How well have SA wines done in overseas competitions?
IT wines
How well have SA wines done in overseas competitions lately? Does it matter?
Just how far Australia has slipped in the affections of the international wine press was confirmed by the reporting of results from the Decanter World Wine Awards in September. Under the headline "Chile triumphs at Decanter World Wine Awards", staffer Adam Lechmere elaborated: "International Trophies (ITs) for Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Noir and Bordeaux varietals all went to Chile at a glittering dinner in the Floral Hall at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden."
He continued: "As guests sipped Champagne Jacquart Brut Mosaïque 2002, and dined with a selection of award-winning wines including Riesling from Alsatian producer Domaines Schlumberger, Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and Charles Heidsieck Rosé Reserve NV, Decanter's publishing director Sarah Kemp paid tribute to the record 10 285 entries that were entered for the Awards this year, which demonstrated ‘the joy of wine in all its glorious diversity'."
Chile won the four ITs mentioned above - exactly the same number as Australia - and while France may have made off with only three, product placement by Domaines Schlumberger and two grande marque Champagnes ensured that even with Champagne sales down 45% in the first half of 2009, marketing coffers are not so depleted that wine identities should drink any fizz other than Champagne.
Chile may have won the trophy for "best" Riesling, but do you really expect Steven Spurrier and the other Decanter demigods to drink the stuff? And, sure, America may have got a Eurovision "null points" from the IT judges, but that's no reason not to drink Bob Mondavi's Cab.
With two ITs, SA languished with Argentina and Spain but the categories won - red and white single varietals over £10 - made three sharp points. SA is not all bargain basement stuff, humble SA Chenin and "burnt rubber" Pinotage do have foreign admirers, and the argument that SA is better suited to blends than single varietals, advanced by Swartland superman Eben Sadie via Tim Atkin in the columns of Decanter in June, is perhaps more wishful thinking than fact at this stage. Of course Decanter's definition of "varietal" is a loose one as Sadie's own Sequillo Red 2005 came top in a varietal tasting of SA wines the following month - a bit of a worry as it's a 60% Syrah blend.
But whether competitions such as the DWWA actually "prove" anything is moot after Bob Hodgson's study appeared in the Journal of Wine Economics in September. Hodgson followed the fate of over 4 000 wines entered into 13 different US competitions and concluded that "the probability of winning a gold medal at one competition is stochastically independent of the probability of receiving a gold at another competition, indicating that winning a gold medal is greatly influenced by chance alone". In plain American: "Many wines that are viewed as extraordinarily good at some competitions are viewed as below average at others."
Still Chile did get some spectacular column centimetres for doing as well as Australia, even in SA where the story was picked up by Winenews.co.za and other blog sites. That SA languished behind Chile, Australia and New Zealand in the IT stakes was not underlined. Which will come as a relief to export marketers, who took at least one blog editor to lunch at 96 Winery Road recently to complain about local reporting of negative coverage of SA overseas. To make his point, the florid functionary ordered a bottle of French, anticipating the Floral Hall caterers to a T.
Pendock's Plonk: Beaumont Hope Marguerite Chenin Blanc 2008 (R105). Tropical fruit salad with a tangy citrus and honey topping.
