0:00:07 > 0:00:11A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines.
0:00:11 > 0:00:16This is a pity, as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the Australian palate
0:00:16 > 0:00:19but also to the cognoscenti of Great Britain.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23Blackstone Bordeaux is rightly praised as a peppermint-flavoured Burgundy.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28Whilst a good Sydney Syrup can rank with any of the world's best sugary wines.
0:00:28 > 0:00:29GLUGS
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Quite the reverse is true of Chateau Chunder
0:00:32 > 0:00:33which is an Appellation Controlee
0:00:33 > 0:00:37specially grown for those keen on regurgitation. BURPS
0:00:37 > 0:00:40A fine wine which truly opens up the sluices at both ends.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is "Beware".
0:00:44 > 0:00:48This is not a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down and avoiding.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54It's the biggest question in the history of wine.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58The colour, the smell, the flavour. "What is this?"
0:00:58 > 0:01:01How did an unfashionable backwater
0:01:01 > 0:01:03with no track record...
0:01:03 > 0:01:05Listen, they don't make wine in Australia.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07And if they did, who'd buy it?
0:01:07 > 0:01:10..in a notoriously elitist business...
0:01:10 > 0:01:14You should have seen their noses wrinkled up!
0:01:14 > 0:01:16..go from making Chateau Chunder...
0:01:16 > 0:01:18With a wine like this...
0:01:18 > 0:01:21..to become the toast of the international wine world?
0:01:21 > 0:01:22..you could conquer the world.
0:01:22 > 0:01:27This is a story of courage in the face of adversity...
0:01:27 > 0:01:31They used to say, "Chateau Chunder from Down Under!"
0:01:31 > 0:01:33..of opportunity knocking...
0:01:33 > 0:01:36We knew we had fine wine. All we needed was the chance.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39..of preaching to the not-yet converted.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41We were trying to create a wine revolution.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44We needed some heroes to work with.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48And our hero was Australia.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52Australian wine helped us go from this...
0:01:52 > 0:01:54to this.
0:01:54 > 0:01:55Australian wine blazed the trail,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58changed the drinking habit of the British Isles.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01I love Aussie wine, yeah. Love it.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04This is not just the story of wine.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07It's the story of us.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09You just opened the bottle, swirled it round
0:02:09 > 0:02:12and whoa! You were home!
0:02:37 > 0:02:42Wine. Old World. Revered.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Infused with history
0:02:45 > 0:02:47and mystery.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51And somehow, inescapably French.
0:02:51 > 0:02:57We know how to make in France some wines which are very sophisticated.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01I would say it is the evolution of knowledge in agronomy.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07The French have been making wine since the 6th century BC.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10It is embedded in the fabric of their lives.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13For us, it's more about lifestyle
0:03:13 > 0:03:16and something that we live every day.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18And it's not written in a book.
0:03:18 > 0:03:19You just have to...
0:03:19 > 0:03:23You can't learn it by reading it. You have to live it.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29Crucial to French wine-making is the notion of "terroir".
0:03:29 > 0:03:33Terroir is the connection of soils,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36pathological and geological,
0:03:36 > 0:03:42climates and the know-how or the talent of the winemaker.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47Hmm. Complicated concept, terroir.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50When Australians started making wine,
0:03:50 > 0:03:55terroir took a back seat to more practical concerns.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00My uncle Dan used to sit in the corner, in a rocking chair.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02I remember him being in here one evening.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06I was with him. I was seven, something like that. Six or seven.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08He was a dead shot.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11A bloke could be sitting here and this bloody rat ran along the rafter.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15And he just went "Bang!" and the rat fell in the red fermenter.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17I said, "Do you want me to get that out, Uncle Dan?"
0:04:17 > 0:04:20He said, "No, it'll add a bit of body to the wine. The ferment will kill it."
0:04:23 > 0:04:27For fourth generation Hunter Valley winemaker Bruce Tyrrell,
0:04:27 > 0:04:31and his father, Murray, it wasn't just rats in the rafters
0:04:31 > 0:04:34that made wine drinking somewhat unsavoury.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36Back in the '50s and early '60s,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39if you drank wine, you were queer, eccentric or both.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43I had a girlfriend at university from a country town.
0:04:43 > 0:04:49Her parents weren't sure I was a suitable person for her to be going out with
0:04:49 > 0:04:51because I was a plonkie!
0:04:51 > 0:04:52I got kicked out of the house
0:04:52 > 0:04:55when I took some sparkling Burgundy to a lunch and not another drink.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Get outta here, you plonkie! And don't come back!
0:05:00 > 0:05:03And she couldn't do the washing up. Her father was not pleased!
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Like the Tyrrells, the Hill Smith family from South Australia
0:05:12 > 0:05:18struggled through the 1930s and '40s to make a living in the wine business.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21My father, Wyndham, was a bit of a cavalier,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23raconteur, sportsman.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28He carried with him the badge of being the first man in Australia
0:05:28 > 0:05:30to face Larwood during the bodyline series.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38He came back to a business that was in jeopardy with the banks.
0:05:38 > 0:05:44And Dad set on a course of rescaping the way we did business, the wine we made.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46But still, through all those years,
0:05:46 > 0:05:48there wasn't growth in the game.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53There were lots of fashion moments where things took off
0:05:53 > 0:05:57and people tried to chase the rainbow, but nothing eventuated.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Throughout the first half of the 20th century,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Australian winemakers had one big problem.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12No-one drank wine.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17The real Aussie went to the pub for rounds of beer with his mates.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21When you were in the pub, you had to buy your round.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24If you left before you bought your round,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26then you were a piker.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29And if there were nine people in the drinking group,
0:06:29 > 0:06:33that meant you had to drink nine beers.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37The Aussies' love affair with the pub
0:06:37 > 0:06:40led to years of strict licensing laws
0:06:40 > 0:06:42and a unique drinking culture.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44Hey, shut it, mate. We're closed.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47'We've got six o'clock closing of hotels,
0:06:47 > 0:06:52'we've got excessive restrictions on the drinking of alcohol in public places.'
0:06:52 > 0:06:57And that really did sort of shape our drinking history, if you like, for the next 50 years.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03And we were, really, very aware of the six o'clock swill.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07And we were also aware of the five minutes past six
0:07:07 > 0:07:09when everyone fell out the door of the pub,
0:07:09 > 0:07:11mostly drunk and incapable.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Binge-drinking beer was standard practice,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21even applauded.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27As for wine, that was for the dregs of society.
0:07:29 > 0:07:30There were wine saloons.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Wine saloons had a very unfashionable reputation.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36They were largely home to the alcoholic,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38the old, the elderly, the lonely.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43With an almost non-existent market at home,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Australian winemakers looked for one overseas.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50Britain was the obvious choice.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55But here, wine was only for the well-off, the well-bred
0:07:55 > 0:07:57or the continentals.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02If you said wine, wine was one of those words that you had to have audible quotation marks round,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05like, "Wine."
0:08:05 > 0:08:07"Ooh, wine's not for the likes of us!"
