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New South Wales - NSW

Gundagai

Gundagai is a newly developed wine region and part of what traditionally and meteorologically has been called the south-west slopes of New South Wales. It is here that the landscape and its mountain streams run down from the western heights of the Snowy Mountains towards the baking plains of the Riverina. Stretching from Tumut in the south-east to Temora in the north-west and Junee in the west, it is an undulating region varying between 200 and 300 metres in altitude, which is warm to hot in temperature with an even year-round rainfall though greater in the east but quite dry comparatively in humidity. It is only in the south-east corner around Adelong and Tumut—nearest the Australian Alps—that, to some extent, climatic conditions become cooler. The chief soil types of the region are similar to those in other regions in south-east Australia; red earth and red podsols, though soils along the major rivers and creeks are more variable. Though not unknown in western parts of the region -- the McWilliam family established the successful Markview vineyard at Junee in 1877 -- the wine grapevine had a long absence from the 1920’s to the mid 1990’s. However, since 1995 there has been a flurry of plantings and by the year 2003, there were about 750 acres of vines under cultivation. There are no sub regions. To date Gundagai has numerous small and several large vineyards. The largest so far established are the 190-hectare vineyard at Wirrialla (P. and H. Power), a 180-hectare development at Tumblong (Southcorp), and 147 hectares at Koolanooka (Morath).