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%.
11 comments:
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)
I think it requires some multivariate cluster analysis
More interesting would be the trend over the last 10 years.
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.
What was the highest alcohol percent, did any exceed 18%?
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
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%.
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.
I think it would be more interesting to pick alcohol brackets at .5% intervlas and declare the results for all regions.
What wine at 16%? A Fino Sherry?
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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