There was virtually nothing from ...........Australia.
Robert Parker was recently interviewed by Ed Sands and Tom McKnew for the the Calvert-Woodley Fall 2004 Catalogue (November, 2004). The last question, No. 13, was, "What change in the world of wine in the past 25 years do you think has been the most profound?".

The answer? "There have been many changes over the last 26 years in the wine world, but I think the extraordinary proliferation of quality wines in all price ranges from so many different places in the world is the single greatest change. If you think back, 26 years ago, virtually all of the wines that were represented were from France and California, with only a tiny percentage from Spain and Italy. There was virtually nothing from South America or Australia. Today, there is such an extraordinary number of high quality wines, high quality importers, and educated consumers that it is exciting to realize just how far the world has progressed in a quarter of a century."

Maybe there was virtually nothing from Australia in the USA in 1978, but in Oz there was excellent wine covering both low and high end spectrums. Yes there has been improvement and a significant growth in the number of vineyards and wineries since then. But Oz has been making excellent wine for quite some time, just in case you might not have been aware RMP, Jr. Here are some links to Oz Wine Industry History!