Australia who makes a fall time living out of

writing about wine.

He also talks about wine
and talks in such an in-
teresting way that you
cannot help but feel, that
here -is a man who’ had
dedicated his life to” the
noble grape. ‘ye

In’ other words, :Parkin-
ton, aged 34, is the nerfect
ambassador for the
Australian Wine Board in its
most recent campaign to
promote wines in this
country,

~ Following close on the
heels of an Australian wine
tasting that did not overly.

‘

Believing that I was a
person of some importance

the field of wine criticism
in. Vancouver, the wine
_ board made’ ‘te one of the

‘ targets in this canipaign.

And leaving _ aside the
truth of that, belief, I'm glad
they did becaisse it gave me
an opportunity to meet John
Parkinson and his collection
of some of Australia’ ‘3 better
wines. a

Parkinson stressed that
the wine he had brought was
an indication of. the quality
_of wines that tho Australian

impress Vancouver wine - wine industry was capablo of

oritica, the wine board had a

bit ‘of bridge-building to do. .-

and obviously it felt
Parkinson. was the man to do
it,

Producing. .
-In other words Australia
was using its big guns to blow

away any doubts ‘about —

Australian wines that may

have lingered - and in my
case they succeeded.

In fact, having liberally
tasted nine of Australia’s
best wiries in one evening, I
had this: overwhelming
desire to go to Australia and

spend my life wandering in

the ‘verdant vincyards of
places like Coonawarra and
Mudgee.

The Anstralian wine
industry has been around a
long time. but has only been
producing quality wines for
the last decade or so.

From - 1830. to 1900
Australia produced fortified
wines forthe port and sherry
drinking public in England.

Even’ as late as the mid
1950's the bulk of the
Australian wine industry was
involved in producing
‘fortified wines.

In the mid-60’s the. in-

| ‘dustry ‘switched to red’ wine

production’ and Parkinson
talks of “the big hearty wines

ne” cere

exhibition at Presén-
7 for ~.

another “two weeks.

“Moore ‘photos. on page

: C.Temy Peters photo)

of '65.”

These wines were not that
great, required a lot of aging
and-have a tendency to turn
black with age: -

In the early 70's, the trend
turned to dry whites and
Australians | who had been
producing red wines at a
ratio of 2-1 reversed this
trend.

Only now is the pendulum
beginning to:swing back and
Parkinson .says 1980: is
probably the best vintage |
they've had for. red wine.
And he says the ‘81's will
probably bp twice as good.

That is the capsulated
history of a wine industry

“Enhance your outdoor environment with a

PAVINGSTONES

° Last alifetime
© Cholce of 3 shapes

serving eared ai ct at ® install yourself or have us do the work
wine per capita than e Alf work fully guaranteed
Canada.

In the course of my
evening with Parkinson we
tasted the best of cach of
these periods, from a 1967
CONTINUED ON PAGE CA

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hing for the HOMES: Page C11