Now we’re entering that fuzzy and retrospective time of year, it’s worth noting a couple of things that made 1998 unique. We’ve just had our largest vintage ever, a massive 960,000 tonnes, two thirds of which were premium varieties. A decade ago premium varieties comprised just one third of the total Australian crush. Top-notch riesling is back under the spotlight, spearheaded by the likes of Jeffrey Grosset, who in the same year was not only recognised as Winemaker of the Year by Gourmet Traveller’s Wine Magazine, but was recently named the inaugural Riesling Winemaker of the Year in Hamburg, Germany. The panel that elected him included a number of Germany’s leading riesling makers. 1998 has seen the passing of one of the most colourful and influential of Australia’s modern wine critics and characters in the iconoclastic, irreverent Mark Shield. Although figures released by Liquorland and Vintage Cellars show that bottled wine sales have increased by 3%, chardonnay is already back in four-litre casks. Are we really drinking so much better than before, with 53% of wine sales still in tap-packs? Len Evans may not know how to open one, but there must be some of us who do. We’re also finding it harder to remain loyal to local makers, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Australian wines have not only become harder to find and more expensive to buy, but sales of imported wines have increased by 22% in 1998. With new plantings of chardonnay and shiraz shortly to come on stream, we’re facing an over-supply of around 70 million litres by 2003. That’s a conservative estimate, since these figures are based on declared planting rates which lag substantially behind what people actually put in the ground. Finally, I have taken the opportunity to nominate my first OnWine Wine of the Year. In a world already cluttered with awards, what stands this one apart? Naturally, it must have been one of the best I have tasted over the last twelve months. Furthermore, it must contribute something substantial and innovative to the milieu of Australian wine, yet still be accessible enough for those who want to enjoy it to be able to. Future issues of OnWine will include a Top Pick, from which the Wine of the Year will ultimately be chosen. For reasons that the story on page 9 enunciates, I am delighted to announce that the inaugural OnWine Wine of the Year is Rosemount Estate’s Mountain Blue Shiraz Cabernet 1996. I offer sincere congratulations to Philip Shaw and his team in the Upper Hunter for setting themselves such a lofty benchmark so early in the life of this stellar, singular wine. Meanwhile, please accept my best wishes for an appropriately indulgent, peaceful and safe Christmas.
