What’s 97 points between friends?

I’ve been meaning to write this piece for a couple of years now but in the ensuing time a little boy, moving house, and a new job have all conspired to give me an excuse not to write it. Recent events, however, have brought back a bit of fire to the belly.

The issue is the growing irrelevance of the 100 point scoring system, rendered largely useless by the artificially inflated scores of many prominent wine critics.

Without going into the full detail of the 100 point scoring system, historically wines scoring in the 70s had significant issues/flaws, wines in the 80s were decent quality drinkable wines, while wines of 90 and above were excellent, and 95 and above were benchmark, world class wines. There will be debates at the margins in terms of what I have just described, but it roughly captures the original design and usage of the scoring system that has dominated wine appraisal over the past 3 decades.

Like any scoring system it has strengths and weaknesses. One of the strengths is the ability to have a wide range of scores available to you to make both nuanced and large score differentials between wines. When you score one wine 92 and another 91, you are making a distinction that isn’t available to say a 5 star system (something I still use). This advantage of the 100 point system, however, has been much diminished in recent years.

Points Inflation

The past decade or so has seen an inflation of points scoring from a significant number of prominent critics. It has been a gradual but undoubted trend. In particular, wines scoring 95 and above abound in a way they never have before. Examples are legion, but perhaps the most infamous of recent times was the eighteen 100 point scores Robert Parker delivered for 2009 Bordeaux. Only a few years previously he had delivered only two 100 point wines from a similarly lauded Bordeaux vintage, that being 2005.

The local example, but by no means the only one, is James Halliday. He is undoubtedly Australia’s most famous wine critic, and someone I have always greatly admired. What has happened over the past decade however, has been an increasing points creep in his scoring that has almost moved to the point of farce. A decade ago, had I read a review of his that rated a reasonably priced wine at 93 points, my interest would have been piqued. In more recent years the equivalent quality wine would almost inevitably get something like a 96 point score. Accordingly, I’ve found myself in what seems like the ridiculous situation of largely ignoring any Halliday reviews for wines scoring less than 96 points. It seems like I will have to revise that up again now, with Halliday awarding a 97 point score to a whopping 166 wines in his latest annual guide, 98 points to 24 wines, and 99 points to a further two.

Undoubtedly in this tally are some genuinely world class, benchmark wines. But looking through those awarded 97 points, there are many that are not. A case in point is the 2012 St Hallett’s Blackwell Shiraz from the Barossa Valley which Halliday gave 97. It’s a wine I’ve generally really enjoyed most vintages and when I tasted the 2012 over 3 days recently I once again found it to be an excellent wine. It was to my mind a 92/93 point wine, which particularly given the $25 price tag makes it a fantastic buy if you enjoy your Barossa Shiraz, and a wine I would highly recommend. Having said this, it is not a benchmark wine, and I don’t think any serious consideration of this wine would label it as profound.

Moving beyond just Halliday, more recently there has been a frenzy around the release of the 2010 Penfolds Grange. This is undoubtedly one of Australia’s greatest wines and 2010 was a very good vintage in South Australia. That it would therefore get some very high scores upon release is no surprise. However, as with the broader trend of points inflation, Grange score inflation has followed suit. To the point now where this wine has already received 100 point scores upon release from critics like Andrew Caillard MW,  Nick Stock, and Tyson Stelzer. Never mind that this is a wine that typically takes a couple of decades to reveal its full potential, it has been given a hat-trick of perfect scores straight off the bat. What happens when these critics taste and score the wine in 20 years time, once the wine is in full bloom, is anyone’s guess.   

Of course not every critic has joined in this arms race, and I hope those that continue to show restraint will hold the line. However, my inbox now receives so many daily offers of wines that have been rated 95, 96, and 97 points by a prominent critic that it would appear that world class wine is simply a mouse ckick away. What has happened in the past decade has made the distinction between truly great wine and very good wine difficult to discern.

Does any of this even matter?

Plenty of people have suggested it’s not really a big deal, and that we should just take a cup of tea, a bex and a good lie down. Some of the typical refrains are -

Scoring wine is a nonsense in the first place, so who cares

A score stakes a claim as to your genuine opinion on the wine, or anything that you’re critiquing for that matter. People argue to the contrary that you should just read the tasting note and make an assessment from there. For mine, with a tasting note alone it is virtually impossible to both genuinely convey the quality, flavours and textures of a wine in a way that consumers can easily get their heads around, while also subsequently enabling them to compare and contrast different options available to them. I’ve increasingly come to the view that a tasting note without a score is a bit meaningless. They compliment one another. Scoring wine remains important.

As long as the range used is consistent what does it matter?

Have a think about anything else in life that is scored (movies, restaurants, the credit ratings of banks). Imagine now that you just decide to move everything up a notch. A David and Margaret reviewed 3 star movie (At The Movies), which has always been the kind of solid, ok movie that you would watch if it’s in your style or there is nothing else to watch, now becomes a recommended 3.5 or 4 star movie. In this new regime, the scoring might be consistent, but it is far less meaningful. The critic is not doing their job of sorting the wheat from the chaff. With the scoring of wine it is no different.

If you don’t like the way the critic scores just ignore it?

Unfortunately that’s not really possible. I guess if it was largely irrelevant bloggers like myself that were throwing out 97 points with gay abandon then yes it would be possible to ignore. People like Parker and Halliday and other critics, however, are too ubiquitous in their respective areas of focus. They have an affect. If you are passionate about wine, you can’t just ignore them or the issue more broadly.

Integrity

Wine criticism is a profession riven with conflicts of interest (a topic for another day). However, I used to be of the belief that these conflicts could largely be managed. However, it seems I was wrong. The plethora of overrated wine about the place would appear to be evidence of this. Ultimately I believe it’s incumbent on people who are scoring things in their professional fields to show a level of restraint and integrity in the way they rate things. Giving everyone a guernsey does no one any good in the long term.

In my day job I’m involved in reviewing and rating investment opportunities for clients. I know that if I were to adopt the Parker or Halliday approach to my scoring I might make some fund managers happy in the short-term, but my credibility would ultimately come under question, and in the end I would be out of a job. Admittedly overrating a wine won’t have the same consequences as putting someone’s life savings in a dud investment, but I’ve got no doubt that if this points inflation trend continues, critics might ultimately find themselves out of a gig. There are only so many times a consumer will buy what they are told is a 96 point wine before it starts to become shorthand for just a solid bottle of wine, at which point how relevant is a wine critic?

Red 

COMMENTARY - Binge Drinking, Alcohol-Fuelled Violence and Small Wine Bars – an Alternate, Absurdist Reality?

The following interview took place at Kings Cross Police Station, 4:30AM one Sunday morning in an alternate reality.........

“I should have known when to stop drinking” James whispered to the police officers in the Kings Cross interview room, as he sat bent-over, head in his hands. “We were only out for a good time, but went to one wine bar too many”.

James and two of this three mates had been arrested an hour earlier for affray in Darlinghurst Road after spending the evening in Kings Cross. James was 15 minutes into his police interview, when he was quizzed on how much alcohol he and his friends had consumed on the night. James rattled off a list of bottles and glasses of wine from all wine regions and wine styles. The police officer interviewing looked over to the minute-taker in a knowing way – this was the third wine-related violent incident she had seen this weekend alone. The arrival of 4 new small wine bars in the Kings Cross area had led to considerably more instances of binge drinking and violent attacks in the last 18 months.