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Like you'd say round "Barbados".
0:08:09 > 0:08:11People used to say that.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13"Wine's not for the likes of us."
0:08:13 > 0:08:16It wasn't part of normal life at all.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18It was something very, very exotic.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22People thought because they were the wrong class, they literally couldn't drink wine.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27While wine drinking was rare in both Australia and Britain,
0:08:27 > 0:08:32the difference was Australia had the climate to grow grapes.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38They'd been making wine since the 1830s.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42But most of it was high alcohol fortified wine,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45like port and sherry.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48'The perfumed sherries are wonderful wines.'
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Especially for old ladies who can't sleep!
0:08:54 > 0:08:58The high alcohol meant it travelled better than table wine
0:08:58 > 0:09:00and much of it was exported to Britain.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02For "medicinal" purposes.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04- ADVERT:- 'A fine brandy after dinner
0:09:04 > 0:09:06'is a delight for the epicure.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10'While the same brandy is thoroughly known for its medicinal value everywhere.'
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Ah, that's Penfold's!
0:09:13 > 0:09:17I'm going to hand round a bottle of medicated wine.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21This is when you could actually advertise that wine was good for you.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23This is probably from the '20s or the '30s.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25It's Penfold's. It's Australian.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29It says, "This preparation to be used as medicine only.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33"A glassful three times a day."
0:09:33 > 0:09:37It is port enriched with beef extract and pure malt.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41It says, "It is of considerable assistance
0:09:41 > 0:09:46"to those called upon to undergo feats of endurance, vocal, mental or physical.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50"Use regularly as directed and you MUST smile."
0:09:53 > 0:09:58In the 1950s, less than half a per cent of the world's wine production
0:09:58 > 0:10:00came from Australia.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08But that was about to change
0:10:08 > 0:10:12as boatloads of new immigrants began to arrive down under.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18They brought with them new food and customs
0:10:18 > 0:10:21and a taste for table wine.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24They're not necessarily approaching wine
0:10:24 > 0:10:29with a view to understanding vintages and vineyards and all those sort of things.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32They just want a drink. But they're now eating foreign food.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36They're eating pizza, they're eating spaghetti.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38And so all that foreign influence
0:10:38 > 0:10:41is associated with this other stuff, wine.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47While immigrants were spreading the wine-drinking habit,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Australian society was growing more affluent.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53More people owned cars
0:10:53 > 0:10:55and they were beginning to travel.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00We find people from all walks of life coming here for our wine.
0:11:00 > 0:11:01And we find that younger people,
0:11:01 > 0:11:05and there are increasing numbers of younger people coming each week.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08For winemakers like Murray Tyrrell,
0:11:08 > 0:11:13this meant for the first time they had more customers than they could handle.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17'Of all the things my old man did, probably the most important one'
0:11:17 > 0:11:21is he's probably the father of wine tourism in Australia.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25How much do you know about the wines you're buying, or are you depending on the winemaker?
0:11:25 > 0:11:27No, we're depending on the taste!
0:11:28 > 0:11:30We reckon that Murray Tyrrell's got the game sewn up!
0:11:30 > 0:11:34We're selling our total production here at our cellar doors
0:11:34 > 0:11:37and we just can't meet demand.
0:11:40 > 0:11:41To meet the growing demand,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Australian winemakers looked to the latest advances
0:11:44 > 0:11:46in the science of winemaking.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00They brought pressure tanks, they brought cool fermenting systems,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02they brought cultured yeasts,
0:12:02 > 0:12:06they brought knowledge about how to use sulphur dioxide to predict the wine and the juice.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12Perhaps the most significant change for the whole industry was refrigeration.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16So that in our hot summers, we could control the temperature of our ferments.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20And so the quality of Australian wines in the '60s
0:12:20 > 0:12:21just sky-rocketed.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27On the back of its domestic success,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Australia set its sights on the major wine markets of Europe.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34But in 1965,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38international exports were still insignificant -
0:12:38 > 0:12:40only eight million litres of wine a year,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44about one-fiftieth of France's total.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Most people in Europe never saw an Australian wine.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52They'd never tasted it. It was like anyone in Australia hearing about English wine.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54It just wasn't there.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58My father, who loved wine and drank good wine,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01his sister emigrated to Australia one year, just after the war.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04She would send us a case of Australian claret every year for Christmas.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06It was labelled Australian claret.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10My father wouldn't even drink it. He would say, "Just use it for cooking."
0:13:10 > 0:13:12He didn't taste it. He just said, "It can't be any good."
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Australian wine needed a champion.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20An indefatigable soul to persuade the Europeans
0:13:20 > 0:13:23that Australian wine was not a joke,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27but a sleeping giant to mock at your peril.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Ladies and gentlemen, would you please be seated where you will.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35Len Evans was a man of many talents.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Golf professional.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Sculptor. And as head of the Australian wine bureau,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44a passionate advocate for Australian wine.
0:13:44 > 0:13:49I think this country has a chance of becoming a wine nation of note.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54He genuinely believed that Australian wine had a world-beating future.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57He used to say that from way back.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00And I must say, I didn't believe him then.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04To help him spread the word in London,
0:14:04 > 0:14:09Len Evans inherited the Australian Wine Bureau's only overseas office.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14But its location presented something of a challenge!
0:14:16 > 0:14:19There used to be something called The Australian Wine Bureau
0:14:19 > 0:14:21in the most unlikely place in Soho,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23surrounded by sex shops,
0:14:23 > 0:14:30that had a nice dusty collection of all the wines that were then characteristic of Australia.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35And that was the sole destination for ex-pats or visitors
0:14:35 > 0:14:38or curious drinkers to go to to buy Australian wine.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43And to just be dealing with this almost hysterical bemusement
0:14:43 > 0:14:47on people's faces was an endless toil!
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Whether Len Evans liked it or not,
0:14:50 > 0:14:54the British still saw Australian wine as a joke.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Malcolm insisted we brought some wine.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00- How very kind of you.- It's a new Australian label.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02- Australian?- Here's the white.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04"Wombat White."
0:15:04 > 0:15:07- And the red.- "Kanga Rouge".
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Malcolm bought them especially for you!
0:15:10 > 0:15:13You know how he loves a really good wine.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15Yes. Which is why he's given this rubbish to us!
0:15:15 > 0:15:20We've always had a sort of love/hate relationship with Australians, as you know.
0:15:20 > 0:15:21Particularly with sport.
0:15:21 > 0:15:27So there was a certain amount of bashing Australians as being uncouth
0:15:27 > 0:15:28and their wines were uncouth and so on.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34"Couth" or not, there actually was a wine called Kanga Rouge!
0:15:34 > 0:15:40When I arrived, they had the last bottlings of this vast volume of wine called Kanga Rouge.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43I remember they had individual bottle labels.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Each of the bottles were numbered.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47I range up the previous winemaker
0:15:47 > 0:15:51and said, "I've been given the opportunity of buying bottle number one of Kanga Rouge.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53"What do you think it's worth? 50? 100?"
