So where do Australian winemakers go now?

WINE TALK
1

Back in October 2007, the title of Jay S Miller’s Australian article was “Australia, Still Hot!”

Fast forward just two years, and the title is, “Australia Struggles.”

Overall, he destroys the latest reviews, his last as the critic for Australia, as he hands the baton of the dead category over to Lisa Perrotti Brown. Of course, Dan Phillips “R Wines” label continues to receive great press from Jay S Miller, despite this comment, “The 2007 vintage had severe drought conditions which lowered yields dramatically and resulted in many sinewy, tannic wines that offer considerably less pleasure than the three preceding vintages. The 2008 vintage was the year of record heat which caused sugar levels to soar, conditions in which only the most talented winemakers could make something special. The timing could not be worse.”

Jay Miller has only reviewed the wines for 3 years.

The following was a very telling statement, and what should be a wakeup call for his boss**…“In my 2009 tastings for this report, fewer importers participated…”**

His influence has helped destroy a region…and in his own words…in just two years… [welldone.gif]

Spain is next…just wait and see…

2

I dunno.

I think Australia is struggling for a number of reasons. For a long time a lot (not all but a lot) of wineries made highly extracted, over oaked fruit bombs. Critics (not just RP) went along. Consumers bought them up due to shelve talkers. You know, those little pieces of paper. And after a couple of years people realized that 90 points from Australia did not mean they would like the wine. And cute animals on the label or weird names like “Screw You Wine” was not necessarily a good thing.

I’m not sure you can pin this on Jay Miller.

3

Yeah, Miller is too generous with the points, but so was Parker. What he doesn’t do is control the weather. [scratch.gif]

4

Agree with both Greg & Nick - Big J may have driven the stake through the heart of Australia, but RMP’s over-inflated scores had already started wine consumption (at least here in the states) from Australia down that slippery slope because many folks bought on Bob’s scores and when they finally pulled a cork, they realized that what they had was, if not outright undrinkable, at least mildly disappointing.

5

As much as I detest their gloppy over-ripe syrup, there’s more to Australia’s repetoire. They seem ready for a positive paradigm shift that could be facilitated by considerable winemaking talent. Hopefully Lisa can help nurture the counter-culture and stop high 90ing the Oz bombs.

RT

6

It could just be me, but the few times I wandered away from Shiraz, Cabs, or Shiraz/Cab combos in Australia, I was surprised. Riesling comes to mind. There has to be the learning curve-learn that American market is/has moved away from the fruit-bomb/syrupy wines, and soon.

7

You are begining to sound like Phil Mushnick complaining about Mike and the Mad Dog every day because he has nothing worthwhile to say on his own.

8

I hear this a lot (i.e., the comments Rich & Mike are making re: the diversity of the Australian wine market) - obviously, the wine industry itself has been trying to make this case for quite some time. And it may be very well true.

Unfortunately, for Australia, I think one thing this does not contemplate is the psychology of the “burned consumer”. Consumers who followed Bob’s ratings and bought cases of 90+ rated Craneford, etc. because the wine were a “steal” at that price may not be so willing to plunk down $50 on a Bindi Pinot just because someone is saying it’s different/better than the other stuff we said was great.

9

Bob, no doubt there’s been and will continue to be considerable soul searching in the Aussie fine wine world. They’re kind of trapped when the Bombs get raves and resulting orders followed by consumer disappointment. That Bindi Pinot might be worth $50, but I don’t see it moving in the US at that price…in this market, with the Aussie stigma. Australia needs an “advocate” willing to get their shoes dirty, search out, and nurture the gems a la Schildknecht (not to mention importer equivalents to KL, Dressner, Theise, Kravitz, etc.). If not, there’s always beer.

RT

10

So why do still read Phil Mushnick?

Richard, I agree that Parker started with the absurdly high scores. So where does Australia go from here?

Importers would not even show Miller wines this time around, according to Miller. That must be a huge slap in the face to the Wine Advocate, no?

I guess for Jay H., it is no big deal. Wineries never want to send samples to the Wine Advocate, right? newhere

11

“So where do Australian winemakers go now?”

Spain.

12

Lisa has her work cut out for her. Anyone know here palate preferences? I’m sure there’ll be producers who’ll appreciate not having to schlep their wares to a bar in Maryland.

RT

13

I can guarantee that she demands less food with her tastings as well. That should lower their prices a bit. [stirthepothal.gif] pepsi

14

My assumption is that she will just visit the region from her home in Singapore. That is interesting because importers of Australia, Spain, Chile, Argentina have relied upon their sit down tastings with Parker first (Spain and Australia), and then Miller, to show them their wines.

Is it possible for her to cover all of the wines imported here in the region, or will importers have to send samples to Singapore, OR will she be taking the Wine Advocate private plane to the Oregon Grille?

I guess, in the end, the consumer says who cares, since they are not buying anything from there anyways?

One note on the scores, Miller scored the 2005 Kurtz Lunar Block 93 points. I urge you to try to taste that wine and tell me that it is just 93 points on the Miller scale? Shit, he has given the $12 Marquis Phillips/R Wines 92 points in the past.

The wine is amazing and merits a higher score.

15

I wonder what the 100 point RMP wine was that Jay got for $30 each? I also wonder why he just would not say what it was but…

16

Greg

I would guess it was a dessert wine, like Buller or something like that.

