BWU$20’s Top 25 wines for the Festive Season

A journalist asked me for a short shortlist, and this was really tough with so many great wines to choose from. Here goes:

Top 5 Sparkling

Yarra Burn Premium Cuvee Brut NV $13 at WSD. The junior bubbly from the big stable overseen by the formidable Ed Carr, this wine is made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and offers a lot of flavor and sophistication for the money.

Brown Brothers Pinot Noir Chardonnay Pinot Meunier Non Vintage – $18 at Dan Murphy’s. This bubbly is a well-kept secret. Lovely richness here and yeasty complexity, with a crisp finish.

Chateau De Sours Reserve Rose Brut NV – $20 at Kemenys. A gem from Pomerol, made from Merlot and Cabernet, will go with anything from smoked salmon to fluffy pink desserts. Gorgeous package.

Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvée Blanc de Blancs 2010—$20 at jackswine. This wine beat every other Australian sparkling wine at the inaugural 2014 Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships in the UK.

Bundaleer Sparkling Shiraz – $17 at MyCellars. A fabulous wine from a small boutique in the Southern Flinders ranges that offers more depth of flavour than most wines of this style.

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Top 5 whites

Yealands Land Made Sauvignon Blanc 2013 – $14 at Kemenys. This is a cracker for the money if you like your savvies savoury, tensile and tangy. The judges love it too – 2 trophies and 4 golds.

Wickhams Road Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2013 – $15 at Barrique wine store. Forward, modern and elegant, soft, round and easy drinking. Yarra Valley Chardonnay at a Riverland price.

Yalumba Eden Valley Roussanne 2013 – $17 at Wineonline. The rich flavours include stone fruits and tropical fruits along with interesting spices and nuts. Really exciting and different wine. Bargain.

Guigal Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc 2011 – $20 at OurCellarWhite Côtes-du-Rhône wines are rich and interesting food wines with fascinating flavour profilesVery hard to find, don’t ask me why.

Montalto Pennon Hill Pinot Grigio 2013 – $20 at Kemenys. From one of the top wineries on the Mornington Peninsula. Refined and restrained but with lots of interesting spices and herbs under the surface. Textural, dry and long. Please give it time to unfold in the glass.

Top 5 Dessert Wines

De Bortoli Deen Vat 5 Botrytis Semillon 2009 375mL – $10.50 at Dan M’s. Little brother of the Noble One, and a lighter style with instant appeal. How do they do it for this price?

Hidden Label Noble Botrytis Semillon 2008 375ml – $13 at Kemenys.  This is a lovely sticky, not ultra sweet but it has layers of apricot and orange peel flavours.

2012 Heggies Eden Valley Botrytis Riesling – $18 at Sixty Darling Street. Wonderful sticky, 2 trophies at the National Wine Show 2014  –  02 9818 307 – sales@wineroom.com.au.   $22 at Dan M’s.

2009 Chateau Fayau Cadillac (375ml) – $17 at Nicks / Vintage Direct). Cadillac is on the other side of the river from Sauternes and Barsac. The wines are similar but much cheaper. This is one of the best.

Campbell’s Rutherglen Topaque – $18 at Dan M’s. We used to call it Tokay. This unique Aussie style is perfect with Christmas pudding, chocolate cake, candied fruits and nuts and more.

Top 5 Rosés

Yalumba Y Series Sangiovese Rosé 2013 – $10 at Dan M’s. Off-dry but well done. Rose petals, pomegranates and strawberries. Crowd Pleaser at a bargain price.

Paxton Biodynamic Single Vineyard Shiraz Rosé 2014 – $16 at Kemenys. This is a lovely wine that has been given prolonged skin contact and a touch of oak to add interest. A quality Rose, and dry.

Woods Crampton Mataro Rosé 2013 – $17.50 at North Sydney Cellars. It’s made from Mataro with small quantities of Shiraz and Grenache, but this unusual combo makes great music.

de Bortoli La Boheme Act Two Dry Pinot Rosé 2013 – $17 at WSD Prettiest label of them all, and a seductive wine behind it. It’s gentle and a touch sweet but finishes mostly dry.

Turkey Flat Barossa Rosé 2014 – $18 at Winedirect. One of the best-selling Rosés in the country. Vibrant fruit and a touch of sweetness wrapped in a creamy envelope.

Top 5 Reds

Brookland Valley Verse 1 Cabernet Merlot  2012 – $11 at 1st Choice. Classic Margaret River Cabernet Merlot: ripe cassis fruit in a medium body with a long finish. 3 gold medals. Super bargain.

Hidden Label Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 – $13 at Kemenys. This is Franklin Tate Alexander’s vineyard Cabernet, rich, soft and seductive, cassis and blackberry wrapped in velvet.

Saint Clair Pinot Noir 2013 – $18 at Dan M’s. From Marlborough, NZ. Dark cherries with a touch of forest floor, bright and clear style. A real crowd pleaser and a good intro to the charms of Pinot Noir.