0:15:53 > 0:15:57And he said, "David, don't be so silly. We bottled 1,000 bottle number ones!"
0:15:57 > 0:16:03That was the first I know of great marketing stories about the Australian wine industry!
0:16:04 > 0:16:07While the marketing tricks and jokey names
0:16:07 > 0:16:09created an image of a bottle best avoided,
0:16:09 > 0:16:13the wine itself was a pleasant surprise.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16I've got a bottle here of Kanga Rouge.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20That was the wine that people now laugh at.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23They've never tried it, the people who laughed at it.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25I've tried it. I've drunk lots of this stuff.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27See what that says? Coonawarra.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29Shiraz.
0:16:29 > 0:16:321978. Not plonk. Not rubbish.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34Top area of South Australia.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36Top grape. Top year.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40And down there, alcohol, 10.9.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44And it tasted as rich and as juicy and as gorgeous as could be.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47If people laugh about this, they don't know what they're talking about.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52Facing the prejudice head on, Len Evans served Australian wine
0:16:52 > 0:16:55to the Circle of Wine Writers in London.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59I want you all to taste the sensation of this beautiful Australian wine.
0:16:59 > 0:17:00Kevin's having more!
0:17:00 > 0:17:04They responded with predictable disdain.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13He then served the same wines blind at lunch.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17This time to great acclaim.
0:17:19 > 0:17:20Number two was...
0:17:20 > 0:17:24That's what you call a great Australian wine!
0:17:24 > 0:17:28The chastened wine writers immediately made him a member of their circle
0:17:28 > 0:17:33and Len Evans' blind tasting games are still popular around the world today.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38OK. You have a wine in front of you. First question. Is this Australian or not?
0:17:39 > 0:17:41The so-called "options game"
0:17:41 > 0:17:43is played with almost religious conviction
0:17:43 > 0:17:46at the annual Len Evans' tutorial,
0:17:46 > 0:17:51where young Australians learn the trade the Len Evans way.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Who says it is Australian?
0:17:55 > 0:17:57You are the only one who's correct.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01Cheers!
0:18:01 > 0:18:05While Len Evans was having some success with London's wine writers,
0:18:05 > 0:18:11throughout the 1970s, exports of Australian wine were actually declining.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16By contrast, France's doubled.
0:18:20 > 0:18:21Len Evans needed help.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26And it came in the unexpected shape of a woman from Manchester.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32There was a job advertised. "Australian Trade Commission seeks a business development manager."
0:18:32 > 0:18:34It was advertised for a man,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36which you couldn't do today,
0:18:36 > 0:18:38but the Trade Commissioner at the time,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40the Australian who was based there,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42said, "I think we'll give you a go."
0:18:42 > 0:18:45So I started work with the Australian government in Manchester.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50An English person. Knew very little about, never been to Australia.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53I was given a range of products
0:18:53 > 0:18:55that I had to look after to help the exporters.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59I worked with steaming coal, coking coal,
0:18:59 > 0:19:01cardboard mousetraps, Oak boots.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04And they asked me if I'd look after wine as well.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08I had no background in wine, no knowledge about wine.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10I didn't know anybody who drank wine at all.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13When Hazel started out,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16it's almost as though the industry was in such dire straights
0:19:16 > 0:19:18that they had nothing to lose.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22They used to say, "Chateau Chunder from Down Under."
0:19:22 > 0:19:25So we were climbing a pretty big mountain.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30It was like, "Let's let this crazy woman go out there and sell our wine for us."
0:19:31 > 0:19:34She actually did that in the way of pouring it,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36and getting the winemakers to pour it,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38to tens of thousands of people.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42In the first year we did it,
0:19:42 > 0:19:46we probably did about 20,000 consumers at different events.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49What was interesting was that in those days
0:19:49 > 0:19:53the French, Spanish and Italians didn't pour wine for the public.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56They didn't trust the public. The Australians did.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59I remember I was at the London Wine Trade Fair
0:19:59 > 0:20:03and I was doing a tasting of something, Beaujolais, or something like that.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07And some bloody bloke knocked my elbow and I turned
0:20:07 > 0:20:10and saw a really scruffy, unwashed kind of creature
0:20:10 > 0:20:14in his khaki, and said, "Jack, can I have a word?"
0:20:14 > 0:20:16I said, "I'm sorry. I'm busy. I'm doing a wine-tasting."
0:20:16 > 0:20:18"Come on, give us a break, mate."
0:20:18 > 0:20:21And he said, "What flavours do you like in your red wine?"
0:20:21 > 0:20:26And I just thought, "I don't know." I remember saying to him,
0:20:26 > 0:20:29"Oh, um, blackcurrant, something like that."
0:20:29 > 0:20:31And he said, "What about white wine?"
0:20:31 > 0:20:34I said, "I don't know. Peaches. Tropical fruit. That kind of stuff.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35"Now, please, I'm really busy."
0:20:35 > 0:20:38He said, "Hang on, mate. How much do you want to pay?"
0:20:39 > 0:20:41I went,
0:20:41 > 0:20:43"I don't... £3.99.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45"And now, please, leave me alone."
0:20:45 > 0:20:50A year later, I was at the London Wine Trade Fair again.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53And there was a knock on my arm again!
0:20:53 > 0:20:56And I turned round and thought, "Looks and smells vaguely familiar!"
0:20:56 > 0:20:58And the bloke says, "Here, no, come on."
0:20:58 > 0:21:01And he gave me a glass of red wine. He said, "Try this."
0:21:01 > 0:21:03And I tasted it and went,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06"Bloody hell, that tastes like blackcurrants!"
0:21:06 > 0:21:08And he said, "Yeah, that's what you said you liked."
0:21:08 > 0:21:14I said, "Jesus, how much is this?" He said, "£3.99. That's what you said you wanted to pay."
0:21:14 > 0:21:17And he said, "I've got a white wine here."
0:21:17 > 0:21:19I said, "Don't tell me - it'll taste of peaches."
0:21:19 > 0:21:21He said, "That's what you said you liked."
0:21:21 > 0:21:24I said, "£3.99?" He said, "That's what you said you wanted to pay."
0:21:24 > 0:21:27It was a revelation.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32The Australians made wine that we wanted. And they asked us what we liked.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35That had never happened in the world of wine before.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42While Australians were now making their wine according to British taste,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45the names sounded distinctly European.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47Burgundy,
0:21:47 > 0:21:48Claret,
0:21:48 > 0:21:50Moselle.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52And Hermitage.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58As Australia wine exports to Europe rose dramatically,
0:21:58 > 0:22:04the Europeans retaliated by banning the Australian use of European names.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Australian winemakers turned adversity into advantage
0:22:10 > 0:22:13by using the name of the grape variety instead.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18So Australia had to introduce the concept of varietal labelling.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20And that became very appealing to consumers
0:22:20 > 0:22:24because they now suddenly realised what they were tasting.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27A French wine, you always had to know a bit of geography and a bit of history
0:22:27 > 0:22:30and also have a bit of luck to get a decent wine.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34Australian wine just said person's name, the grape variety. So simple!
