It’s OK: the judges can’t tell a $20 from a $100 wine either
This is a rolling post we update from time to time with the latest news
The poor correlation between wine prices and wine quality is the story of our website, the bedrock we built it on, our raison d’être. The evidence keeps building that the story won’t change anytime soon. 2014 hasn’t provided as much support for our premise as did 2013, but here’s whay we have so far:
$25 SC Pannell Shiraz takes out 2014 Jimmy Watson Trophy. Made famous by Wolf Blass, this trophy has been given for more weight in recent years, so it’s not surprising that the wine flew off retailers shelves. Pulpit Cellars in the Adelaide Hills is one of the few places where you can still buy it. The even better news is that the $13 Lock & Key Siraz 2013 from Moppity Vineyards in the NSW Hilltops was the runner up on 97 points.
$20 Mudhouse Riesling 2013 wins Canberra International Riesling Challenge. This was a double act of validation for our premise, in fact, since the $18 Heggies Botrytis Riesling 2012 took out the trophies for best Australian Riesling and best sweet wine of the competition (Sixty Darling Street 02 9818 3077, sales@wineroom.com.au).
The Best Red in Australia is a $35 Shaw & Smith Shiraz. So said the judges at London’s International Wine Challenge back in June. The Shaw and Smith Shiraz 2012 is $37 at Winestar. It’s not quite in our price range, but it proves our premise that you don’t have to spend a fortune to get your hands on a great wine.
St Henri 2010 steals the show. Another wine not quite in our price range, except that it sold briefly for $62 a bottle. Anyhow, the least sexy wine in the Penfolds line-up of icons bowled over all its more expensive siblings and came out on top with a 100 point score in 2014. In the major stores, it sold out in a day.
The Show must go on
The other evidence that keeps on building is that wine judging is tough, and that wine show results are an unreliable guide to quality. Reliability improves when a wine wins a trophy or gold medal at several shows, not just one.
Few consumers appreciate that we have 3 levels of wine shows in Australia: regional, capital and national. Far too many shows, and far too much bling as we said when we asked: Australian Wine Shows have a bright future? And answered: Not if past performance is anything to go by.
That’s why we cover a range of sources
We sample wines the same way you do: with food, with friends, with family, over lunch or over dinner. We check wines from a consumer’s perspective, not from a judge’s or a winemaker’s or a laboratory technician’s. We don’t care about minor faults, we care about enjoyment, about how wines smell and taste, how they feel in the mouth, how long they linger after they’re swallowed, how well they go with food and how true they are to their stated variety or style. Drinkability. It’s a clunky term but that’s what it’s all about for us. MORE on how we review wines
That said, we’re not infallible. That’s why we check what other reviewers say, and what the judges think, and share those things with you. Further down, we write about a Xanadu Chardonnay that rated 97 points in James Halliday’s 2013 Chardonnay Challenge, and scores 88 points with the Winefront. That’s the full range from sublime to ordinary. That’s the problem with the wine business.
Xanadu – an idealized place of great or idyllic magnificence and beauty
Sometimes, there’s universal agreement about a wine. The $27 Xanadu Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 we’ve been raving about for months took home 3 trophies at the 2013 National Wine Show in Canberra, including the Len Evans Memorial Trophy for Champion Wine of the Show. It also won the trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon and Best Dry Red Table Wine. Just to make the winery’s victory complete, Xanadu’s Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 won the trophy for the Best Mature Dry Red. More details HERE , HERE and HERE
We wrote about the bargain Xanadu 2010 Cabernet last year, when the 2009 beat all other Cabernets in a Gourmet Traveller Wine Tasting including fancied runners like Cullen Diana Madeline, Vasse Felix Heytesbury, Henschke Cyril Henschke and Houghton Gladstones. We thought the 2010 Xanadu Cabernet was at least as good as the 2009.
Hey that’s over $20! Yes, but there’s more
The outright winner of the 2013 VISY Great Australian Shiraz Challenge was Pepperjack Shiraz 2012, a commercial red made by Saltram (part of TWE) that is on regular discount for less than $20. $17.60 at Dan M’s today READ MORE
In a South Australian tasting last year, a group of consumers gave a $17 Robert Oatley Shiraz 2011 the same score as the 2008 (perfect 100 point) $785 Grange.
In the 2013 Winestate magazine World’s Greatest Shiraz Challenge VIII, a $28 Grant Burge Filsell Shiraz 2010 beat over 700 reds from France, South Africa, NZ and Australia.
Late last year, a $20 Thorn-Clarke Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 won the 2012 Great Australian Red Challenge against all comers. You can still buy it at MyCellars.
OK, what about white wines?
Late last year, Clare Valley winery Pikes won the Trophy for Australia’s Best Riesling at the 2013 Canberra International Riesling Challenge with the 2013 Pikes ‘Traditionale’ Riesling. $17 at Dan M’s.
Just now, Yalumba’s Heggies Eden Valley Riesling 2012 won the trophy for best Riesling at the 2013 National Wine Show in Canberra. The of it sells for $22 at McGuires.
At the recent Gourmet Traveller Wine Riesling tasting, the Castelli Estate Riesling 2012 beat 70 wines, with a score of 97 points. It was $25 at the winery but has sold out.
Runners-up were Freycinet Riesling 2012 – 96 points, $25 at Kemenys. And the brilliant Tertini Riesling 2012 – GTW 96 – $30 at the winery . Joining the winery’s Summit Club entitles you to 15% discount, which brings it down to almost $25.
OK, Rieslings are cheap – what about Chardonnay?
The folks at Xanadu also had a big win with their 2010 Chardonnay, which won second place in James Halliday’s 2013 Chardonnay Challenge. It’s an event run along wine show standards, and Xanadu’s Chardy scored 97 points. Winefront gives it 88 points. We’d rate it 92, Nick stock gives it 93, Tyson Stelzer 94. So we’re back in the wine judging doldrums. $22 at MyCellars
Last year, Mountadam’s High Eden Chardonnay 2010 topped a tasting of Aussie Chardies in London, judged by Andrew Jefford, Anthony Rose and Jancis Robinson. It was up against top Chardonnays from Cullen, Leeuwin Estate, Giaconda, Penfolds (Yattarna), Petaluma, Tapanappa, Coldstream Hills, By Farr, Pierro, Tyrrell’s Vat 47, Oakridge and Shaw + Smith. In other words, just about everybody who’s anybody in Aussie Chardonnay was there. MORE HERE
Wine judging is a tricky business, and we’re the first to admit it. Just have a look at our piece on the GTW Riesling tasting, where we note a number of missing wines. My guess is that they didn’t make the ‘cut’ at 90 points, yet we found some of them among the New Releases section of the same magazine scoring 95. Different bottle, different day, different reviewer.
Wine making is just as tricky, and that’s why we often get lucky with great wines at ridiculous prices. This is the lucky country, no question about that.
Kim