By Jane Wardell HOBART Tasmania (Reuters) - Young Australian vintner Nick Glaetzer's winemaking-steeped family thought he was crazy when he abandoned the Barossa Valley - the hot, dry region that is home to the country's world-famous big, brassy shiraz. Trampling over the family's century-old grape-growing roots on the Australian mainland, Glaetzer headed south to the island state of Tasmania to strike out on his own and prove to the naysayers there was a successful future in cooler climate wines. Just five years later, Glaetzer made history when his Glaetzer-Dixon Mon Pere Shiraz won a major national award - the first time judges had handed the coveted trophy to a shiraz made south of the Bass Strait separating Tasmania from the Australian mainland. Glaetzer's gamble embodies a major shift in Australia's wine-growing industry as it responds to climate change. Source: Reuters












