Alternative Reality: How Australian wine changed course

(Hardback)

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This book is for anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of why the Australian wine scene is the way it is today and get more enjoyment out of a wider range of delicious wines. Australian wine has been through a revolution over the last two decades. New grape varieties, new wine styles, new winemaking personalities and cultures have emerged, dramatically changing how this country thinks about and enjoys wine. And much of this change can be traced to a wine competition in Mildura, in the remote northwest of Victoria. Since 2001, the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show has examined and championed exciting new non-mainstream grapes (anything but chardonnay and shiraz ...), with a roll call of leading winemakers, sommeliers, writers and viticulturists travelling from all over the country each November to talk and taste, to swap ideas, and to imagine a different wine landscape. This book tells the story of those last two decades; not just of the show, but also of the wider world of Australian wine, through profiles of the key people who made it happen. It also includes comprehensive information about more than 150 different alternative grape varieties currently grown in Australia - what the wines made from these grapes taste like, and who the key producers are.

Author Bio

Max Allen is an award-winning journalist and author, and a lecturer in wine studies at the University of Melbourne. Max has been writing about booze for thirty years- he is the wine and drinks columnist for the Australian Financial Review, long-time contributor to Gourmet Traveller Magazine, Australian correspondent for JancisRobinson.com and a regular presenter at masterclasses and festivals around the world. Max has authored or co-authored over a dozen books, including The History of Australian Wine, The Future Makers, Red and White and Intoxicating- Ten Drinks That Shaped Australia.