The Auswine Forum

Folks, I propose a new AusWine Forum Award... The 2013 Best Quality-to-Price Winery in Australia...

It was the thread on what next will go "outta my league" that got me thinking about this topic... about the desire to recognise the wineries who DONT go down this path and really make an effort to be realistic and yet who also keep quality very high.

I propose the following key criteria:
1. Must produce a relatively wide range of wines and be generally well distributed;
2. Must be Australian;
3. Must provide consistent quality across all of their wine styles (even if not all hit the heights of their "flagship" varieties);
4. Must provide exceptional value for the pricing offered, even if not necessarily "cheap" (e.g. doesn't have to be sub-$20);
5. May be single or multi-regional and could own vineyards or buy-in fruit - no restrictions on this.

For example, from a recent trip, Willows in the Barossa impressed me. Their top Shiraz is very good and max's out at $50/bottle. Their estate Cabernet and Shiraz are both of excellent quality and prices are just $23/bottle, even for the back prior vintage. Their Semillon, one of the best in the valley, is only $16/bottle or $20/bottle for the 7-yr old release.

Equally eligible would be Mike Press, the perennial value favourite who keeps prices <$15/bottle for almost everything and yet seems to produce very high quality for the money. Best's in Victoria is another that comes to mind. These are just ideas to get you started.

The only one I am going to arbitrarily rule out is Wendouree... while I admire their pricing being well below where demand would dictate, they are not widely available.

To vote please reply to this post with your Top 3 (maximum!) unranked preferences for this and then we can collate an official winner! (i.e. everyone gets 3 votes)...

Mike Press
Hoddles Creek (inc Wickhams and 1er)
Chambers Rosewood (specifically for the silly-cheap Muscats/Muscadelles etc)

I look forward to seeing the full list of entries! Thought about putting Penfolds in, as an ironic vote, but thought better of it!

simon1980

My vote is for Tahbilk.

Tahbilk and Mike Press were the first two that come to mind

Pen....na only joking

Teusner - don't seem to produce a bad wine and varied range
Peppertree - Broad regional ranges in white and red and reasonably priced higher end wines.

Craig(NZ) wrote:Pen....na only joking

Wynn's... from 5-yrs ago.
Penfolds... circa 1986.
Wolf Blass... in 1989.

(This is not my official vote!!)

1. Tahbilk (pretty good at everything and nothing overpriced (except maybe the 1860 vines);
2. D'arenberg (really broad range and everything tops out at $60 excluding the single vineyard stuff);
3. O'leary Walker in Clare (whose rieslings bely their c$18 price via mailing list, and who also do a tidy line of well priced reds)

Honourable mentions to Hugh Hamilton which I have bought for ages, but their whites let them down, and to Allandale in the Hunter.
I also have never bought Mike Press despite all the urging on here so cant comment on their wines.

Tahbilk
DeBortoli
Tyrrell's

huh, whaddaya know, no South Aussies in there... That is a shameful for an Adelaide boy.

My vote for best winery in terms of value for money would be Brown Hill Estate in Margaret River - they over deliver in terms of quality for $$. Tahbilk make some good wines cheaply, as do Mike Press. But I really think the best value wines in Oz are not available at a winery and these are the Colonial Estate wines.

1. Mt Langi
2. Seppelt
3. Clonakilla

EDIT: I had Seppelt then changed to Melton, then looked at his prices and apart from the F-in-Law Shiraz and Nine Popes which I get all the others are north of $40 so I'll go back to Seppelt.

In no particular order:

Hoddles Creek (although limited range, very good at their $20 wines)
Capel Vale (consistently over-deliver at a heap of different price points)
Ashbrook (absolute purity of fruit, and pristine winemaking, consistently for nearly 40 years)

Hoddles Creek
Mike Press
Tyrrells

Noon - by a country mile.
Hodddles Creek - great Chardonnay
Mike Press - bats well above it's weight.

Nearly all of the wines from the above wineries are sub $30 and all are sub $40. There are probably many others, but these three stick out quite a bit. Honourable mention for Head wines as well.

Cheers
Ian

Brown Hill Estate - WA Margaret River
Tscharke - Barossa
Wild Duck Creek (If you order through their mailing list)

Olivers Taranga
Kilikanoon
Crabtree

Good work guys I am seeing a few consistent names emerge... I am wondering if this will get skewed by the geographic location of the posters? I think Waiters Friend is the only one to propose a WA name for example. Perhaps we will have to award state winners? Keep the votes coming...