James groaned when he was asked what alcohol he had consumed on the night. “We started at a multi-level beer hall, but hated the ambient atmosphere and 2 for 1 shooters, so went to the first of many small wine bars” James recalled, before noting a $100 bottle of Champagne, a bottle of 10 year aged Semillon and a $180 bottle of Barolo had been shared between his mates at that bar alone  (while also listing several small mezze plates that were thoughtlessly consumed at the same time).

He spent the next ten minutes recounting his alcohol-fuelled binge at 3 other small wine bars, up until  the point the last bar shut at midnight (as per small bar licensing rules). “We should have taken the safer option and just gone to the Bourbon and Beefstake and done shots, or headed to a strip club” James lamented. “I knew hitting the wine bars was going to lead to trouble”.

With his face in his hands, and staring down the barrel of an assault charge and a criminal record, James continued answering questions.

The interview above is obviously fictional, though given some recent commentary regarding small Sydney inner city wine bars, you might have to pause for a moment before dismissing it as such. In light of some truly tragic violent crimes in the King Cross area, a public debate about alcohol-fuelled violence in the Sydney CBD has occured. Incredibly, part of this debate had focused on the recent proliferation of small wine bars as being one of the contributing factors behind the violence.
First there was former Prime Minister Paul Keating, who must hate natural wine and tasting plates, given his simplistic, reductionist slur on small (largely wine) bars, not to mention his personal attacks on Clover Moore. As a recent newspaper article notes:

“Mr Keating also attacked Cr Moore's policy of encouraging small bars around Kings Cross, outside the area subject to a freeze on new liquor licences imposed by the Labor government in 2009.

''Small bars are still where people drink,'' Mr Keating said. ''Clover Moore says this is cosmopolitan but the reality is these are more places where people can get a drink.'' (Link)

Paul – sure, people drink in a wine bar, but the last time I checked, Tequila Slammers or B52’s have never been recommended to me by a sommelier or informed waiter in a wine bar (or a whisky speakeasy for that matter).  In an entertainment strip full of mega bars and strip clubs, to single out 4-5 small bars that sell a comparatively miniscule volume of relatively expensive, contemplative alcoholic beverages is simplistic and misleading.



The new boutique Kings Cross Wine bar "Hells Burgundy Angels" opened
to much fanfare, particularly among members of the criminal underworld



More worryingly, we have the current NSW Hospitality Minister, George Souris coming out and stating publically that the rules governing the establishment of small bars in Sydney will be reviewed by the NSW government, suggesting small bars are contributing to problems in areas such as Kings Cross (Link).
Given the vice-like grip the Hotel lobby has had on consecutive State governments and the glut of massive, classless, poker machine filled beer bars and clubs in the Sydney CDB (and beyond), comments like these are frustrating, simplistic and arguably misleading.

To disproportionately focus on small wine bars as a contributing factor to violent crimes in Kings Cross is astounding, and seemingly politically motivated (if not motivated by the urgings of powerful lobby groups trying to deflect attention away from other causes for the binge drinking).

It is as if the scenario played out in the opening ‘interview’ is the norm, and the violent thugs and undesirables are avoiding the alcohol-free and trouble-free strip clubs, Bars and multi-level nightclubs, instead zeroing-in on the dark intimate wine bars to binge drink and wipe themselves out.

Clover Moore polarises opinions, but her changes to licensing laws have helped reinvigorate the small bar scene in Sydney over the last 4 years. This has been mentioned by RedtoBrown and others in the past and is a wonderful development for anyone who loves fine wine. People who says otherwise must not have visited a wine bar over this period.

Seeking refuge from the violent wine bar customers,
the group fled to the safe confines of the Hotel's Poker Machine room.

In light of the power of certain lobby groups, talk of restricting the sale of all drinks above 5% abv after midnight had been mooted. Thankfully, it appears that the State Government is implementing some alcohol and glass bans that target the sale of spirits and shots, but not the ongoing operation of small bars themselves. (Link) How these laws may impact on the opening of additional small bars is yet to be seen.
Regardless of the positive or negative impact of these bans, the misleading commentary regarding small bars has cast them in an undeservedly negative light. It is as if the fictional police interview at the top is how certain politicians and commentators view the impact of small wine bars in Sydney, and this view is so far from the truth, it is absurd.

RedtoBrown Wine News Exclusive: Barack Obama Endorses WBMwinemagazine’s #Top100WineTweeters Concept

November 17, 2011 - 8:51PM.



President Obama casts a friendly eye over the media throng in Canberra


Canberra: US President Barack Obama last night surprisingly endorsed WBM Wine Magazine’s concept of a Top 100 Australian wine tweeters list. Obama, who last night was attending a parliamentary dinner hosted by the Prime Minister Julia Gillard was candid with RedtoBrown reporters when asked about the list. “I love the idea and love Australian wine. In fact, I have known about Australian wine for some time now. My Grandmother would bring home bottles of Aussie wine like Lindeman’s Bin 65 when I lived in Hawaii. She would sit on the porch drinking a glass while I dreamed of change the USA could believe in. I hold those memories dear, and to this day my aides keep me abreast of all the developments in the Australian wine industry”.



Obama is famous for harnessing the power of social media, and as such, is well-versed in assessing the merits of the WBM Wine Magazine’s Top 100 Tweeters concept. In between slices of Australian lamb, washed down with Coonawarra cabernet, Obama praised the WMB Wine Magazine initiative.

“The concept of a top 100 list on Twitter is fresh, untried - I mean, who has seen a top 100, top 20, top 5 list on Twitter in the last 5 years?. It channels and promotes all the positive elements of new media – narcissism, sycophancy, self-absorption, vested interest to gain more exposure and increase company/winery revenue – I like it”.

Obama also stated he was an interested observer of the #Top100WineTweeters hashtag conversation that was occurring when he landed in Canberra on Wednesday afternoon. “I saw people discussing the top 100 list while I was on my way to Parliament House and it brought back memories of when I was trying to make a name for myself in the cut-throat Chicago political system. I liked the chutzpah of the tweeters – largely industry reps and wineries - nominating their friends to be on the list and the others who openly stated their tactics for being placed on the list. Blatant and singular self-promotion once worked for me at a local Democrat Convention, so it all brought a smile to my face”.

Obama was non-commital when asked if he had ever attempted the ‘Mollydooker Shake’

Obama was so positive about the Top100 Wine Tweeters idea that he feared news of the list may overshadow the announcement of a new joint facility in Darwin. “Posting 2500 US Marines in Darwin is big news, but the potential of this list to influence the wine world may put my announcement in the shade – yet another example of the intelligent and original use of social media tools”.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard refused to be put on the record when questioned by RedtoBrown, though it was noted that she was slowly making her way through a bottle of Victorian cool climate Syrah on the night.

Cork. To buy or not to buy . . .

The Cork vs Screwcap debate is a well trodden path within wine circles. If it’s not apparent from what I have written then I am very firmly in the screwcap camp. Eschewing all the real and pseudo debates in this area, my reason for being pro-screw cap is very, very simple. I literally cannot remember the last time I opened a screwcap sealed wine that had a closure issue. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, but in reality it’s few and far between. Unfortunately I can’t say the same about cork. I reckon my cork issue rate is at least 10%. That is, at least 1 in 10 cork sealed wines that I consume (or at least attempt to) have some sort of issue. Very mild TCA, obvious TCA, and oxidation are all issues I encounter all too often.

