Barossa Wine Show Results 2008

[GrahamB]

Just had a great week in the Barossa with heaps of good drinking.

Haven't seen this listed before so here it is.
Apologies if I am repeating.

http://www.barossa.com/webdata/resource ... esults.pdf

Graham

[dave vino]

Yalumba seems to have done very well.

Why would Yalumba be listed as a sponsor of a wine show? Isn't that a conflict of interest?

[Rudy]

Surprising results in the GSM Class 15. To quote the judges:

For what should be a highlight of the region, this class delivered below the mark

[TORB]

Yalumba seems to have done very well.

Why would Yalumba be listed as a sponsor of a wine show? Isn't that a conflict of interest?

Not with so many independent judges that have no tie to Yalumba. Also all wines are tasted double blind.

[n4sir]

Surprising results in the GSM Class 15. To quote the judges:

For what should be a highlight of the region, this class delivered below the mark

This was a bit of a surprise for me too.

[GrahamB]

I was most surprised at the BIG names who performed below par in all classes.

[David]

I was most surprised at the BIG names who performed below par in all classes.

Interesting comment. At what level would you call par?

[Red Bigot]

I was most surprised at the BIG names who performed below par in all classes.

Graham, this sort of thing happens in every wine show.
Give a few examples?

[Red Bigot]

Surprising results in the GSM Class 15. To quote the judges:

For what should be a highlight of the region, this class delivered below the mark

Interesting response to this:
http://www.glug.com.au/index_general.ph ... &art=08023

[n4sir]

Surprising results in the GSM Class 15. To quote the judges:

For what should be a highlight of the region, this class delivered below the mark

Interesting response to this:
http://www.glug.com.au/index_general.ph ... &art=08023

This is a disappointing article that smacks of bias/sour grapes.

"When the umpires speak you have to cop it though on reflection I'm not so sure. Since moving to the Barossa in 2005 I've got to know these styles well."

Before publicly attacking the judges of this class he should have at least sought specific comment from them on why they didn't think of these wines as highly as he did.

I value the opinions and experience of Peter Leske, Stephen John, Nick Stock and the associates Troy Kalleske and Sue Franke much more than someone who's been in the Barossa two and a bit years. As much as he's entitled to his opinions, he should have made some decent attempt at getting the other side of the story before teeing off at people of that calibre.

My 2c,
Ian

[Red Bigot]

I value the opinions and experience of Peter Leske, Stephen John, Nick Stock and the associates Troy Kalleske and Sue Franke much more than someone who's been in the Barossa two and a bit years.

Ian, he's also been in the wine industry, mostly selling wine, for about 35 years. DF (and his brother Richard) was the very first discount wine merchant after the advent of the TPA.

[n4sir]

I value the opinions and experience of Peter Leske, Stephen John, Nick Stock and the associates Troy Kalleske and Sue Franke much more than someone who's been in the Barossa two and a bit years.

Ian, he's also been in the wine industry, mostly selling wine, for about 35 years. DF (and his brother Richard) was the very first discount wine merchant after the advent of the TPA.

Yeah, but somehow his experience since he moved to the Barossa in 2005 (which he specifically states in the article) makes him a better judge than these on the panel? What a load of rubbish - it's still a hopelessly biased article.

Cheers,
Ian

[Red Bigot]

I value the opinions and experience of Peter Leske, Stephen John, Nick Stock and the associates Troy Kalleske and Sue Franke much more than someone who's been in the Barossa two and a bit years.

Ian, he's also been in the wine industry, mostly selling wine, for about 35 years. DF (and his brother Richard) was the very first discount wine merchant after the advent of the TPA.

Yeah, but somehow his experience since he moved to the Barossa in 2005 (which he specifically states in the article) makes him a better judge than these on the panel? What a load of rubbish - it's still a hopelessly biased article.

Cheers,
Ian

I wonder who the makers of all those (some very, very good IMO) wines agree with?
I think someone who backs their judgement choosing and selling wine over a very long period (well he did go bust once) has just as valid experience for an opinion as a bunch of show judges. I'd be fairly certain you can find another show where another bunch of judges didn't agree with this lot on some of the same wines.
I would have been nice if the judges had indicated what they were looking for that was missing.

