Australia V The World

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 10, 2005 8:07 am

Piece by Jeni Port - Australian wines in general can't help but reveal their origins, and Australian winemakers more than ever seem relaxed about being different. They've stopped beating themselves up for not being more French than the French or more Italian than the Italians and appear far more comfortable with their place in the wine world. Perhaps as a result of this, they're making some impressive wines.

The tasting - make of it what you will.

Mike

KMP · Post by **KMP** » Tue May 10, 2005 8:08 am

Sorry that's me above. Where is automatic log in when you need it?

Mike

Aussie Jonny · Post by **Aussie Jonny** » Tue May 10, 2005 10:37 am

The selected wines were totally rubbish. Ridiculous comparison. Surely the Age can find a better wine journo than Jeni Port. :roll:

MartinE · Post by **MartinE** » Tue May 10, 2005 6:00 pm

Aussie Jonny wrote:The selected wines were totally rubbish. Ridiculous comparison. Surely the Age can find a better wine journo than Jeni Port.

I agree the wines were a bit dodgy but jeni Port is normally a pretty fair journalist...I thought the story did her no credit being flippy, disjointed and vague...Pointless waste of newsprint IMO.

M.

marsalla · Post by **marsalla** » Wed May 11, 2005 12:50 am

Comparing french wines against oz and nz wines in Australia is ridiculous. They could do a more interesting comparison using the english prices for wines, the oz wines dont perform nearly as well there, its just the variability of the frog stuff that lets them down

cheers

Mark S · Post by **Mark S** » Wed May 11, 2005 1:11 am

marsalla wrote:Comparing french wines against oz and nz wines in Australia is ridiculous. They could do a more interesting comparison using the english prices for wines, the oz wines dont perform nearly as well there, its just the variability of the frog stuff that lets them down

cheers

Oz wines don't perform nearly as well in England?! Australian wine now outsells French in the UK, bloody amazing result given the distance and the traditions. Variability is right - spend $70+ on an Aussie wine, you'll almost certainly get a damn good wine, spend the same on a Frenchie, you will get anything from brilliant to dog piss, more likely the latter in my experience.

They were hard markers in the Age Epicure experiment - out of the 44 wines tried, just one [Stonier Res Pinot] made it to Gold medal status (18.5 points or over)

Aussie Jonny · Post by **Aussie Jonny** » Wed May 11, 2005 10:12 am

Given that the "tasters" mistook the Stonires for a Burg., I suspect they had stuck their noses up each others arses half an hour before the event.
Clearly no f........g idea.

KMP · Post by **KMP** » Wed May 11, 2005 10:30 am

Probably should throw my 2 cents worth in here. It is interesting that these types of comparisons seem to generate so much distain. I see no problem doing this type of taste test as long as its known up front what is in the lineup (i.e. single blind); throwing in a one off to see how it performs in a double blinded fashion is a waste IMHO as it usually shows the wine in a bad light.

The biggest problem with this comparison is selecting the wines for each group. What price range do you select? How many wines? Where do they come from? I donÃƒâ€šÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t believe there is a way to satisfy all the pundits irrespective of the format chosen. But if anyone can come up with the ideal (and practical) format IÃƒâ€šÃ¢â‚¬â„¢d like to hear about it. Remember it has to practical.

Mike

Neville Nessuno · Post by **Neville Nessuno** » Wed May 11, 2005 11:52 am

The problem to me is that its always comparing apples with oranges.

Any comparison on this basis aint going to work out and it really isnt fair to either country's wines as they have never been made as competitors in any market on a stylistic basis.

And really if any conclusion is made it can only be on a wine to wine rather than country to country basis.

My 2c worth

NN

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed May 11, 2005 1:14 pm

with all due respect AJ, I suspect that Ben Edwards, as a burgundy importer, has as much or more experience with burgundy than even you, and that he's tasted the best and the worst and everything in between many many times over. he's also got a renowned palate. the fact that australian pinot has improved immeasurably in recent times just doesn't seem to want to register with you does it? even matt kramer, mister old world burgundy expert, wrote recently that the new world is catching up (and it pained him to say it). it really is OK for other countries to make good pinot you know. it is. it doesn't lessen burgundy at all. really it doesn't.

Mark S · Post by **Mark S** » Wed May 11, 2005 9:32 pm

Aussie Jonny wrote:Given that the "tasters" mistook the Stonires for a Burg., I suspect they had stuck their noses up each others arses half an hour before the event.
Clearly no f........g idea.

Don't be too harsh AJ - as the great English wine critic, whatsisname, famously said when asked if he had ever mistaken a Burgundy for a Bordeaux, "not since lunchtime"

marsalla · Post by **marsalla** » Wed May 11, 2005 10:23 pm

Oz wines don't perform nearly as well in England?! Australian wine now outsells French in the UK, bloody amazing result given the distance and the traditions. Variability is right - spend $70+ on an Aussie wine, you'll almost certainly get a damn good wine, spend the same on a Frenchie, you will get anything from brilliant to dog piss, more likely the latter in my experience.

What I was trying to point out was that the price of these wines in Oz is not where they sit in the general market. To make it simpler if in a paris wine shop they did a comparative tasting of the Oz wines they stock, and equivalently priced french wine, the froggie stuff would look very good indeed. Last chrissie I saw yellowtail for ten euro, which made the french stuff outstanding value in comparison. But you would not judge the relative quality of either regions wines on that basis. Its just standard journalistic fluff

cheers

Aussie Jonny · Post by **Aussie Jonny** » Thu May 12, 2005 12:12 pm

Anonymous wrote:with all due respect AJ, I suspect that Ben Edwards, as a burgundy importer, has as much or more experience with burgundy than even you, and that he's tasted the best and the worst and everything in between many many times over. he's also got a renowned palate. the fact that australian pinot has improved immeasurably in recent times just doesn't seem to want to register with you does it? even matt kramer, mister old world burgundy expert, wrote recently that the new world is catching up (and it pained him to say it). it really is OK for other countries to make good pinot you know. it is. it doesn't lessen burgundy at all. really it doesn't.

Don't get me wrong. I have had the Stoniers many times, and it is a good wine, upper 80's on every occasion. But I haver never thought of it as Burgundy-like. I would love to know where he would have placed the wine in Burgundy?? Nuits St George villages, I suspect.