Top 10 places to enjoy wine in Australia

Australian wine is coming of age with wines increasingly reflective of their source and raw materials. The resulting sophistication of wine style, texture and flavour has meant that Australian wines are more relevant to the food we eat than ever before.

Wine bars and restaurants are popping up across the county at a dizzying pace with wine lists that advertise a deeply authentic and uniquely Australian approach.

Here, you’ll find the top 10 ways to soak up our truly covetable Aussie wine culture – part of our 100 Incredible Experiences (right here in your backyard) special issue .

Words: Chris Morrison is a career sommelier and ‘wine guy’, Chris was named the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Sommelier of the Year in 2006 and went on to work as group head sommelier for Guillaume Brahimi at Guillaume at Bennelong in 2013. He is now wine director for The Keystone Group, working across its 25 venues.

1. Back with a bang – Australian Chardonnay

The grape that was the Australian wine industry’s business card for more than 30 years, chardonnay is the best example of the changes sweeping through Australian wine.

A victim of industrialised winemaking and public listings in the ’80s and ’90s, chardonnay was squeezed into millions of bottles, loaded with excessive oak and pumped up with alcohol.

With wine ‘growing’ more prevalent and wines now being made in vineyards not wineries, chardonnay is finally realising its full potential with wines that run from light, fresh and clean to rich, layered and complex.

Hot tip… When buying a bottle, remember the best regions for chardonnay are Margaret River, Tasmania and Tumbarumba.

2. A vintage town – Tanunda, SA

Tanunda is the hub of the Barossa Valley, one of Australia’s best-known and oldest wine regions.

Churches may form its historical roots thanks to the Lutheran settlers who founded the township over 160 years ago, but wine is Tanunda’s true religion.

With some of the oldest shiraz and grenache vines in the world and the sounds of vintage season echoing down the main road, Tanunda is the quintessential Australian wine town.

Hot tip… The pool table in the Tanunda Hotel breaks to the left.

3. Splendid drops – Great Southern Region, WA

While the tyranny of distance prevents many from making the trip, perhaps no other wine region in Australia rewards you as highly for making the effort.

Sitting in the very south-west corner of Australia, the great southern region is Raw, pristine and breathtakingly beautiful, and the vineyards benefit from a wide variety of soil and climate, creating wines that can tackle well-known subjects like shiraz, pinot noir, and riesling with a unique perspective.

Hot tip… Visit in June and take part in the Truffle Kerfuffle , a week-long celebration of the world-famous Manjimup truffles.

4. Enjoy a Tasmanian sparkling – Jansz, Pipers River

The powerhouse regions of the Barossa Valley, Margaret River and the Yarra Valley cast a long shadow across the Australian wine landscape, yet Tasmania and blue ribbon grape growing regions, such as Pipers River are now sharing the spotlight.

So many sparkling wine producers go wrong by trying to emulate Champagne.

At Jansz , they strive to articulate the uniqueness of their patch of dirt in northern Tasmania through wines that reflect the long, cool vintages of its southern position.

They are delicate in structure, concentrated in flavour and unmistakably Australian.

Hot tip… Jansz is the only winery in Tasmania that specialises in sparkling wine and their cellar door is well worth a visit.

5. Divine dining – Margaret River, WA

No other wine region manages to combine the best of Australia as authentically as Margaret River.

With many vineyards within sight of beaches that dot the coastline, Margaret River has also cultivated an approach to the ‘wine experience’ that has resulted in the finest collection of winery restaurants found anywhere in the country.

On the subject of wine, Margaret River is pound-for-pound the best wine region in Australia with a string of outstanding vintages resulting in world-class quality.

The ocean adds something special; its proximity to the vineyards gives the region its temperate climate, leading to wines with a texture and flavour that sits beautifully between the richness of South Australia and the restraint and elegance of Victoria and Tasmania.

Hot tip… Tie your visit in with the Margaret River Gourmet Escape held each November.

6. City slicker – Fix St James, Sydney

You can’t help but relax when you walk into Stuart Knox’s rather anonymous-looking wine bar and restaurant, Fix St James .

One of the city’s first wine bars, ‘Fix’ is renowned for breaking news and showcasing the best of Australia’s up and coming wineries.

But it’s more than the medium-sized and pragmatically formatted wine list that helps you find the right wine every time or that new chef Mark Archer has shaped a menu the contents of which drift between sympathy and lustful craving for wine pairings.

It’s how this place makes you feel about wine; it encourages you to ask questions and makes you unafraid of the answers.

Hot tip… They allow BYO with a small corkage fee, so bring your cellared goodies and take advantage.

