Australia is on a roll. According to the latest set of figures from the Australian Wine Bureau, exports to the UK are up by 30% in value and 26% in volume on last year. We drank about 216 million litres of it last year - a huge jump from 1992's consumption figure of 32 million litres.
So what of the latest vintage? Well, it's a vast country but, for many regions, the going was good - comparable with 1998, they say, though not such an easy ride for the folks down in south-eastern Australia, where the drought still rages.
This year's Australia Day tastings, which took place in London earlier this month, were the perfect opportunity to catch up with what's been going on down under. With tables heaving under the weight of Shiraz and Cabernet, Chardonnay and Sémillon, I was on a mission to search out the oddballs - wines guaranteed to get your customers talking.
You can hardly describe Australia as New World any more, such is its established reputation, but it's still at the vanguard, doing the pioneer thing of experimenting with different varieties, different clones, on different soils, in different climates.
One such pioneer is Nepenthe Wines in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. Famous for its mainstream varieties, it also makes Californian favourite Zinfandel. In fact, it makes two, one from grapes planted in its Lenswood vineyard, the other from grapes grown in Charleston, the latter with the edge on structure (Stratford Wine Agencies, 01628 810606, £112).
Nepenthe also makes a fair Tempranillo, but forget the Spanish style, this is a much richer expression. "And it keeps the winemakers happy," says Nepenthe's Paul Limpus.
The Frankland Riverlands in Western Australia are being touted as a region to watch. Even though it has been tipped by viticultural experts as an ideal place to make wine, few people know about this isolated region. With its gently rolling hills and broad valleys 80km from the ocean, Shiraz and Cabernet shine, along with other less obvious grapes. I tried a Malbec from the recently developed Aus$30m (£11m) Ferngrove Estate which showed great promise (available through Great Western Wines, 01225 322803, £96). "We planted it first to blend, but we liked it so much we decided to bottle it on its own," explains Ferngrove's Sean Johnson.
There was also a surprising number of Petit Verdot at the show. This classic Bordeaux grape rarely makes it beyond a blend, but more than a handful of producers were offering it as a single varietal. Even Yalumba has got in on the act, with its Antipodean Petit Verdot 2001, on sale at a very reasonable £66 a case (available through Negociants UK, 01582 462859).
Other oddballs turned up, such as Charlie Melton's valiant vin santo (Liberty Wines, 020 720 5350) and a Plantagenet Chenin Blanc (also Liberty) from Mount Barker in Western Australia, while D'Arenberg (Bibendum Wine, 020 7449 4110) has dabbled with a Shiraz Viognier blend in its Laughing Magpie label.
The oddest of all, though, was the Booarra Carnelian. Ever heard of a grape called Carnelian? I hadn't. "Actually, we thought it was Sangiovese," admits Vin Lange of Western Range Wines (distributed by Bottle Green, 0113 205 4500).
Carnelian is a cross between Cabernet and Carignan and was developed at California's UC Davis in 1978. "But it's got a reputation for over-cropping," Lange explains, and they have to thin out the vines at least three times to keep the yields down. There's some juicy fruit, but the tannins are a little on the hefty side. Asked if it's available in the UK yet, Lange says: "We're still looking for a slot."