Terroir V.S Regionality

It seems only fitting to follow up the last post on terroir, with an fine example of Australian Terroir, because it's not just the French, much as they would have you think so, that have terroir. In Australia they jsut tend to call it regionality. Both idea accept that wineproduced in differnet climates within one country can show differnt aromas and flavours, the Aussies however are slightly more generous when it comes to letting you know whats in the bottle, and where the wine is from.

The Clare Valley is Australia's premier riesling producing region, although it is only the third most planted the region after Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Riesling loves diurnal temperature changes, ie, warm days and cool nights, the Clare Valley is perfectly suited to this. Clare valley riesling is approachable when young but still delicous when ten or twelve years old, a real gem when one considers many whites fade after a year. Another great example of Regionality from Clare is Cabernet Sauvignon, oddly the most planted red in the area, Clare Valley Cabernet has a has a wonderful mint and euculyptus edge which is indicative of all Clare Valley reds. O'Leary Walker do both a Clare Valley Riesling from the sub-region of Watervale and a straight up cabernet from Clare, both of which demonstrate these terroir expressions in full.