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Like buying apples in a supermarket.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40That was the door opener that Australia walked through.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42JAUNTY TUNE
0:22:56 > 0:23:01Now, Aussie winemakers called their wine Shiraz instead of Hermitage,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04Cabernet instead of Claret,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06and instead of White Burgundy,
0:23:06 > 0:23:08it was Chardonnay.
0:23:16 > 0:23:22Australia's love affair with Chardonnay had started back in 1970 in the Hunter Valley.
0:23:23 > 0:23:28Murray Tyrrell discovered there were some Chardonnay vines next to his vineyard.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Dad always talked about those
0:23:31 > 0:23:34when they used to come past coming home from school as kids in the buggy.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39They'd always pull in and eat those grapes cos they were the ripest and the best flavour.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43And in those days, it was called white Pineau, P-I-N-E-A-U.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51The problem was, the so-called white Pineau belonged to Penfold's.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55We asked Penfold's three times could we have cuttings. They said no.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59Using some Aussie initiative,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Murray and Bruce set off on a midnight mission
0:24:02 > 0:24:06that would change the course of Australian wine.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10And after the third occasion, we snuck in one night and nicked 'em!
0:24:14 > 0:24:15They weren't there at night when we did it.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19And after we'd had 'em, it was a bit late!
0:24:20 > 0:24:22And that's our Chardonnay as you know it today.
0:24:22 > 0:24:23In Australia it got its start.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27With Chardonnay the new weapon of choice,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Australia launched its invasion of the British wine market.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Alongside Tyrrells,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35the invasion was spearheaded by Rosemount Estate,
0:24:35 > 0:24:37also from the Hunter Valley.
0:24:37 > 0:24:43It was a style of wine that the UK market hadn't seen.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48It was rich, it was round, it tasted of fruit.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53It was soft. It had a lot of things that were exciting.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56It had flavour. I think that's what was probably the key to it.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01I remember turning up at a big tasting in London that I think was at Lord's.
0:25:01 > 0:25:07And the Great British wine trade was there, most of it men, wearing suits with the right kind of accents.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09People used to drinking Burgundy all the time.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12And they had Rosemount Chardonnay for the first time.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17And it was like seeing people watching creatures from another planet!
0:25:17 > 0:25:22The colour, the smell, the flavour, "What is this?"
0:25:22 > 0:25:25It's a bit like seeing a naked woman for the first time!
0:25:28 > 0:25:30Lovers of Australian Chardonnay
0:25:30 > 0:25:33came up with a new catch-phrase for their wine.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35"Sunshine in a bottle."
0:25:35 > 0:25:39Suddenly, all those sort of Monty Python jokes about Australian wine
0:25:39 > 0:25:41began to fall away.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54The exciting new flavours of "sunshine in a bottle"
0:25:54 > 0:25:59appealed to a society enjoying a social and sexual revolution.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04I think it's true that Australian wine has contributed to the feminisation of wine.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09I think it's because it arrived in Britain at a very particular historical moment.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13The career woman was born in the '80s
0:26:13 > 0:26:15with her padded shoulders and her Filofax.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Younger women with degrees, alone in big cities,
0:26:19 > 0:26:22were going out, they needed something to do with friends.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Spit and sawdust pubs and pints of beer were not really what it was about.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32I would say that wine-drinking was always a big girlie in Britain, anyway.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37And by making wines less challenging and more fruit cocktaily,
0:26:37 > 0:26:43it probably did make it easier for girlies to drink it.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47- #- Char-donnay
0:26:47 > 0:26:50- #- It's the upmarket drink of today- #
0:26:50 > 0:26:55Ever the master of sexual politics, Australia's cultural attache
0:26:55 > 0:26:59added his own perspective on the career girl's favourite tipple.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02- #- It used to be double Tequilas
0:27:02 > 0:27:06- #- That could prize off the pants of those Sheilas
0:27:06 > 0:27:11- #- But now they won't have it away, no way
0:27:11 > 0:27:15- #- For less than a large Chardonnay!- #
0:27:15 > 0:27:19Despite the popularity of Chardonnay with the ladies,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21the movers and shakers in the British wine business
0:27:21 > 0:27:23were still mostly men.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Hazel Murphy had an idea.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30Bring a group of them out to Australia
0:27:30 > 0:27:34to see where "sunshine in a bottle" actually came from.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39We arranged a trip for the aficionados of wine in the UK,
0:27:39 > 0:27:41the most highly respected, who were, at the time,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45not a very large group of masters of wine.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47He's not trying to make a white Burgundy.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50He's trying to make a damn good Australian Chardonnay.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54The Pinot '73. That's got a hell of a lot of colour.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58One of the masters of wine on the trip
0:27:58 > 0:28:02was Bristol wine merchant John Avery.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06You have to realise that on that trip in '85,
0:28:06 > 0:28:11it represented about 70 to 80% of the entire buying power of the British wine trade.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13In one hit!
0:28:13 > 0:28:16In those days, we were nearly all men
0:28:16 > 0:28:20and Rosemount arranged for a bottle of their Chardonnay to be posted
0:28:20 > 0:28:24to all the wives, with a note saying. "Your husband will be drinking this wine in Australia.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27- "Here's a bottle for you to taste." - How wonderful!
0:28:28 > 0:28:30That was a brilliant marketing stroke, cos everyone came back
0:28:30 > 0:28:35and all the wives said, "This is a wonderful firm. You must deal with them."
0:28:35 > 0:28:39'It was fun. They came here. They kicked up their heels.'
0:28:39 > 0:28:44They took away the sense of fun that we all have in what we do.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47There was always a serious tasting,
0:28:47 > 0:28:50lots of questions, lots of answers, very open.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53And then we'd go and have a glass of Cooper's Ale, you know?
0:28:53 > 0:28:56You don't do that in France, I suspect.
0:28:56 > 0:29:01They just took this whole thing back and said, "This is a new thing that we've discovered,
0:29:01 > 0:29:06"that we didn't know existed. And it's exciting, it's new and it's fresh.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08"And the people are nice!"
0:29:13 > 0:29:15By the mid-1980s,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Britain was enjoying many influences
0:29:18 > 0:29:20from the nice Antipodeans.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23Australia was absolutely flavour of the month.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25You had the whole Neighbours thing.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29Neighbours was, for many years following,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31an enormous influence on how people perceived Australia.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42You had Fosters starting TV ads with Paul Hogan.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44He'd done Crocodile Dundee
0:29:44 > 0:29:46which was a huge hit.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48This is just like the dances at home.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53These things had just begun to make people see Australia in a different light.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57Strewth! There's a lad down there with no strides on!
0:29:59 > 0:30:02The Fosters ads were very English humour.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06People realised the Aussie humour was very like the English humour.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13The shared language, culture and humour
0:30:13 > 0:30:17paved the way for the wine to be sold on the back of the lifestyle down under.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25And who better to bottle the essence of Australiana
0:30:25 > 0:30:27than a couple of Yorkshiremen?
