I just noticed that I haven’t reported on an Australian red wine for almost 20 years. Say what? I can explain this, but still, it’s time to go back.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Australia. I was incredibly lucky to be able to spend time there and in New Zealand in 2000 and 2003 as a judge at the “Top 1OO” Sydney International Wine Competition in the beautiful Blue Mountains. I toured wineries and saw the sights in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and surrounding wine regions. I ate and drank well, met a lot of good people, and I’d go back without a second thought if I had the chance.
I loved the wines, too, and enjoyed discovering them. But as the old saying goes, I didn’t leave Australian wine. It left me. Even in those days, I was surprised to discover how most of the wines I tasted at Australian “cellar doors” (their name for winery tasting rooms) were so different from the Australian wines I bought at home in the U.S.
Surely influenced by market-driven demand, Australian wine makers – not unwisely – found that fashioning high-alcohol, fruit-forward, heavily oaked wines to the taste of leading wine writer Robert M. Parker Jr. and the tasting panels at Wine Spectator would yield high ratings for those wines. High ratings translated to booming sales. Everyone was happy, except for those of us who remembered a time and place when Australian wines showed a degree of character and balance.
Support The 30 Second Wine Advisor with your paid-tier subscription. For $5 per month or $50 for a year (a 17% saving), you’ll receive additional wine notes funded by your subscriptions, gain quick direct access for wine-related questions, and receive other benefits to come.
