Podcasts · Wine Educate: Wine Lessons, Travel & WSET Study Prep
135. Australian Wine Regions for WSET Level 2 Students: Part 2 - Barossa Valley and Coonawarra
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Episode 135. Australian Wine Regions for WSET Level 2 Students: Part 2 - Barossa Valley and Coonawarra
Episode 135: Australian Wine Regions for WSET Level 2 Students: Part 2 - Barossa Valley and Coonawarra
Host: Joanne Close Episode Length: 9 minutes 45 seconds Release Date: October 27, 2026
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Level 2 Mock Exam Bundle
If you are preparing for your WSET Level 2 exam, the Level 2 Mock Exam Bundle gives you realistic practice questions that mirror the format of the real test, so you can find your weak spots before exam day. Regions like Australia show up throughout the Level 2 book, and practising with exam-style questions is one of the best ways to push your result from merit to distinction.
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Episode Description
Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth, so it is easy to picture its wine coming from somewhere hot and dusty. In this episode, Joanne explains why that picture misses the mark. The country's most celebrated wine regions sit along the coast, at higher elevations, or both, and that is what makes quality wine possible.
Joanne starts with the huge South Eastern Australia GI, home to regions like Riverland and Riverina and much of the inexpensive Shiraz and Chardonnay you see on supermarket shelves, including the famous "critter wines." She then contrasts that with Penfolds Grange, one of the world's most collectible Shiraz blends, and travels to the Barossa Valley to explore its warm climate, old vines, Shiraz, Grenache and GSM blends.
The episode finishes in Coonawarra, the Cabernet Sauvignon heartland of South Australia. You will learn how its moderate maritime climate and famous terra rossa soil over limestone create Cabernet with black currant, mint and real ageing potential, and why the region is often compared to Bordeaux.
What You'll Learn in This Episode Australia's Climate and Wine Geography
• Why Australia's best wine regions are found along the coast or at elevation • The five states that account for the principal wine producing regions • How Australian wine law uses Geographical Indications (GIs)
South Eastern Australia GI and Volume Wine
• Why this vast GI is behind many familiar supermarket wines • Australia exports more than half its production, 613 million litres in 2025 • Riverland alone covers 22,000 hectares, about four times the size of Chablis • Shiraz and Chardonnay dominate, and the story behind the critter wine labels of the 2000s
Barossa Valley Shiraz and GSM Blends
• Warm climate, dry summers, around 35 degrees latitude and 11,600 hectares under vine • Old vines dating back to the 19th century, with Shiraz making up half of plantings • The key Barossa Shiraz style: full body, high ripe tannins, cooked blackberry and black cherry, black pepper, vanilla and coffee from oak • Grenache, Mataro (Mourvèdre) and the GSM blends shared with the Southern Rhône • Semillon in both lighter and full-bodied, oak-matured styles • Penfolds Grange as the benchmark premium Shiraz blend
Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon
• Location in the Limestone Coast zone, around 37.3 degrees latitude • Moderate climate with cooling maritime influence, and the Bordeaux comparison • Terra rossa, the iron-rich red clay loam sitting over limestone • Why good drainage matters for Cabernet Sauvignon • The Coonawarra Cabernet style: black currant, herbal mint, smoke and coffee from oak, with ageing potential • Shiraz and Merlot also grown in the region
Episode Highlights and Quotes
"Australia's most celebrated wine regions are all located either along the coast or have higher elevations or benefit from both."
"Remember our Cabernet Sauvignon is very picky, and it doesn't like to get its roots wet. It likes good drainage."
"If you master an area like Australia or South Africa or Chile or Argentina, areas that are maybe not on our radar all the time, they will definitely be on the test."…
Links in the notes 5
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