Australia’s world heavyweight wine: Top 50 Shiraz
Ok – this is it: fight night. The talking is over and it’s time for the heavy hitters to square up to each other and go toe-to-toe.
But we’re not talking boxing here folks. We’re talking Shiraz – Australia’s biggest and best-loved red wine. The Big Kahuna of Australian liquor.
While Brisbane schoolteacher Jeff Horn and Philippine title-holder Manny Pacquiao have been limbering up for boxing’s biggest match, we’ve been working our way through Australia’s biggest single wine show category to determine Australia’s best shiraz.
And the winner is not who you’d think. In fact, none of the top three of our list are what you might expect because none of them come from the Barossa – the spiritual home of shiraz in Australia.
While Wine Australia is running around spending $5 million digging up bits of dirt trying to work out what gives shiraz its flavour, we’ve looked at more than 7500 ratings from Australian wine shows to work out what experts consider to be the best shiraz in the country.
The sheer depth of scores in this category provides a unique insight into this widely-planted grape with regards to regionality.
Whereas Australia’s reputation for the grape was once made and subsequently lost in the Barossa, which succumbed to a certain American critic’s taste for big, bold reds, winemakers have circled back to more distinctive styles that often express regionality.
One thing that does seem clear from our list is that cool-climate styles are the new black as far as wine judges are concerned.
Of our Top 10, five came from so-called cool-climate areas including Hilltops, Central Victoria, Yarra Valley and even Margaret River.
Of these, perhaps the last is most interesting as even experienced winemakers have admitted the region doesn’t produce great shiraz. Yet three of our top 20 have made the list from Margaret River including an $8 beauty that should be on every bargain-hunter’s list.
Well, we’ve pulled our punches for long enough. Here’s our list of Australia’s Top 50 shiraz:
| 1 | Moppity Vineyards Escalier Shiraz 2015 |
| 2 | Brown Brothers Ten Acres Shiraz 2014 |
| 3 | Blue Pyrenees Section One Shiraz 2013 |
| 4 | Cellarmasters Krondorf Symmetry Barossa Shiraz 2013 |
| 5 | Houghton The Bandit Shiraz 2014 |
| 6 | Punt Road Napoleone Vineyard Shiraz 2015 |
| 7 | B Seppelt & Sons Limited Seppelt St Peters Shiraz 2014 |
| 8 | Jim Barry Wines Lodge Hill Shiraz 2014 |
| 9 | Credaro Family Estate Kinship Shiraz 2015 |
| 10 | Moppity Vineyards Reserve Shiraz 2015 |
| 11 | Moppity Vineyards Estate Shiraz 2015 |
| 12 | Houghton Crofters Shiraz 2014 |
| 13 | Cellarmasters Mums Block Barossa Valley Shiraz 2014 |
| 14 | De Bortoli Wines Deen DeBortoli Vat 8 Shiraz 2014 |
| 15 | Montalto “Pennon Hill’ Shiraz 2015 |
| 16 | Blue Pyrenees Section One Shiraz 2014 |
| 17 | Evans & Tate Redbrook Shiraz 2013 |
| 18 | The Yalumba Wine Company The Octavius Shiraz 2013 |
| 19 | Brookland Valley Verse 1 Shiraz 2014 |
| 20 | Provenance Geelong Shiraz 2015 |
| 20 | Punt Road Chemin Shiraz 2015 |
| 22 | Mandoon Estate Frankland River Reserve Shiraz 2014 |
| 23 | Miles From Nowhere Shiraz 2015 |
| 24 | Brown Brothers Milawa Innocent Bystander Syrah 2015 |
| 25 | Cellarmasters McLeans Farm Master Shiraz 2014 |
| 26 | Cellarmasters Wines Tolley Elite Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2014 |
| 27 | Robert Oatley Vineyards Four in Hand Barossa Shiraz 2014 |
| 28 | Wolf Blass Gold Label Barossa Shiraz 2014 |
| 29 | Jacob’s Creek Reserve Limestone Coast Shiraz 2015 |
| 30 | Credaro 1000 Crowns Shiraz 2015 |
| 31 | Jacob’s Creek Biodynamic McLaren Vale Shiraz 2014 |
| 32 | G.Gramp & Sons Barossa Shiraz 2011 |
| 33 | Taylors Shiraz 2015 |
| 34 | Fowles Wine Are You Game? Shiraz 2014 |
| 35 | Graham Stevens Wines Stevens Family Shiraz 2012 |
| 36 | Bests Great Western Shiraz Bin 0 2014 |
| 37 | Ingoldby Shiraz 2015 |
| 38 | Shingleback Haycutters Shiraz 2015 |
| 39 | Nepenthe Altitude Shiraz 2014 |
| 40 | Bleasdale Vineyards Bremerview Shiraz 2015 |
| 41 | Wirra Wirra Vineyards Woodhenge Shiraz 2014 |
| 42 | Cellarmasters Tolley Elite McLaren Vale Shiraz 2013 |
| 43 | Bleasdale Vineyards The Powder Monkey Shiraz 2015 |
| 44 | Hardy?s HRB Shiraz 2014 |
| 45 | Allegiance Wines The Artisan Barossa Valley Shiraz 2015 |
| 46 | Nepenthe Gate Block Shiraz 2013 |
| 47 | Moppity Vineyards Lock & Key Shiraz 2014 |
| 48 | Flying Fish Cove Wildberry Reserve Shiraz 2014 |
| 49 | Saltram Single Vineyard Shiraz 2010 |
| 50 | Grove Estate The Cellar Block Shiraz Viognier 2015 |