One of the most important wine-producing regions in Australia. It’s located in the state of SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA in the Barossa Zone, which also includes the EDEN VALLEY to the southeast. The Barossa Valley is about 40 miles northeast of the city of Adelaide. In the late 1830s and early 1840s, dissident German Lutherans and English settlers began populating the Barossa Valley. Vines were first planted in 1847, and wine soon becamea part of the local culture, with the industry continuing to grow slowly over the next few decades. Growth accelerated during the 1880s and continued into the twentieth century, thereby establishing the Barossa as one of Australia’s best-known wine regions. The climate here is generally warm and dry, but the eastern hills offer a cool growing area. There are about 23,000 acres of vineyards (Barossa and Eden Valley combined) and tons of grapes are shipped into this region’s wineries for processing. The most popular grape grown for white TABLE WINES is RIESLING, followed by CHARDONNAY and SÉMILLON. PALOMINO and PEDRO XIMÉNEX are still grown for use in FORTIFIED WINES, which have historically been a part of this area’s winemaking tradition. The most popular red grape is Shiraz (SYRAH), and the Barossa Valley is world-famous for these wines, some made from vines dating back to the mid-1800s. Other very successful red VARIETIES are CABERNET SAUVIGNON, GRENACHE, and Mataro (MOURVÈDRE).