I've been studying Australian wine over the last couple of weeks. In a bid to look beyond my usual sources - the Diploma study notes, the Oxford Companion to Wine and the World Atlas of Wine - I logged onto my local library and searched their catalogue. I didn't expect to find anything especially up to date but was pleased to be able to get hold of James Halliday's Wines of Australia (2003 edition) and Oz Clarke's Wine Atlas.
James Halliday's book is categorised by zone and most of the major regions with useful if brief summaries of the history, major varieties grown and sometimes something on soils or climate. The list of wineries however is a useful pointer to who is important in each zone so which names it might be useful to drop in to any question or essay.
Oz Clarke's atlas, as it's the 2007 version, was more useful with 25 pages on Australia compared to 14 with Jancis Robinson/Hugh Johnson's 2001 version (I must get the latest one). Each zone and major region has a good summary of which grapes are important, climate, soil and aspect. I am more of a fan of the World Atlas of Wine's maps however. They have much more detail showing specific and exact delineations for vineyards as well as elevations. Although Oz Clark's Atlas gives you a feel for the area the other one has the detail which the WSET is so focused on.
Other sources of info I'll be using will include Wine Australia's very comprehensive site which even has a section for students. I don't know what level it's pitched at but I'll soon find out. I'm also considering attending the seminars at the WSET on Australian varietals now that I'm back working in London.
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I received the email about those WSET tastings and they sound great but quite expensive ...
I'd suggest getting in touch with the National Wine Centre, based in Adelaide, and maybe even institutions like the University of Adelaide which teaches the wine science courses in South Australia. I bet they could bombard you with info.
Also, you could try getting in touch with some of the small producers - I bet many of them would be more than happy to answer any questions/discuss any topics with you!
If you need to research anything specific, I highly recommend using www.ablegrape.com
let me know how you get on
Thanks Robert. I'd forgotten about this very useful search engine.
That's why I haven't booked on it yet, Alex.
With 60 different wines it works at around £3 a taste including all the tuition of course. Although hesitant, I keep thinking I won't get this opportunity anywhere else.
As an Australian I can tell you that James Halliday's work is very well regarded in Oz - he is probably our best known and most respected critic.
Post a Comment