crafted wines.
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