“It’s black.” “No it’s white.” “Sorry you are both wrong its green.”

The Sydney Top 100 International Wine Competition is one of the premier wine events and judges’ wine with food. Unlike many other wine competitions or shows, the judges have more latitude with time and have the luxury of being able to take longer in assessing each wine. Unlike most other events, there are twelve judges for each wine and their individual tasting notes are published for all to see. Most people would expect the majority of the comments to be reasonably close as the judges are people who make their living from wine and many are experienced show judges. This is indeed a fact in many cases, but in others one could be excused for wondering if they were tasting the same wine or even drinking a bit too much.

To illustrate the point, I have taken some of the tasting notes so you can compare various comments. They have been edited but not to change meaning or context, only to provide the relevant sections of interest.

Rosemount Estate Mountain Blue Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 1999

GHISLAIN LAFLAMME - Heavy tannins hiding the fruit. Good freshness. Long wine. The heavy tannins cause the dish to taste bitter and give no pleasure to the consumer.

PETER FORRESTAL - A really attractive finish with nicely balanced tannins. With food, this looked like a big flavoursome number. It had a really attractive balance on the finish.

Interesting how the same wine can have “heavy tannins with no pleasure for the consumer” and still have “attractive finish and nicely balanced tannins.”  OK, this one is a no brainer, any two people can disagree about a wine so let’s get a bit more difficult. Two versus two in the next one.

Pepper Tree Reserve Coonawarra Merlot 1998

HUON HOOKE - A ripe, generously flavoured wine. On the palate, big flavour and tannin. Very full bodied. Solid, dense and rich. Not overripe. A jam packed wine.

RODNEY KEMP - The palate didn’t display much of anything in particular. It was a hard wine, but it was a complete wine. Not a bad food wine but a bit nondescript.

ANGELA LLOYD - Big mouth filling flavours. Supple texture. Some tannin grip at the finish. A very well structured wine.

PAM DUNSFORD - A big, oak fruit style. Lacks personality. The tannins are not integrated.

How can a wine be “hard and lacking personality” and at the same time be “supple and well structured?” Or how about “non descript” and also be “jam packed, dense and rich?”

Now I know that when people smell a wine we can all find different things in the glass but I am astonished how complex this next wine must be because surely that’s the only possible explanation the following. 

d’Arenberg The Twentyeight Road Mourvedre 2000

PAUL WHITE - Very high alcohol. Very interesting leathery aromas and fairly broad, juicy blueberry fruits

ANGELA LLOYD - Full, slightly gamy nose.

IVAN DONALDSON - A subdued nose but the fruit seemed to emerge in the palate.

BRENT MARRIS - Sweet aromatic nose.

KEN GARGETT - A slight fungal, feral note here and also some slightly green hints.

MARGARET HARVEY - Restrained fruity notes.

HUON HOOKE - A chocolate mint nose. A touch of herbal character.

RODNEY KEMP - Herbal. A touch bandaid.

We have leathery, gamey, subdued, full, restrained, sweet aromatic, herbal and bandaid. Quite a mix but my simple mind can’t understand how one wine can be subdued, full, restrained and sweet aromatic all at the same time.

Tatachilla Foundation Shiraz 2000

BRENT MARRIS - The tannins were quite evident. Balanced tannins on the finish.

KEN GARGETT - Some nice soft tannins at the finish. There is certainly some oak here, but it’s supported by the fruit and it does work well with this level of richness in the dish. The oak is not overwhelming.

GERHARD ZIEMER - The tannins and oak seem to be a bit out of balance and become hard.

PAM DUNSFORD - The wine is fresher, livelier, more clever and the palate is left clean.

HUON HOOKE - Quite astringent on the palate. Biting, harsh tannins.

Tannins are an interesting subject and  its surprising to see so much conflict with them, “out of balance and hard” is in agreement with biting harsh tannins but two others disagree and found  “some nice soft tannins at the finish” from one and “the palate is left clean” from another.

St Hallett Old Block Shiraz 1999

KEN GARGETT

A lovely, juicy, black cherry flavoured wine.  The oak is matched by the fruit.

HUON HOOKE

The palate is very tannic, big and a bit of a brute. The oak is a bit overdone and dries the wine out a little bit. Dry and astringent on the finish.

GERHARD ZIEMER

It’s fleshy, sexy and a bit brash, but maintains a delightful balance even with the food. Without argument, a showpiece wine.

ANGELA LLOYD

A fleshy palate but one dimensional. Short and sweet.

BRENT MARRIS

Great length. Good concentration. It was well balanced with big sweet fruit on the finish. The wine does not lose the definition. It ended up with a beautiful sweet finish.

Now this wine showed some big time conflicting opinions. From “dry and astringent” to “big sweet fruit on the finish.” Or how about “a show peace” versus “one dimensional, short and sweet.”

But I have saved the best till last. Evans And Tate Margaret River Cabernet Merlot 2001

BRENT MARRIS

Good fruit tannin concentration. Longer palate with softer tannins.

GERHARD ZIEMER

Hard, chewy tannins overwhelm the fruit a bit on the finish now,

KEN GARGETT

It’s a mid weight style but it does lack a bit of intensity on the palate.

GHISLAIN LAFLAMME

Berry mouth. Intense, fresh strong bodied.

PAM DUNSFORD

Jammy, rich, long.

HUON HOOKE

A bit tannic, astringent and harsh on the palate. The palate has slightly green tannins. A wine that’s not without some problems.

Now you know why I made the comment at the start of the article “one could be excused for wondering if they were tasting the same wine or even drinking a bit too much.

The website is worth a look and can be found at <a href="http://www.top100wines.com/wines/wines.cfm" target="_new">TOP 1OO Wines 2003 </a>. Finally to the point of this article. Regular viewers of this soap opera will know I am not a fan of points or the show system that awards medals; believing that points represents one persons opinion and that the show system is not much more a great marketing tool for the wine industry. N>Finally to the point of this article. Regular viewers of this soap opera will know I am not a fan of points or the show system that awards medals; believing that points represents one persons opinion and that the show system is not much more a great marketing tool for the wine industry. Now you can see why I think the way I do and that the only opinion on a wine that matters is your own.

Cheers

Ric ©