NA ="Baskerville, Midlands, Perth, Upper Swan, Belhus,";
FE1[0]=" The Swan Valley, a subregion of the Swan District, is WA's oldest wine-growing region. It has always been an affable place in which to grow vines and make wine. The flat riverbed provides soils that are incredibly deep and well dr";
FE2[0]="ained together with the hot, dry summer means that grapes ripen easily and quickly, suited to the production of bulk table wine. The Swan Valley is a 30 minute drive from Perth. In the region you will find wildlife and historical ";
FE3[0]="parks, bushland, arts and crafts, and most importantly, several wineries. Like the wineries in other regions, many of the Swan Valley wineries also offer fine cuisine with restaurants that are part of the winery. The Swan Valley i";
FE4[0]="s especially known for its fortified wines, produced with help from the hot Perth Summer. The Swan Valley is also breathtakingly beautiful in wild flower season. Located north of the town of Guildford, at the foot of the Darling R";
FE5[0]="anges, the district is just a thirty-minute drive from Perth, in the Upper Swan Valley. The Swan Valley produces more than 50% of the grapes needed for Western Australia's wine production, as well as a wide range of wines with the";
FE6[0]=" distinctive fruity flavour of the Valley. The main towns are Guildford, Caversham, Baskerville, Middle Swan, Herne Hill and Upper Swan. There are more than 30 wineries in the Valley, from third-generation Italian and Croatian fam";
FE7[0]="ily wineries to international concerns. Many have picturesque properties on the river. Most wineries will also tempt you with restaurants and cafes that serve distinctive regional and fresh produce with their wine. Alfresco dining";
FE8[0]=" under the vines is a popular feature and a great way to enjoy the ambience of the region.";
FE9[0]="";
LA1[0]=" The Swan Valley proper is a flat alluvial plain flanked by the Darling Range and permeated by the tributaries of the Swan River. Gingin and Moondah Brook are set on gentle slopes, while the Darling Range offers a multitude of twis";
LA2[0]="ting small valleys, with almost all the vineyards established on moderately steep slopes. The soils of the Swan Valley proper are typically young alluvial soils, very deep and with excellent moisture retention capacity. They range";
LA3[0]=" from reddish sandy loams through to brown and yellow-brown loamy sands. The other highly suited soil type on the lower slopes of the Darling Range is gravelly sand to gravelly sandy loam overlying brown clay. The main features in";
LA4[0]=" the area are the large sand dunes in Ellensbrook, 45-75 metres above sea level, the State Forest, the Swam river running through the centre of the Swan Valley and the Darling Scarp to the east. The land within the areas of Bullsb";
LA5[0]="rook, Henley Brook, West Swan and Caversham is about 10-45 metres above sea level. At the confluence of the Helena River with the Swan River, there are several soil types. The Swan alluvial terraces occur along the river banks bet";
LA6[0]="ween the confluence with the Swan River and the lower pipe head dam. The sediments are characterised by having red earths and duplex soils. At West Midland and East Guildford, the soils consists of yellow to brown silt with fine t";
LA7[0]="o coarse grained laterite, quartz sand and heavily weathered granite pebble. On the southern section of the river at Hazelmere and Helena Valley, the Southern River sand plains occur. In the swampy areas of this formation, iron an";
LA8[0]="d humus podzols, peats and clays can be found. At Koongamia and Helena Valley, the lateritised foothills of the Darling Scarp are dominated by gravelly and sandy soils. The Darling Scarp consists of very steep slopes with shallow ";
LA9[0]="red and yellow earths and much rock outcrop.";
CL1[0]=" The Swan Valley climate is Mediterranean, tempered by Indian Ocean breezes, with hot dry summers and mild wet winters. The average daily maximum temperature in Perth is 23.6 deg C & Upper Swan 25.4 deg C; minimum temperature 13.5 ";
CL2[0]="deg C, Upper Swan 10.9 deg C. The average rainfall is 869 mm in Perth and 737 mm per year in Upper Swan. This area has the highest mean January temperature (24.3C) of any significant district. It has the lowest summer rainfall of ";
CL3[0]="any Australian region (107 mm), the lowest relative humidity (47 percent), and the most sunshine hours per day (9.7 hours). Its heat summation (HDD) almost comes as an anticlimax at 2340. However, the valley is relieved from the h";
CL4[0]="eat by the famous Fremantle Doctor - the sea breeze! The Gingin/Moondah Brook area is somewhat cooler, and although still at the very warm end of the climatic spectrum, it has consistently demonstrated a surprising capacity to pro";
CL5[0]="duce full flavoured, full bodied white whites, particularly with Chenin Blanc, Verdelho and Chardonnay. The Darling Range - sometimes known as the Perth Hills - provides a yet cooler climate, but it remains warm, suited to full-bo";
CL6[0]="died whites and medium bodied dry reds. The hottest months are January and February, and temperatures can frequently reach the mid to high 30's Celsius (95-100F). Occasionally the weather can reach 38 degrees Celsius or more (100+";
CL7[0]=" Fahrenheit), 'a scorcher'. Autumn runs from March through to the end of May. The weather is cooler, although still usually warm. There is still plenty of sunshine left before the onset of winter. You can expect things to start co";
CL8[0]="oling down toward the end of April. The mild Perth winter begins at the start of June and finishes in September. It is generally a rainy season, interspersed with chilly yet sunny days. A typical Perth winter day may fall between ";
CL9[0]="16-18 degrees Celsius (60-65 degrees Fahrenheit). Spring begins at the start of September and from this point the weather quickly warms to fine sunny conditions again.";
HI1[0]=" The Swan River colony was founded in 1829 the early settlers were attracted to this area by the fertile alluvial soils located along the banks of the Swan River. Unlike much of Perth's sandy soils the fertile flats of the Swan Val";
HI2[0]="ley along with it's warm climate suited the production of grapes. Thomas Waters planted the first vines at Olive Farm in 1829, digging the wine cellar, which is incorporated in the present day winery bearing the same name the foll";
HI3[0]="owing year. Thus the Swan Valley predates both Victoria and South Australia in viticultural terms, and for almost 150 years was the only significant wine producing region in Western Australia. The Swan Valley is also home to the s";
HI4[0]="tate's largest winery, Houghton. It is an actively multicultural area with the descendents of early Yugoslav, Italian and English migrants continuing the winemaking traditions. These have been grown in the Swan Valley since the ea";
HI5[0]="rly days of settlement; while many of the vines were collected from South Africa they included most of the premium variety from Europe.Vines were planted in the 1800s for both wine and fruit and production became quite substantial";
HI6[0]=" by the 1860s. Well known amongst these were Houghtons and Sandalford who are now household names. The Valley maintained its economic equilibrium through tough times by supplying the rush of gold diggers to the state who in turn i";
HI7[0]="nvested in horticulture when their time on the gold fields came to an end. As a number of the estate names attest, the region was also settled by a significant number of southern Europeans who came after the First World War. Growt";
HI8[0]="h since World War II has been steady with peaks in the 1970s at the time when consumption of table wine really took off. As well as the larger, popular wineries, like Sandalford, Evans & Tate, and Houghton, there are also many bou";
HI9[0]="tique and family run wineries in the Swan Valley.";