Top 100 wines of South West Australia

Discover the top 100 best wines of South West Australia of South West Australia as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the wines that are popular of South West Australia and the best vintages to taste in this region.

Discovering the wine region of South West Australia

Western Australia is the largest of the eight administrative zones and territories of Australia. In 2020, it represented just two percent of the national wine production, but has previosly occupied up to 20 percent of the nation's fine wines. Covering the entire western third of the vast island continent, "WA" (as it is commonly called) spans 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from east to west. This makes it the second-largest administrative subdivision of any country in the world – bigger than Alaska and Texas combined.

Western Australia The giant flag at Voyager Estate, Margaret River © Jonathan Reeve The Western Australian wine regions are clustered in the state's cooler, coastal, Southwest corner. The Northeastern two-thirds of WA are too hot to support quality viticulture. The northwest corner is the hottest area of Australia as a whole, with summer temperatures surpassing even those of the country's famous semi-desert "Red Centre". By contrast, the Climate of the southwest WA is relatively cool, tempered by the presence of the Indian Ocean to the west and the Antarctic Ocean to the south and east.

Although it rivals the Hunter Valley in terms of low latitude (lying at 33 degrees South), the climate around the state's southwest cape is more akin to that of Bordeaux, and the most successful Grape varieties here reflect this. It is no coincidence, that many winemakers from this area aim for a more European wine style than their counterparts further north – or those from New South Wales and South Australia. Margaret River in particular, is renowned for its more-balanced, Elegant wines, which contrast with the Powerful, fruit-driven wines of the regions further east. Geographically, the wine regions of Western Australia can be split into roughly three groups: those around the state capital, Perth (the Swan Valley, the Perth Hills and Peel); those along the south coast (from Pemberton in the west to Albany in the east); and those around the southern end of Geographe Bay (Margaret River and Geographe).

Discover the grape variety: Petit Verdot

Petit Verdot noir is a grape variety that originated in France (southwest). It produces a variety of grape specially used for wine making. It is rare to find this grape to eat on our tables. This variety of grape is characterized by small bunches and small grapes. Petit Verdot noir can be found in several vineyards: South-West, Languedoc & Roussillon, Cognac, Bordeaux, Rhone valley, Provence & Corsica, Loire valley, Savoie & Bugey, Beaujolais, Armagnac.

Food and wine pairing with a wine of South West Australia

wines from the region of South West Australia go well with generally quite well with dishes of pork, rich fish (salmon, tuna etc) or vegetarian such as recipes of pork roll with mustard, salmon steaks with cream sauce or salmon and goat cheese quiche.

Organoleptic analysis of wine of South West Australia

On the nose in the region of South West Australia often reveals types of flavors of cherry, sour cherry or nectarine and sometimes also flavors of biscuits, yellow peach or chestnut. In the mouth in the region of South West Australia is a powerful with a nice freshness.

News from the vineyard of South West Australia

Seven reasons to gift Decanter Premium this Christmas

A subscription to Decanter Premium is the gift that keeps on giving; by joining this exclusive club of wine lovers, recipients will unlock unlimited access to the world of fine wine and can take advantage of… 1. Unlimited access to Decanter.com and Decanter Premium Articles Members can enjoy exclusive content that goes far beyond the free content on decanter.com. Every day you will have access to new, exclusive Premium articles providing fascinating and in-depth insight into the world of fine wi ...

Rare Glen Grant whisky sells for record-breaking HK$937,500

A rare bottle of Gordon & MacPhail’s Glen Grant 72-year-old whisky has broken its own previous auction world record in a sale at Bonham’s Hong Kong on 20 May. The single bottle sold for HK$937,500 (US$120,000/£95,403) including buyer’s premium. This figure is more than double the price a bottle of the same whisky sold for at a Bonham’s Hong Kong sale in January 2021 (HK$421,600). Distilled by Speyside producer Glen Grant in 1948, the rare single malt was ​​created by independent Scotch bottl ...

Vanilla is the ‘most pleasant’ smell, finds study

Vanilla was ranked as the most pleasant smell in a study involving 235 people and conducted by an international network of researchers, including those from the University of Oxford and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. This was closely followed by ethyl butyrate, ‘which smells like peaches’, said the researchers, who published their findings in the Current Biology journal. Vanilla notes can be found in several wine styles, such as some iterations of Chardonnay or Rioja, largely resulting from ...