The Auswine Forum

Can anyone point me to a good (hopefully reasonably objective) vintage rating source for various Australian wine regions? I am particularly interested in understanding the 2003 vintage for reds in SA regions.

Langtons has a fairly detailed vintage chart on their website.
Its not always up to date, and I'm not sure if I agree with many of the ratings, but hey, this is no science....

Julio, Minotaur is right, this is very subjective. Everyone has a view, and not all critics align on what is good and what is not. Probably the best way to find out about 03 SA is to do exactly what you've done - ask here! I'm sure many here have plenty of info given their direct exposure to SA.

Loking at my own cellr the only 03's from SA I bought were Rockford and the Wynns John Riddoch, and in total 03 was my smallest buying vintage since 1997!

In the warm regions near Adelaide it was a very warm year, and it showed in a 2003 shiraz horizontal about 18 months ago, where everything was ripe and some wines were stewed.
Clare Rieslings were patchy, some are very forward and ripe but others seemed to do well.
I cant speak from much experience, but I'm told Eden Valley did reasonably well and avoided the overripe probem a little better.

I really dont know much about 03 Coonawarra.

Not everything, but a start for you,

Andrew

Jeremy Oliver publishes good and very detailed vintage reviews on his Onwine website (though you have to join). I don't think he thought '03 was at all good ... in fact he considers '04 and '05 fairly patchy (though picked '05 for Riesling and Henty in particular). Certainly he doesn't seem to buy into overall industry-vintage hype. No ratings though.

The yanks on eBob still think 2003 was the best ever - but they seem to have started in 2001 ('02 too elegant) and seem to drink mainly cult Shiraz at 1-2 years of age.

Me, I cellared no reds at all from SA '03 (only from Victoria which looks pretty good).

Vintage 2003 was a fairly tough vintage, a lot of hard, angular reds, but as always there are plenty of good wines made even in this sort of vintage. I didn't buy a lot from 2003 (the least amount since the 1993 vintage), but here are the ones I did buy (each 3-6 only):
PName DS
Battely Sojourn Syrah-Durif
Braydun Hill Shiraz
Cullens Cabernet Merlot
Dalwhinnie Moonambel Cabernet
Dalwhinnie Moonambel Shiraz
Dutschke Wines Oscar Semmler
Dutschke Wines St Jakobi
Fox Creek Short Row Shiraz
Gnadenfrei St Michael Shiraz
Kalleske Greenock Shiraz
Kays Block 6 Shiraz
Kays Hillside Shiraz
Kilikanoon Oracle Shiraz
Majella Cabernet
Majella Shiraz
Marius Single Vineyard Shiraz
Mitolo GAM Shiraz
Mount Langi Ghiran Langi Shiraz
Mr Riggs Mr Riggs Shiraz
Noons Eclipse
Noons Reserve Cabernet
Noons Reserve Shiraz
Picardy Merlot-Cabernet
Rockford Basket Press Shiraz
Schubert Estate Goose-yard Shiraz
Seppelt Benno Shiraz
Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz
Seppelt St Peters Shiraz
Shaw and Smith M3 Shiraz
Tim Adams Aberfeldy Shiraz
Vasse Felix Heytesbury
Viking Wines Grand Shiraz
Voyager Estate Shiraz
Warrabilla Reserve Durif
Wendouree (Birks) Cab Malbec
Wendouree (Birks) Shiraz
Winter Creek Shiraz
Wynn's Johnson's Shiraz- Cabernet
Yarra Yarra Syrah
Yering Station Reserve Shiraz-Viognier

seppelts grampians shiraz and meerea park hell hole are the only 03 aussie reds i have bought

For me from SA (bought very little from elsewhere either) :-

Rockford BP
Rockford Rod & Spur
Veritas Hanisch
Veritas Bulls Blood
Langmeil Valley Floor
The Willows Shiraz
Turkey Flat Cabernet
Saltram Mamre Brook Shiraz
Clos Clare Shiraz
Killikanoon Medley
Killikanoon Covenant
Killikanoon Block's Road
Killikanoon Oracle
Seppelt Benno
Seppelt Chalambar
Seppelt St Peters
Tim Adams Aberfeldy
Wehl's Mt Benson Cab Sauv
Wirra Wirra Grenache

Craig(NZ) wrote:seppelts grampians shiraz and meerea park hell hole are the only 03 aussie reds i have bought

But how many have you tried?

Davo wrote:For me from SA ......

Seppelt Benno
Seppelt Chalambar
Seppelt St Peters

Sorry Davo, but aren't these Victorians?

I didn't fancy much from the 03s at the Coonawarra roadshow (apart from the Wynns Black Label).

Michael

Michael McNally wrote:

Davo wrote:For me from SA ......

Seppelt Benno
Seppelt Chalambar
Seppelt St Peters

Sorry Davo, but aren't these Victorians?

I didn't fancy much from the 03s at the Coonawarra roadshow (apart from the Wynns Black Label).

Michael

Oooh, quite right. I will have to change that in my cellar software. It lists them as SA as I bought them at Seppeltsfield CD

But how many have you tried?

dont keep stats on those thoughts of things!! a good number

thanks everyone