“The Grape Escape” -- Australia After leaving New Zealand, we headed on to Australia. Since we’d been fortunate enough to have visited Australia before, we had already had a chance to hit some of the country’s many highlights (i.e., exploring the Great Barrier Reef, touring the Sydney Opera House, etc.) We decided this time around to concentrate on one of our biggest loves…WINE. Our trip was aptly termed, “The Grape Escape.” Over our month-long trip to Australia, we would visit over 80+ wineries and taste hundreds of wines ranging from big, bold earthy Shirazes to delicate cool-climate Semillons. As with California, Australia grows multiple grape varietals to account for and compliment the differing temperatures, altitudes, soils, but Shiraz is definitely king (or queen!!!). (Quick Snapple-like factoid: Although Syrah was originally called Shiraz in Australia and Syrah
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