Food: Bottoms Up, Down Under

Americans are turning on to Australia's fruity wines

Not so long ago, the ditsy wits of the Monty Python shows could get a quick laugh by disparaging some plonk from Australia as "a wine for laying down and leaving there." No longer. The wines from Down Under are moving steadily up in quality, and they are enjoying a new popularity in the U.S. Riding a trend for Aussie chic that has made household names of Qantas, Pat Cash and "Crocodile" Dundee, U.S. sales of Australian wines topped 1 million gallons last year, more than triple the volume of 1986. "People who have experimented with Australian wines have been very...

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