Pondalowie Vineyards Vineyard Blend 2012 – $20 at Cloudwine. Blend of Shiraz, Cabernet and Tempranillo from a boutique in Bendigo, this is a vibrant red with opulent flavor and dark berry fruits and soft, polished tannins. Absolute steal.

Villacampa Ribera Del Duero Tempranillo 2012 -$20 at Winesellersdirect. Ribera Del Duero in northern Spain is famous for producing rich and complex wines, and this wine shows why: this is not your lightweight bistro style but the real thing: a brooding wine of many layers, but never heavy.

Kim

Champagne vs Aussie Bubbles – and a $20 champion

Is champagne worth the extra money?

Are our best bubblies as good as the Frenchies?

Can you compare the two at all?

Which is our best sparkling wine?

To the question ‘is champagne really better than our best bubblies?’ we usually get a waffly answer about apples and oranges, in other words: you can’t compare the two styles. This is despite the fact that our winemakers have been busting a gut for decades to produce a bubbly that challenged the French icons.

The original problem was that we didn’t have the grape varieties or the cool climate of the champagne region. Since we planted Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the Yarra Valley, Macedon and Tasmania, those limitations have gone away. That was over a couple of decades ago.

Aussie Prestige vs bulk Champagne

As our ambitious producers developed better cool climate styles, they took a leaf out of the champagne marketing guide and introduced special ‘cuvees’ – fancy bottles from the House of Arras, Jansz and Chandon to Clover Hill, Hanging Rock and Brown Brothers. The prices went up and soon reached the same $50 level as the basic wines of the champagne houses, which are made in vast quantities and owe more to smart marketing than smart winemaking.

It’s rare to find a review that pitches Aussie bubblies against champagne, but I found a piece James Halliday wrote for the Weekend Australian magazine a couple of years ago (this article is for paid subscribers of the Australian but you can find an open version with Google – see below). JH reviewed a bunch of local and French wines, and the $40 – $60 locals acquit themselves remarkably well with scores ranging from 94 -96 points. The champagnes scoring points in that range were $100 or more.

Game over but hold it – there’s a late scratching

This was music to my ears until I saw this caveat form the G.O.M. of Aussie wine: ‘… are the points for the Champagnes comparable with those of Australian sparkling wines? The answer is no, they are not. Nor would points for great red Burgundies compare with those for Australian and New Zealand pinot noirs; First Growth Bordeauxs with Margaret River cabernet merlots.’

I always thought we had a single 100 point scale for wine reviews, but James seems to suggest that we have a range of 100 point scales for different wine styles from different countries. News to me, but James writes: ‘Points are as subjective as the words in the tasting notes, but are a separate way of expressing the taster’s opinion, to be assimilated along with the description of the wine in the context of the particular tasting. All this may frustrate some consumers, but the ultimate reality is that Australia can never make Champagne, a Burgundy or a Bordeaux, so direct points comparison is fraught with contradictions and qualifications.’

Frustrated? No, confused

Actually, comparative tastings are pretty common: Aussie Cabernets vs Bordeaux, Burgundies vs Pinot Noir, and only one scoring system is used for the wines.  We review different wine styles and different wines from different countries all the time, and of course we always use the same system for reviewing and scoring. It’s based on certain criteria as the panel below from Nick’s Vintage Direct shows for sparkling wines. Why would we not apply those criteria to all sparkling wines we review? Aren’t we always looking for a strong mousse and a fine, lasting bead? A hint of fresh bread or yeast, complex yet subtle flavours and good length … ?

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Of course we want good Champagnes and good Bordeaux and Burgundies to be distinguishable from our bubblies and Margaret River Cabernets and Central Otago Pinot Noirs, but reviews and scores should focus on the quality of a wine, and how close it comes to meeting benchmark criteria for the style or variety. Regardless of it origin. Do we apply different criteria to an Argentinian Malbec than to a Wendouree Malbec? No. Can we compare Aussie Chardonnays with white Burgundies? Of course we can, and we do. Sure they have their unique characters, but that’s nothing to do with the overall score.

 $20 Blue Pyrenees trounces fancy labels at the Sparkling Wine Oscars

Fast forward to 2014, and the inaugural Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC) were held in the UK just a few of months ago. The competing wines came from Champagne, England, South Africa, Australia, USA, Cava, Chile, Italy and New Zealand. They were judged both against their compatriots and against each other. Of course champagnes won the most gongs here, but the champs were fancy wines like Louis Roederer Cristal which cost $300 a bottle.

The good news is that Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvée Blanc de Blancs 2010 beat 9 other Aussie beauties, and this is a $23 wine from the Pyrenees in Victoria (at jackswine – when you join the mailing list, you get a $20 discount voucher which we applied to the 6-pack ordered to reduce the price to $118 or $20 a bottle). The Australian gold medalists included the fancied House of Arras Grand Vintage 2004, the House of Arras E.J. Carr Late Disgorged 2003, the Clover Hill Cuvée Prestige Blanc de Blancs 2001 and the Coldstream Hills Sparkling Pinot Noir Chardonnay 2010.