17

Those sweet wines were part of the problem IMO. They’re sugary, they’re good, but high 90s? Come on. They’re mostly about sugar levels and if you have them with something a little more refined, they seem pretty clumsy and crude. I just got done eating a piece of baklava and I’m thinking that if they left out the sugar/honey syrup, it would be a pretty good pastry. But that sugar level makes me nauseous.

So if you open one of those sweet stickies that gets absurdly high ratings, and you try it, you gotta wonder. You can taste maple syrup with a little spoon and see the differences. You’d never pour a glass of it. If you poured a glass of some Buller and puked it out, you’d question the rating too.

Then you get those extremely volatile woody extracted “high fruit-weight” Barossa bombs. Open a bottle away from flames because all you get is alcohol. I LOVE fruit - it’s what wine is made from after all! And a little wood can help round it out, add complexity, add smoothness, and a host of other things. But if you ask for a toothpick and someone gives you a railroad tie, what do you do with that? I think what happened is that each winemaker who amped up got rewarded so they kept doing it more and more and more.

Case in point, Sparky himself. Some of the Fox Creek is still nice and some Henry’s Drive still drinks well. Big stuff, but still balanced. Then Marquis Phillips pushed over the edge IMO. And Mollydooker became grotesque. Too bad because if he throttled back a hair, he’d have pretty good wine.

So Joe Customer buys it, tastes it, and says “WTF?” Then he buys Three Rings from Chris Ringland, says “yeah, it’s a nice big fruity wine.” He buys the top end cuvee and says the same thing. So why pay the extra money? At the low end, the wines are as good as always and why pay triple for essentially the same thing?

Finally at the low end, fads come and go. Beringer White Zinfandel for a while. Bartels and James for a while. Beaujolais nouveau for a while. Yellow Tail for a while. Anything that crests as a result of a fad is going to fade.

However, the Australians are some of the smartest winemakers on the planet and they’ll figure it out. There’s still a market for well-priced wine and I really don’t believe for a minute that people will want to avoid fruity wines in favor of lean, acidic, green wines. They just won’t see paying top dollar for what they can get for far less. Moreover, as Mike P said, there’s a lot of other stuff in Australia. Riesling. Semillon. Yes, chardonnay. Pinot gris. They’re also growing tempranillo, zinfandel, touriga national, monastrell and garnacha. And a lot of it is pretty good.

The funny thing is, people have seen this coming since before 2007. I remember talking to winemakers in 2005 and 2006 about precisely these issues and they were pretty clear about the looming disaster, although of course nobody factored in the economic crash.

Anyway, now we have Lisa to cover the area, and that’s kind of random too. Different palate, different preferences, so does her 92 equate to RPs or Miller’s? In other words, is there any consistency?

Also we have to ASSUME she knows the area, which is of course not a given and neither is it a single homogenous area, but who knows?

At this point, it’s fairly random coverage. WTSO is using ratings from someone called Vino Vixen, whoever the F that is. Just plug someone in and they’ll assign some points.

If people buy on those points, they deserve what they get.

18

I’ll echo Greg T. and hope that LPB will actually taste and rate Semillons, Rieslings, Cabs and other “less-exposed” bottling. If only to make their presence a little better felt here in the States.

19

Interesting points all around . . . .

As others have said, MANY factors have contributed to the rise, and subsequent fall, of the Aussie wine market. If the WA, or JM in particular had anything to do with it, it was as a minor minor bit player . . . .

Look at what’s happened with weather over there the past 5 years and how that’s affected their wines . . . Look at how much production was increased over the last decade in hopes that their meteoric rise would continue at the same clip . . . . Look at the number of Aussie wineries that bought into - or completely took over - American wineries in hopes of securing better entrance into our marketplace - only to see our economy tank (as well as the dollar).

And look at how tastes have changed here in the past 5 years . . . including many on these boards. Yes, perhaps such high scores should not have been wrapped around some of the wines that they were . . . but for many, the same could be said about this country as well!!!

From what I’ve seen, the Aussies have always been fighters and survivors, and I’ve got no doubt that a turnaround is in the making . . . Not sure what will entail, but I guess let’s wait and see . . .

And I would agree about rieslings, semillons, and other varieties produced there that don’t get much limelight - oftentimes very sublime wines . . .

Cheers!

20

Good posts, Larry and Greg.

Larry,

I guess it is a question of which came first, the chicken or the egg?

To me, it would appear that ramped up volumes of wine were a near direct result of very high ratings from Robert Parker. One great example of this was the once, low production, D’Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz. After 98+ from the 2001 vintage, that winery went searching for juice. Retailers like me bought up tons of 2002 before the wine had even hit the store shelves. Then it came in and it was not up to snuff, primarily because production had gone cuckoo. Since then, they still get great scores from Miller (94-96s) and 2007 Dead Arm, which should have been out this past year (2009) is nowhere in site, as the importer, OBC, is awash with 2005 and 2006, waiting for Cinderella wine to commit to 1000 cases @ $20/btl, or anyone, for that matter.

I am not so sure that Australia can “survive.” Certainly older wineries, with no debt, that have been successful for 15+ years, can theoretically fight it all, but what about these new pop ups? The people that over paid for land, in the chance to make a quick buck? Those people, who comprise a solid portion of the production increases over the last decade, are sunk.

Two more points…2001 Ringland Shiraz, previously scored 100 points by Miller, with NO tasting note, now has a note attached. Kinda funny.

Clarendon Hills 2005s are being blown out in NY, with little or no movement.