Great Idea..

Noons
Mike Press
Willows

Tahbilk - easily on all of the criteria listed.
Chrismont - great selection of Italian varietals that are always great value.
Chambers - Their flagons of fortified, particularly muscat, are the wine bargains of the planet.

Mike Press
Tahbilk
Hoddles Creek
Mt Langi Ghiran
Forest Hill Vineyard

Brilliant idea.

Happs (extensive range and great wines for the price)
Fraser Gallop (small selection but punches way above its price point - particularly the flagship Char and CS)
Voyager (pricier than the other two but the flagship CSM is consistently up with the top end of MR at relatively good value and the whites / cheaper reds have been favourites year after year)

QPR assessed based on cheaper of online prices or vineyard direct.

Havent tasted the ranges of non-WA producers so can only comment on WA wines.

Ben

Hoddles Creek (mainly for their incredibly good Chardonnays - the pinot is not far behind though and the portfolio is expanding nicely over recent years)

Seppelt (the longer this once great company stays under the control of TWE, all the QPR factors will most likely deteriorate slowly but surely - if only they could have retained their SA portfolio they would be my number one by a country mile, although the impressive Victorian portfolio still remains very hard to beat across the board)

Morris (left mostly to do his own thing by his international corporate masters, David Morris makes some of the world's best sweet fortifieds - that are only just starting to creep up in price, and only for the very oldest and best "rare" offerings and overall much better QPR than Chambers, All Saints, Bullers and Stanton and Killeen)

Marius Wines
Longhop
Sons of Eden
Wild Duck Creek (though only the lesser labels)
Mt Langi Ghiran

Interesting thread.

A few votes for Mike Press. I don't know about his wines. They are certainly cheap and reasonable to drink but would you really want to drink these in the longer term? To me the 2011 reds have an element of botrytis and they may well fall apart in a couple of years.

Haven't been to Tahbilk in years, but probably support the vote there.

Certainly I support Tscharke, very good wines at a a reasonable price, Damien is a very enthusiastic winemaker producing some very high quality wines. Gibson is another small producer in Barossa that is doing good stuff.

Not much support for anything from Coonawarra. I think a number of wineries there are producing some high quality wine for reasonable prices, stuff that will still be around in ten years. Balnaves, Leconfield, Redmans (at last), Laira, Zema, Rymill, Katnook,

mjs wrote:Interesting thread.

A few votes for Mike Press. I don't know about his wines. They are certainly cheap and reasonable to drink but would you really want to drink these in the longer term? To me the 2011 reds have an element of botrytis and they may well fall apart in a couple of years.
th
Haven't been to Tahbilk in years, but probably support the vote there.

Certainly I support Tscharke, very good wines at a a reasonable price, Damien is a very enthusiastic winemaker producing some very high quality wines. Gibson is another small producer in Barossa that is doing good stuff.

Not much support for anything from Coonawarra. I think a number of wineries there are producing some high quality wine for reasonable prices, stuff that will still be around in ten years. Balnaves, Leconfield, Redmans (at last), Laira, Zema, Rymill, Katnook,

Don't know about Katnook, their wines seem to a bit more highly priced than other Coonawarra producers. Zema and Brands Laira I'd agree with.

Hoddles Creek - their chardonnays are very good, and after a few years, great.

Marius - my personal favourite red wine maker is Roger Pike, and to do what he does for around $30 is magnificent.

Tahbilk - the entry level wines would beat most people's banner wines.

Blue Poles - like Pikey, Mark Gifford's wines are unique, delicious, and sensational value at around $30

"Fill the name in here" SA Riesling maker - you know all the names, cause they're quoted here daily of late, but the QPR on most SA Rieslings is as good as it gets.

Cheers,

Via Collins.

1. Teusner....never really tasted a bad wine regardless of vintage or heirachy so therefore very consistent. Fits the other criteria very well too i think.
2. Kay Brother's.....as above
3. Two Hands....as above

ross

Tahbilk
Voyager
Teusner

3 years ago I would have said Tyrrels but these days the RRP is just silly.

mjs wrote:Not much support for anything from Coonawarra. I think a number of wineries there are producing some high quality wine for reasonable prices, stuff that will still be around in ten years. Balnaves, Leconfield, Redmans (at last), Laira, Zema, Rymill, Katnook,

Hollick & Majella on the Coonawarra front too.

Majella - absolutely

Hollick - been a tad disapointed with their wines in the last two CD visits, but certainly ok price-wise (with the exception of Ravenswood)