These wines sell for $50 to $100, so the winning Blue Pyrenees nicely supports our premise that you don’t have to spend big money on drinking great wine, even when it comes to bubbles.

Additional Resources
Halliday’s article is gated on the Australian’s website but, when you google Australian sparkling and champagne, weekend Australian magazine, you’ll see the article without restrictions.

Blue Pyrenees crowned champion sparkling of Australia – Huon Hooke at SMH Good Food

A toast to Australia’s Champagne and sparkling wine drinkers! The summary of a market survey by Roy Morgan

Shiraz – Return from the Dead

From Identity Crisis and Shiraz Muffins to King of our Reds

You could argue that Shiraz made a more remarkable comeback in the past two decades than John Howard after he dismissed his political future with that ‘Lazarus with a triple bypass’ line. In the sixties, most Shiraz was labelled as Hermitage. In the seventies, we had a choice depending on who sold it. In the eighties, we saw Shiraz muffins appear in bakeries because we had a red wine glut.

The glut was so bad that the government of South Australia paid growers to rip vines out of the ground and burn them. No, politicians without brains and vision are not a new phenomenon. In the nineties, US wine Uebermensch Robert Parker paid us a visit and declared that some of our reds made from old Shiraz vines – those that remained – were among the best reds he’d ever tasted. Suddenly Shiraz became as Australian as football, meat pies and Holden cars.

A remarkable comeback

Shiraz or Syrah as it’s called elsewhere is our most common red variety, planted widely from the Hunter to the Margaret River. It’s both our workhorse and super premium variety, which covers a lot of ground. You see, despite the variety’s ups and downs in fortune, our two most expensive wines have always been made from Shiraz: Penfolds Grange and Henschke Hill of Grace.

Hill of Grace in box

The only other place where Shiraz plays such a dominant role is the Rhone Valley in the South of France. In the northern Rhone, it is the variety behind the famous appellations of Hermitage, Cote-Rotie, Cornas, Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph. In the southern Rhone, Shiraz is a key component of many blends from Cote-du-Rhone to Chateauneuf de Papes. It’s main partners here are Grenache and Mourvèdre / Mataro, blends we know as GSM.

Jekyll and Hyde

Shiraz has multiple personalities: in the northern Rhone, it tends to make elegant, lean and stylish reds with fragrant, spicy, peppery, herbaceous cool climate characters. We see some of these characters in Shiraz reds from the cooler parts of Victoria, the Pyrenees, the Grampians and Geelong. In the warmer Barossa Valley and McLaren Vales, Shiraz tends to make big soft, rich reds with opulent – sometimes jammy – fruit in the plum spectrum and heady alcohol levels. In the just as hot Hunter Valley, it often surprises us with its elegance.

In my previous post Aussie Reds – so much alcohol, so little finesse, I quoted Roger Scruton who wrote a New Statesman column headed Grapes of Wrath, where said: ‘To force Syrah up to an alcoholic content of 14 per cent or more, tricking it into early maturation so as to put the result on the market with all its liquorice flavours unsubdued, puffing out its dragon breath like an old lecher leaning sideways to put a hairy hand on your knee, is to slander a grape that, properly treated, is the most slow and civilised of seducers.’

The benefit of blending

The true Aussie red is in fact the Cabernet Shiraz blend. These two individuals don’t team up anywhere else in the world, not even in America. Over there, they love Zinfandel (Primitivo) which is often blended with Shiraz (Syrah) and another variety known as Petite Sirah which is not related to the previous two despite its name. Petite Sirah is called Durif in Australia, and we grow a little of it near Rutherglen where it used to make blockbuster reds and dry ports that needed no Brandy spirit.

Zinfandel has similar tendencies, and both varieties are known for their impenetrable colour, high alcohol and big tannins which makes them perfect partners in the Robert Parker-inspired craze for huge reds. I suspect the Shiraz is often added to give a touch of class and restraint to the two wild ones.

So there you have it: Shiraz is Syrah but Petite Sirah is Durif, and Zinfandel is Primitivo.

Kim

Australia’s 5 top Boutique Wineries

I’ve been saying how wonderful it is that we can buy handmade wines from boutique wineries in Australia, and a journalist I was talking to asked me to nominate my top 5 boutiques. Here’s what I sent her.

Our wine market is not a level playing field

The shelves of the big liquor chains tend to favour the big wine companies, which make about 70% of the wine in this country. The other 30% is made by several thousand small to medium size wineries, many of them not well known or unknown. At BWU$20, we pride ourselves on supporting small wineries and supporting independent retailers who promote them.