7. South Australian treasures – Star of Greece, Victory Hotel, Port Willunga, Sellicks Hill

From its perch overlooking the Gulf of St Vincent, the Star of Greece has been serving the bounty of the southern oceans to hungry travellers for decades.

Imagine light, fresh and intensely flavoured offerings with the ocean stretching to the horizon and crisp, white wines idling in an ice bucket within arm’s reach.

Post meal, scoot 10 minutes down the road where, overlooking Selkirk Beach, you’ll find the Victory Hotel.

If cold beer has a birthright, it’s to be poured on tap at the ‘Vic’, yet owner Doug Govan, who took over the pub in 1989 has curated arguably one of the best wine lists found anywhere in Australia.

Hot tip… the victory hotel has Some of the best accommodation in the region.

8. Fine dining in the Hunter Valley – Muse Kitchen

You know that moment when you take a bite and things go very quiet.

No one wants to be the first but everyone wants to say the same thing: “Is it just me or is this amazing?" Troy Rhoades-Brown’s Muse Kitchen is perhaps the perfect wine region restaurant.

Part of Keith Tulloch’s deceptively cute winery in the Hunter Valley’s Pokolbin district, Muse is a Euro-centric bistro with Australian sensibilities.

Food is classical in its technique, but generous and robust in flavour.

Hot tip… If you’re hankering for something more ‘uppity’, try sister establishment Muse Restaurant, located at Hungerford Hill winery about 20 minutes away, also in Pokolbin.

9. Must try: Coonawarra Cabernet with lamb chops – Coonawarra, SA

They say you can watch your dog run away for three days in Coonawarra.

It’s flat, really flat, but it is also perfect for producing elegant, savoury and full-flavoured red wines from cabernet sauvignon grapes.

There is a distinctive minty, eucalyptus character in these wines that is unique to the region and fits the tender, smoky and slightly gamey flavours of lamb perfectly.

Cabernet sauvignon has stern, grippy tannins that melt when it comes into contact with lamb’s supple flavours.

Hot tip… Always order your lamb on the bone and your cabernet sauvignon with at least five years’ bottle age.

10. A wine day out – Giant Steps, Healesville, Victoria

One of the great entrepreneurs of Australian wines, Phil Sexton, has created a Disneyland for the mature-aged less than one hour’s drive from Melbourne.

With a fully operational winery, brewery, coffee roaster, bakery, cheese store, pizzeria, wine bar, and restaurant you can literally spend an entire day here.

Backed by the award-winning wines from Giant Steps and sister wine label Innocent Bystander, this is a place where hours pass like minutes and kids, well, kids can occupy themselves.

Hot tip… Ten minutes away is Oakridge Wines and a new restaurant by chef Matt Stone.

Slow down and find your rhythm on a Murray River journey through time and place.

Trust is a funny thing. It seems not that long ago that my mother was insisting on pouring the milk into my cereal bowl, because she didn’t trust me not to slosh it over the table, and yet here I am on the Murray River at Mildura in far north-west Victoria, being handed the keys to a very new and very expensive luxury houseboat.

After a crash course in how not to crash, I’m at the wheel of the good ship Elevate – pride of the All Seasons fleet – guiding her upstream past red-ochre cliffs as pelicans glide above the rippled river and kookaburras call from reedy banks. There’s a brief moment of breath-holding while I negotiate a hairpin turn around a jagged reef of skeletal, submerged gum trees, before a cheer rings out and calm descends as the timeless river unfurls in front of us.

The Murray River winding through Yarrawonga. (Image: Rob Blackburn)

Setting sail from Mildura

Murray River birds — Home to a large number of bird species, including pelicans. (Image: The Precint Studios)

A journey along the Murray River is never less than magical, and launching from Mildura makes perfect sense. Up here the river is wide and largely empty, giving novice skippers like myself the confidence to nudge the 60-tonne houseboat up to the riverbank where we tie up for the night, without fear of shattering the glass elevator (the boat is fully wheelchair accessible) or spilling our Champagne.

My friends and I spend three days on the water, swimming and fishing, sitting around campfires onshore at night, and basking in air so warm you’d swear you were in the tropics. The simplicity of river life reveals an interesting dichotomy: we feel disconnected from the world but at the same time connected to Country, privileged to be part of something so ancient and special.

