I just read this post
http://seattlewineblogger.blogspot.com/2007/05/australian-marketing-machine-makes-260.html
again, and I feel that I must respectfully respond. Particularly to the point about Australian wine only being good at the absolute top and bottom ends of the price scale. My experience does not really mesh with this at all – I actually don’t particularly enjoy the cheaper Australian offerings at all. The majority of my drinking is done at the $15 – $30 price point with Australian wine, and occasionally I venture even into the triple digits. The only reason that I don’t drink $50 bottles of Australian wine more often is because I can’t afford to. If I could I would literally be buying cases of the stuff and digging a big hole in the ground to store them in.
There are two reasons why this blogger might have developed this opinion. Perhaps this person does not like the Australian style of wine – I have a co-worker from France who finds Australian wine too strong for his taste (which is funny, because I find most French and Italian stuff to be watery and fruity juice tasting). There is no right or wrong to this, it is a matter of taste.
The other reason may be that this blogger might not have had much *good* Australian wine in these price points. Indeed, even living on the west coast it can be hard to find the fine examples, and I personally think that many wine buyers in supermarkets around here share the opinion that Australian wine is either “value” or “collectible” and don’t stock anything else. There are many small and medium size wineries making great stuff at every price point, you just need to look around somewhere other than a supermarket or anywhere else that stocks “International Wine” without knowing a lot about what to stock.
I think that the easiest way to sample great Australian reds is to sign up at Garagiste, and buy a bottle of anything red that fits into your target price point. They are very good at choosing great stuff and were a boon to me in terms of beefing up the collection. Pete’s wine in Bellevue and Seattle Wine Co in Bellevue also have a great selection of Australian wines. I found a bottle of Yalumba Octavius at Pete’s, and everything I saw in Seattle Wine Co last time I was there looked top notch.