DSCF7073Australia really is the lucky country

We have many small vineyards producing wonderful and unusual wines with distinct characters, often hand-made by gifted young winemakers from dry-grown vineyards and old vines. In Europe, these kinds of wines sit at the top of the quality pyramid and demand high prices. In Australia, many boutique wines sell for around $20 because they haven’t yet developed a strong following.

We’ve chosen just 5 wineries for this piece, but could’ve chosen 50 just as easily. We’ll expand on this in the future and build a more extensive top list. For now, we’ve picked one winery from every state except Queensland.

Rosily Vineyard – Margaret River, production: 6000 cases

The vineyard takes its name from the Comte Francois de Rosily, a French navigator who in 1772 made the first chart of Flinders Bay. It first came to our notice when the Cartographer Cabernet Sauvignon Franc Merlot Petit Verdot 2009 scored 95 points and came in the top 8 wines in a Gourmet Traveller Wine Cabernet shootout, which included wines costing 4 or 5 times as much.

Mike and Barb Scott and Ken and Dot Allan bought the Northern Margaret River site in 1994, and planted cuttings from the Mosswood vineyard around the corner. All the Rosily wines are made from this vineyard , in the attached winery. Nothing fancy here except the wines. Most sell for $17 – $23, and all of them have finesse. They include Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot for the reds. Total output is about 6000 cases.

Massena Vineyards.  Barossa Valley, production: 4000 cases

Dan Standish and Jaysen Collins are the young Turks in charge of this tiny operation, and they like making small batches of red wines with attitude from exotic Italian varieties such as Tannat, Saparavi, Primitivo (Zinfandel) and Barbera. They also make a Mataro and a white wine called the Surly Muse from the Southern Rhone varieties of Viognier and Roussanne.

These are highly individual wines with cool names like Moonlight Run and The Howling Dog yet they sell for $20 to $25 at the vineyard, or for a little less at Nicks Vintage Direct in Melbourne. The only drawback is that these unusual wines sell out very fast because of the small quantities made.

Hoddles Creek. Upper Yarra Valley, production: 20,000 cases

The property has been in the d’Anna family since 1960. The vineyards were planted in the nineties to chardonnay, pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon, pinot gris, merlot and pinot blanc. The vines are hand-pruned and the grapes hand-harvested. Franco is the viticulturist and winemaker.

The Estate range Chardonnay and Pinot Noir offer enormous value for around $20, with Pinot offering a pretty decent introduction to the reds of Burgundy. For the cheaper Wickhams Road label ($16), Franco uses grapes from an estate vineyard in Gippsland as well as bought-in grapes from the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula.

website-image-campFrogmore Creek. Coal River Valley, Southern Tasmania, production: 18,000 cases

Tony Scherer of Tasmania and Jack Kidwiler of California established this organically managed vineyard in the nineties. In the last few years, they acquired several small wineries and boosted their output. The Frogmore Creek and Meadowbank wines are usually priced above $25, except for the Frogmore Creek Riesling which sells for about $20, and it’s a cracker cool climate Riesling.

The 42⁰ range sells for about $19 to $22 at retail. The main focus here is on wines made from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, and they’re stylish and offer excellent value.

MoppityMoppity Vineyards. Production: 30,000 cases, Hilltops Region, Young, NSW

Jason Brown and his wife Alecia bought the winery in 2004, when many of the vines were already 30 years old. The high altitude provides a cool climate with the dry summers and autumns, and the rich red soils are ideal for making great reds that combine generous flavour with finesse and polish. Chardonnay and Riesling do well also.

Moppity is one of our best but least known success stories: so far in 2014, the winery has won 8 trophies and 30 gold medals on the show circuit, and was the best exhibitor at 2 wine shows. Its Reserve Shiraz 2013 has just won the top trophy in the 2014 Visy Great Shiraz Challenge, while the basic Lock & Key Shiraz 2013 was runner up in the 2014 Jimmy Watson judging at the Melbourne Show with 97 points. The Lock & Key wines sell for less than $15 a bottle.

It’s a small number of wineries but they prove our point: we’re living in the lucky country when it comes to finding exciting wines from boutique wineries at budget prices.

Kim

Oyster Bay – the Envy of Aussie Winemakers

Those who Rubbish Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc are Missing the Point

Oyster Bay savvy is still top of the pops in Australia, much to the dismay of our winemakers. Its enduring and illustrious reign reminds us of the All Blacks’ dominance in football. Serious wine people tend to shake their heads in disbelief or wring their hands in despair instead of learning some hard lessons. An old post from ‘an unashamed wine snob’ headed 11 reasons to avoid Oyster Bay sauvignon blanc is typical of the condescending attitude of most wine buffs toward those poor sods who drink this wine. ‘It’s fruity flavour tastes like Starburst with a bite of lemon acid afterwards,’ writes the author, and adds that it is ‘a stepping stone from alcopops and sweet cocktails to wine.’