And yes, wines under screwcap age. I’ve had numerous 5 year through to 13 year old screwcap wines, and they are aging wonderfully. People who argue otherwise may as well be arguing that the earth is flat.

All of which leads me to an ongoing dilemma of mine. Whether to purchase cork sealed wines or not? Firstly, I do buy cork sealed wines. Possibly my favourite wine is Barolo, and therefore there’s no avoiding purchasing cork closures there at this stage (though the first good Barolo producer that uses screwcap will win my hard earned).

My issue, however, is more in Australia, where screwcap is now the dominant closure and no one bats an eyelid when opening a screwcap wine. It has become the norm. Despite this, there remains wineries that continue to use cork, and predominantly these are for premium wines. Whereas you’d struggle to find a $20 Australian wine under cork nowadays, jump up to $50 or more, and they are far more prevalent. Of course this seems to me entirely counterintuitive. Making a premium product and sealing it with a closure that has a higher failure rate doesn’t make much sense to me.

In any case, at these price points you get some of the more interesting and desirable Australian wines. Often single site wines that represent a winemaker’s best efforts. It might be, for example, a Pinot Noir that I love the sound of. With the wonderful development of Pinot in this country in the past two decades, however, there is more than just one $50+ Pinot that I lust after. They are now numerous, and with a monthly wine budget that I try to be reasonably disciplined about (not always successfully), unfortunately I can’t purchase all of them and therefore have to make decisions. As a result, a wine’s closure has become a key factor in helping me decide what wine I buy. I might be trying to make a decision between two exciting Victorian Pinot producers. If one is under screwcap and the other under cork, then that will make my decision a much easier one.

Now, if a winery wants to bottle their wine under cork for historical, romantic, or export reasons I can completely understand this. But why not give consumers a choice? Bottle half under cork and half under screwcap. If people still want to buy wine under cork they can, but I’d of thought that within Australia at least the screwcap allocation will sell out a lot more quickly than cork. Moreover, doing this consistently over say a decade or so, would enable a winery to genuinely determine which closure is the best for their wine. Quite often when I ask a winemaker why they are still using cork (in a polite manner), I get a somewhat testy and emotional response. Now I’m all for passion and emotion in wine, but in this instance I’d rather hear a response along the lines “We bottled a small batch of wines under screwcap for 5 years, and at the end of it, we still found cork to be the better closure for our wines”. Even if I still might disagree, I’d respect this response a lot more than the throw away lines you normally get.

Greatness in any field involves leaving no stone unturned. Not at the very least exploring how screwcap works with your wine, is a step back from this endeavour.


Red

Squirrels and Woodchips: Autotune and the Over-use of Oak in Wine

“This is anti-autotune, death of the ringtone

 This ain’t for Itunes, this ain’t for sing-along

I know we facin a recession

But the music yall makin gonna make it the great depression”

Jay Z – D.O.A (Death of Autotune)

I am more a fan of indie guitar music, but Jay Z has a point in D.O.A – the proliferation of songs filled with autotune is not a promising trend for music, especially any musician aiming for some form of artistic credibility.

Personally, I see the overuse of oak in wine as the oenological equivalent to over use of (or in my view, 'any' use of) autotune in the production of music: if the fruit was top quality, the wine would likely be just as good with the oak turned down a few notches. If the fruit was poor quality, no amount of oak will ever fully mask this fact. As with 99% of autotune-heavy music, neither style of wine will live long in the memory, and if it does, it is likely to be for the wrong reasons.

For those not familiar with autotune, it is the computer voice tuning/pitch assistance program that enables even the tone deaf to sound bearable when recorded, and can be tweaked to create a ‘unique’ vocal effect. Musical sadists like T Pain and the Black Eyed Peas have embraced the software, and music has not progressed artistically one iota as a result. Luckily, in the years since Jay Z downloaded on autotune not many artistically credible musicians (across multiple genres) have embraced autotune in the same way as T Pain.

There was consternation in the wine cellar when cult contract wine maker Brice Dickenson suggested their wine could have used a little more new American oak.

Ironically, unlike music with autotune, the wine industry seems more inclined to drown a wide range of different wines - excellent, underrated, average and ordinary - in a layer of oak. Perhaps the lower incidence of death by autotune vs death by oak at the above average to elite level is due to the added production options when making music compared to wine.

The tragedy with overuse of oak in wine is that many wineries inflict it upon their best grapes: their reserve crop. If I had a dollar for every time I tried an estate wine that was far superior to the more expensive liquified oak tree reserve, I would be a millionaire (ok, maybe if I had $150k for every time). Somehow I cannot see Paul McCartney in the studio wanting to add an electronic autotune robot voice to the verses in Yesterday (noting  Yesterday was his Beatles, not Wings era), or Kurt Cobain insisting he have his grungy growl in the chorus of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' soar like a chipmunk as in Cher's horrendous autotune defining song, ‘Believe’.

“Do you believe in wine without oak? I can taste some fruit in this glass,
but really can’t taste it strong enough”

I am not saying every winery does this –unless rudely oaked wine is their house style, the elite winemakers get it right more often than not depending on the fashion of the day. Furthermore, in some very lucky vineyards it is harder to make a bad wine than a good/great one. 

Unfortunately, I have had too many glasses of (relatively) expensive, cellared, over oaked wine; the fruit trying valiantly to peep through in its death-throes. In these situations, I cannot help but think that there are many similar wines out there that could have been timeless classics, were it not for too much tinkering with the oak meter.

For our non-Australian readers, the Australian wine industry has battled its oak (and acid) demons for some time now. You need only compare a late 1990's/early 00s (Parker Points aspiring) Hunter Valley Shiraz with their equivalents being made today to realise how much of a positive difference reducing the amount of new oak had made to the wines. The Region’s ‘voice’ is heard, unaccompanied and solo: infinitely more enjoyable and long lasting without the wine equivalent of autotune smothering it. This example is one I would love to see more often in some other regions.

The Black Eyed Peas inspect one of their many low-yielding, biodynamically grown Pinot and Riesling vineyards in between recording of their new autotune-lathed album.

At the lower end of the wine market, it is all out marketing and stylistic warfare. We have wine companies marketing non-vintage fruit and herb infused cooler as wine, low calorie fizzy alcoholic grape juice as wine, and the topic of this post, cheap, sweet, heavily oaked (chipped) reds and whites.

At this end of the wine and music market, the use of oak and autotune is not so much of a tragedy as a lazy lost opportunity. The $5-$15 wine segment is as much awash with sugary sweet wines as it is heavily oaked wines – most commonly in combination, though there are more than enough straight out sweet wines.

As with the lower end wine market, the music industry is overflowing with sugary sweet pop and RnB songs that chart one week and are forgotten the next. The music is generic, the style derivative, the attention span of the listener fleeting, and the cultural impact of the song, negligible.

Part of me would love to see smarter, well-crafted throw-away pop songs being produced, or a higher percentage of intelligently conceived, quaffable wines released.

One is, stupid, cynical, sickly sweet, infantile and supposedly attractive to the 25- 35 year old female demographic. The other is David Beckham
      

However, in this segment of the music and wine markets, autotune and heavily oaked wine is merely one of a multitude of problems facing both industries and the topic of a much longer conversation (to be held with a glass of oaky Cabernet in hand and the dulcet, autotune-affected tones of the Black Eyed Peas playing in the background. Not.)

