Vine varieties: Verdelho

(25,967 tonnes in 2004, down to 11,582 in 2013). Mid-19th-century writings were consistent in their view that this was Australia’s most valuable white variety, the counterpart, as it were, of Shiraz. It was first imported in 1825 from Madeira by the Australian Agriculture Company, and on several other occasions thereafter. Quite why Australia should have embarked on an enthusiastic but solo (with the exception of Portugal) programme of making table wine with it is a mystery. It is a wine suited to everyday use from a vine that thrives in warm climates and yields well but not prodigiously, producing a popular, easy wine for relatively early drinking.