Alt-red: The Top 50 ‘Other Red’ wines
Tempranillo. Montepulciano. Sangiovese. Nebbiolo.
Their exotic, mouth-filling names conjure images of Tuscan towers or shimmering Spanish vistas as the tongue rolls around the syllables of these viticultural interlopers.
“Other reds” – that is, wines that aren’t Australian staples such as shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir or merlot – are relegated to a category that’s becoming increasingly important in Australia.
The traditional wines of Italy and Spain, as well as some of the lesser-known French varieties like cabernet franc or malbec, are becoming and more and more sought after as consumers broaden their palates or bring back tastes from overseas travels.
Australian winemakers have picked up on the trend. Plantings of alternative varieties have increased year-on-year as producers seek profitable niches away from the big-selling varieties. Climate change is also playing a role as some viticulturalists adapt their plantings to hotter, drier weather.
The trend still has a way to go. Although wine shows recorded 1700 scores for wines classified in this category, this compares with 7500 scores for shiraz entries alone.
Italian varieties including nebbiolo, sangiovese, montepulciano, nero d’avola, aglianico and barbera dominate the “alternative” list with almost a third of all scores for this category. This probably reflects the long-standing Italian heritage in Australian viniculture, particularly throughout the Riverina.
However, the single biggest minor red is Spanish flagship tempranillo with 20% of all the alt-red scores. This reflects vineyard production in which tempranillo volumes increased 62% between 2012-2015 to leapfrog sangiovese as the biggest of the little-league reds.
Grenache – the grape Australian wine master Rob Geddes describes as the “Billy Bunter fat fella” of southern European grape varieties for its rich, soft and often alcoholic nature – rarely features as a standalone variety outside rose where it is classified separately. Its seven percent of wine scores falls behind French stablemate malbec although Australia boasts the oldest grenache vineyards in the world.
Perhaps the most notable feature of this category is the lack of confidence winemakers express in their own wines. Although the percentage of golds awarded to “other reds” (8%) equalled or bettered bigger, better-known classes (chardonnay 8%; shiraz 7%), wines were entered far fewer times than either of those two. Shiraz exhibits were entered 2.6 times on average in 2016 but less than twice in the other red category.
With the top alt-red garnering the same 97-point score at a capital city show as the top shiraz received last year, perhaps winemakers should think again.
Our exclusive list of the Top 50 “other reds” in Australia and NZ is as follows:
| 1 | Moppity Vineyards Lock And Key Reserve Tempranillo 2015 |
| 2 | Brown Brothers Cellar Door Release Nero D’Avola 2015 |
| 3 | Bleasdale Vineyards Second Innings Malbec 2015 |
| 4 | McGuigan Shortlist Montepulciano 2015 |
| 5 | Brown Brothers Cellar Door Release Montepulciano 2015 |
| 6 | Calabria Private Bin Montepulciano 2015 |
| 7 | Angove Family Winemakers Alternatus Tempranillo 2015 |
| 8 | Yarran B Series Petit Verdot 2015 |
| 9 | Anderson Winery Saperavi 2014 |
| 10 | McWilliams Hanwood 1913 Touriga 2015 |
| 11 | Warburn Estate 1164 Montepulciano 2014 |
| 12 | Tamburlaine Orange Reserve Malbec 2015 |
| 13 | Nepenthe Altitude Tempranillo 2015 |
| 14 | De Bortoli Wines Deen DeBortoli Petit Verdot 2015 |
| 15 | Bird In Hand Nero D?Avola 2015 |
| 16 | Coolangatta Estate Tannat 2014 |
| 17 | Ballandean Estate Wines Messing About Nebbiolo 2014 |
| 18 | St Hallett Wines Cellar Door Release Touriga Nacional 2015 |
| 19 | Kemenys Food And Liquor Pty Ltd 1960 Bleasdale The Pioneer Malbec 2014 |
| 20 | Calabria Private Bin Aglianico 2015 |
| 21 | Pfeiffer Tempranillo 2015 |
| 22 | B Seppelt & Sons Limited Seppelt Drumborg Pinot Meunier 2015 |
| 22 | Beechworth Wine Estates Tempranillo 2015 |
| 24 | Grove Estate Wines Sommita Nebbiolo 2015 |
| 25 | De Bortoli Wines Deen DeBortoli Petit Verdot 2012 |
| 26 | CA Henschke & Co Stone Jar Tempranillo 2015 |
| 27 | Trentham Estate “The Family” Nebbiolo 2014 |
| 28 | Anderson Winery Storyteller Durif 2013 |
| 29 | Yarran B Series Durif 2015 |
| 30 | Willunga 100 Tempranillo 2015 |
| 31 | Chain Of Ponds Stopover Barbera 2015 |
| 32 | Artwine ‘Leave Your Hat On’ Montepulciano 2015 |
| 33 | Mount Avoca Vineyards Limited Release Sangiovese 2015 |
| 34 | Santolin Wines Chalmers Nero D’Avola 2015 |
| 35 | Ballabourneen Wine Company Domaine De Binet Tempranillo 2014 |
| 36 | Fox Gordon The Dark Prince Nero D’Avola 2015 |
| 37 | Bleasdale Vineyards Second Innings Malbec 2014 |
| 38 | Serafino Bellissimo Lagrein 2014 |
| 39 | Symphony Hill Wines Reserve Petit Verdot 2013 |
| 40 | Centennial Vineyards Reserve Barbera 2014 |
| 41 | Morris Criollo Malbec 2012 |
| 42 | Hay Shed Hill White Label Malbec 2015 |
| 43 | Longview Nebbiolo Della Casa Nebbiolo 2013 |
| 44 | Next Crop Wines Montepulciano 2015 |
| 45 | Coriole Nero D’Avola 2015 |
| 46 | Hahndorf Hill Blueblood Blaufrankisch 2015 |
| 47 | Serafino Bellissimo Montepulciano 2016 |
| 48 | Bodegas Borsao Monte Oton Grenache 2015 |
| 48 | Obsidian Montepulciano 2015 |
| 50 | Church Road McDonald Series Marzemino Hawke’s Bay 2014 |
| 50 | Mission Reserve Cabernet Franc Hawke’s Bay 2014 |