Bella Italia: The Italian influence on Australia's wine industry is very strong

The Serafino vineyards in McLaren Vale

Australia’s wine industry may have very strong Anglo-Saxon and Celtic foundations but the Italians also have played a distinguished role, and not just in the post-war years.

Early days at the
De Bortoli winery

The De Bortoli family, for instance, settled in the Riverina region at Griffith in the 1920s and steadily built up a large business, extending later to the Yarra Valley and the Hunter Valley.

They’re not alone, the Casella and Miranda families have played a large part in the area’s prosperity and influence on the Australian industry.

The original Miranda operation might now be in the hands of the McGuigan family and its Australian Vintages operation but the Miranda name continues through Lou Miranda Estate in the Barossa Valley. Originally run by the Liebich family as the Rovalley winery it gave the Mirandas access to premium Barossa fruit, it is now run by Lou Miranda and his daughters Lisa, Angela and Victoria.

Not only did they gain some excellent Barossa vineyards, including several dating back more than a century, they received some lovely old fortified wine resources. 

Meanwhile, in Victoria one of the country’s newer wine regions has a distinctively Italian character. The King Valley originally was prime tobacco growing country but changing consumer tastes and laws prompted the long-established Pizzini family to turn successfully to grape growing. Their love of things Italian prompted them to extend this to growing a goodly range of Italian varieties and the King Valley is now one of Australia’s richest sources of prosecco, sangiovese, pinot grigio and more.

And no mention can be made to the Italian contribution to the Australian industry without reference to Queensland’s Granite Belt where families such as the Puglisis and Costanzas have made a lasting mark.

McLaren Vale has not escaped either, with Vincenzo Berlingieri helping to establish Settlement Wines in the 1970s.

A little earlier, Steve (Serafno) Maglieri had arrived in the district and with help from his father, Giovanni, planted the first of what has grown to about 140 hectares of vineyards. The Maglieri label was sold to Mildara Blass, now part of Treasury Wines, but the Maglieri family continues at Serafino, producing traditional McLaren Vale reds such as shiraz, grenache and cabernet sauvignon under the Black Label range, Sharktooth Shiraz and Sharktooth Chardonnay, from an individual vineyard where the tooth of a giant prehistoric shark was found, several Italian varietals including sangiovese, fiano, vermentino, nebbiolo and primitivo under the Bellissimo label and some special releases of syrah under the Terremoto (Italian for earthquake, a nickname given to Steve Maglieri) label.

Their Black Label range includes McLaren Vale stalwarts shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, the 2019 vintages of which have just come on the market and are worth chasing up as very good representatives of these two varieties..

I don’t have the space to list all the wines Serafino produces, just go to the website www.serafinowines.com.au and check them out. If you can’t find something to your taste, you’re very picky.