Surviving the distraction of the Gold Rush and the destruction of the phylloxera epidemic, South Australia has emerged as Australia’s largest wine producing state, providing over half of the country’s entire wine stock.

Arguably producing the finest wines in the whole of Australia, the State is sub-divided into 17 wine regions, which, like the wine regions of New South Wales, vary massively in climate and soil. The State covers everything from cool and wet to hot and dry. The resulting assortment of wines being created here means there is something for every taste.

The Barossa Valley region is regarded by some as the birthplace of Australia’s modern wine making industry and is often considered its most important region in terms of quality, perhaps due to the area’s notoriety as home to the country’s flagship wine Penfolds Grange. It would be fair to say that Barossa is to Shiraz what New Zealand is to Sauvignon Blanc.

If Cabernet Sauvignon is your thing then think Coonawarra, whose rich, red soils are reflected in its wine. Mt Benson too. For Riesling head to Clare Valley or Eden Valley regions. McLaren Vale offers more Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon and, arguably, the best Chardonnay to be found in Australia. And the extraordinarily diverse Adelaide Hills will wow you with its Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc or Shiraz, often hand picked out of necessity on its vertiginous slopes.