0:30:27 > 0:30:32We were sat talking about how we were going to basically
0:30:32 > 0:30:36give the British public Oz in a glass.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39We were able to come up with some ideas
0:30:39 > 0:30:42which would really do a fantastic job
0:30:42 > 0:30:46in communicating to a Brit with no knowledge
0:30:46 > 0:30:48that there was something better out there.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Statements like "Putting the cat out"
0:30:51 > 0:30:58actually set out exactly what the promise in the bottle was.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00Aghhh!
0:31:00 > 0:31:05And these posters put the theme of the cat and a quiet game of Bridge
0:31:05 > 0:31:07versus jumping off the bridge with a bungee.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11This whole Australian aspirational lifestyle.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14And it really did capture the public's attention.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17'Australians are very particular about how they pick their wines.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20'And when they find a bottle they particularly like,
0:31:20 > 0:31:22'they'll go to considerable lengths to get it.'
0:31:22 > 0:31:23Yee-hah!
0:31:23 > 0:31:27Consumers were engaged. They'd seen something they'd never seen before.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30It really excited people who normally weren't into wine.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33They were intimidated by it. They didn't understand it.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38But here were these brands that actually spoke to them in a language they understood.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42'And you're sitting in middle England
0:31:42 > 0:31:44'in a miserable Midlands town
0:31:44 > 0:31:47'with fog all round you and a rotten job and the rain pouring down.'
0:31:47 > 0:31:49And you get a glass of that.
0:31:49 > 0:31:55And you think of this somewhere, way south in the southern seas,
0:31:55 > 0:31:56there's somewhere called Australia
0:31:56 > 0:31:59making this kind of nectar!
0:32:07 > 0:32:10Britain's increasing interest in food and drink
0:32:10 > 0:32:15was reflected by the imaginatively named BBC show, Food & Drink
0:32:15 > 0:32:18and its flamboyant hosts Oz Clark and Jilly Goolden.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Anyway, now, at last, on to something to drink!
0:32:21 > 0:32:23These Australian wines...
0:32:23 > 0:32:26'I realised there was absolutely no point in using'
0:32:26 > 0:32:28traditional wine speak,
0:32:28 > 0:32:33which was all about breeding and structure and balance and finesse.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36Things that meant absolutely nothing
0:32:36 > 0:32:38to the bloke at home, or his missus.
0:32:38 > 0:32:43Then have a taste. See if they can carry through this medley of delicious succulent flavours.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47So I decided to use my point of reference
0:32:47 > 0:32:50of what thing smelt and tasted like
0:32:50 > 0:32:53to describe a wine as a thumbnail sketch.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55You've got the nectarines. You've got the lychees.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58All these lovely things. But you've got a zip of acidity as well.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01'I was the very first person in the world to do that.'
0:33:01 > 0:33:05Now every back label, every restaurant wine list, picks it up.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09Oz is the man to ask about this. He's just come from down under.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11And I drank rather a lot!
0:33:11 > 0:33:15Jilly and her equally enthusiastic side-kick were on a mission.
0:33:15 > 0:33:21..a refreshing wine. Jilly, we had to plough through a lot of stuff which was fairly washed out...
0:33:21 > 0:33:24'Jilly and I decided we were going to try and democratise the world of wine.'
0:33:24 > 0:33:27It sounds a bit silly, but we thought we could make a difference.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32We thought using wine we could make a difference, we could cut through class barriers.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36Get ready to put your schnozzle right into the glass and snort!
0:33:36 > 0:33:40Australia wine gave us the chance to say, "See this?
0:33:40 > 0:33:43"That bloke, his name's Tyrrell. Mr Tyrrell made this.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47"See that name, Chardonnay? Can you pronounce that? Chardonnay."
0:33:47 > 0:33:51That is exactly what I want from an Australian white wine.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54'Tens of millions of people were watching this week by week.'
0:33:54 > 0:33:57I said, "One other thing. On the bottom there,
0:33:57 > 0:34:00"Produce of Australia. Produce of Australia."
0:34:00 > 0:34:02The Aussies don't let you down.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07With Oz and Jilly fuelling the British thirst for their wines,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11Aussie winemakers flocked to the European trade fairs.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13Excellent Aussie wine!
0:34:13 > 0:34:16I like that. But it's half the price of the other one!
0:34:16 > 0:34:18Something's wrong somewhere!
0:34:18 > 0:34:22Probably the biggest congregation of us was in London
0:34:22 > 0:34:25when there was the first wine trade fair in Olympia.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27And there was a big Aussie contingent.
0:34:28 > 0:34:33And I remember just this - it was like a crusade.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37Everyone who came in the door wanted to talk to the Australians. Cos it was fun!
0:34:39 > 0:34:41I remember running around,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43and you got to the Australian stands
0:34:43 > 0:34:47and not only was there people three, four, deep,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51pushing people out of the way to get a taste of these new Australian wines,
0:34:51 > 0:34:55but you had these guys behind these stands pouring these wines
0:34:55 > 0:34:58and doing things like putting red wine in ice buckets cos it was so hot!
0:34:58 > 0:34:59Breaking all the rules.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03I do remember looking at the regions of France and looking at their foot traffic.
0:35:03 > 0:35:08And these poor souls were standing behind their trestle tables
0:35:08 > 0:35:12with their glasses and a few bottles of wine and absolutely no-one to talk to!
0:35:12 > 0:35:15It was a revelation. It was actually quite exciting.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18I don't think the French have forgiven us yet. I don't think they ever will!
0:35:23 > 0:35:27Australia's democratic revolution was dismissed in France
0:35:27 > 0:35:30as merely a triumph of marketing.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32Marketing is good for the car.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Mercedes need the marketing.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37But not the wine!
0:35:37 > 0:35:41Marketing was the great black-out that Australia had mastered
0:35:41 > 0:35:44and the French didn't place any importance in marketing.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46They thought the product would speak for itself.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50They thought we were hoodwinking the world with our clever marketing.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52The wine is for the food.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55When you have a nice chicken,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57at lunch, at dinner,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00with the nice potatoes, you don't need the marketing.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02It's a different mentality,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04different idea of the wine,
0:36:04 > 0:36:09and different idea about la culture du vin.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16And nothing epitomised the difference in "la culture du vin"
0:36:16 > 0:36:19more than the great Australian invention,
0:36:19 > 0:36:20the wine cask,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23also known as the bag in a box.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26Or down under as "the goon bag".
0:36:27 > 0:36:29Most people hide this stuff!
0:36:29 > 0:36:31'Orlando Coolabah.'
0:36:33 > 0:36:36This was a bag in a box with a little tap on it.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38It revolutionised drinking habits in Australia.
