INTRODUCTION
BY ANGUS HUGHSON When I first entered the wine trade, over 20 years ago, South Australia was widely described as ’The Wine State’. While other regions also had significant history and a library of fine wines, South Australia was this country’s undisputed centre of wine. The Barossa and Eden valleys were the pinnacles thanks to their sheer volume of quality wine, but McLaren Vale, Clare Valley, Langhorne Creek, Coonawarra, Adelaide Hills and others could, on their day, hit similar heights. The landscape has certainly changed over the last three decades. New South Wales has grown far past its Hunter Valley origins, Western Australia and Tasmania have asserted their fine wine credentials, and Victoria has blossomed across numerous regions. This has been an exciting time for Australian wine in general as it has grown out of adolescence into a more mature industry with greater self-confidence, technical skill, and genuine aspirations to match the greatest wines from around the world. While there has been a movement across all states and regions, increasingly the wines from South Australia have been forgotten or undervalued in a rush to cover the evolution in other parts of the country or new-wave styles. Yet South Australia is by far the largest state in terms of vineyard area and wine production with a long and proud history which has also enjoyed its own period of evolution, and will, without doubt, continue to deserve a significant focus. The South Australian Wine Guide 2025 has been launched to rebalance the ledger, and provide a definitive guide that throws a light on all of South Australia’s wine regions, with a singular focus on the unique wines from what is still ‘The Wine State’. A number of regions are regularly overlooked by sections of wine media or do not receive the recognition due to them for their contribution to the national wine story – a trend that seems to be getting worse over time. This guide will proudly put every South Australian region on a pedestal to identify the leading local wines and highlight unique regional stories often hidden from view. A key intention for the South Australian Wine Guide 2025 is to go beyond tasting notes and scores and tell the deeper stories of the regions and their recent vintages. Tasting wine is much more profound than simply enjoying an alcoholic beverage. It is tasting the land, its people, and history expressed through aromas, flavours, and textures. From our perspective, providing a regional context is as important as any
South Australia 2024
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