Oyster Bay isn’t the problem in my view; the real issue is the many other interesting wines regular Oyster Bay drinkers are missing out on. I’d also argue that people need stepping stones as their tastes for wine evolve. In the fifties and early sixties, it was Barossa Pearl, Ben Ean Moselle and Mattheus Rosé, sweet concoctions that sold in vast numbers. Mostly to women. Men stuck to beer and the hard stuff in those days. Eventually women tired of these wines and looked for more interesting options. More here: The 1960s – from Pearl Wine to Chateau Cardboard.

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Aussie Envy

The same thing hasn’t happened with Oyster Bay: five years on, it’s still the market leader of the Kiwi Savalanche. It’s called that because Sauvignon Blanc accounts for 40% of all white wine sales in Australia today, and more than 80% of all that savvy comes from the shaky isles – 17 out of the top 20 labels. ‘That gets right up the noses of local winemakers,’ wrote Rick Feneley in the SMH last year.

‘We lost 30 per cent of our sales of Cricket Pitch white,’ Ian Riggs tells Rick Feneley. ‘I’d say directly to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The more people who drank it, the more you had to stay drinking it because all your friends were drinking it.’ Yes, our winemakers are bent out of shape and charge that Kiwi savvy is second rate grog. They call Oyster Bay the Big Mac of the wine world, and say it’s as ubiquitous, and just as ghastly.

Oh really?

Let me make one thing clear: if our winemakers had a wine that sold by the oil tanker load, they wouldn’t complain for a moment. They’d be beating their chests as Lindemans did when the company flogged millions of cases of its oak-chipped Bin 45 Chardonnay to the Yanks, or as Orlando did when Jacob’s Creek became the market leader in the UK. And let me ask a simple question: is Brokenwood’s Cricket Pitch such an exciting wine? Or St Hallet’s Poachers Blend, or Tyrrell’s Old Winery Semillon Sauvignon Blanc? Last time I checked, these wines were pretty awful and clearly made for the same Big Mac market.

Imitation – the sincerest form of flattery

Here’s what Huon Hooke said about the Cricket Pitch 2012: ‘Pale colour. Aromas of green capsicum, crisp and vegetal. Very light and bland with a faint twist of sweetness.’ Sound familiar? It’s simple, isn’t it? The Kiwis did a better job sussing out what the punters wanted, cranking it out in large volumes and marketing the hell out of it. Now our winemakers are on the back foot, crying foul.

Am I saying the Kiwis are champions? No, they’ve bastardised the Sauvignon Blanc style forever, as I showed in my piece Marlborough Men and the death of Sauvignon Blanc. What I’m saying is that Australian wine companies are no better: they’ve been flogging ghastly grog like Jacob’s Creek Chardonnay and Wyndhams Estate’s Bin 555 Shiraz for decades.

In Praise of Adventure

Our winemakers should define an Aussie style of savvy, and make it a winner. Something like the Semillon Sauvignon Blanc style of the Margaret River, with a touch of oak to add interest (like the Fumé Blanc style of the Loire). It would be a more herbaceous, more food-friendly, more satisfying kind of white. Less sweetness means it goes much better with seafood, so we should push the combo and encourage people to try it. Market it, in other words. Much better than whinging about the Kiwis.

Oyster bay drinkers can then step up to a more interesting style when they tire of their staple. It’s elementary: we should be educating consumers and gradually leading them to appreciate better examples of wine styles. Most of the Ben Ean drinkers of the early sixties ended up drinking more interesting wines. Wine is a journey of discovery, that’s what makes it so exciting. If you want to drink the same wine every week, that’s fine, but you’re missing out on the adventure of wine. Wine is a fascinating journey that never ends.

Huon Hooke makes the point well: ‘There are so many wonderful white wines to drink: why not be more adventurous, and occasionally drink a riesling, a chardonnay, a gewürztraminer and a gruner veltliner? It is truly sad that some worthy Australian wine styles have been ignored and left to languish because sauvignon blanc so dominates the market.’

That’s the real issue here. Most people like to discover exciting new things, that’s why we had the Chardonnay boom before savvy kicked it off its pedestal, and that’s why Pinot Gris is suddenly the hottest variety out there, followed by Moscato. Mind you, Sauvignon Blanc is still going strong. Here’s the most up-to-date graph I can find:

white-varieties-marketshareSource: Australia still savvy about Kiwi white, SMH

In the end, people will drink what they like, and they love the Sauvignon Blanc style the Kiwis have made their own. The smart wine companies will build a bridge for savvy drinkers that will lead them to new discoveries, the dumb ones will milk the trend until the punters latch onto a new one. Then they’ll complain about the fickle market and customers who lack loyalty.