[Grant]

I thought he made a couple of good points, in particular in relation to the remark he made about the Seppelt Fino...in some classes, the judge is on trial, not the wine.

Other than that though, you can't expect shows to be perfect, and you're always going to get results that attract criticism ( or that raise eyebrows). Such is the nature of blind tasting.

Cheers

[DaveB]

I thought he made a couple of good points, in particular in relation to the remark he made about the Seppelt Fino...in some classes, the judge is on trial, not the wine.

Other than that though, you can't expect shows to be perfect, and you're always going to get results that attract criticism ( or that raise eyebrows). Such is the nature of blind tasting.

Cheers

For all the good points that the Australian Show System has..... it is still the equivalent of vinous speed dating

[GrahamB]

I was most surprised at the BIG names who performed below par in all classes.

Graham, this sort of thing happens in every wine show.
Give a few examples?

Sorry to have not answered earlier.

These I would have expected at least a silver/bronze
12 Rockford Wines 39.50 2004 Local Growers Semillon
8 Henschke 43.50 2008 Eleanor’s Cottage Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon
7 Thorn-Clarke Wines 42.50 2007 Thorn-Clarke Sandpiper Shiraz
10 Thorn-Clarke Wines 46.00 2007 Thorn-Clarke Shotfire Shiraz
37 Elderton Wines 42.50 2006 Elderton Friends Shiraz
94 Pirathon Wines 44.00 2006 Pirathon By Kalleske Shiraz
18 St Hallett Wines 42.00 2005 Old Block Shiraz
31 Barossa Valley Estate 44.50 2004 Barossa Valley Estate E & E Black Pepper Shiraz
58 Grant Burge Wines Pty Ltd 45.50 2004 Grant Burge Wines Meshach

And so on....
I have left out wines like young Freedom, Octavius for obvious reasons.

[Daryl Douglas]

Surprising results in the GSM Class 15. To quote the judges:

For what should be a highlight of the region, this class delivered below the mark

Interesting response to this:
http://www.glug.com.au/index_general.ph ... &art=08023

Ever tried any of the Glug wines, Brian? They seem to use Binder and Teusner a lot.

Cheers

daz

[Mahmoud Ali]

Hmmm......, don't know this Glug person but some of the points in his article are very questionable.

Referring to the judges he says: "The wines are not on show but they are." What? If that were the case then they should have a platform of about a dozen wines served blind and a slew of judges tasting them to see if they get it "right" with a trophy to the judge who correctly identifies the best wines by conferring it the correct score.

What a laugh. Wine xxx is the finest of its kind. It is not to be assessed or questioned "as the wine is not being judged but the judge is." Well, no point rating a vintage of Grange, Latour, Margaux, or a Para Port. These are wines of perfection and you the judge are not in a position to question it. Well, so much for wine forum discussions, you had better like icon wine xxx or else you're a Philistine.

How about this one: "I believe that the Chairman, David O'Leary should have stepped in and told the judges to work harder until they found the award winner. It does no good at all not to award a Trophy and indeed sends very bad signals." Bad signals? Work harder?

Yes, boys and girls, no matter how you perform teacher will find a gold medal performance, otherwise it will be a bad signal to the parents. Students are not being tested, the teachers are! How Orwellian.

Seriously though, hasn't it been common for many excellent wines with fine pedigrees not to score well in wine shows? Hasn't it been a recent mantra that medium bodied wines with delicacy and finesse often get overwhelmed by more powerful wines at shows and tasting? Perhaps this is just another one of those cases. Or maybe, just maybe, these wines weren't so good this time around? What did the judges say, "artifact drinkability"? Sounds to me like candidates for one or more of the following: dead fruit, over-oaked, high alcohol, sweet? Who knows, just a guess on my part.

Cheers............Mahmoud

[Red Bigot]

Surprising results in the GSM Class 15. To quote the judges:

For what should be a highlight of the region, this class delivered below the mark

Interesting response to this:
http://www.glug.com.au/index_general.ph ... &art=08023

Ever tried any of the Glug wines, Brian? They seem to use Binder and Teusner a lot.

