Wine Reviews, Articles, Blogs & Other Resources

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qaz

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Yarra Yering’s new 2019 merlot: The ‘cheaper’ wine that costs $105
I’m particularly impressed by the viognier and shiraz released under the top Carrodus label from 2019.
But I keep coming back to Crowe’s 2019 merlot – It’s a fantastic example of the grape, a testament to the quality of the vineyard, a benchmark for the variety in Australia.


AG96:
  • Blain Gagnard Batard Montrachet 2018
  • Delas Fereres ‘Les Bessards’ Hermitage 2018
AG95:
  • Brokenwood ILR Semillon 2011
  • Thomas Wines Braemore Semillon 2011
  • Tolpuddle Chardonnay 2019
  • Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2018
  • Bests Bin O Shiraz 2017
TG96:
  • 2018 Tony Bish Zen Chardonnay
  • 2010 Craggy Range 'Le Sol'
(2019 Te Mata Coleraine - TG94)

  • 2008 Petaluma Hanlin Hill Clare Riesling
  • Penfolds Bin 389 1998
Barolo 2000-2020 vintage chart by Giuseppe Vajra via Winefront:
Giuseppe-Vajra-Barolo-Vintage-Chart-2000-2020.jpeg
Walter Speller's classification of Chianti Classico

Blue Poles Vineyard - April 2021 Newsletter - Mark Gifford
If you are to cellar some wines, I feel you should set yourself some ground rules:
  1. Only buy what you can afford. Do not max out a credit card on a couple of wines that seem vitally important – forget about it – wait 2-4-6 months and it is likely just as awesome wines will be on offer.
  2. Get yourself a wine cellar. Be that a wine fridge if you do not have access to a cellar/ storage. Just makes sense to take care of a product that goes to custard in the heat (and also the cold!)
  3. Buy multiples – 3 if you are not sure (but excited), 6 if you are confident or the price is stretching you, and 12 for the full experience. Trust me, when you buy a dozen of a wine the first time you think “I’m bonkers” – but you are not, you are a dead set genius.
  4. Remember to drink them. This is the biggest failing of nearly everyone who owns a cellar – you just avoid enjoying the product you actually bought to consume.

How Well Do Wines Age an Update - David Farmer (Glug)
I am regularly asked to comment about aging wines and cellaring and the following update was in response to a customer looking to cellar wines to open at stages with his daughters.
In pre-premox days I would happily have suggested that a top-quality white burgundy could be kept for up to 20 years. Nowadays I feel I may be risking it to suggest ten. And I would argue that the qualitative difference between a five- and 10-year-old white burgundy is less than the Riesling equivalent would be; Chardonnays seem to gain less complexity with time in bottle (wild generalisation alert). Although I much enjoyed the 2017 vintage of the most unusual Tuscan Chardonnay Querciabella Batàr the other day.
The classic exception to this is Chablis, the far northern outpost of Burgundy, whose wines, all made from Chardonnay, have traditionally relied less on oak than on acidity and really can evolve enormously and beneficially in bottle. I have enjoyed 40-year-old examples.
 
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JH98:
  • 2019 Mount Mary Yarra Valley Quintet
JH97:
  • 2019 Mount Mary Yarra Valley Chardonnay
  • 2019 Mount Mary Yarra Valley Pinot Noir
EL98:
  • 2019 Standish Lamella Shiraz
  • 2016 Standish Lamella Shiraz
EL97:
  • 2019 Standish The Relic Shiraz Viognier
  • 2019 Standish The Standish Shiraz
  • 2019 Standish Schubert’s Theorem Shiraz
AG95:
  • Jacques Selosse ‘Initial’ Blanc de Blancs NV
  • Meerea Park Alexander Munro Semillon 2004
  • Alice and Olivier de Moor Chablis Coteau de Rosette 2018
 
  • Greywacke Wild Sauvignon 2018 - HH95
  • Auntsfield Cob Cottage Chardonnay 2018 - HH95
  • Radburnd Merlot Cabernet 2018 - HH96
  • 2007 Bollinger R.D. [Aÿ, France]
  • 2019 Otherness Urth Riesling [Clare Valley]
  • 2018 Box Grove Off-Piste Roussanne [Nagambie Lakes]
  • 2019 Millstream Chardonnay [Gippsland]
  • 2020 Delinquente Hell Arinto [Riverland]
  • 2019 Oakridge 864 Henk Aqueduct Pinot Noir [Yarra Valley]
  • 2019 Ostal Levant Un Coeur Simple [Cahors, France]
  • 2019 Seppelt Arrawatta Hill Shiraz [Great Western]
  • Glen Scotia 15-Year-Old Single Malt [Campbelltown, Scotland]
  • Koko Black X Modus Operandi Hazelnut and Chocolate Belgian Stout [Sydney]
 


 
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Why on earth do we persist with this 100-point scale, given that practically everything is scored between 90 and 100?

10 - or 20 at most - should suffice.
You mean like the 20 point scale....where everything is scored between 12-20. Maybe we need an 8 point scale ;)
I quite like the Robert Parker rating system/scale

+ 1, I can't recall ever seeing Aussie reviews lower than 80 and yet too many wines I've tried and thought "OK but so what?"
 
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I still find it bizarre that so-called 100-point and 20-point scales only use the top half of their range (ie. 50-100; 10-20).