Kim

Top Wines for Holiday Drinking – under $20

How to save money with great wines that match festive foods

Christmas is a budget-busting time for most of us, even if the pain is delayed until the credit card bills arrive in late January. We’ve put together a shortlist of great wines to drink over Christmas and New Year, at prices you’ll love. We’ve also matched them to the kinds of food most Aussies eat at this time. Please check our post on buying wine the smart way as well over HERE.

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Traditional Christmas dinner

Roast turkey with with roast potatoes, pumpkin and the rest. You’ll see wine writers suggesting a light red such as Pinot Noir or Beaujolais, but a sparkling red will match the cranberry sauce better.

For the Turkey per se, a big, rich Chardonnay is the best bet. Domaine Astruc Chardonnay 2012 is $15 at Dan M’s. It’s a rich, nutty beauty from the south of France that’ll stand up to the big bird. West Cape Howe Old School Chardonnay$16 at Winesellersdirect – is a good choice from W.A.

For those of you who love roast beef for Christmas, here are a couple of great Aussie reds: Amberley Secret Lane Cabernet Merlot 2012 – $11 at MyCellars, and Gipsie Jack ‘Terrier’ Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 – $15 at WSD. Both have won more bling than Paris Hilton wears.

For barbecued meat and salads, we’ve picked a couple easy-drinking but tasty reds: Luccarelli Primitivo Zinfandel 2013 – $13 at Winesellersdirect, and St Hallett Gamekeepers Shiraz Grenache Touriga 2013 – $12 at Winesellersdirect. Both offer superb value.

Cold cuts

Cold meats like roast chicken and honey-glazed ham Riesling and chicken are a match made in heaven – try Annie’s Lane Riesling for $12 at Jim’s Cellars or Claymore Joshua Tree Riesling 2013 – $14 at Kemenys.

With the traditional Christmas ham, a good, well-chilled rosé makes a great partner on a hot Christmas day. Yalumba Y Series Sangiovese Rosé is just $10 at Dan M’s and fits the bill nicely. Hidden Label McLaren Vale Sangiovese Rosé 2014 – $13 at Kemenys is a more refined type with an Italian accent.

Roast Pork (cold or cooked) and a rich Pinot Gris go really well together, even in Asian dishes, with the wine matching the sweet nature of the pork. Hidden Label Adelaide Hills Pinot Gris 2013 is a great choice for $13 at Kemenys. Another option is Taylor’s Gewurztraminer for $14 at Jim’s Cellars. This is a dry but rich wine that tends to surprise people with its great flavour.

Seafood

Barbecued seafood is a good match with a fuller-flavoured Chardonnay like the Ravenshead Margaret River Chardonnay 2012 – $10 at Kemenys. For more spicy Asian seafood dishes, a tangy, savoury Savvy is a better counter – Yealands Land Made Series Sauvignon Blanc 2013 is about as good as it gets and just $14 at Kemenys.

Delicate fish dishes like tempura prawns or battered flathead will go well with a modern, clean and tangy style of Chardonnay such as the Lock & Key Chardonnay 2012 – $13 at Kemenys. This chardy from cool Tumbarumba is a terrific example.

1214GT-pete-evans-trifleDessert

With the traditional Christmas pudding, we’d serve a Rutherglen Tokay slightly chilled. Buller’s Fine Old Topaque is $19 at Dan M’s for a 750ml bottle, a real bargain. Morris Classic Liqueur Topaque is $17 for a 500ml bottle at Dan M’s. A touch more class here but both work really well all kinds of desserts including chocolate.

For lighter, more modern desserts, we’d choose a ’sticky’, a sweet dessert wine such as Taster’s Choice Botrytis Semillon 2010 375mL for $8.50 at Dan M’s or de Bortoli Deen Vat 5 Botrytis Semillon 2009 375mL – $10.50 at Dan M’s. Both offer apricots and marmalade with a hint of honey.

Bubbles

Azahara Chardonnay Pinot Noir Nv – $9 at Graysonline in an unbroken 6-pack. You won’t believe how smooth this is. Madame Coco Brut NV $14 at  Kemenys is a smart bubbly with a smarter label and a strong French accent. For a few dollars more, Petaluma Croser NV is a serious bargain for $17 at OurCellar.

When you feel like red bubbles, Leconfield Syn Sparkling Coonawarra Shiraz is a rich, velvety number for $15 at Winedirect. Seppelt Original Sparkling Shiraz 2012 – $18 at WSD is the original and a very good choice.

If you’ve had a great year and feel like making a big splash, you could go nuts and buy a lovely bottle of Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs for $89 at Wineonline.

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The Great Aussie Red Competition 2014

Yalumba wins Great Aussie Red Competition with a wine we CAN’T BUY

I’ve railed against reviewers writing about wines you can’t buy. I’ve even asked them why they do this, when it only serves to frustrate consumers out there in the real world. Reviewers say it’s not their problem that wine companies send them samples months before the wines are released. They just review whatever samples they’re sent, on their mindless production lines of tastings. The wine companies send their samples out so they can stick good reviews in their press releases.