Cheers

daz

Daz, I haven't tried any of the ones he has made for him by various people, he also sources excess stock etc and puts a label on it, he had a bit of the Classic McLaren wines when they went bust. David Farmer works out of the Rolf/Binder Veritas winery and started that arrangement while Kym was still there.
I have tried a few of the wines in the class in question, and bought the Kaesler Avignon 2006 after tasting it at the winery. I believe it scored the top gold in it's class at the 2007 Melbourne Wine Show, where a lot of fairly expensive wines and/or generally highly-rated wines scored bronze or failed to win a medal.

[Red Bigot]

What did the judges say, "artifact drinkability"? Sounds to me like candidates for one or more of the following: dead fruit, over-oaked, high alcohol, sweet? Who knows, just a guess on my part.

Cheers............Mahmoud

That's the problem here, you cannot know from the brief obscure words given. I think judges have a responsibility to be more specific when they effectively mark downa whole class of wines across multiple vintages.

[n4sir]

The 2008 Adelaide Wine Show results are now up on their website:
http://www.adelaideshowground.com.au/sh ... esults.jsp

Kaesler's 2006 Avignon & Stonehorse bucked the trend to win gold medals in classes 26 & 52, but they didn't win a trophy and overall the Barossa GSM blends again faired poorly (next best were a few bronze medals).

The Seppelt DP117 Fino (or whatever it's called now) David Farmer had a bitch about as well in his article didn't even get a bronze medal this time. I wonder if he's going to have a public whine about these results and judges too.

Cheers,
Ian

[Red Bigot]

They have the "common man's" interests at heart at the Adelaide Wine Show, Best Shiraz trophy to the under-$20 Leasingham Bin 61 2006 and Best Cabernet trophy to the under-$20 Tintara McLaren Vale 2006 and Best Red Wine of the show to the $25 Starvedog Lane Shiraz-Viognier 2006.

[n4sir]

They have the "common man's" interests at heart at the Adelaide Wine Show, Best Shiraz trophy to the under-$20 Leasingham Bin 61 2006 and Best Cabernet trophy to the under-$20 Tintara McLaren Vale 2006 and Best Red Wine of the show to the $25 Starvedog Lane Shiraz-Viognier 2006.

It's interesting that while Yalumba did very well at the Barossa Show, Constellation Wines (formerly BRH Hardy) has done even better virtually across the board at the Adelaide Show.

Cheers,
Ian

[pstarr]

Just looking at the Murrumbateman Cool Climate Wine Show results, and the words "Simple winemaking with good fruit, rather than artefact winemaking will achieve better wines."

My guess is they meant to say artisanal, rather than artefact. Not sure if that helps make sense of the Barossa comments though.

www.murrumbateman.org.au/wineshow/2008%20results.htm

There are a bunch of other strange things in there, including some sweeping dismissals (cool climate fruit not suitable for fortified wine, ill-defined use of 'varietal character' etc).

I really do wonder sometimes whether there is any value in wine shows.

[Red Bigot]

A quick google sheds some light:

"Initially opened, bouquet shows a lot of winemaker artefact, tending to the charry Corban's Cottage Block style of a few years ago"
http://www.geoffkellywinereviews.co.nz/ ... icleID=121

and
"We do not employ winemaking artefact to cre-
ate a certain style or to manipulate the wine."
from a html render of a pdf on Ainsworth and Snelson site.

So, it appears they might be complaining about excessive wine-maker manipulation?

[Davo]

Best Shiraz trophy to the under-$20 Leasingham Bin 61 2006 .

Won the Trophy for best wine of show at Perth as well.

[Davo]

My guess is they meant to say artisanal, rather than artefact. Not sure if that helps make sense of the Barossa comments though.

No they mean artefact and they are talking about manipulation by the wine maker.

[pstarr]

If that's what they mean by "artefact", why not say "fingerprints", "winemaker influence", "intrusive winemaking" or something else clearer? Poor writing.

[Roscoe]

Best Shiraz trophy to the under-$20 Leasingham Bin 61 2006 .

Won the Trophy for best wine of show at Perth as well.

I think the Perth gong might have been for the 2005, Davo.

[Davo]

Best Shiraz trophy to the under-$20 Leasingham Bin 61 2006 .

Won the Trophy for best wine of show at Perth as well.

I think the Perth gong might have been for the 2005, Davo.

I know you are right. 2nd time I have made that mistake this month. Early onset Alzheimer's ?