Therefore why not just have a 50-point scale or a 10-point scale? 🤨
  • could depend upon if one starts from 0 and then adds points for positive attributes, or from 100/20 and subtracts for negative/missing ones
  • critics don't publish reviews for all the wines that they taste
  • one would hope that wineries wouldn't release failures
this chart by De Long is perhaps the best explanation of ratings that i've seen, and David Morrison (The Wine Gourd) has also posted about scales at least twice

personally for me, i think that:
a review should answer two questions, and so be accompanied by two scores:
  • is it a good wine?
  • is it a good example of the intended style?
for example, if a pinot noir tastes like Petrus rather than Ponsot, then it could score 100% for being a good wine, but 0% for being a bad example of a pinot noir

such a system is used by RateBeer
 
An interesting take on Halliday Wine of the year awards 2022 by the WineAway team:


I don’t get it. The 2022 Halliday Wine of the Year Awardshave come and gone and the wines that scored the highest didn’t take home first prize… how does that work?


  • The top two Pinots (both 98pts) didn’t win Pinot of the Year and Halliday’s top Rosé (Dominique Portet) didn’t win Rosé of the Year!
  • Vanya Cullen’s 99pt Cab Sauv didn’t win Cab Sauv of the Year and another 99pt Cab Shiraz didn’t win anything in the Cab Blends either!
  • And the three 99pt Shiraz and eight 98pt Shiraz were not good enough to take Australia’s best Shiraz – this went to a 97pt wine.


Not much changed with the whites either… the top four 98pt Rieslings (including Duke’s Magpie Hill) missed out on the jellybeans. Chardonnay of the Year was fascinating… like a good Olympic High Jump there were multiple winners (3 in fact). However, the 2018 Giaconda Chardonnay (99pts from James Halliday himself) didn’t get a look in, with the 99pt newly released Penfolds Yattarna, the 98pt Leeuwin Art and the 97pt Oakridge 864 taking joint gold. The story I’ve heard is that the 3 Chardies could not be separated hence all shared the prize… but how on earth was Giaconda separated from the pack… was 99pts not good enough? Is it because of lack of availability? Do the big corporate sponsors backing the Awards rely on the wines being available in commercial quantities? I know there’s probably some fine print regarding the judging methodology but does anyone read that stuff?



As the Wine Companion morphs into a new era (we now have to gauge and calibrate ourselves to the palates of 7 different critics) it’s worth noting that James Halliday does not seem to be tasting as much these days, but he still offers that consistency and reliability that serious wine connoisseurs rely on. We’ve brought out the magnifying glass and taken a real look at the ‘Halliday’ scores and narrowed down the field to what we think should have been Halliday’s Winery of the Year.



Enter Dominique Portet, the man who grew up running around the grounds of Chateau Lafite whilst his father was at the helm of this illustrious maker. When you delve deeper into the 2022 Halliday Wine Awards (and study the scores from James Halliday himself) Dominique Portet’s recognition comes in many forms including Halliday’s #1 Rose, and the finest value Chardonnay/Cabernet combo in the Fontaine/Origine range, including a $22 Cabernet (95pts) that made it into Halliday’s Top 100. Ironically Huon Hooke rates the sub-$70 flagship 2018 Dom Portet Cabernet Sauvignon as his #1 2018 Cab Sauv from Victoria, relegating the finest Cab Sauv of the official 2022 Winery of the Year (Yarra Yering) into a close 2nd place.​
 
I don’t get it. The 2022 Halliday Wine of the Year Awardshave come and gone and the wines that scored the highest didn’t take home first prize… how does that work?
Speculation on another forum that the winner is based on consensus given the new regional split and multi-reviewers?

Seems to make sense I guess, otherwise not sure how they calibrate between the reviewers.
 
Speculation on another forum that the winner is based on consensus given the new regional split and multi-reviewers?

Seems to make sense I guess, otherwise not sure how they calibrate between the reviewers.
You are correct. As per Halliday monthly magazine wines are rated by the person delegated for that region. For the awards the top wines in contention are tasted and judged by all of the Halliday team and voted on. That is why there is confusion with the results.
 

this chart by De Long is perhaps the best explanation of ratings that i've seen, and David Morrison (The Wine Gourd) has also posted about scales at least twice
Bruce Sanderson (the Wine Spectator), Ian D’Agata, Steve Tanzer and Allen Meadows (Burghound) are four who reserved scores of 95 and above for the true elite.

You are correct. As per Halliday monthly magazine wines are rated by the person delegated for that region. For the awards the top wines in contention are tasted and judged by all of the Halliday team and voted on. That is why there is confusion with the results.
i wonder how the post-awards webinar with wineries went?
 


Top wine critics voted in the BWW 2022


View attachment 256727
Virtual Tasting with Viñado Seña, Chile - Facebook
 
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  • Don’t Be Afraid to Explore
  • Find the Best Value for the Price
  • Learn From Mass-Market Wines
  • Pair Wine With Food
  • Examine Your Biases
  • Defy Conventional Wisdom
  • Consider the Place of Origin
  • Value Simplicity
  • Appreciate the Beauty of Nuance
  • Return to the Classics

67 Pall Mall are starting to put together quite a substantial database of past wine events for replay:

 
  • Informative
Reactions: Rug
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