At BWU$20 we only review wines you can buy

The wine industry has always served itself long before it’s served us, the people who buy their products. I cannot think of another industry – with the exception of politics – that treats its customers so shabbily. Wine shows and wine comps are no different: The Great Aussie Red competition 2014 has just announced the overall winner: Yalumba Caley Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2012, a wine you won’t be able to buy until 2016.

Why do the organisers allow wines with a release date 2 years away to be entered? Wines that you can’t buy yet or can’t buy any longer? When are these guys going to get their heads out of their backsides and stick them into the real world, where people like us live? People who reasonably expect that they can buy the wines that win trophies at competitions and wine shows.

Some of the gold medal winners at this comp are unprocurable as well: Bleasdale Vineyards Petrel Reserve 2012, Jim Barry Wines Pb Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, Naked Run Wines Hill 5 Shiraz Cabernet 2013, Sons of Eden Pumpa 2012 and St Hugo Wines Vetus Purum Shiraz Cabernet 2010.

Judging by themselves, for themselves

Another sore point is the judging at the great Aussie Red comp: the judges are winemakers: Elena Brooks (Dandelion), Mike Brown (Gemtree), Andrew Hardy (Petaluma), Brock Harrison (Orlando), Adam Holmberg (Tyrrell’s), Matt Koch (Rosemount), Kate Laurie (Deviation Road), David O’Leary (O’Leary Walker) and Sarah Pigeon (Wynns). Sure, James Halliday is the chairman and organisers Tyson Stelzer and Matthew Jukes sit by his side, but sommeliers or consumers don’t get a look in.

Winemakers assess wines on very different criteria from those we use. They look for flawless winemaking, we look for drinkability. They look for wines that serve as models to winemakers, we look for wines we can enjoy with food, friends and family. That’s why they talk about winemakers’ wines, wines we ordinary mortals don’t get but they do. On the plus side, this competition used a dual panel system of judges, where the scores of the two panels were reconciled by the chairman.

Others do it to us as well

Enough of that, let’s check a few wines we can by, from this comp and the recent Visy Great Aussie Shiraz Challenge 2014. And Winestate ran its Word’s Best Shiraz Challenge a couple of months ago, and once more 2 of the top 3 wines were unprocurable.

Moppity Vineyards won the 2014 Visy Great Australian Shiraz Challenge Trophy with its 2013 Reserve Shiraz. At least you can buy it, even if the asking price is $70. You can’t buy the wine that won the trophy for the Best Shiraz under $25: Rosemount Estate’s District Shiraz 2013. Not on your life.

LakeBreezeBernootaWinners from the Great Aussie Red Comp you can buy

Ingoldby Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2012 – $12 at LaLaLand – sorry: Liquorland. This wine was one of the gold medal winners at the GAR comp, which makes it look like a serious bargain. Sadly, we haven’t enjoyed recent reds under this label, and CM at the Winefront gives this 87 points. You’ve been warned.

Gipsie Jack ‘Terrier’ Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 – $15 at WSD. Made by John Glaetzer and Ben Potts from Langhorne Creek fruit. Won the prize for best Shiraz-dominant blend.

Lake Breeze Bernoota Shiraz Cabernet 2012 – $17 at WSD. Made by the Greg Follet also at Langhorne Creek, this wine won the trophy for best red under $25.

Kim

Don’t Drink Default Wines – Even $10 can Buy Exciting Wine

Safe Havens in a Vast Sea of Labels

While you’re building an audience for your wine website, you tend to speak to lots of people. I try to learn about our target audience of consumers so I ask questions about their favourites, their likes and dislikes, how they buy wine or what they would like to know more about.

‘I don’t know much about wine,’ a professional woman in her thirties told me the other day. ‘When I go into a bottle shop, I usually buy a Sauvignon Blanc because that’s what most of my friends drink.’ A friend emailed me proudly about a great deal he got on a case of Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Shiraz, a pretty rough red. I asked him why he was drinking such ordinary wine. He said it was an old standby. We were eating out last night, and the folks at the next table were drinking St Hallet Gamekeepers White, a boring wine made in vast quantities.

Safe Havens

That’s what I mean by default wines. Lots of others drink them, so the assumption is that they must be alright. They may be boring but they’re safe. They’re lifebuoys in an ocean of too many choices. It’s not that these people aren’t smart, it’s just that they don’t know a lot about wine.

Many people don’t want to know a lot about wine since they have bigger passions in their lives, or they don’t know where to start or don’t have the time to educate themselves.

That’s a gap we’re filling with BWU$20 with our list of Best Wines Under $10, $15, $20 and $25. The wines on these lists are all carefully selected and very safe choices, but they’re far better than average. In our view, they’re the best you’re going to get for the money. People have said to us: ‘we thought you had to spend at least $20 to get a decent wine. We had no idea you could buy decent wine for $10 or less.’

