Langhorne Creek is one of those go-to places for Top Value wine region. Langhorne creek website

Wine is a fashion business, as we all know. Bordeaux is out of fashion presently (and undeservedly in my view). Cabernet sauvignon and shiraz have both had their ups and downs in Australia, but cabernet sauvignon is still the world’s most popular premium wine varietal.

Likewise winegrowing regions are vulnerable to fashion, but it takes a longer time for a region to change its fortunes.

Regional fashion is closely linked to the popularity of the grape varieties or styles of wine produced by that region.

Rutherglen is famous for its currently not very fashionable fortified wines, so it has been vigorously placing more effort on table wines. Reds especially as they are more suited to the region than whites. Whites are needed, though, so these wineries tend to source their white grapes from other, cooler areas such as King Valley (just as the Barossa sources whites from Eden Valley and Adelaide Hills).

Fashionable regions can charge more for their wines. Margaret River, Tasmania, Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and Adelaide Hills are all examples.

Margaret River is well placed to weather the storms of fashion as it excels in a wide range of grape varieties. Adelaide Hills similarly.

Coonawarra and Hunter Valley are examples of regions which don’t have such a wide menu of grape varieties at which they excel. It could be argued that they are not highly fashionable right now.

The best value for money tends to come from regions that are less fashionable. (There are of course other factors, such as cost of production, lower in the Murray-Darling and Riverina, for example.)

Langhorne Creek is one of those go-to places that I think of first. There is no good reason for Langhorne Creek to be out of vogue, but counting against it are the fact that it has few wineries, and its large area of vineyards has long been a source for the big wine companies which never had a foot on the ground there, and seldom acknowledged the fruit source on their labels. It’s also far more prized for red wines and fortifieds than whites. Hence it had a low profile. Rutherglen is a similar case.

In Langhorne Creek think Bremerton (its Tamblyn cabernet blend, Selkirk Shiraz and Coulthard Cabernet Sauvignon are reliable value red-wine brands), Bleasdale (Wild Fig Shiraz Grenache Mourvèdre and Bremerview Shiraz are solid bets), and Lake Breeze (Cabernet Sauvignon, Bernoota Shiraz Cabernet and Bull Ant brands are top value), and Metala (various red varietals but especially the white label shiraz cabernet).

In Rutherglen the De Bortoli-owned Rutherglen Estates is producing excellent wines at various levels which deliver the sort of value for which De Bortoli is justly famous.

In the Riverina, De Bortoli’s Deen De Bortoli label (especially the durif) is a top value, and at the entry-level, the Sacred Hill wines are very quaffable. And there’s Nugan Estate, Calabria, Yarran, Quarisa and others delivering good quality and sharp value.

Perth’s Swan Valley is another region that is less fashionable these days because it’s a hot area that excels in fortified wines, but there is excellent wine there, and value too. Think Mandoon, Nikola Estate (the former Houghton), Sandalford, Windy Creek, John Kosovich, Faber Vineyard, Talijancich and Sittella.

Perhaps the most undersung region in the country is WA’s Geographe region. It has only 20-odd wineries but covers a quite large area that hugs the crescent of Geographe Bay and sits directly beside and to the north of Margaret River.

It’s a hard ask to compete with Margaret River, Pemberton and the Great Southern, but Geographe will surely become better known as its wines penetrate the market and the minds of drinkers. Names to remember are Whicher Ridge, Harvey River Estate, Talisman, Willow Bridge, Mazza, Aylesbury Estate, Iron Cloud/Pepperilly and Capel Vale.