0:36:38 > 0:36:43It basically meant you could take four litres of wine, or whatever it was,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46and you could drink it over a period of days or even weeks,
0:36:46 > 0:36:47without it going stale.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51Because as the bag collapsed, there was no head space in there,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54no oxygen getting in there to oxidise the wine.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58A lot of that wine wasn't what we would call the greatest wine in the world.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01But it converted a lot of people to wine drinking.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04It made wine an everyday item in Australian households.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09Its value and convenience meant by the mid-'80s
0:37:09 > 0:37:14wine casks accounted for half of the entire Australian market.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22My parents drank a two-litre Yolanda cask as opposed to the four-litre because they were classier!
0:37:23 > 0:37:27And goon bags continued to be an essential part of life
0:37:27 > 0:37:29for many Australians.
0:37:34 > 0:37:39I remember one party using an empty inflated goon bag as a pillow.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47- Goon of fortune is where you... - Goon of fortune!
0:37:47 > 0:37:50It's where you... Oh, it's so classy!
0:37:50 > 0:37:53You tie the goon bag to the washing line and spin the line round.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55- And, uh...- The wheel of fortune.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04This is a true lifestyle.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07There is a lifestyle for people who are very original,
0:38:07 > 0:38:12very clever, enjoy the poesie.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15And there is a lifestyle for people who have no taste.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23As more and more people developed a taste for wine,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26Australia's position in the world as a wine exporter
0:38:26 > 0:38:29soared from 18th in the early '80s
0:38:29 > 0:38:32to sixth, ten years later.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35New wineries sprouted up all over the country
0:38:35 > 0:38:41as wine exports to the UK increased 20-fold during the '90s
0:38:41 > 0:38:43to 140 million litres.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49But the ever-increasing production of wine
0:38:49 > 0:38:52caused one major headache for Australian winemakers.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54Corks!
0:38:56 > 0:39:00They were on the phone to Spain and Portugal, where all corks come from,
0:39:00 > 0:39:03saying, "We need more, more, more, more corks."
0:39:03 > 0:39:07And the guys producing the corks simply could not process them.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10They couldn't get them through the cleansing process
0:39:10 > 0:39:12which takes a very long time.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15And they were shipping off actually sub-standard corks.
0:39:18 > 0:39:23And instead of getting on the first plane to Spain or Portugal and giving them a punch
0:39:23 > 0:39:28and saying, "Give us better corks", they didn't. They say, "OK, you shafted us. We'll shaft you."
0:39:28 > 0:39:31So Australia developed a better alternative to cork.
0:39:32 > 0:39:37In fact, the Aussies had been testing an alternative for years.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40It was called the Stelvin, or screw cap.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46We've now been developing screw caps for over four decades.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50I could pour for you today the 1971 Autumn Riesling
0:39:50 > 0:39:54initially bottled under screw cap. 40 years of age.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57A lovely hermetic seal, perfect!
0:39:58 > 0:40:00The French looked on with horror
0:40:00 > 0:40:03as another sacred cow was slaughtered.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05With a screw top, what do you remember?
0:40:05 > 0:40:08Nothing. You open. Dup, dup, dup.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10Where is the dream?
0:40:10 > 0:40:12Where is the legend?
0:40:12 > 0:40:14Screw caps is probably the last Waterloo for the French.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18Because from the beginning, we know we've got to lost.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22The only thing you dream, you dream with a screw top, screw top more.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25You dream. People buy more.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30People remember, "I have a nice screw top. It's wonderful.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32"I make one, two, three. Oh, it was fabulous."
0:40:32 > 0:40:36- It is for the wine.- Do you think it is good, that?
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Because we don't have an image of sharing of the moment of opening
0:40:39 > 0:40:42and the moment of the "Pop!"
0:40:42 > 0:40:44This is a part of the magic as well.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Some French wineries embraced the innovative Australians
0:41:16 > 0:41:20and even invited flying winemakers to France
0:41:20 > 0:41:22to reveal some of the secrets of their success.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25There were about 16 of us who went over
0:41:25 > 0:41:28over those five to ten years in the early 1990s.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31So what do we do? Nothing clever.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34Nothing alchemist, nothing ridiculous space age.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36It was about sanitation,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39good, clean winemaking. We clean tanks.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42Once I was inside the tank and I had the feeling I was being watched.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44I stuck my head out and there were ten Frenchmen
0:41:44 > 0:41:46wandering what the noise was inside the tank.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48They'd never seen that before.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51All the tanks were clean on the outside but dirty on the inside.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54The English wine trade loved it.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57They were advertising it as a French wine made by an Australian winemaker.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01What a great turnaround for the Australian wine industry
0:42:01 > 0:42:03that ten years earlier was making Chateau Chunder!
0:42:03 > 0:42:05ANGRY VOICES
0:42:07 > 0:42:11But not everyone in France was so welcoming of outside influences.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18A militant group called CRAV,
0:42:18 > 0:42:21the Committee for Viticultural Action,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24attacked the foreign imports that threatened their local industry.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30The CRAV is quite a nasty little group of people
0:42:30 > 0:42:33who have taken activism to its ultimate
0:42:33 > 0:42:37of setting fire to wineries and emptying tanks and breaking windows.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41I think it's quite a brave supermarket in the south of France
0:42:41 > 0:42:43in Beziers, or that region,
0:42:43 > 0:42:46would put a bottle of Jacob's Creek on their shelves.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52As viticultural extremists smashed up commercial wine imports,
0:42:52 > 0:42:56a British writer appeared on a leading French TV show
0:42:56 > 0:42:59armed with a bottle of Australia's finest.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10'I was the only non-French guest.'
0:43:10 > 0:43:14All the rest were very high up French men of wine.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18We each had to bring a bottle of wine to serve to our fellow guests.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21I'd just come back from Australia so I had a bottle of Grange.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30'You should have seen their noses wrinkled up'
0:43:30 > 0:43:33even before they'd got the nose to the glass.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37I mean, oh, it was dismissed as a sort of "pharmacist's wine"!
0:43:43 > 0:43:47'They were so patronising and really contemptuous,'
0:43:47 > 0:43:51both towards me and towards the whole of Australian wine.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55But Australia had the last laugh
0:43:55 > 0:44:01when, in 1999, the hugely influential US magazine Wine Spectator
0:44:01 > 0:44:04put Penfold's Grange on its front cover.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07'The '55 Grange was on the front page'
0:44:07 > 0:44:10as one of the 12 wines of the 20th century.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13You know, that sort of acknowledgement,
0:44:13 > 0:44:16retrospectively, decades later,
0:44:16 > 0:44:20does as much for a wine as, say, a review of the current vintage.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23Penfold's had been making Grange,
0:44:23 > 0:44:25a high-end blended Shiraz,
0:44:25 > 0:44:26since 1951,
0:44:26 > 0:44:29long before the Chardonnay boom.
0:44:29 > 0:44:35I have been able to taste back every two or three years back to '52 Grange.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39And that has reaffirmed, time and time again,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43the extraordinary capacity that Grange has
0:44:43 > 0:44:47to age over a minimum of 20 years.
0:44:47 > 0:44:52'I think Grange is a rock'n'roll wine.'
