The real Challenge is making sense of the Results
Let’s begin with the Great Australian Shiraz Challenge 2015, which was won by the humble Taylor’s Shiraz 2014 from the Clare Valley – $13 at Bayfields. The wine didn’t just win the best Shiraz under $25 category but also the outright trophy, scoring an almost perfect 19.5 points out of 20.
Does it sound too good to be true? YES it does, and YES it is. I have a glass of the Taylor’s 2014 in front of me as I write this, and it’s a ripe, aromatic, forward Shiraz with sweet vanilla oak and a soft finish. Typical Taylor’s, easy on the gums but nothing special. I’d give it about 90 points unless it improves dramatically over the next day or two. (It didn’t). It beats me how the judges could give the top trophy for the best Shiraz in all of Oz to a mass-produced wine of no special merit.
You cannot be serious
As John McEnroe used to say. I pulled out a couple of Shiraz reds from my samples collection. I preferred both the Shingleback Reserve Shiraz 2013 and the Leconfield Shiraz 2013. The Shingleback was way down the list in this challenge, and the Leconfield wasn’t entered. The Hesketh Barossa Shiraz 2014 I reviewed a couple of weeks ago is a better Shiraz again at just $18, but these guys have been around wine for a few years and know better than to enter their wines in freak shows.
The upside-down wine competition?
Working our way toward the bottom of the awards table, we find some aritocratic creatures lurking there such as the Bird in Hand Nest Egg Shiraz 2012, which costs $100 and has won a bunch of golds at other wine shows. In the Great Aussie Shiraz Challenge, it scored a bronze medal and just 15.5 points.
The Bird in Hand Shiraz 2012 is in good company, with the $190 Wolf Blass Platinum Shiraz 2010 – Winestate’s Best Shiraz in the World 2013 – on 16.2, the $150 Penfolds RWT Shiraz 2013 and the Penfolds Bin 150 Marananga Shiraz 2013 on 16.5, and the $70 Seppelt’s St Peters Shiraz 2013 on 16.5. Even the crowd pleaser and winner of the Edinburg Great Shiraz Challenge Bellevue Estate Shiraz 2013 scored a measly 16.5 points here.
Would you believe Taylor’s own $60 flagship St Andrews Shiraz 2013 scored just 15.8 points? And the Brown Brothers 18 Eighty Nine Shiraz 2013 that scored the top gold at the Sydney Show earlier this year scraped in with 15.7 points.
The Great Australian Red Challenge 2015
This is the annual competition organised by Tyson Stelzer and Matthew Jukes, the wine writer for the UK’s Daily Telegraph. It celebrates the unique Aussie combo of Cabernet Shiraz and Shiraz Cabernet (yes, they make that distinction). An obvious question looking for an answer is: Why do our two biggest red competitions announce their winners at the same time?
The next question is: why do they give the top trophy to a wine you can’t buy, 2 years in a row? Worse than that, it’s exactly the same wine from the same vintage that won the comp last year – Yalumba Caley Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2012, to be released next year. How stupid is that, notwithstanding the remarkable consistency of judging here? Detailed results HERE.
Lightning Strikes
‘It seems lightning can strike the same place twice,’ says the press release, ‘with the winner of The Great Australian Red 2014 turning on a repeat performance and taking the same honour in 2015. The yet to be released Yalumba The Caley Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2012 was the winner of The Great Australian Red 2015, the first wine in the ten year history of the competition to win the top trophy twice. In another unprecedented back-to-back performance, Lake Breeze Bernoota Shiraz Cabernet 2013 won The Kemeny’s Trophy for the Best Wine $25 and Under, repeating the performance of the 2012 vintage of the same wine in winning this trophy in 2014.’
In this case, it was a different vintage at least. We reviewed this wine a few months ago and said: ‘Lake Breeze Bernoota Shiraz Cabernet 2013 – $20 at the winery. This classic Aussie blend from Langhorne Creek is a well-built wine and packs plenty of flavour, from berries and plums to eucalypt and oak. At 14.5% it’s on the big side for me but big red lovers will love it. Give it a year or 2 or 5. 92+ points. I have a slight preference for the 2012, which you can still buy for $17 at Winesellersdirect.’
It’s a good big Aussie red this, and good value, but surely there are better Cabernet Shiraz reds to be had in this great sunburnt country. I have a glass of Yalumba’s Scribbler 2012 in front of me, and to my taste it’s a more attractive wine for about the same money. Lots of bright red fruit here and layers of flavour in a smooth, elegant package. The St Johns Road Workhorse Cabernet Shiraz 2013 is a few dollars more, and it’s a better wine again.
Upside Down Once More
What about Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, I hear you ask, was it in the competition? Yes it was, but the judges pushed it down to the bottom of the awards table among the bronze medals, along with Lindeman’s Coonawarra Limestone Shiraz Cabernet 2013 and Howard Park Cellar Collection Cabernet Shiraz 2013. And guess which wine is at the bottom of that list? Yalumba The Scribbler Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz 2012. I had another glass of it to check my bearings and it’s even better after a day in the open bottle.
The Great Aussie Red Comp has spawned a growing number of trophies, and this year’s winners are:
- Glaetzer Wines Anaperenna Shiraz Cabernet 2014 – Best Shiraz-Dominant Blend
- Wynns Coonawarra V & A Lane Cabernet Shiraz 2012 – Best Cabernet-Dominant Blend
- Pepperjack Certifi ed Shiraz Cabernet 2013 – Best Wine $25-$60. $28 at the Liquor Shack.
What do we make of all this?
The results of both competitions are all over the shop, a huge muddle that defies logical analysis. At the same time, we see an astonishing consistency in the great Aussie Red tasting where the judges voted for the same wines as last year. Like homing pigeons.
Both competitions gave low scores to wines of serious calibre and price, so it would be easy for me to say: there you go, I’ve been telling you all along that our top $20 wines are as good as or better than all those $100 wines. Here’s the proof – what more can you ask for? The problem is that these expensive and iconic wines have won major bling and accolades from many other judges and reviewers. So what happened at these 2 shows?
I have no idea, but clearly even the experts can’t tell an expensive wine from a cheap one. Make no mistake, the judging panels were stacked with serious dudes with centuries of experience among them, professional judges and winemakers of some standing. Yet the results are rubbish.
Kim