The Winery Blind Spot of Southern New South Wales of Nouvelle-Galles du Sud

Discovering the wine region of Southern New South Wales

Southern New South Wales is an Australian wine zone covering a roughly rectangular area around the capital, Canberra. Stretching for approximately 100 miles (160km) North and south of Canberra, the zone reaches right down to the southern edge of New South Wales, where it meets the eastern edge of Victoria">Victoria. Although not traditionally known as a source of prime Australian wines, the zone is home to some of the country's most promising new wine regions, often producing cooler Climate wines from relatively high altitude Vineyards. As a Young wine region Australia's most popular Grape varieties dominate its vineyard inventory.

Shiraz, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon have led the way in the early years of the 21st century, with Shiraz increasing its dominance. As with the whole of New South Wales, Aromatic whites Viognier and Verdelho are growing in popularity here, with Verdelho plantings in particular increasing more than tenfold. Canberra, the Australian administrative capital since it was sited, designed and constructed in the early 20th Century, gained its own wine-specific GI (Geographical Indication) in February 1998. Its GI covers the entire Canberra District but also contiguous parts of New South Wales, which surrounds the Australian Capital Territory.

Lying at the Center of southern New South Wales, this area is by far the most densely populated but by no means the most densely planted, producing only a small percentage of the zone's annual output. Tumbarumba lies 120 kilometers (75 miles) south-west of Canberra, near the New South Wales border with Victoria. Here, on the inland edge of the southern Great Dividing Range, the climate is considerably drier than further east, with a classic continental climate. A northern section of the Australian Alps, the hills here are known as the Snowy Mountains; most Tumbarumba vineyards lie between 300 and 800 meters (1000 and 2600ft), making this one of Australia's most promising cooler viticultural regions.