0:44:52 > 0:44:56It's actually a wine that takes you and takes you on a journey
0:44:56 > 0:44:58that other wines don't do.
0:45:04 > 0:45:09By the mid-'90s, Britain's enthusiasm for Australian wine
0:45:09 > 0:45:11was matched by the Americans.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17And leading the chorus was the world's most influential wine writer,
0:45:17 > 0:45:21the so-called "emperor" of wine, Robert Parker Jnr.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24The people who are making good wines
0:45:24 > 0:45:27do get recognised immediately, where 30 years ago,
0:45:27 > 0:45:31the school of thought was they had to make good wine for 20 years before we give them any credit.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37I think Robert Parker, to some extent, launched Australian wine into the US market
0:45:37 > 0:45:39and made the Barossa famous.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44Those big Barossa reds got 100 out of 100
0:45:44 > 0:45:48and suddenly went from 10 to 200 a bottle.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51What Hazel was doing, people were doing in the UK,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54was saying that Australian wines were great and cheap and cheerful, that sort of thing.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58Whereas Robert Parker said these wines aren't just good value for money,
0:45:58 > 0:46:01this country makes some of the greatest wines in the world.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07Parker's Wine Advocate magazine was seen as an independent voice
0:46:07 > 0:46:13and a swathe of cash-rich young Americans had money to invest in fine wines.
0:46:14 > 0:46:20On Parker's word, the Silicon Valley set from the dot.com boom bought up big.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26Some Aussie wine producers became millionaires overnight.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29Robert is so powerful so that once you get 100 points from Parker
0:46:29 > 0:46:32you're put into a different league. For example,
0:46:32 > 0:46:35Parker re-reviewed one of my wines several years ago
0:46:35 > 0:46:38and upgraded it from 99 points to 100. You wouldn't think that would make any difference,
0:46:38 > 0:46:43but the few cases of that wine that we had left basically sold out within seconds.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48Robert Parker's enthusiasm for their wine
0:46:48 > 0:46:52encouraged Australians to target the cheaper end of the lucrative US market too.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57John Casella, son of Italian immigrants,
0:46:57 > 0:47:02found the Americans keen to try his new easy-drinking brand Yellow Tail.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05They saw Australia as the next big thing
0:47:05 > 0:47:08and hence we were given shelf space, we were given opportunities.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10Yellow Tail arrived at just the right time.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13We didn't have to age it for years in barrels.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16We didn't have to wait for a perfect vintage.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18It was something that we could do continuously
0:47:18 > 0:47:21and grow at an ever-increasing pace.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27In the first year, their target was 25,000 cases.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31They sold over a million!
0:47:33 > 0:47:36Now the family winery looks like this.
0:47:38 > 0:47:44Yellow Tail boasts storage capacity for 230 million litres of wine.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49It produces 58,000 bottles an hour
0:47:49 > 0:47:51on the fastest bottling line in the world.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55Of all bottled products now leaving Australia,
0:47:55 > 0:47:5920% bear the Yellow Tail logo.
0:48:03 > 0:48:09We've brought a lot of people to Australian wine that would have normally not bought Australian wine.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12So the effect has been positive rather than negative.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15In 2001,
0:48:15 > 0:48:17the year Yellow Tail launched in America,
0:48:17 > 0:48:23Australian wine imports to Britain were up to 171 million litres,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25just over half that of France.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Only two years later,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31it was 243 million litres
0:48:31 > 0:48:33and overtook a declining France
0:48:33 > 0:48:38to become the number one wine importing country to the UK.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40'An enormous amount of success, so much so
0:48:40 > 0:48:42'there's a whole generation of English drinkers
0:48:42 > 0:48:46'who have been brought up probably drinking nothing else other than Australian wine.'
0:48:46 > 0:48:51Australian wine revolutionised the way that people in the UK and Ireland drank wine.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55They blazed a trail and changed the drinking habits of the British Isles.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Take that, Monty Python! We won!
0:48:58 > 0:49:00I love Aussie wine, yeah.
0:49:00 > 0:49:01It's lovely.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03Shanny-shanny-shanny! Oi! Oi! Oi!
0:49:09 > 0:49:12While the Aussie winemakers celebrated their success,
0:49:12 > 0:49:16the smell of money attracted outside admirers.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21Large corporations salivated over the rapidly increasing sales figures
0:49:21 > 0:49:25and targeted wineries with offers of big cash buy-outs.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30During the '90s, there was this massive global intrigue
0:49:30 > 0:49:31about wine, in wine,
0:49:31 > 0:49:34wanting to invest in wine, wanting to acquire wineries.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38And we had a lot of people making phone calls.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40And I would always say,
0:49:40 > 0:49:43"Look, don't bother. Just don't bother.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46"I'll see you coming up the drive and I'll just shoot you."
0:49:47 > 0:49:52For some family-owned wineries, history meant more than the bottom line.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55You keep looking back and saying, "What are the runs on the scoreboard?
0:49:55 > 0:49:58"What have we achieved? Is it measurable in dollars?"
0:49:58 > 0:50:00Possibly not.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03But by the start of the new millennium,
0:50:03 > 0:50:07it was increasingly difficult to keep the fat cats out.
0:50:07 > 0:50:10Soon, 80% of the country's wine production
0:50:10 > 0:50:13was controlled by only four companies.
0:50:13 > 0:50:18The breweries came in. Spirit producers came into the wine game.
0:50:18 > 0:50:20They didn't understand the cycle.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23They thought it was on a perpetual trend line
0:50:23 > 0:50:26that went from west to east like that.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30Even Rosemount, with its all-conquering Chardonnay,
0:50:30 > 0:50:34couldn't hold out against the tide of corporate takeovers
0:50:34 > 0:50:38as beer company Southcorp, now owned by Foster's, bought them out.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43Rosemount is a very different business today from when it was a family company.
0:50:43 > 0:50:51I think it reinforces the concept that wine companies are probably best run by families.
0:50:51 > 0:50:56For breweries, beer is made to a weatherproof recipe.
0:50:56 > 0:51:01So the new owners had little patience for the mysteries of time and climate.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05The wine industry is a long-term thinking area
0:51:05 > 0:51:07where you really need to be planning a long way ahead,
0:51:07 > 0:51:10as far as planting vineyards, exploring regions,
0:51:10 > 0:51:12trialling grape varieties.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16So that is completely at odds with the short-term thinking of corporations
0:51:16 > 0:51:18who are always thinking about returns for shareholders.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22The big companies just do not get it.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26They think they can rationalise, streamline,
0:51:26 > 0:51:32make marketing and sales, distribution, those things, bound together, more effective.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36And, in fact, they march rapidly in the opposite direction.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40There is a point at which growth has to slow down.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43Nobody can go on exponentially growing.
0:51:43 > 0:51:49Australia got caught up in its own hype, if you like, and started believing its own bullshit.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54And a lot of us at the time started saying, "Is it really going to keep going like this?
0:51:54 > 0:51:58"Are you sure that common sense wouldn't dictate that it'll start slowing off?
