Currency Creek
A small maritime pocket on the Fleurieu where the Murray finally reaches the sea, cooled by water on two sides and barely above it. Far quieter than the South Australian names an hour to the north.
Known for
- Shiraz
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Chardonnay
Why Currency Creek tastes the way it does
A small, flat, maritime pocket on the Fleurieu, cooled by the lake and the Southern Ocean. Shiraz and Cabernet are the mainstays, riper than the Adelaide Hills and fresher than Langhorne Creek next door.
January averages 21.2°C here and the growing season adds up to 1,850 heat units, which is warm, and it shows in riper, fuller wine.
A short history
Planted from 1969, so this is a modern region rather than a historical one, and it has stayed small.
Currency Creek was registered as a protected wine name in 2001, which makes the boundary a legal definition rather than a marketing one.
What your house does to a bottle from Currency Creek
A bottle from Currency Creek ages at the rate its temperature sets, not at the rate the vintage chart says. Barello's model is the physical one: every 10°C above 13°C roughly doubles the rate, and at 25°C or more you are not ageing it, you are cooking it. Pick where you live and where the bottle actually sits.
Choose a city and a spot, and this line will tell you how much faster the bottle is ageing than it would in a cellar.
This is the same model that dates every bottle in Barello. Open the app to run it against your own wine. Or read how to store wine without a cellar, or the wine temperature chart.
Currency Creek in numbers
| Planted vineyard | 1,053 ha | number 24 of 64 in Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Region area | 469 km² | 2.25% of it under vine |
| Grapes crushed | 4,532 t a year | 4.3 tonnes a hectare |
| January average | 21.2°C | number 24 coolest of 64 |
| Heat units | 1,850 | warmth added up over the growing season |
| Land in the GI rises | 0 to 286 m | the boundary, not where the vines are |
| Registered | 2001 | as a protected name |
Nearby
- Langhorne Creek24 km north east, known for Cabernet Sauvignon instead
- McLaren Vale40 km north west, also Shiraz country
- Adelaide Hills54 km north, known for Sauvignon Blanc instead
Distances are between the registered centres of each region, so they are as the crow flies rather than as the road goes.
Where these numbers come from
Boundaries and figures: Wine Australia Geographical Indications register, used under CC BY 4.0. Climate figures are the register's own long-run averages, measured in the vineyard. The history and the tasting notes above are Barello's own.