Exciting Wines for a pittance?

It’s a challenge, we grant you that, but we’d stake our reputation even on the wines in the Best Wines Under $10 list. Here are a few examples:

Montes Classic Series Chardonnay  2013 – $8.50 at Dan M’s. More forward and richer than the 2012, touched up with some aromatic oak. Obvious but appealing.

Marques De Tezona Macabeo 2013 – $9 at Bayfields. Made from the ubiquitous Macabeo variety and Sauvignon Blanc – crisp dry white with a Spanish Accent. 90 points from the Winefront. 89 from us. Bargain.

Ravenshead Margaret River Chardonnay 2012 – $10 at Kemenys. We liked this so much we gave it 92 points. Ridiculous value

Rosemount Diamond Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 – $7.50 at Kemenys. This wine has a trophy and 3 golds to its credit. OK, it’s a bit of a fruit cocktail but it’s nicely done for the money.

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Illuminati Riparosso Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2011 – $9.50 at Dan M’s. A great little pizza/pasta red with a bit of Italian flair.

Yalumba Y Series Cabernet Sauvignon – $10 at Dan M’s. Brilliant red that punches way above its price range. Matthew Jukes said they must have put the wrong label on a more expensive wine.

Anvers Brabo Cabernet 2013 – $10 at Pulpit Cellars. From a boutique winery in the Adelaide Hills, trophy and gold medal at the Boutique Wine Awards, 95 points from Huon Hooke.

It’s Official: Australia’s Best Wines sell for $15 – $25

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.

More >>

New Zealand wins 2014 International Riesling Challenge

I remember a Stoneleigh 2004 Riesling that left me shaking my head and worrying about how Australia was going to stop the Kiwi Riesling charge. The dozen I bought for $15 a bottle vanished fast, and there was no more to be found. I’ve drunk other Kiwi Rieslings that were in the same class, but the charge never came.

The Kiwis took the easier route of selling bastardized Sauvignon Blanc to the masses, but I wasn’t surprised to see the headline above. The annual Canberra International Riesling Challenge is a serious affair where serious judges taste entries from Australia, New Zealand, USA, Germany, France, South Africa, the Czech Republic, Austria and Canada. The best news is that you can buy the best wines in this comp for between $20 and $30, so we’re all winners here.

The Mud House The Mound Vineyard Waipara Valley Riesling 2013 won the trophy for Best Wine of the 2014 Challenge. It’s $20 at MyCellars.

MUD HOUSE Waipara Valley RieslingThe trophy for the best dry Aussie Riesling went to the Mount Majura Vineyard 2014 – $27 at the winery. Yalumba’s Heggies Botrytis Riesling 2012 won trophies for the best Australian Riesling and the best sweet Riesling. Sixty Darling Street is the only retailer selling this vintage  (02 9818 3077 sales@wineroom.com.au). Yalumba is the only other source and sells the wine for $29 at the Cellar Door – 08 8561 3200.

Below is a list of all the trophies awarded, and HERE is a list of all the medal winners

Best Wine of the 2014 Challenge

Canberra International Riesling Challenge Trophy

Mud House Estate, 2013 The Mound Vineyard, Waipara Valley Riesling

(Class 5, Semi Dry; Canterbury/Waipara Valley, New Zealand)

Best in Australia

ACT Government and Hyatt Hotel Canberra Trophy

2012 Heggies Botrytis Riesling

(Class 6, Sweet; Eden Valley, Australia)

Best Dry Riesling

Jim Murphy AM Perpetual Trophy

Mount Majura Vineyard 2014 Riesling

(Class 1, Dry; Canberra District, Australia)

Best Sweet Riesling

Australia Post Trophy

2012 Heggies Botrytis Riesling

(Class 6, Sweet; Eden Valley, Australia)

Best Museum

ActewAGL Trophy

Weingut Georg Müller Stiftung 2009 Hattenheimer Schützenhaus Riesling Beerenauslese

(Class 18, Sweet; Rheingau, Germany)

Best Riesling from New Zealand

Mud House Estate, 2013 The Mound Vineyard, Waipara Valley Riesling

(Class 5, Semi Dry; Canterbury/Waipara Valley, New Zealand)

Best European Riesling

German Ambassador’s Perpetual Trophy

Weingut Leitz 2013 Berg Roseneck Spätlese

(Class 12, Sweet, Rheingau, Germany)

Best American Riesling

USA Embassy Perpetual Trophy

Chateau Ste Michelle 2013 Dry Riesling

(Class 10, Dry, Columbia Valley, USA)

Best from the Canberra District

ACT Chief Minister’s Trophy

Mount Majura Vineyard 2014 Riesling

(Class 1, Dry; Canberra District, Australia)

Best Riesling from Tasmania

Tamar Valley Wine Route Trophy

Waterton Vineyards 2012 Riesling

(Class 4, Dry, Tasmania, Australia)