Brenn-O-Kem Shiraz Challenge 2011: How did the wines fare?
The annual Wine magazine Shiraz Challenge, this year sponsored by Bren-O-Kem, kicked-off on 14 June with the first round resulting in but eight wines receiving a 4-Star rating. These wines were included in the top line-up the following day, during which the tasting panel re-evaluated their contents. One 4.5 Star appeared, with a further nine 4 Stars in the final results.
This year the tasting panel is chaired by Carrie Adams of wine retailer Norman Goodfellows, with panel members James Pietersen from Belthazar, Miguel Chan of Southern Sun, Karl Lambour of Constantia Glen and wine writer Angela Lloyd completing the team of tasters.
The prevalence of the spoilage yeast brettanomyces in wines was a major topic of concern, while the panel chairman observed that her panel was clearly divided on the issue of residual sugars. "Winemakers might find higher residual sugars more acceptable than other tasters who feel that high residual sugars aim to mask other faults," commented Adams. “Who cares about residual sugar? As long as it's integrated,” she added.
On the few top-quality wines identified in the line-up she commented: “A lot of winemakers are attempting to make clean and tidy wines, which result in them making dull and boring wines... compared to last year’s first round, we encountered a lot less top-quality wines.”
