New South Wales is about the same size as Texas, comprising about one-tenth of Australia’s land mass including over 1,300 miles of beautiful coastline. It was here, at Botany Bay, that then-Lieutenant James Cook (who also led the first European contact with Hawaii) first landed in 1770, and eighteen years later where the first British colony was set up at Sydney Cove.
Viticulturally, the state produces about a quarter of Australia’s wine (three-quarters from the prolific growing zone of Big Rivers). It is home to the iconic wines of the Hunter Valley, where James Busby first planted vines in 1825. Today it is known both for a vast selection of quality grapes from warm regions like Riverina as much as for smaller, magnificent high-altitude vineyards around Canberra and Orange.