h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey great information... but you forgot to mention that
Australia is the producer of the greatest wines in the world :>. obviously and oversight :P!

I've never tasted Australian wines, unfortunately. I like Chilean and Spanish wines. If anyone stumbles into this forum: Where are your favorite wines from?

I had a nice Argentinian white wine on Monday. It had a real fruity flavour - in fact, I thought it tasted slightly of mango! Mmm....

Personally, I prefer French wines to all others (with the possible exception of a great Barolo). Burgundy (red or white) for preference, but Claret (Pomerol or Pauillac) is acceptable, too.

If you want to spice the article up with trivia, I believe the world's most expensive wine is Romanee Conti from Burgundy. Although, I suspect that older bottles of great Clarets (Lafite Rothschild or Latour) probably fetch more at auction. Italy produces more wine than any other country in the world, accounting for about 25% of world production and has the most confusing system of categorisation.

For what it's worth, I vastly prefer California wines (I lived in Santa Rosa, California when I was a kid - right on the edge of California's main wine-making regions). I've been impressed with some local wineries (New Mexico, Arizona, and western Texas would not at first seem like a good place to have a vineyard, but it is! Some great wines can be had from around these parts). I also had the great fortune to have lived in Sicily, Italy for four years, though I was too young to really appreciate wine -- so perhaps my being partial to local wines is biased by that fact. Still, I've yet to taste a Pinot Noir from anywhere else that can beat a Pinot Noir from the Carneros region of Napa County. And Chardonnay's from that area are almost without equal as well, according to my palate.

I'm just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Napa Valley! I say nothing beats a good California Zinfandel.......... NO not the pink stuff - the real, honest-to-goodness, so red you can't see through it Zinfandel. lol

ok and California Syrah is awfully nice too

(Of course a nice chilled Johannisberg Riesling makes a meal of spicy curry a wonderful experience.)

Oh.... and lest I forget, Australia *does* make lovely wines - Shiraz in particular

I find I don't want any wine at all when it's hot out, though.... that's the time to explore beer

I like Wines from Australia especially Chardonnay and oaked. I also sometimes make my own from the grapes growing in my Conservatory.

I can't really fly the nationalist flag here - being from the UK means a poor choice in domestic wine production. Personally I like Australian Shiraz or cheap French red (the appropriate word being cheap - some of us have meagre budgets that rely on the french making drinkable wine which is v. cheap, esp if bought in France ) I have yet to see any Shiraz at a cheap-skate budget proce

The best wines I have tasted recently have all been English.

Fortunately, they are only small vineyards, the ban on advertising prevents me from letting you know where they are. Especially our favorite where we always buy a couple of cases on our way back from France. Even the reds are now worth drinking, and as for the whites.