A large wine region in New South Wales has become the latest official Australian Geographical Indication.

New England Australia, which is around 200 miles north of the Hunter Valley, is located within the Northern Slopes zone of the state.

Jock Osborne, executive officer of the GI committee (part of the Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation), said, ‘The establishment of the New England Australia GI will enable wine growers in the district to regionally brand and market their wines.

‘The emerging wine industry in this region will have the opportunity to benefit from its new status.’

The new GI is located near New South Wales’s northern border with Queensland, and encompasses the towns of Armidale, Glen Innes, Inverell and Tenterfield.

According to AWBC rules, a region is defined as a ‘single tract of land, comprising at least five independently owned wine grape vineyards of at least five hectares each, and usually produce five hundred tonnes of wine grapes in a year’.

Written by Stuart Peskett

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Stuart Peskett
Stuart Peskett
Decanter, Wine Writer & Editor

Stuart Peskett is a UK-based writer and editor with over 20 years’ experience. He is currently head of content at Ad-Rank Media, which specialises in the travel sector. Formerly, he was news editor at Harpers Wine & Spirit (2003-2007), news writer at Squaremeal (2010-2014) and editor of the Whisky Exchange (2014-2018). He has worked as a freelance contributor to Decanter and sub-edited the magazine and Decanter World Wine Awards issue.