Stop one: Echuca

19th-century paddlesteamers — A historic 19th-century paddlesteamer cruises along the Murray River. (Image: Visit Victoria)

The six-hour drive from Melbourne to Mildura (or four hours and 20 minutes from Adelaide) is more than worth it, but you don’t have to travel that far to find fun on the river. Once Australia’s largest inland port, Echuca is the closest point on the Murray to Melbourne (two hours 45 minutes), and you’ll still find a plethora of paddlesteamers tethered to the historic timber wharf, a throwback to the thriving river trade days of the 19th century. The PS Adelaide, built in 1866 and the oldest wooden-hulled paddlesteamer operating in the world, departs daily for one-hour cruises, while a brand-new paddlesteamer, the PS Australian Star , is launching luxury seven-night voyages in December through APT Touring.

The town is also a hot food and wine destination. St Anne’s Winery at the historic Port of Echuca precinct has an incredibly photogenic cellar door, set inside an old carriage builders’ workshop on the wharf and filled with huge, 3000-litre port barrels. The Mill, meanwhile, is a cosy winter spot to sample regional produce as an open fire warms the red-brick walls of this former flour mill.

Stop two: Barmah National Park

Just half-an-hour upstream, Barmah National Park is flourishing, its river red gum landscape (the largest in the world) rebounding magnificently after the recent removal of more than 700 feral horses. The internationally significant Ramsar-listed wetland sits in the heart of Yorta Yorta Country, with Traditional Owners managing the environment in close partnership with Parks Victoria. Walkways weave through the forest, crossing creeks lined with rare or threatened plants, passing remnants of Yorta Yorta oven mounds and numerous scar trees, where the bark was removed to build canoes, containers or shields.

The Dharnya Centre (open weekdays until 3pm) is the cultural hub for the Yorta Yorta. Visitors can learn about the ecological significance of the Barmah Lakes on a 90-minute river cruise, led by a First Nations guide, or take a one-hour, guided cultural walking tour along the Yamyabuc Trail.

Stop three: Cobram

Continue east to Cobram to find the southern hemisphere’s largest inland beach. Swarming with sun-seekers in summer, the white sand of Thompson’s Beach is shaded by majestic river red gums and dotted with hundreds of beach umbrellas, as beachgoers launch all manner of water craft and set up stumps for beach cricket. But the beach is at its most captivating at sunset, when the crowds thin out, the glassy river mirrors the purple sky, and the canopies of the gum trees glow fiery orange.

The region is also home to some fine resorts and indulgent retreats. Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort has two riverside championship golf courses, luxury apartments and self-contained villas. While not strictly on the Murray, the historic wine town of Rutherglen is rife with boutique (and unique) accommodation, including an exquisitely renovated red-brick tower in a French provincial-style castle at Mount Ophir Estate. Fans of fortified wines can unravel the mystery of Rutherglen’s ‘Muscat Mile’, meeting the vignerons and master-blenders whose artistry has put the town on the global map for this rich and complex wine style.

Stop four: Albury-Wodonga

First Nations YindyamarraSculpture Walk — First Nations Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk is part of the Wagirra Trail. (Image: Carmen Zammit)

Follow the river far enough upstream and you’ll arrive at the twin border cities of Albury-Wodonga. The Hume Highway thunders through, but serenity can be found along the five-kilometre Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk – part of the Wagirra Trail that meanders through river wetlands just west of Albury in Wiradjuri country. Fifteen sculptures by local First Nations artists line the trail, conveying stories of reconciliation, enduring connection to culture, local Milawa lore and traditional practices. It feels a long way from Mildura, and it is, but the pelicans and kookaburras remind us that it’s the same river, the great conduit that connects our country.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

New Mildura motel Kar-rama. (Image: Iain Bond Photo)

Kar-Rama is a brand-new boutique, retro-styled motel in Mildura, with a butterfly-shaped pool and a tropical, Palm Springs vibe. Echuca Holiday Homes has a range of high-end accommodation options, both on the riverfront and in town.

Playing there

BruceMunro’s Trail of Lights in Mildura — Bruce Munro’s Trail of Lights in Mildura. (Image: Imogen Eveson)

Artist Bruce Munro’s Trail of Lights installation, comprising more than 12,000 illuminated ‘fireflies’, is currently lighting up Mildura’s Lock Island in the middle of the Murray. Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) is a hub for contemporary art, with a rotating roster of exhibitions, and is a major outlet for young and First Nations artists.

Eating there

Mildura’s diverse demographic means it’s a fantastic place to eat. Andy’s Kitchen is a local favourite, serving up delicious pan-Asian dishes and creative cocktails in a Balinese-style garden setting. Call in to Spoons Riverside in Swan Hill to enjoy locally sourced, seasonal produce in a tranquil setting overlooking the river.

Top 10 ways to enjoy wine in Australia