Friday, June 8, 2012

Barossa Valley Shiraz and alcohol levels

I pulled some interesting statistics out of the Wine Companion database covering all Barossa Shirazs tasted for the 2012 and 2013 Wine Companions.  In all, there were 62 shirazs with an alcohol level of 14% or less that rated 90 points or above. This compared with 352 shirazs rated 90 points or above with alcohol levels in excess of 14%.  The one consolation is that the overwhelming majority of those were in fact at 14.5%.
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11 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 8, 2012 at 3:57 PM

    Given the results it would be interesting to run the test again whereby 14.5% was the diving line (i.e. how many wines above 14.5% scored well)

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  2. Vineyard PaulJune 8, 2012 at 4:23 PM

    I think it requires some multivariate cluster analysis

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  3. CardiacKevinJune 8, 2012 at 10:59 PM

    More interesting would be the trend over the last 10 years.

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  4. AnonymousJune 14, 2012 at 10:36 AM

    I would be more interested in finding out how close to the stated alcohol levels these wines actually were with the allowed +/- 1.5% variance.

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  5. AnonymousJune 14, 2012 at 10:57 AM

    What was the highest alcohol percent, did any exceed 18%?

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  6. Darby from VinodiversityJune 14, 2012 at 11:35 AM

    I'm with CardiacKevin it would be interesting to do some sort of time series analysis, but I think the high alcohol trend is probably longer than 10 years

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  7. AnonymousJune 14, 2012 at 11:54 AM

    The older I get, the more I realise that balance in wine is the key to enjoyment for me. It is very difficult (for the winemaker) to have all the components of a wine in balance if the alcohol is sitting around 14.5% or 15%.

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  8. AnonymousJune 14, 2012 at 1:21 PM

    I do not believe alcohol level is the only factor to look at in determining
    if a wine will be in balance. I recently consumed a 2002 wine from a winery in Greenock which was sitting at 16% and this was too sweet for me. On the contrast I have consumed wines with similar alcohol levels and they have been superb and in balance.

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  9. AnonymousJune 14, 2012 at 2:50 PM

    I think it would be more interesting to pick alcohol brackets at .5% intervlas and declare the results for all regions.

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  10. AnonymousJune 14, 2012 at 4:15 PM

    What wine at 16%? A Fino Sherry?

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  11. AnonymousJune 14, 2012 at 7:41 PM

    There seems to be a definite move away from big blockbusters towards slim weights, keeping up the wine in balance is the winemaker's art - is it a move towards good old Europe? I agree, a time series would be interesting to see the development over the last years.

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