Having recently read the latest Winestate magazine Annual Wine of the Year awards I am once again amazed at the winning selections in some of the categories. My comments in this article apply equally too many competitions where one wine is declared the World Best or the Best of the Year etc.

The Winestate Shiraz of the year was the Cathcart Ridge Estate, The Grampians Shiraz 2000. Admittedly, when I tried it, it was not under the best of circumstances as the wine was a bit warm but out of the hundreds of Shiraz I tried during the year; at that point, under no circumstance would it even make the short list for one of my top wines. The winery was kind enough to recently send me a bottle to try at my leisure so that I could get a true picture and understanding of the wine. For the record, the wine has won three gold medals, one in the Victorian Wine Show, one in Ballarat and one at the International Wine Challenge.

Is interesting to note that the second sample was far superior to the first bottle I tried almost twelve months ago and it illustrates a very important point. There are so many different factors that can and do influence the assessment of the wine it is not funny. It can be bottle variation, minor cork induced problems, temperature variations, the impact of food or other wines in the line up, the mood of the person assessing the wine, outside distracting influences or any one of a number of other possible factors. As a result, the same label may look very different when assessed on two separate occasions. The assessor or judge’s personal stylistic preferences also needs to be taken into account and plays a significant part too.

If Ian Thorpe, after winning the 400 meters freestyle event in the Olympics was called the best 400 freestyle swimmer in the world, not too many people could rationally argue. However, if Martina Throwalegover won the 200 meter short course breaststroke event in the Greenland International Open event, the invitations to which had been widely publicised in Bikers Monthly, not too many rational people would seriously think she was the best breaststroker in the world today.

Yet in reality, that is pretty much what happens with wine. There are numerous wine shows and competitions all over the world, from magazine events to wine shows where a “best” is awarded. It may be for the best Shiraz in Australia, the best Cabernet in the US, the best Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand, or the best wine in the world at the Greenland International Wine Competition.

Whilst the winning wine may be a very good example of its type, it has won based on not only on a subjective set of criteria, but a subjective set of human, and very individual personal tastes. And then the entry rules need to be considered because these play a part in the selection process. For example, the wine may need to have a certain (large commercial) volume produced to be eligible for entry and that obviously excludes many very fine quality wines.

The competition, or the other wines entered into the show also needs to be considered. In many cases, a large number of the producers of serious quality wine do not enter their wines into shows or competitions. There are any number of reasons for this, cost being just one.

Another aspect worthy of consideration is that many top wines may not show well when they are young because they have been designed for long-term ageing and over ten years, or possibly even longer, will metamorphose from a grub to a butterfly. On the other hand, some wines are very attractive in their youth because they have been designed, built, and constructed as “show ponies”, yet these wines are not “great quality” even though they can be very enjoyable and win lots of gongs.

If those same wines were put into a line up five years later, the results can and would be very different. It is quite possible the top wine in the original competition was tired and showing poorly, yet a wine that was overlooked or thought as being ordinary, may now be considered brilliant.

So, whenever you see a wine that is proclaimed as "the world's best" or "wine of the year" take it with a grain of salt and realise that whilst it might be good, it is not the be all and end all. There are no absolutes in wine, just people's personal and individual opinions.