International competition results highlight growing positivity

The results of two recent international wine competitions – the Decanter World Wine Awards 2017 and the Sommelier Wine Awards 2017 – highlight the growing positivity about Australian wine around the world.

Decanter World Wine Awards 2017

The Decanter World Wine Awards 2017 is the world’s largest and one of the most influential wine competitions. Over 17,000 wines were judged and awards given in the following categories in order of prestige:

• Platinum Best in Show
• Platinum Best in Category
• Gold
• Silver
• Bronze
• Commended.

The world’s biggest three producers – France, Italy and Spain – walked away with the most awards. However, Australia outperformed all three plus competitors from Chile, Argentina, the United States and South Africa in the share of gold and above awards.

Of the 981 awards Australian wines received, 6.7 per cent were gold and above (see figure 1). In comparison, of the 3,781 awards France received, 3.6 per cent were gold and above. Italy received 2,802 awards, 2.7 per cent of which were gold and above.

Figure 1: Share of Gold and above awards at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2017

Within the Australian category, 79 per cent of the gold and above awards were achieved by still wines, 15 per cent by fortified wines and 6 per cent by sparkling wines. Gold and above accounted for half of the awards Australian fortified wines received, a quarter of Australian sparkling’s awards and 6 per cent of Australian still wine’s awards.

By variety for Australia, the most gold and above awards were achieved by:

• Shiraz (18)
• Chardonnay (12)
• Cabernet Sauvignon (11)
• Riesling (4)

Sommelier Wine Awards 2017

The Sommelier Wine Awards (SWA) is the only competition aimed solely at the UK on-trade.

While Australian wine has been clearly number one in the UK off-trade for 15 years, Australia trails France and Italy in the UK on-trade market. Hence the SWA is an important platform to help boost the Australian category in the UK on-trade market. The results of the 2017 SWA have just been released.

The following medals are awarded:

• Gold
• Silver
• Bronze
• Commended.

France, Italy and Spain received the most SWA medals, no doubt due in part to the fact that they produce far more wine than other countries and entered more wines in the competition. However, like the Decanter Awards, Australia outperformed all key competitors in the share of gold medals (see figure 2).

Of the 172 medals Australia received, 18 per cent were gold medals, placing Australia ahead of France (17.4 per cent), Italy (16.4 per cent) and South Africa (15.8 per cent).

Fifteen wines received Food Match medals of which Australian wines won three, behind only Italy with five.

Shiraz achieved the most golds for Australia with 8, ahead of Chardonnay with 5 and Cabernet Sauvignon with 3.

 Figure 2: Share of Gold medals at the Sommelier Wine Awards 2017

Congratulations to all the awarded wines at this year’s competitions.