Face-Off: TarraWarra Estate 2004 and 2008 Reserve Chardonnay

The RedtoBrown Wine Review appreciates a nice bottle of Chardonnay. This noble grape is on the upswing, following the Kath and Kim ‘Cardonnay’ backlash and the seemingly irresistible rise of Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc. Part of this renewed interest in Chardonnay is a result of some very nice leaner (some might say meaner) examples entering the market that have countered the sunshine in a bottle stereotype. Personally, I am just as enthusiastic and excited by what I would term the ‘evolved’ style of chardonnay in Australia that balances robust but controlled fruit flavours with intelligent use of oak (good quality, and a smaller percentage of it new).

In recent years, TarraWarra Estate under winemaker Clare Halloran has produced several examples of this relatively lighter, balanced style of chardonnay. The wines Red and I have tried in the past have been generous, though not overwhelming, flavoursome yet structured.
On 22 June this year we were lucky enough to try two of the TarraWarra Estate Reserve Chardonnays at the TarraWarra Cellar Club Dinner. Tasting notes, Face-Off style are below:

2004 Reserve Chardonnay (13.4% abv, $60 rrp)

Red: A lovely Chardonnay that is drinking at its peak now. It has a generous Chardonnay nose, with some nice nuttiness. Time has seen this wine develop a beautiful richness on the palate and it was perfect with a rich chicken dish. If I’m nitpicking I felt the spicy oak has never quite truly integrated with the fruit, but ultimately this doesn’t detract from the enjoyment that it delivers. 4 stars

Brown: The 2004 is drinking very nicely indeed. There is some evident oak on the finish, though it does not detract from the evolving fruit flavours and developed rich creamy texture. Having enjoyed a magnum of the 1998 Reserve a full 11 years after release, I would not be surprised if the 2004 is still drinking well in several years time. In saying that, it is near its peak (for my tastes), so personally, I would be drinking up.
91Pts/ 4 Stars

2008 Reserve Chardonnay (13.4% abv, $60 rrp)

Red: This is an impressive Chardonnay that I think will rival the great 05 given time. It’s still reasonably tight, but everything is there. Lovely grapefruit. Lovely spicy oak. Just enough creaminess to let you know where it’s going with time. Great structure and length. Everything in balance. It provides plenty of satisfaction right now, but give it a few more years and it will take things up another notch again. A beautiful Yarra Valley Chardonnay. 4 Stars ++

Brown: The 2008 Reserve is made in a familiar TarraWarra Estate style: a style as noted in the introduction that I am a fan of. It has youthful power, balancing grapefruit and lemon pith fruit flavours with cashew nut creaminess, French oak-driven spice and fresh acidity. It is easy to drop the ‘B’ word (balance) in relation to this wine. The wine is not flabby, rather fitting its suit snugly; it is a relatively youthful wine that is drinking well now, but will clearly develop further flavour, complexity and texture. In 2013/14 it will be crying out for some oven roasted chicken to accompany it. 93pts/4 stars

The Amateur Wine Blogging Community - The Big Karoake Bar in the Virtual Sky?

It is becoming quite common to find an internet post or twitter comment that is critical of the emergence of wine blogs. The increase in the number of wine blogs is analysed by critics and defenders alike. This analysis leads to sometimes repetitious, sometimes unique and original debates on the positives and negatives of this form of wine communication (noting many would disagree wine blogs represent such a thing).

Generally I am interested, and at times amused by the discourse, and I hope this has been conveyed to some extent in the non-wine review posts on RedtoBrown (by both Red and I). If you want to read a constructive, well-written article on this topic, particularly from the perspective of what I would term a 'professional-standard' wine blogger, I would strongly recommend "Should Blogging Get a Flogging" by Patrick Haddock (aka ‘WiningPom’ on Twitter). The post below is a slightly abstract ‘interpretation’ of the discourse mentioned above with an intentional focus on the amateur, or "amateur but hoping, wishing for professional status" wine blogs.



The Amateur Wine Blogging Community - The Big Karoake Bar in the Virtual Sky?

On many levels, writing about wine online is a bit like singing at a Karaoke bar. It is easier to sing the songs when everyone else is joining in on the action, but when you are forced to sing solo, some songbirds fly the coop. This is often the case if you are in a room of close friends or complete strangers. For one reason or another not everyone is prepared to sing at the top of their lungs in this situation out of embarrassment or a desire to avoid being ridiculed.

Like singing in the group karaoke song, commenting on a wine in the comments section of a wine website can reduce the embarrassment or focus on your opinions. One can comment on a wine and have their voice heard to a point, but the comments are in the context of a review and other people’s opinions and comments – not a solo statement that puts your opinion front and centre. Not every lover of wine feels the need to comment on wine online. Those that do tend to express themselves in the form of a personal wine blog.

"Islands in the stream, that is what we are"

For the karaoke singers and wine wine writers who are confident enough to belt out a solo rendition of ‘Sweet Caroline’ or post articles about wine in a blog like the one you are (hopefully) still reading, there is no guarantee the quality of both will even be of a tolerable standard. Alas, with both forms of expression (dare I call it ‘entertainment’) there are many who feel they are producing ‘art’ of a professional standard that should be shared far and wide (well -beyond the walls of the RSL or the confines of a sporadically visited wine blog).

Only the most deluded of both groups would maintain their output is first class every time– and if it is, they are in the minority. For many, many more people, wine blogs range from being a fleeting hobby to a  long term (if part-time) passion to which considerable spare moments are allocated.  At both extremes, only the most desperate or deluded are thinking they ‘coulda been contenders’ On the Waterfront style if they havent taken concrete steps to leap into the wine writing world in a serious way yet write as if they expect to receive the same kudos as wine writers (paid and unpaid) who have.

In many ways, the contestants on Masterchef mirror this point: if they were serious about cooking they would have undertaken an apprenticeship years ago instead of trying to break into the food industry soley off the back of Masterchef. The same applies to the wine blogger who makes no moves to work at vintage or gain wine qualifications yet still harbours the desire to break into the wine world.

"I coulda been a contender, I coulda been a paid wine writer.
I coulda produced wine promo vids like James Suckling.
Now I am a wine blogging nobody, a bum.
Do you have a dime? I need to pay my monthly internet bill"

Unlike Karaoke, wine writers and commentators are not forced to read an amateur wine blog. If you are stuck in the bistro of the local RSL or inner city pub and the Karaoke competition fires up, said punter can leave the venue or willingly endure the noise until you finish your chicken parmigiana. With a wine blog, if you are a wine connoisseur, a Master of Wine, a paid wine writer etc and accidently stumble on a poorly written example, you are one click away from safety. I cannot stress this point enough - it seems in many cases, the critics of wine blogs rarely read them (for clearly stated reasons based on the perceived quality of the content) yet also seemingly do not want them to exist in the first place either.

Kenny sings on Wine Blogging: "You gotta know when to hold'em,
know when to fold'em, know when to walk away, and know when to click that mouse and
switch to a paid wine website instead".

The motivations for this form of ‘wine writing consolidation advocacy’ are varied, but part of me cannot help but think it is due to the inexorable dilution of the paid wine writers craft – not the democratisation of wine writing per se, but the dilution and diversification of wine writing, wine communication and wine expression that is paradoxically both bad and good for the wine industry.

Just as a pitch-perfect rendition of ‘My heart will go on’ during a Karaoke night will not change the music world one iota (though it might make the night of the Newtown RSL Bingo crew), the writings of an amateur wine blogger will rarely affect the wine industry. The inference that people are starting up wine blogs to match the quality of printed wine publications, receive thousands of free wine samples, make money and make an impact seems to be an assumption made more by the critics than the advocates. A fraction of these outcomes would be ample reward for most wine bloggers who are doing what they do out of a personal passion, not an alterior commercial or narcissistic motive.

"Aww Hans Blix! How many times do I have to tell you:
My amateur wine blog will not eat into your Wine Spectator circulation figures!"

In conclusion, will wine blogs take over the wine writing world? Highly unlikely. Will they form an at-times interesting and engaging niche in the wine communication and wine appreciation discourse? They already have, and this is an upwards trend. Will they ever represent the wine equivalent of Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie Duets? If they do, I will not linger long on that wine blog!

Post intended for debate/pondering/instant closing of the Explorer Tab. Thoughts and comments welcome.

The Next Frontier of Australian Wines?

This article was originally published on the Wine Communicators of Australia Blog - http://blog.winecommunicators.com.au/

The Australian wine industry Catch 22: To be unable to innovate leads to wine-making and wine industry stagnation. However, if we stop focusing on what we do well and concentrate on diversifying using alternative varieties that have their own history in their home country, Australia may lose its wine individuality and become even more of a globalised, homogenous wine producing nation. Can a middle ground be reached and if so, has it already occurred?


The next frontier of Australian wine is one where wine makers and wineries ply their trade from a position of self confidence, not self doubt, and advertise this fact in an innovative and non-traditional way. There are positive signs already, though structural and historical factors prevent Australia from realising its wine making potential.

The Australian wine industry at the moment is like a city that has reached its geographical limits and is suffering growing pains: important far reaching decisions need to be made.

Does Australian wine expand into new territory (new markets, new varieties, new styles), does it reinvigorate or consolidate what it already has (previously successful wine styles, varieties, markets) or does it try to strike a balance between the two? Regardless of the choices made by the wine industry, it will not succeed if these decisions are not made in a self confident and innovative way.

What is meant by ‘self confidence’ aside from basic definitions? – self confidence on the new Australian wine frontier is the confidence to make some mistakes in the short term trying to push the boundaries of wine excellence with the aim or aspiration to hit the highs in the long term. Take risks, try new things, have the courage to maintain and improve on traditional methods. This is has all been said before, but most importantly, the wine industry must have the self-confidence to stick with it.

In harnessing the emerging self confidence in Australian wine, the new wine information paradigm must be fully utilised. The wine maker, winery, vineyard or vintage narrative, combined with new media-assisted word of mouth is one of the key methods the Australian wine industry should use to forge a new frontier. The era of the hegemonic wine critic passing down wine style commandments from on high is coming to an end: Information is becoming more diffuse, readily accessible, and generic yet ironically also more niche. Wine consumer sub cultures, can now access more than enough information to enable them to make commercial decisions on the products they want to consume. The more innovative, versatile, agile, unique and quirky Australian wine becomes (breaking from the critter wine stereotype in the process); the easier it will be to promote this innovation using the new information paradigm.

I smile when I see an Australian winery taking a risk. If the risk works they are praised, if it fails, they wear some criticism. I applaud the wine risk takers and the innovators. In the brave new wine world, the more risk takers and skilled story tellers Australia can produce, the better-off Australian wine will be. The new frontier awaits.

Australia's Old Vines - Our Unique Inheritance

(1850s Cirillo Estate Old Vine Grenache)

“Narrative is what Australia will have to develop in order to regain its rightful place on the shelves and, especially, to acquire the respect that its best wines deserve. Australia never delivered a narrative. Instead, they confused a cheap price with a good story”

Matt Kramer, Wine Spectator, 1 Feb 2010

But we do, we do, we do have a narrative . . . it’s just that we haven’t quite articulated it to ourselves, or to anyone else for that matter.

When considering a wine, a sense of history is just about as important to me as a sense of place (though happily the two are often inextricably linked). I'm a lover of history more generally and I bring this interest of mine to the way I look at a wine, a winery, a wine region, and just trends in the wine world more generally. This sense of history can provide me with both incredible inspiration and excitement in my wine journey, and at other times disappointment and frustration. History generates much of the romance that exists in wine. It also generates a narrative.

I think there are a number of great stories that Australian wine can tell, many of which are modern narratives, but one area in which we are particularly blessed are our old, gnarly vines. Australia has numerous vineyards that were planted in the 1800s that are still producing quality grapes today. Vineyards I'm aware of include -


Barossa Valley

1843 - Freedom Vineyard – Shiraz (possibly the oldest Shiraz/Syrah vines in the world currently producing the single vineyard Langmeil Freedom 1843 Shiraz)

1847 - Moorooroo Vineyard – Shiraz (currently goes into the Schild Estate Reserve Moorooroo Shiraz)

1847 - Turkey Flat – Shiraz (grapes from this vineyard go into the Turkey Flat Shiraz)

1850s – Cirillo Vineyard - Grenache (oldest Grenache vines in the world and make the single vineyard Cirillo 1850s Grenache)

1853 - Old Garden Vineyard – Mourvedre/Mataro (oldest Mourvedre/Mataro vines in the world that make the single vineyard Hewitson Old Garden Mourvedre)

1860s - The Grandfathers Block – Shiraz (the oldest block in Henschke’s Hill of Grace Vineyard)

1875 - Kalleske Vineyard - Shiraz (produces the single vineyard Kalleske Johann Georg Shiraz)

1888 - Kalimna Block 42 – Cabernet Sauvignon (possibly the oldest Cabernet vines in the world and in great vintages goes into the single vineyard Penfolds Block 42 Cabernet Sauvignon)


Hunter Valley

1867 - Old Patch Vineyard – Shiraz (produces the single vineyard Tyrrell’s Old Patch Shiraz)

1879 - 4 Acres Vineyard – Shiraz (produces the single vineyard Tyrrell’s 4 Acres Shiraz)

1880 - Old Hill Vineyard – Shiraz (goes into the Mount Pleasant Old Paddock & Old Hill Shiraz)


Nagambie Lakes

1860 - Tahbilk – Shiraz (produces the single vineyard Tahbilk 1860 Vines Shiraz)

The Grampians

1866 - Concongella Vineyard – Shiraz (produces the single vineyard Best’s Great Western Thomson Family Shiraz)


Mclaren Vale

1892 - Block 6 – Shiraz (produces the single vineyard Kay Brothers Block 6 Shiraz)


Langhorne Creek

1891 – Metala Vineyard – Cabernet Sauvignon (grapes go into the Metala White Label Shiraz Cabernet)



Quite a list, and I’d hazard a guess there are a few more that I’m unaware of. These vineyards are not just amazing simply because they are 120-170 years old. Indeed with such old vines there is no guarantee they will produce good fruit. However, in this case virtually all these vines are producing fantastic wines. Whether you are looking at the Hewitson Old Garden Mourvedre, the Tahbilk 1860 Shiraz, or the Tyrrell's 4 Acres Shiraz as examples, you are tasting single vineyard wines that are great performers regardless of the age of vine (but also because of their age).

They are then all the more remarkable because they are pre-phylloxera vines. Phylloxera was of course the plague that swept through the vineyards of Europe, wiping virtually all the vines out there from the 1860s-1890s. While Phylloxera did reach here in the 1870s, Australia was to some degree spared, and as such we have this unique inheritance. A concentration of pre-Phylloxera vines that seemingly no other country has.

To my mind this should all be clearly documented, celebrated, and promoted. Instead it’s all a bit under the radar at present. At a time when Australian wine is still being questioned for it’s supposed lack of personality and terroir, and indeed narrative, we’ve got this amazing story that’s not expressly being told. We’re like a boxer constantly being hit with jabs who doesn’t quite understand he has this big overhand right that will put paid to that incessant jabbing.

Maybe there is a document somewhere that lists all the vineyards that are say 100 years old, or were planted in the 1800s, but I’m yet to find it. And while individual wineries and sites do indeed highlight their old vineyards, it’s still not something that’s well understood more broadly. The vast majority of wine consumers both in Australia and abroad would have no idea about this wonderful aspect of Australian wines. There is the Yalumba Old Vine Charter (www.yalumba.com/library/YalumbaOldVineCharter.pdf), which is heading towards what I am talking about, but I’m not sure it’s moved much beyond relating to the wines Yalumba produces.

This old vine inheritance has to be part of the narrative Australia puts forward to both its consumers here and overseas. For the Barossa alone it is stunning to think that you could go there and taste wines from arguably the oldest Cabernet, oldest Shiraz/Syrah, oldest Mourvedre, and oldest Grenache vines in the world. If this was promoted to anyone with the slightest sense of history and a love of wine it should be like drawing moths to a flame. If you go to the Hunter Valley you can visit Tyrrell’s, a family owned winery established in 1858, and try their two single vineyard wines from the 1800s, the 4 Acres and the Old Patch. If drinking a glass of Tyrrell’s 4 Acres Shiraz doesn’t provide one with a sense of history and weight beyond just enjoying what’s in the glass, then I don’t know what will.

Of course this is only one part of what I believe to be a very exicting time in Australian wine more generally, and there are many stories to be told. But this part of the story, that of ancient vines, is truly unique, not well known by the broader public, and directly answers the challenge as to whether Australia produces wines with both a sense of place and narrative. It deserves to be heard.


Red


P.S. If anyone has a comprehensive list of Australia’s pre-phylloxera vines I’d love to see it (or let me know of any vineyards I’ve missed out on in my own list)

A Sino Symposium: Wine in China

I lived and worked in Shanghai for 5 years from 2002 to 2007. It was a fantastic time to be in this decadent town as it grew at breakneck speed and emerged as a global city. The only real drawback for me personally was my inability to pursue my love of wine during this period. During the time I was there, there really wasn’t much of a wine scene to talk about. Most Chinese wine that could be purchased was not worth seeking out. Some decent overseas wine could be purchased in the large Western supermarkets that exist in Shanghai, but the range was very limited, and the price was typically double what you might pay for the wine in Australia. There weren’t any wine bars. Some interesting and quality wine could be had at some of the top Western restaurants but the mark up was ridiculous. As such 2002 to 2007 marked a significant hiatus in my wine journey.

Now, three and a half years later, my wife and I have just come back from a 3 week holiday in China. It was our first time back there since returning to Sydney in 2007. For my wife it was a chance to see her family who are in Sichuan, while for me I still have plenty of friends up there so it was a great chance to catch up with them. While we were pretty busy and did lots of travelling in between cities and provinces, I did also get a chance to look at how the wine scene has changed, through the time we spent in Shanghai, Beijing, as well as a visit we made to Qingdao, the capital of Shandong province, which is the largest producer of Chinese wine (and indeed where Chateau Lafite is developing a vineyard).


The wine scene in China

You have possibly read about the explosion of Chinese purchasing top global wines, in particular Bordeaux. Auctions in Hong Kong have seemingly come to fetch some of the highest prices globally for rare wines. Chateau Lafite placed the Chinese symbol for 8 on the 2008 Lafite, and apparently the auction price rose by 20% overnight. This rise in Chinese interest in wine is also now evident within China as well. The change in a place like Shanghai has been remarkable. Wine bottleshops and wine bars are evident throughout the centre of town, where 3-4 years ago they didn’t exist. Within these vinous locations, moreover, good ranges of quality wine can be found. Beijing is similar though perhaps not to be seen in quite the same numbers.

In Qingdao, there is a pretty impressive Wine Street that was opened in 2009. The street has about a dozen different wine retailers. These stores all have slightly different focuses, with one for example selling solely French wine, some selling solely Chinese wine, and some selling a combination of local and imported wine but with perhaps a focus on Chilean wine for example. On this street there is also a wine museum, which was actually a very impressive venue. You walk down a tunnel that takes you a fair way underground and there is then a labyrinth of displays and presentations that is very informative and well set out.


(The entrance of the Wine Museum in Qingdao)

This wine scene, whether you be in Shanghai, Beijing, or Qingdao, is dominated by red wine with apparently about 85% of the wines China imports being red. For many Chinese people, wine is red wine. They have their own sorts of golden and straw coloured alcohols, so to drink wine is to drink something red. What will be interesting to me is how that percentage changes as it becomes a more knowledgeable wine drinking market. The reason this interests me is that to my mind a lot of Chinese food doesn’t actually go that well with wine, and yet in a sophisticated wine market matching food with wine is a common behavior, even if it’s as simple as matching white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat. However, a lot of Chinese food is heavily flavoured and overpowers most wines. At the same time a Chinese meal normally has multiple dishes on the table at one time, of often very different flavours, textures, and meats. Picking a wine to go with such a meal can be a bit of a challenge. There are some obviously successful matches, like Pinot Noir and Beijing Duck, but I would argue that they are the exception rather than the rule. If the Chinese start to make specific matches, like matching Riesling with a Shanghai style fish dish, then perhaps we will start to see the percentage of white wine increase. If however, it all proves a bit difficult, as I have often personally found, then red wine may remain dominant, as a drink that is consumed somewhat separately from local food.

It would also be fair to say that the wine scene is dominated by French wine. This is perhaps understandable given France’s primacy in terms of reputation as a wine producer, but the French have also definitely made a concerted effort to reinforce this. The French expat community in Shanghai for example, is now the second largest only behind the Japanese, and a significant number of them seem to be in some way involved in exporting and marketing wine in China. That being the case, how is Australia doing?


Australian Wine in China

From the get-go it became apparent that we are doing in China what we have seemingly failed to do in places like the UK and US. Excellent Australian wines can be found in the bottle shops and wine bars. Indeed I think the bottle shops in Shanghai have a far better selection of Australian wines than do most London bottle shops. I was in London in May of 2009 and was generally depressed at the crap that represented Australia wine on the shelves of most wine retailers. In contrast, of the 5 or 6 bottle shops I walked into in Shanghai I think there was only one Australia wine that I would classify as a critter wine, while the vast majority were from good Australian producers that I would happily buy in Australia. Cape Mentelle, Dalwhinnie, and Shaw & Smith are examples of wineries that were well represented.


(A somewhat blurry photo of a range of Cape Mentelle wines in a Shanghai bottle shop)

In the couple of wines bars I went into there were similarly good Australian options to choose from. The only place where the selection of Australian wines was less inspiring was unsurprisingly in supermarkets. However, even then it was more a case of shelf space with Penfolds and Jacob’s Creek, which perhaps while less interesting, still represents Australia well in my opinion, as opposed to wines I’ve never heard of with pictures of wombats on the label (of which there were a few, but they were far from prominent).

So Australian wine seems well positioned in China at this early stage of the game, though I didn’t necessarily get the feeling that we are making the concerted effort that the French are. As yet it is by and large an unsophisticated wine market that has a broadly favourable opinion of Australian wine, and is mostly unaware of the criticism of Australian wines for being over oaked, too alcoholic, and lacking personality. In any case if a local in Shanghai has read or heard a bit about this negative view of Australian wines there is every chance they'll find wines that show this stereotype to be a falsehood.


Local Produce

So Australian wines are shaping up well in China, but what of the local produce? Well, if there’s not any Chinese wine in your cellar you needn’t be overly concerned at this stage. It’s not that there isn’t decent wine being produced there, because there is, it’s just that it seems overly expensive and not especially complex at this stage. It’s certainly on the improve, but generally I get the feeling that China is about a decade away from producing wines that you would go out of your way to purchase. That statement, however, needs to be qualified with the acknowledgement that I didn’t get to try nearly as many Chinese wines as I would have liked, the reasons for which I explain below.

The cost of Chinese wines is stunning given their general lack of pedigree and the comparatively low production costs. I’d go into a wine bar, keen to try some local fare, only to end up ordering a glass of Australian wine because it was half the price of the Chinese wine and I knew it to be something I’d enjoy. I did bite the bullet on a couple of occasions and fork out the extra money for a local wine, but was generally a tad disappointed with what was in my glass.

Another issue I found was the lack of tasting opportunities at wine venues. When I visited the Wine Street in Qingdao that I mentioned above, I was quite excited as I thought this might be my opportunity to taste a large range of Chinese wines, even if I had to pay a bit for the tastings. Alas, of the dozen or so stores I went into, not one offered wine by the glass, let alone a free tasting, and all that was offered was to purchase wine by the bottle.

After this unsuccessful effort, we went to the museum on the same street. We had been told that when we got to the end of the museum tour we would get to taste some wine. I assumed it would be something local, instead it was some non-descript Chilean Cabernet!


(While in Qingdao, I also went to the brewery that produces this famous Chinese beer. The brewery has a strong German heritage . . . )

We also inquired about going out to some of the wineries themselves in Shandong province, but it seemed as though one was making a slightly strange request, and that the wineries weren’t really set up to receive visitors. It all seemed a bit too difficult.

I guess this comes back to my original comment that China is as yet an unsophisticated wine market. Most people are buying wines based on apparent reputation and high price tags, and the importance of being able to taste wine before purchasing is not yet appreciated. As such there is very little opportunity to taste a lot of local wine unless you want to buy a bunch of wine at $30 a bottle, $50 a bottle, and a lot higher.

You might question how Chinese wineries selling overpriced wine could be viable, let alone successful, but when you see the number of super wealthy locals paying $1 million for their 2nd Bentley (the tarrifs on imported luxury cars in China are ridiculously high) then paying $50 or $100 for a wine is probably not an issue. Nor for that matter is forking out $10,000 for a rare Bordeaux.

For all this, it became apparent to me from the wines that I did actually try that the quality of Chinese wine had improved since I first tried some examples in 2002 and 2003, and I’ll review an individual wine that I had in a separate post.

All in all an interesting time to visit China from a wine perspective. Their consumers are already starting to make their presence felt in the world of wine, and its hard to see this trend reversing. It’s very conceivable that at some point we will see a Chinese Robert Parker, who through their reviews and taste preferences shapes the way wine is made in certain parts of the world. There’s also no reason not to believe that there aren’t special terroirs in China that won’t produce world class wines that we will all clamour for. In both cases however, I’d suggest that it’s still another decade or two away from occuring.


Red

RedtoBrown Update - Red is Back!

Reports have surfaced that one half of RedtoBrown has returned from a 3 week wine research trip in China (eg: a holiday). Well, wine wasn't the primary aim of the holiday, but Red has promised RedtoBrown that there will be a few articles posted on the Chinese wine scene and maybe even a few tasting notes on some Chinese wines. I am particularly intrigued to see if any rip-off bottles of Penfolds (Prenfolds/Pennfolds, etc) was consumed and whether it tasted like wine.

As for me, with Red back, I may now have time to expand on some thoughts about the language of wine reviews and why a term like 'barnyard' or forest floor' are acceptable terms for non wine nerds/wankers.
:-)

Fact or Fiction: More than 5 primary flavour descriptors in a wine review = wine bullshit?

As is the case with most topics on wine, there is a 3000 word treatise waiting for me to post on the topic of wine writing bullshit, and all the associated reasons behind why this term exists in the first place.
Irony being a wonderful thing, I am probably contributing to this topic at the moment (to add to the collective mass of wine writing bullshit, look out for a comparative analysis on wine wankers and wine snobs coming soon).

However, to focus on the second fact or fiction question (first one is here), it is a relatively narrow and qualified one: if you read a wine review that has more than 5 primary flavour descriptors do you tune out, become angry or condemn it as being wine bullshit?

If your answer is 'fiction'/5 descriptors is fine, would you draw the line at 10 descriptors? 15?  If your answer is 'fact'/5 descriptors is too much, to quote You Am I, how much is enough? 3? 2? a generic 'tastes like red/white wine'?

Interested to hear your  thoughts on this as there are many variables (Grange vs Yellowtail = considerably different number of flavour descriptors, etc), and I have not even mentioned how many descriptors should be used to define a wines nose/bouquet.......

2007 Mollydooker Two Left Feet Shiraz Cabernet Merlot

Edit: After reading a set of reviews posted by Andrew Graham on his Australian Wine Review blog (see the reviews and comments HERE), I did a quick browse of my own scores for certain wines. Looking at this review, it is painfully obvious that I over-rated it. At RedtoBrown, we have tended to post reviews of wines we rate above 85. For me personally, I do not want to spend my (increasingly limited) spare blogging time savaging a wine when I can praise, or critically asses a much more interesting, challenging wine (or try and produce some wine satire that invariably misses the mark, while drinking an interesting wine :-) ).

Nevertheless, I have written up notes on a few wines that I did not enjoy, partially to discuss the style of wine in question or query the judgement of the winery/corporation in releasing certain wines (see the Rosemount Botannicals post  (LINK) for arguably my most strident, negative review).

I did not enjoy this wine. It did not grow on me. It is made in a style I am not a fan of (a style foreign wine drinkers and critics think of when discussing Australian red wines). Looking back on the tasting notes, and my thoughts on the 2 bottles I tried 6 months apart, a rating of 86 points/3 stars is wildly inaccurate, and has to be addressed. The new, more accurate (in my view) score is below. Apologies for the flip flop; I do not have the time or desire to re-taste some wines I have my doubts on (and largely, I am happy with the calls made on most of the wine notes posted), but this one had to be addressed.

PS - thanks to Andrew Graham for leading the way in posting notes that are an honest view of what ones palate is telling them and not a complex calculation of fashion, wine trends, expectation and cliches.


I will have to come out first by stating that as an Australian, I had never heard of the slang term ‘mollydooker’ being used to describe left handed people until the winery of the same name stormed onto the scene in a rush of Parker points around 2005. If forced to offer up an Australian slang term for a left hander, ‘cackhanded’ would be my pick. Though not a national or personal emergency if it happened, the winery may be partly responsible for convincing Americans that we walk around our outback towns calling left handed people mollydookers.

In much the same way, Parkerised wines like the Mollydooker Two Left Feet have for some time been convincing Americans that Australia makes two styles of wine – the very cheap critter variety (Yellowtail, Koala Blue, random labels most Aussies will have never heard of) and the 90+ pointed Robert Parker blockbuster fruit bombs. Unlike the use or misuse of Australian slang, this perception, whether true or imagined, is definitely not the reality, and is not healthy for the Australian wine industry.

To set the scene, the wine being reviewed, the Two Left Feet is black-purple in colour. Following a ‘Mollydooker shake’ as instructed, its sweet nose of liqueur black fruit and tobacco enmeshes with spirity, pure alcohol fumes. There are porty black fruit flavours on the front palate, leading to bitter dark chocolate (both from heavy oak and fruit) on the middle and back palate, finishing in a crescendo of more bitter dark chocolate, porty black and some blue fruit, salty hard liquorice and a hit of powerful alcohol heat. The wine is not structurally out of control, though the alcohol is out of balance with everything else.

On day two, with ample time in the decanter, the flavour profile had not budged – if anything, the alcohol was more prominent. 2007 was a difficult vintage in the McLaren Vale, which would explain the harsh, bitter tannins evident (quite common in many of the MV Shiraz and Cabernet I have tried from that vintage), and might also explain the very high alcohol level that dominates the wine. However, this wine has obviously been made in a certain style regardless of vintage conditions, and it shows in the glass.

On reflection, the 07 Mollydooker Two Left Feet fits the pantomime villain description you see in wine forums criticising the style of Australian wines highly rated by Robert Parker and Wine Advocate. Unlike some of the Australian wines Parker rates highly, this wine conforms to many of the stereotypes: high alcohol clearly evident (16%abv, but more like 18%), porty, liqueur black fruit, difficult if not impossible to match with any food and too much to drink by itself (or to have more than one glass in one sitting). Yet this style of wine still sells in America, albeit in reduced quantities and for reduced prices.

However, there is hope. The way Australian Chardonnay has evolved since the ‘Sunshine in a glass / Dolly Parton’ era shows that the style of wine being made by wineries previously blessed with ‘Parker points’ could evolve in time, turning down the alcohol levels by several degrees, selecting fruit that is less over-ripe, and reining in the use of new (mostly American) oak.

Furthermore, the introduction of Lisa Perrotti Brown as the Asian/Australian rep for Wine Advocate (and noting her relatively high scores given to some Hunter Valley Reds early last year) suggests that such a move may actually be rewarded and not punished by Wine Advocate in the future.

Whether the aforementioned hope is realised, and whether wines made in the style of the Two Left Feet evolve accordingly remains to be seen. However, in light of the milieu the Australian wine industry finds itself in, it would be of assistance if this was the case.

Rating:
77 points (formerly 3 stars, 86 points)

ABV:16%
Closure: Screwcap
Website: http://www.mollydookerwines.com.au/

James Suckling and R Kelly – Searching for (unintentional) satirical perfection

 

"I'm here with Red to Brown"

 

 If you have a passing interest in wine and how it is covered on the internet and social media, you may have noticed the promo videos put out by wine critic James Suckling for his new website.

For those not familiar with James Suckling, he is the former Senior Editor and European Bureau Chief of Wine Spectator Magazine. Suckling recently gave up this dream role to strike out on his own and try to shake up the wine world, with a newly created subscription wine website the first step in that process. Unfortunately for James, the wine video ‘teasers’ released prior to the site going live have been panned by a few people on the internet, generating considerable comment and critique in the process.

The critiques range from the relatively civilised and considered to the rather crude and fully anonymous.  For a pretty broad overview of the new media critique on James, the following link is a useful backgrounder: (Link)

To momentarily get serious, this post is not a defence of James Suckling. However, I must say that he has probably been given a bad rap – the talk of him being evil, exploitative and a douche are going too far, and arguably highlights the wine snob tendencies of some critics. His promo clips are objectively pretty bad, and I will not subscribe to his website (for financial reasons and the fact I can get better wine advice from other subscription sites). Though he is a well respected wine critic and has every right to try and make money with his wine website and pitch it to a certain type of wine buyer if he wants to. If you don’t like his approach, try to create something positive to compete with it (free, subscription, whatever). A topic for another post, and not the primary focus of this post, though I feel it needed to be said.

What amuses me about the subjectively awful promo ‘teaser’ videos is that they are so bad they are actually good. Furthermore, they remind me of a legendary set of video clips/songs by an artist from a different genre: R Kelly and his HipHopra opus: Trapped in the Closet Episodes 1-12.

Of the several Suckling promo teasers, two stick out - the “Searching for Perfection” video (or ‘I’m XY points on that’) and the “Im Here with” teaser.
The by-line from the first video has already been appropriated as a favoured term/meme on various social media forums – eg: “mocking the James Suckling promo videos? – I’m 92 points on that”. As if this gem wasn’t enough, I would personally argue that his ‘I’m here with’ teaser takes it to another level with his subtle and mysterious “I’m here....” closing line. James – what are you here for? Some more wine reviews at an elite winery?, some subtle seduction? Where is here? Bordeaux?, Burgundy? Piedmont?, the Cessnock Pub?

Both clips in my wine nerd /wanker view are pieces of unintentional satirical comedic genius. That might be taking it a bit too far, but I must say that the clips grow on me over time and become more funny than they are pretentious or condescending.

I find the James Suckling promo videos amusing as wine satire to the point it is still hard to believe he produced these videos as serious vehicles to generate hype for his website. If Suckling came out tomorrow and said “it was all a viral ploy to generate a bit of hype for the website, but primarily to poke fun at wine critics from the inside out” I would applaud him. As of the time of writing, the joke has not been called, so we must assume the Suckling teaser videos are serous and sincere.

To add to my enjoyment of the suckling clips, the teaser videos remind me of R Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet series of songs/video clips. (If you are yet to be introduced to the best example of “so bad it is good’ pop culture, go here for a taste).



"Don't make me pull out the wine equivalent of my Beretta"

 In terms of similarities, both were released in regular instalments (episodes 1-5 of Trapped...) over a number of weeks, presumably to let the suspense build. Self evidently, they are both so bad, that for me they are actually quite good. Thirdly, there is ambiguity regarding whether both sets of clips were intentionally or unintentionally funny, adding to the intrigue and enjoyment (unintentionally creating satire is a feat to be admired, even if the creator tries to defend or distance themselves from the end product).

R Kelly has argued that Trapped in the Closet 1-12 was intentionally tongue in cheek, and that his initial claims to have invented a new genre of music (hiphopra) were part of the gag. His less impressive (or less amusingly cringe worthy) follow-up ‘Trapped in the Closet 13-22 was arguably an attempt to further paint Trapped... as a joke and not a serious piece of art so poor it was assumed by most to actually be a joke.

Noting that Suckling does not look like coming out like R Kelly and admitting his clips are a joke, part of me would love to see Suckling go loco and really shake things up – eg: move into avant garde wine clip territory and release a teaser clip that is the wine equivalent of a Zaireeka era Flaming Lips song. Based on his ‘serious’ wine teasers, such a clip would make a 100pt Robert Parker Jr wine review or a Gary Vaynerchuck ‘sniffy sniff’ Wine Library TV review seem even more passé, smallfry and decidedly conventional (even if delivered from a helicopter).

Wine nerds/wankers like me can only dream of such an outcome in the wine entertainment world, but for now I will have to settle on James Suckling searching for perfection in one of the many locations of the world he is visiting and monitoring the at-times amusing backlash against the promotion for his website. Go easy on him:  it may turn out to be serious, or a joke, but it is entertaining regardles. For that, James Suckling should be sincerely commended.