Wine Producing Regions - Southern Flinders

You can click the dots on the map or alternatively click the licks on the left to find out more information about that region of South Australia.

• Overview
• Adelaide Hills
• Adelaide Plains
• Barossa Valley
• Clare Valley
• Coonawarra
• Currency Creek
• Eden Valley
• Kangaroo Island
• Langhome Creek
• McLaren Vale
• Mount Benson
• Padthaway
• Riverland
• Southern Fleurieu
• Southern Flinders
• Wrattonbully

Southern Flinders Ranges, South Australia

This is a new wine-growing region that emerged during the last 20 years of the 20th century. It is located to the east and north-east of Port Pirie which forms an urban focus for the region though not a part of it. It is also a natural north-western extension of the Clare Valley region with which it shares many geological factors. It is, of course, part of the Flinders Ranges, which as they continue south become the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, the geological backbone of the Clare Valley.

Like much of South Australia, the 19th century history of the region was concerned with wheat and wool, and though it received a visit from the peripatetic Mr Thomas Hardy in 1892, its early grape growing experiences were limited to small areas of table grapes and dried fruit. The late 20th century wine boom saw new plantings from 1980 onwards and a surge of interest in wine grapes during the 1990s.

As at the end of 2003, the Southern Flinders Ranges was overwhelmingly a red wine area with only token plantings of white. However, as altitudes and climate are not markedly dissimilar to those of the Clare Valley, it is possible that Riesling may fare well in the future.

The region rises from near sea level (20 metres) to 718 metres (the peak of Frypan Hill), though most of its vineyards are located between 40 and 500 metres (131 to 1640 feet) altitude. Indeed much of the region sits above 300 metres (874 feet). The soils, although varied, are quite deep and mostly limestone based, fertile and quite suitable for viticulture.

Despite its northerly situation, the climate of the region can be described as warm and dry, rather than hot, being assisted in its relative mildness by its elevation and the maritime influences of the Spencer Gulf to the south-west and southerly winds from the Gulf of St Vincent. Most vineyards are irrigated from underground sources.

Wine Notes

Shiraz

These are full-coloured, robust reds of berry and licorice aromatics that bear some resemblance to those of the Clare Valley to the south-east and should keep well.