I'm not the first person to admit that Australian wine has fallen off my radar in recent years. Many of those hugely extracted, high alcohol wines are just not much fun to drink.That combined with the seemingly endless supply of critter wines at low price points drove me to look elsewhere when making a wine selection.

My colleague Bill Stobbs assures me that one visit to Australia would cause me to have a change of heart. I'm fairly certain a trip down under is not going to happen anytime soon, but last week I got to experience the next best thing.

John Geber, the owner of Chateau Tanunda has brought his yacht the "Grand Barrosa" to the U.S. He is on a mission to disprove many of the misconceptions surrounding Australian wine. Mr. Geber believes a confluence of events--the falling Australian dollar and growing demand for mid-range wines--means the time is right to lead a second wave of exports to the U.S.

Mr. Geber bought Chateau Tanunda in 1998 and spent several million dollars restoring the estate. The property is one of the oldest and most historic wineries in the world. It is the site of the very first vines planted in Barrosa in 1845. The very best of Australia's winemakers including Max Schubert, Bill Seppelt, Grant Burge and others have worked and studied here.

In tasting the wines the first thing that struck me was how well balanced the wines are--no high alcohol fruit bombs here. Classic and refined is how I would describe the wines. Mr. Geber emphasized many times over the course of the evening his philosophy is focused totally on quality.

If you are like me and have not purchased a bottle of Australian wine in a while, give Chateau Tanunda a second look. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Paul Quaglini, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits Wine Supervisor

Follow me on Twitter @abcwinepaulq