0:51:58 > 0:52:02"No? OK. Right. We'll just keep going, shall we? Fine."
0:52:03 > 0:52:05And keep going they did.
0:52:05 > 0:52:12The industry set a target of 4.5 billion turnover for 2025,
0:52:12 > 0:52:15a target that was hit 20 years early.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20That of itself should have sounded a note of warning.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24It's an agricultural industry after all, at its base.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29A combination of corporate control
0:52:29 > 0:52:30and government tax breaks
0:52:30 > 0:52:34meant that more and more vines were being planted each year.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37And quality was beginning to suffer.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44The world was flooded with sub-standard Australia wine.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50When Australia started dumping cheap glut stuff on our market,
0:52:50 > 0:52:52I just thought, "I can't believe this!"
0:52:52 > 0:52:56You've worked so hard to say Australian wine always over delivers
0:52:56 > 0:52:59and now you're breeding a new generation of people who are saying,
0:52:59 > 0:53:03"We've moved on from Australian wine cos Australian wine under delivers."
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Whoever was left drinking Australian wine,
0:53:09 > 0:53:11was the wrong kind of ambassador.
0:53:11 > 0:53:16Bridget Jones was partial to a bottle of Chardonnay...
0:53:16 > 0:53:19- Or six.- ..by herself. - In the Cafe Rouge, yes.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22- By herself.- With her friends.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24And after that,
0:53:24 > 0:53:26- it's...- Especially after the film.
0:53:26 > 0:53:32- It became a bit of a loser's choice. - It was a bit naff.- It was a bit sad.
0:53:32 > 0:53:33It wasn't the greatest of looks.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37It was the final nail in the coffin for Chardonnay.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39Footballers' Wives was on at the same time.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42And one of them was actually called Chardonnay.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45"Chardonnay! Chardonnay!" That's what did it.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Whether Footballers' Wives or Bridget Jones were to blame,
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Australian wine was facing a crisis.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57What happened in this whole recent story
0:53:57 > 0:54:01is that people, to a degree, got a little lackadaisical
0:54:01 > 0:54:03and a little bit corporatised as people.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08That wasn't the Australia that people were buying into.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14All of us had had enough of Australia's industrial junk.
0:54:14 > 0:54:20And so we set out to get the things that were great about Australia's wine
0:54:20 > 0:54:22back in front of the world.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28There's more great wine being made in this country today than ever in its history.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33There's more interesting wine, more diversity of wine style.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40Australian winemakers are now focused on reflecting the variety
0:54:40 > 0:54:44that comes from a land with more wine regions than anywhere else.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48We're looking more at regionality and individual vineyard site.
0:54:48 > 0:54:53Those wines which are about that sense of place
0:54:53 > 0:54:56rather than looking at how are we going to get the biggest crop
0:54:56 > 0:54:59or how are we going to make the most wine.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02So it's everything. You incorporate everything.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05It's the land, it's the vines, it's the people.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07It's the whole farm.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11I suppose, in a way, it equates with the French word "terroir".
0:55:14 > 0:55:16The land, the vines,
0:55:16 > 0:55:18terroir.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21The Aussies are starting to sound almost French!
0:55:23 > 0:55:26And in the Rhone valley in southern France,
0:55:26 > 0:55:30there's a French winemaker with a fondness for all things Australian.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35You can't imagine how much I've learned in Australia.
0:55:36 > 0:55:41Australia was in the 21st century when France was still in the 19th century.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47As well as boasting one of the largest collections of Aboriginal art in the northern hemisphere,
0:55:47 > 0:55:51Chapoutier has invested heavily in Australian vineyards.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55I have seen some of the most beautiful soils in the world there.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59I really think that today, a lot of French winemakers
0:55:59 > 0:56:03are observing what's happened in Australia
0:56:03 > 0:56:08and trying to take inspiration in this direction.
0:56:12 > 0:56:18French and Australian winemakers are now philosophically closer than ever before.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22And the new generation is helping close the gap yet further.
0:56:22 > 0:56:27'The old generation in France, my parents' generation,
0:56:27 > 0:56:33'were more, "If it's a good wine it will sell by itself", blah, blah, blah.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35But also the thing that maybe my generation
0:56:35 > 0:56:39are starting to think about, "Yes, we need marketing"
0:56:39 > 0:56:43and of course when we see some kangaroo on the bottle,
0:56:43 > 0:56:48we have to say, "OK, we have to do something like this."
0:56:51 > 0:56:54And some French wines are doing exactly that.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01The marketing is really well done
0:57:01 > 0:57:07because you really understand what is the variety, what is the grape.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11And there is also a touch of humour
0:57:11 > 0:57:16because some French wines are really boring!
0:57:16 > 0:57:18Ribet! Ribet! Ribet!
0:57:19 > 0:57:22The first one we've got is quite unusual.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25It's a sparkling wine from Australia.
0:57:25 > 0:57:27It's actually from Tasmania
0:57:27 > 0:57:30and it contains Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier,
0:57:30 > 0:57:32the classic champagne grapes.
0:57:32 > 0:57:37Australian wine has gone from Chateau Chunder
0:57:37 > 0:57:41to "sunshine in a bottle" to the mystery of terroir
0:57:41 > 0:57:43in a single generation.
0:57:43 > 0:57:48The Australian wine is a little bit more expressive, a bit more intense.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50It is from a sunnier place.
0:57:51 > 0:57:53From Old World to New World,
0:57:53 > 0:57:55from banquet hall to beach party,
0:57:55 > 0:57:58whatever your taste - or lack of it -
0:57:58 > 0:58:02the Aussies have taken us from laying down and avoiding their wine
0:58:02 > 0:58:05to standing up and celebrating it.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07Whenever I encounter Australian winemakers,
0:58:07 > 0:58:13they're still on a quest, all desperately trying to make each vintage better than the last.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17It's like the French would say their best wine was made 100 years ago.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20You ask us, our best wine hasn't been made yet.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24# Dimiat, Oremus, Johannisberg, Teinturier,
0:58:24 > 0:58:26# Montonico and Zinfandel And Carignan and Malaga
0:58:26 > 0:58:28# And Rolle Bombrio Bianco And Gloria Mortagua
0:58:28 > 0:58:31# Centurion, Camaralet, Franconian, Picutener
0:58:31 > 0:58:34# And Carmenere, Tersallier, Marzemino, Livatica
0:58:34 > 0:58:37# And Bouvier and Monastrell and Travenger and Trollinger
0:58:39 > 0:58:42# There's Muscadet, Viognier and Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains
0:58:42 > 0:58:44# And also Maritetico with Estadio Cubillo
0:58:44 > 0:58:46# And ruby Claret and Roussillon and Sauvignon
0:58:46 > 0:58:49# And Riesling, Mischa, Malbec, Marzemino and Semillon
0:58:49 > 0:58:51# These are amongst the ones
0:58:51 > 0:58:53# Of which the news has come to Jancis
0:58:53 > 0:58:56# There may be many others But I don't fancy their chances! #
0:58:56 > 0:58:59Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd