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Copyright © 2008
Forkmedia LLC
by Fred McMillin
for October 2000
Flopping or Flourishing??
The Aussie Invasion
Carramar, McPherson, Hope...Australian wines that may be new to you. How do they stack up against California wines of the same varietal and same price?
The wines from down under looked pretty competitive in our tasting reported in last January's Annex. Was that a fluke? To check further, we set up another dozen matches, with nine different Australian wineries represented. My partner, Edgar Vogt, carefully covered all the bottles. Here are the results.
The wine that won its match by the largest margin is listed last. (Margin is the number of votes given the winner minus the votes for the loser.) I have the margins tabulated but have not uncovered the bottles, so we'll both learn what happened as we go.
The Twelve Winners
| Winning Margin | Winner | Price | Year | The Wine | |
| Aussie | Calif. | ||||
| 10 | X | $16 | '95 | Taltarni Cabernet Sauvignon Victoria, Australia | |
| 25 | X | $10 | '99 | Rosemount Cabernet Sauvignon South East Australia | |
| 47 | X | $13 | '99 | Taltarni Sauvignon Blanc Victoria, Australia | |
| 54 | X | $17 | '97 | Giants Creek Chardonnay Hunter Valley, Australia | |
| 56 | X | $9 | '99 | Carramar Estate Shiraz South East Australia | |
| 59 | X | $12 | '98 | Robert Mondavi Coastal Pinot Noir, Central Coast, Cal. | |
| 69 | X | $9 | '98 | Jacob's Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, South East Australia | |
| 78 | X | $10 | '96 | Monterra Merlot, Monterey, Cal., (pictured) | |
| 87 | X | $16 | '96 | Taltarni Cabernet Sauvignon Victoria, Australia | |
| 150 | X | $13 | '97 | Firestone Vineyard Chardonnay Santa Ynez Valley, Cal. | |
| 172 | X | $13 | '98 | Wolf Blass Red Label Cab-Shiraz, Australia | |
| 278 | X | $23 | '99 | McPherson Shiraz, South East Australia | |
Comments
Zounds! Australia wins 9 matches to 3. This invasion is getting serious.
Note that these are all modestly-priced bottles, $7 to $17.
This does not tell us how Australia is doing above
$20.
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This page created October 2000