A beginners guide to buying Australian Wine written by Blake Boston

Over the last decade Australian wines have risen to meteoric status on wine lists all around the world and they regularly vie for popularity with some of the most famous French wines on the market. Australia boasts over one thousand wineries and many different grape varieties besides the more well known chardonnays and Shiraz brands. With its reliable climate and state of the art wineries Austrian wines have developed a reputation for reliability and quality year after year and consumers feel very confident in the quality that they can expect from the same winery.

When buying Australian wine, one should not miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of their grape blending method which is unique to Australia. This is the process whereby two grapes are blended together and are labelled on the bottle according to which grape is dominant in the partnership. When buying your next bottle of Australian wine look out for the very popular and successful Cabernet sauvignon/shiraz brand which is one of their most success wines on the market.

On the broader scheme of things there are questions that you need ask yourself when you are buying an Australian wine that you would ask yourself no matter what type of wine that you are buying. In other words, the situation that you are drinking the  wine in will determine what kind of wine that you pick.

You might for instance have a close romantic dinner planned with your partner in which case you could choose a strong Australian Shiraz but your choice of wine will differ, if for instance you are planning on having a party or social occasion, where you might opt for a Berberah variety which can add a little sparkle and class to any social occasion.

If you are buying wine as a gift for someone else you will need to take their taste into account and you can make the occasion really special and memorable by pushing the boat out and picking something that they will remember you by, by going for something from the syrah vineyard where you can pick up a premium wine that will be savoured in the mind of your client long after it has been drunk.

If you are looking for guidance in your wine choices you might also be in the category of people that buy wine as an investment and in this case people look at wines that have a good strong established reputation with the idea that they will increase in value over time and many pundits in this field of investment are also looking for a good vintage that is in short supply, hoping that a strong demand for the vintage will push its price up over time.

As with any investment you will need to make sure that you do your homework and not invest money that you can't afford to lose.