Had a wonderful reminder of the reason I started this website today. Tuesday morning is when Bert Werden from Winestar sends out his weekly newsletter with his best offers. If you’ve been around this website a bit, you know I’m a fan of Winestar, but I have to warn you that Bert is fond of the hard sell. I have written to him and complained about several wines he pushed that just weren’t up to scratch. The result is that he doesn’t talk to me any more. Since he runs a good business, I continue to support him, I just want to warn you not to fall for Bert’s hard sell.
The Sales Pitch
Today, it was this headline that caught my eye: A staggering 96/100 at Australia’s Biggest Wine Show (Gold Medal, Jimmy Watson Class) and just $11.99… (my comments in brackets)
It was scarcely believable the first time and probably less so now that we have been able to source a further, albeit smaller allocation of a 96 Point red, a Gold Medallist and finalist for the coveted Jimmy Watson Trophy at just $11.99 per bottle, by the case, with free delivery to most … it emanates from none other than St Hallett, one of the most prestigious names in the Barossa. As we have seen with previous offers, any wine with a Gold Medal and 96 Points at Australia’s biggest wine show, the 2012 Royal Melbourne really does grab ones attention.
(Got your attention? Now comes the best bit): To list the wines it beat home in its Jimmy Watson Shiraz Class would treble the size of this publication but for some bragging rights, it finished ahead of 2010 Shiraz retailing around $90-$100 per bottle from Peter Lehmann (Stonewell), Bird in Hand (Nest Egg Shiraz), Hardys (Eileen), Mollydooker (Carnival Of Love) and Yalumba (Yalumba The Octavius). … The perspective here is you can have a dozen bottles of our higher finishing feature wine delivered for not much more than a bottle of the others.
(Itching to get your order in yet? Wait, there’s more)
The St Hallett Gamekeepers Barossa Shiraz 2010 represents everything that is wonderful about Barossa Valley Shiraz in 2010 and there is no question the balance and poise this wine shows is what wowed the judges. It is immediately attractive with bright plummy and berry fruit with fragrant florals and chocolate, the lush and generous palate balanced by fine tannins and wonderful texture. Everything is where it should be in this excellent wine which should live a decade … That we can offer it for just $11.99 per bottle by the dozen – including freight for most of you – makes it another ‘back up the truck’ kind of bargain.
It’s well done, right? Yes, a bit wordy but well executed.Gets you in.
The Reality
One of our subscribers wrote this in an email (this wine has done the rounds before):
I bought a couple of dozen of the St Hallett Gamekeepers Barossa Shiraz 2010 last time it was offered, one case for me and one case for my wife’s 87 year old mother.
After sampling it, my wife said: ‘This is undrinkable, we can’t send it to my mother.’
‘We can use it for cooking,’ I replied.
‘No way,’ said my wife, ‘I enjoy my food too much to ruin it with this stuff.’
Ultimately her mother did get a case but last time we visited, I noticed only one bottle had been consumed. I asked her why and she said: ‘I must be getting old. I just don’t enjoy wine like I used to.’
I also gave 6 bottles to a mate who is currently out of work and hard pressed to afford any wine. When I asked him what he thought of the St Hallett, he replied that the $4 Aldi red he had been drinking was a far better wine. ‘I really appreciate the gift,’ he said, ‘but frankly this is shit, it just tastes totally processed, like it was made in a lab by flavouring and colouring waste water from the vineyard. Whatever, it just doesn’t taste like something actually made from real grapes.’
A footnote
I bought some St Halletts Gamekeepers reds very cheaply 18 months ago, and was astonished with the bottle variation. A bottle of 2009 Shiraz Grenache was very pleasant drinking, the next was not. Same with the Shiraz Cabernet 2009. The 2010s repeated the performance, going from good to awful. I’ve tried the Shiraz, even listed it in my best under $10 when it was on special. Then I had another bottle and thought ‘industrial autoplonk’, just like our subscriber’s mate above.
I suspect St Hallett became a victim of its own marketing success. The company merged with Tatachilla to form Banksia Wines, JH tells us, and was then acquired by Lion Nathan. These days, the winery churns out vast quantities of Gamekeeper wines, bland whites and reds that are all over the shop. The judges at the Melbourne Show must’ve been victims of accumulated alcohol vapours. It’s not uncommon for the judges to get it wrong, mind you – here’s a reality check: Australian Wine Shows have a Bright Future? Not if the Past is anything to go by.
Kim
