Coonawarra — the name is Aboriginal for 'honeysuckle' — is considered, along with Western Australia's Margaret River, one of the best places in the country for structured cabernet sauvignons.
The region, about 230 miles (370 kilometres) south of Adelaide, is a cigar-shaped strip just 7.5 miles (12 kilometres) long and 1.2 miles (1.9 kilometres) wide of terra rossa soil — porous reddish clay overlaying limestone.
The climate, not surprisingly, is maritime, like that of Bordeaux.