Welcome to the free world

European winemakers are restricted on what their labels can say. Australians are not so precious. The Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée systems of Europe work on the principle that if a grape variety is not specifically approved for growing in a given region, the wine made from it cannot mention the variety; it is only allowed to state “product of France” (or Italy, etc) and, in some appellations, cannot specify the vintage. When winemakers from those countries are asked where they would go if they were to start again, they all answer Australia.