Strawberries & snowflakes: The Top 20 Red Blends

Posted on Jun 27, 2018

The winter solstice is here. Or was. The passage of the year’s shortest day leaves Australians to reconcile the impossible contrast of the season’s depths and the peak of the Queensland strawberry season. Can it really be winter when supermarkets are selling two punnets of sweet, red berries for $5? Go figure.

Winter’s nadir also heralds a deep, biological urge to drink red wine. And the reddest of the reds are “Red Blends”.

Blended reds take many forms: Cabernet Merlot, Cabernet Shiraz, Cabernet Blends and Shiraz Blends. But it’s the leftovers, which are lumped into the anonymous rump category of general “red blends”, which possibly evoke the wintry fancy of dark nights and roaring fires the best.

Mysterious combinations comprising durif, cabernet, shiraz, tempranillo, sangiovese and just about any other black grape you can think of lurk in this dark corner of the wine show system. The most famous, however, is Grenache Shiraz Mataro (or Mourvedre). The combination of the three grapes is ennobled in France’s Chateauneuf-du-Pape appellation. But experienced judges say Australia’s offerings are a fair imitation of the famous name.

More than 500 red blend labels were presented to Australasian wine shows in 2017 with judges working their way through 1190 individual tastings. Their collective scores represent the most comprehensive coverage anywhere of Australian and NZ red blends.

These ratings have now been collated for the first time in Vinloco’s 2018 Australasian Wine Form annual. This year’s 900-page book includes:

  • The broadest, deepest and most up-to-date coverage of Australasian wines anywhere
  • Classification of nearly 14,000 wines from sparkling to fortified
  • Compilation of more than 41,000 scores from 60 shows
  • Top wine lists for 23 major classes
  • Commentary on each major class about winemaking trends and judging considerations
  • Statistical summaries including medal tallies, strike rates and best regions.

Vinloco’s Australasian Wine Form is destined to become an annual must-have for wine professionals and consumers alike. To buy your copy, click here or on the book cover below.

For those who can’t wait, the Top 20 red blends of 2017 were:

1 Shingleback Red Knot Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2016
2 Hardys Tintara Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2016
3 Robert Oatley Signature Series McLaren Vale GSM 2016
4 Houghton Small Batch Rojo Grande 2015
5 Blue Pyrenees “Estate Red” 2013
6 Pinnacle Drinks Langhorne Creek Area Red Blend 2015
7 Tahbilk GSM 2015
8 Dandelion Vineyards Menagerie of the Barossa Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2016
9 Bleasdale The Broad-Side Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec 2015
10 d’Arenberg The Ironstone Pressings Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre 2014
11 Serafino GSM 2016
12 Bleasdale Wellington Road Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2016
13 Houghton Red Classic 2015
14 De Bortoli Deen Master Blend Shiraz, Durif, Petit Verdot 2015
15 Hentley Farm The Stray Mongrel Grenache Shiraz 2016
16 Medhurst YRB Pinot Shiraz 2017
17 Shingleback Los Trios Bravos Tempranillo Monastrel Grenache 2016
18 Millbrook Geographe Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre 2016
19 Sieber Rd GSM Grenache, Shiraz, Mourvedre 2015
20 Pindarie Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Shiraz 2016

The entire list of all top 50 red blends and an alphabetical listing of all 540 red blend labels shown last year, along with their 1190 raw and standardised scores and rankings, can be found in this year’s edition of Australasian Wine Form 2018.

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