The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly in 2001

From my perspective there were many good vinous things in 2001. Without doubt the best of “The Good” was the release of so many great wines from 1998 and more a few excellent surprises from the 99 vintage. Everyone has their own idea of the best wines, best value and there are more “Wine of the Year” pronounced from upon high than there are trophies awarded at a wine show, so I don’t intent to list mine.

For those that enjoy c-throughs, the increase in acceptance and market penetration of the Stelvin closure is great news. Anything that reduces the possibility of TCA and other cork related faults is worth more than a casual mention. “Its better to be screwed than tainted” is one of the best lines I have ever heard (thanks Sue Courtney.)

The final contender for “The Good” category goes to those growers who have decided to hold back some of their best fruit and start producing their own wines. Many of these new wines are made from older vines, are well-made and great value. What more could a wine lover ask for?

There are two contenders in “The Bad” category. The first relates to the huge price rises by a number of wineries, both large and small, but the best or worst example (depending on your point of view) comes from some of the larger producers. BRL Hardys gets its name up in lights (and praise from it shareholders) for its increases on Eileen, Thomas, Jack Mann and Classic Clare. Southcorp also get a mention for the rises on RWT, Bin 707 etc. As these Super Premiums increase in price, many of the wines below move up and we now have a situation where a large percentage of the wines in the $25-$50 category are simply not worth buying any longer.

The second contender in “The Bad” category is the massive increase in grapes from new vines flooding the market. In time as these vines mature they may produce some good wine, but at the moment the market simply cant absorb so much fermented grape juice. This abundance of supply will put pressure on the majority of grape growers, many who may not survive.

In “The Ugly” category, TCA continues to top the list. Not only do wine lovers have to put up with TCA, what makes matters far worse is the attitude of some wineries towards their customers. This bad attitude falls into two categories.

The first is wineries that are fully aware they have a wine with a batch of defective corks and continue to sell the wine. If that not bad enough, I know of one winery where the owners wife acknowledged they had a batch of dud corks (where there was a very high percentage of bottles that are suffering from TCA) and they still had the affected wine on the counter available for tasting.

The second contender in “The Ugly” category relates to the wineries with a bad attitude when it comes to replacing a product that is in essence defective. When contacted, instead of offering a replacement, these wineries try to get out of replacing the wine. When I experience this bad attitude, I tell all my wine loving friends, no longer buy any wine from that winery and wont post any further tasting notes on their wines on the wine forums.

Finally, on a positive note, the best in “The Good” category is Auswine Forum and on behalf of all the contributors to the forum I would like to thank Gavin or making it possible.

Happy New Year and keep drinking,

Ric ©