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中文名：黑林谷
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英文名：Blackwood Valley
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位置：
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葡萄园面积：公顷
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Blackwood Valley is an Australian wine region located along the banks of the Blackwood river – one of the key waterways in the south-western corner of Western Australia. The river itself begins at the confluence of the Arthur and Balgarup rivers, and runs south-west towards the coast; there, it flows into the merging Indian and Southern oceans near the Karridale district of Margaret River. En route, the river winds its way down through some of the most-elevated areas in this part of Western Australia, reaching 1000ft (300m) in some places. It flows through Bridgetown – the centre of the Blackwood Valley region and home to several of its wineries – before reaching Nannup, where Houghton, the state's largest wine producer, has its southern vineyards.
Blackwood Valley plugs the inland gap left by the coastal regions as they work their way around the south-western corner of the state. Clockwise from the south-east, Blackwood Valley's neighbors are Great Southern (specifically the Frankland River sub-region), Manjimup, Margaret River and Geographe.
The climate here is Mediterranean in type, with warm, dry summers and wet winters. As expected in a riverine area of varied altitude, the soils differ from place to place. Those of most interest to Blackwood Valley viticulturalists are the alluvial soils deposited on the floors of steep-sided valleys, and the thinner, free-draining gravel on the lower slopes.
Few Western Australian regions can be described as 'established' – the obvious exception being the Swan District just north of the state capital, Perth – but the Blackwood Valley is one of the very youngest. The earliest commercial vineyards were planted here in 1976 near Boyup Brook on the north-eastern edge of the region, along the upper reaches of the river.
Today, Blackwood river wines are dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, with Shiraz taking second place and the Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon duo making up about one-quarter of plantings combined. Due to the relative youth of the vineyards, Blackwood Valley wineries often buy in their grapes from contract growers or from outside the region.
