Twelve of the world's most influential wine media and educators arrive in the Barossa Valley this week on the first leg of a national tour of Australia's wine regions.

Wine Australia is hosting the visit, which they describe as the industry's "most significant" investment to date in spreading the word about Australian fine wines to an international audience.

The program will also include an insight into the nation's gourmet foods, hospitality and tourism.

The group are currently in the Barossa Valley for five days before travelling further afield on regional tours across South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia.

The inaugural Landmark Australia Tutorial will comprise more than 200 of Australia’s finest wines, presented by the country’s leading winemakers and commentators, and accompanied by an original series of seminars devised uniquely for the event.

Anticipated highlights include an ‘historic’ masterclass featuring sought-after wines such as the 1954 Seppelt Great Western Hermitage K72 Shiraz, the first vintage of Penfolds Grange (1955) and an extremely rare 1955 Wynns Coonawarra Estate ‘Michael’ Hermitage.

Paul Henry, Wine Australia’s general manager of market development, said: "The intention of the Landmark Australia Tutorial is to create a forum for people to discover and debate the voice of our top Australian wines. It should serve as a rallying point for informed wine opinion, and aspires to be the most influential residential wine
course in the world. It certainly promises to be the most authoritative and extensive exploration of Australian fine wine yet undertaken.”

The 248 wines chosen to articulate the Australian fine wine story were nominated in collaboration with the guest tutors for each masterclass, and are intended to capture a sense of Australia’s winemaking history, as well as to give an indication of Australia’s intended future direction in terms of style, varietal expression, technical development and regional signature.

“The world should be much more familiar with the contribution Australia can make as a producer of fine wine, and also as a leading exponent of exceptional cuisine, cutting edge hospitality and inspiring regional tourism,” Henry concluded.

Anyone around the world can watch and respond with their thoughts throughout the week, by contributing to Wine Australia’s blog at www.landmark-wineaustralia.com or via Twitter www.twitter.com/winehero.