Riverland Australian Wine Region |
Posted: April 8, 2020 |
The Riverland region lies on the border of Victoria and New South Wales on the banks of the River Murray. As the region lies far inland, the climate is hot and dry with minimal rainfall. Most mainstream varieties of grape are grown here particularly Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz on a sandy and clay loam soil. The area is home to wineries such as Buronga Hill, which produces the Yallum Ridge range. In the late 1800’s after the whirl of the gold rush had died down in northwest Victoria, the people of the area need to find another way to make ends meet. This was made possible by the arrival of the Cheffey brothers who arrived from Canada. The brothers having great success in parts of California, opening up arid areas, bought with them to Australia their irrigation methods. They also combined this with the laying of a railway that could reach outback areas such as Mildura by the early1900’s. This encouraged and influx of new settlers who were also keen to try their luck in this new colony. This was a great turning point for the area. Suddenly unfarmable desert scrubland that had previously been good for nothing became a fertile growing area. It took a while to settle into things and the climate was still pretty tough, but water was the key and once it had been introduced to the area by means of irrigation, the new settlers soon discovered they were able to grow almonds, olives, citrus fruits and of course grapes. The amount of water fed to the vines had to be controlled of course. The plants were thirsty and needed to be given just enough water to survive. This would encourage the vines Order Australian Wine to produce small but intensely flavoured fruits. Giving the vines too much water would simply produce large bloated grapes that would only serve to produce insipid wine. Drip irrigation systems were favored and are now looked upon as essential. This allows the amount of water to the vines to be controlled and also prevents run off, allowing the water to drip straight down to the roots. Wine making in the region is both modern and high-tech, night-time machine harvesting was introduced and to maintain quality, it became important to pay growers by the color and ripeness of the fruit rather than just the weight.
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