Fed: World s first 2000 wine to come from Bourke

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-1999
Fed: World s first 2000 wine to come from Bourke

By Karen Michelmore

SYDNEY, Dec 10 AAP - In the Australian outback the locals generally like a cold beer or two.

The amber fluid helps them keep cool in the searing summer heat, which can top 50 degrees.

But in the New South Wales town of Bourke they may be turning to a glass of chardonnay instead.

Bourke, located about 800km northwest of Sydney, will produce what is likely to be
the world's first millennium wine, the Genesis Chardonnay 2000.

The community, which has never before produced a bottle of wine, is on track to become
the maker of a limited edition full-bodied chardonnay, expected to sell for $500 a bottle.

The man behind the venture, international wine consultant Richard Smart, said he scoured
the world looking for the best place to make the wine.

Bourke is the first place on Earth where there will be grapes ripe at the stroke of
midnight on December 31, Dr Smart said.

"The first time zone of the new year covers New Zealand, but it is just too cold -
they don't harvest their grapes until March," he told AAP.

The Hunter Valley in NSW did not qualify because its grapes were not ripe until the
end of January.

"Victoria was out, because the northern part of Victoria is just not hot enough," he said.

"Queensland could do it but they are an hour behind us.

"That means somewhere in western NSW."

So the agricultural and cotton-growing region of Bourke was chosen, and a vineyard
secretly planted there three years ago, he said.

The first crop will be picked immediately after the stroke of midnight on New Year's
Eve, crushed and inoculated with yeast to begin the wine process just a few minutes into
the new century.

It will then be trucked to the Andrew Harris winery in Mudgee, where the winemaking
will be completed.

Dr Smart said he was confident Genesis Chardonnay 2000 would be the first wine of the
new century.

"The best anyone else could do would be to tie with us," he said.

"We kept the vineyard planting a secret for three years so no-one else would do it.

"As far as I know, no-one else has challenged us."

Bourke Chamber of Commerce treasurer Harry Hart said locals were excited about the venture.

"(However), people in Bourke are basically beer drinkers," he added.

The wine will come in three categories.

A limited edition collection of 200 top level premium magnums, targeting collectors,
will be packaged in numbered metal time capsules and sold for $500 each.

Other bottles will sell for $150 and $85.

AAP km/tsm/wjf

KEYWORD: MILLENNIUM WINE

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