Australia is no longer emerging. Australia is no longer a “one to watch.” Australia is here, and it stands tall among the world’s greatest wine nations. After all, it’s home to the oldest dirt on the planet, as well as a vast reserve of the world’s oldest vines. These vines are tended and their grapes carefully harvested and transformed by some of the most scientifically advanced, most youthfully capable, intelligent, widely-tasted and well-traveled winemakers anywhere.

Indeed, real Australian wine is a world away from cheap, commodity wine and overcooked caricatures. Yes, those happy-go-lucky supermarket wines and the odd fruit bombs are still to be found—just as they are in California, Tuscany, Bordeaux, Spain, Champagne and wherever else great wine has carved its path—but they are not the story of today nor that of the future.

I recently holed up with the JamesSuckling.com team at the refurbished Crafers Hotel in the Adelaide Hills to taste more than 600 wines. With the late and cool 2017 harvest just put to bed and winter’s hand descending on these cool rolling hills, there could be no better place to explore Australia’s current offerings.

Our tasting focused firstly on wines that are well represented in the major markets closest to Australia, in particular China, Japan and Thailand as well those producers staunchly committed to the US. And as the week progressed, the branches of curiosity reached into the cellars of compelling local producers, and we sought out others from further afield whose wines needed to be tasted on the basis of sheer quality alone.

During the tasting, it became clear that Australia has the best of several worlds on offer. The climatic diversity across a geologically ancient geographic mass whose footprint is similar to that of all North America creates a wealth of difference. These two factors combine to create a vast web of stylistic possibilities. Talking about Australia is like talking about Europe. The two are wine continents, not wine regions!

Then you have this overlay of time and cultural layers. There’s a first wave of classical regions whose story traces an unbroken line from the mid-18th century. There’s a layer of new classics like Margaret River established in the late 1960’s and the Yarra Valley, whose Renaissance moment kicked off at a similar time. Wine then traverses more recent paths through places like the Adelaide Hills and Tumbarumba, the first pages of their new and exciting stories only just being turned.

The face of Australia’s best wine is today shaped by a newly harnessed confidence. Confidence in the home dirt, in refined and thoughtfully applied techniques, intelligent and caring farming practices and in the collective capability of those who walk the vines and work the cellars. But, perhaps most important of all, there is a confidence that the world beyond its shores can recognise the true context of the best Australian wines. This is no easy ability to master because for so long the message of Australian wine has been fragmented, oversimplified, distorted and concocted.

The heart and soul remains shiraz. So many shiraz are now as refined and polished as the best of the Northern Rhone Valley. Just about every wine region of Australia makes top class shiraz, but we always have a soft spot for Barossa Valley and producers like Head, Henschke, Penfolds, Sami-Odi, Spinifex, and Torbreck.

Barossa is also ground zero for the majority of great rieslings. The dry rieslings of Eden Valley can compete with the best of Rheinpfalz, Alsace and the Wachau. And don’t overlook Grenache from Barossa!

Chardonnay seems to work just about everywhere, and we’re happy to see a countrywide focus on restraint. We like this Burgundy-inspired energy in the wines and love the complexity and intensity the best wines are getting. Carefully selected cabernet sauvignon-based reds are also exciting, and it’s the best of the Margaret River that is on the case. Don’t miss current vintages from classic names such as Vasse Felix, Cape Mentelle, Leeuwin Estate, and Moss Wood.

We love the vibe and focus of pinot noir and lighter reds like gamay. The Adelaide Hills is making some of the most energetic at the moment. Many of the wines are also natural wines or from organic or biodynamically grown grapes, which adds to their interest. “I just want to make wines that reflect my vineyards here in the Adelaide Hills, and I want to make the wine myself with no one else in the cellar,” says Taras Ochota, the owner of the large-garage wine of Ochota Barrels. His handcrafted reds and whites are some of the most sought after in the natural wine world, made with brilliant clarity and character.

It’s characters like Taras who are pushing the boundaries of Australian winemaking and interpreting their soils and microclimates with the creativity of free-spirited musicians. We equally enjoyed tasting the wines of Lucy Margaux Vineyards, a neighbor of Ochota Barrels. The handmade sauvignon blanc is like a top growth dry white from Bordeaux. “Some people think that making natural wines is easy because you don’t have to do anything,” said Anton Van Klopper, the owner and winemaker of Lucy Margaux Vineyards. “But you have to be even more precise and always searching for means to combat the issues with spoilage and oxidation.”

Precision and vision seems to be riotous in Australia at the moment. It doesn’t matter if someone is making a classic shiraz in the Barossa or a unsulfured, natural wine in the Adelaide Hills. The quality, the energy, the excitement—it’s all there. And it’s why we’re headed back to Australia in early December to taste more. See you in Melbourne. —By Nick Stock, Contributing Editor, and James Suckling, CEO/Editor

Editor’s Note: Penfolds will be covered in a separate tasting report. Stay tuned!