They may be “New World” but Australia’s sparkling wines are steeped in more tradition than they get credit for.
Long before Clover Hill and House of Arras started in the late ’80s and early ’90s, all the way back in 1827, ex-convict Bartholomew Broughton was the first to sell an Australian “imitation of Champagne”, having planted Tasmania’s first commercial vineyard four years earlier. This is according to new research by Andrew Caillard MW, who shines a light on Australia’s long history with bubbly wine in his upcoming tome, The Australian Ark.
While we often
