Sep 01 2010
What Makes Up Your Wine Collection?
Penfolds Grange continues to be the most collected wine label in the country.
Wine Ark One, one of Australia’s leading cellaring companies analysed over 3 million bottles that has been stored by members in compiling their ranking of the top 50 Australian stored wines. The most popular wine of each variety was given an award.
Wine flavours such as pepper or butter may now be deemed more scientific than snobbery.
While the No.1 brand was not of particular surprise to many, smaller wineries including Torbreck in the Barossa Valley and Cullen from the Margaret River suprisingly gave the larger brands a run for their money.
Jeremy Oliver, who produces his popular annual wine guide, said this was an indication of the growing maturity of the Australian consumer. Of particularly note was Lake’s Folly. This tiny Hunter Valley wine maker was awarded the most popular cabernet, whcih remains one of the leading wine varieties produced in the Australia.
In addition and number of alternative category winner were listed which included Mount Mary Pinot Noir, Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay, Grosset Polish Hill reisling and Tyrell’s Vat 1 semillon.
He said “There was a good mix of winners between the big companies like Foster’s, to small to medium sized and tiny,” And further stated. “I think that’s a surprise, I thought that all the category winners would be from the bigger ones. It shows how mature the market has become.”
Oliver said the range of prices from the top 50 brands surprised him, ranging from $15 to $25 for the Seppelt Chalambar Shiraz (in 32nd place) to the over $500+ of Penfolds Grange.
“Wynns Black Label Coonawarra (cabernet sauvignon) you would expect to see quite high in that list, and it was (in sixth place), and it is quite an cheap wine and you could argue quite underpriced,” he said.
“This list flies in the face of what a number of marketers think and price has been a big surprise. It is not vital which winews people choose to store in their cellar.”
Wine Ark CEO Dean Taylor said his members range from mums and dads holding a single bootle of Grange to serious investors with collections in excess of $1 million.
While many continue to store Penfolds Grange (since its the 2006 survey), it was the 2nd most popular wine this year, second only to Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz blend.
“Because the Grange is so expensive a lot of people buy it and don’t drink it” He states. I think that’s one of the reasons why it is the most popular because people have it in their cellar but haven’t found the opportunity to drink it.”
Oliver was surprised by this result given the numerous number of excellent shirazes available at a lower price..
“Grange costs a lot of money to put away” Oliver says. Consumers are saying yes, we are confident to put large amounts of money into this wine because it is the right wine we want to collect. I thought maybe a Penfolds Bin 28, which you can get for a fraction of the price, would be more popular than Grange.”
8 white wines made in the top 50 brands which included Tyrell’s Wines Vat 1 Hunter Semillon, Grosset Springvale Watervale Riesling, Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay, Grosset Polish Hill, Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling, De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Semillon and the Giaconda Chardonnay.
Other facts: SA wines made 60 per cent of the list. More collected Shiraz than any other variety at 46 per cent. Penfolds was the most popular brand with eight in the top 50 wines. Yarra Yering’s Dry Red No 1 was the most improved, up 64 places.
