Click on the bottle on wine region map
to see the wineries belonging to these
classification.

Australian wine Regions

  

A Geographical Indication (G.I.) is an official description of an Australian wine zone, region or sub-region. It takes the form of a textual description (ie a list of grid references, map coordinates, roads and natural landmarks which can be traced to outline the regional boundary) along with a map. Its main purpose is to protect the use of the regional name under international law, limiting its use to describe wines produced from wine grape fruit grown within that GI.

 

 

 

 

A Geographic Indication can be likened to the Appellation naming system used in Europe (e.g. Bordeaux, Burgundy) but is much less restrictive in terms of viticulture and wine making practices. In fact the only restriction is that wine which carries the regional name must consist of a minimum of 85% of fruit from that region. This protects the integrity of the label and safeguards the consumer. The use of Geographical Indications in Australia commenced in 1993 when Part VIB of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act (1980) was updated to enable Australia to fulfil its Agreements with the European Community on Trade in Wine (Article 6) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) (Article 23). This came about in response to Australia's increasing wine exports to EC countries during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The official wording of the Act is to "provide the legal means for interested parties to prevent use of a geographical indication identifying wines for wines not originating in the place indicated by the geographical indication in question".


An Australian GI can be either a zone, region or sub-region, terms which are defined in the AWBC Regulations.
A zone is an area of land, without any particular qualifying attributes.
A region must be a single tract of land, comprising at least five independently owned wine grape vineyards of at least five hectares each and usually produce five hundred tonnes of wine grapes in a year. A region is required to be measurably discrete from adjoining regions and have measurable homogeneity in grape growing attributes over its area.
A sub-region must also be a single tract of land, comprising at least five independently owned wine grape vineyards of at least five hectares each and usually produce five hundred tonnes of wine grapes in a year. However, a sub-region is required to be substantially discrete within the region and have substantial homogeneity in grape growing attributes over the area.