The Shiraz SA tasting in June was one of the largest varietal tastings on the calendar. No fewer than 159 wines were judged blind and the top-scoring 12 Shirazes were duly chosen and celebrated:
Black Elephant Vintners Amistad Syrah 2012
Boschkloof Louis 57 Syrah 2012
Boschkloof Syrah 2012
Cederberg Shiraz 2011
Fairview Beacon Shiraz 2011
Hartenberg Shiraz 2010
Jordan The Prospector Syrah 2012
KWV Abraham Perold Insignis 2012
KWV The Mentors Shiraz 2012
Oldenburg Syrah 2011
Rickety Bridge Shiraz 2011
Saronsberg Provenance Shiraz 2012
Of course the most important piece of information for the consumer, namely retail price, plays no part in the deliberations of the panel. So I persuaded Shiraz SA to vouchsafe me the average scores and prices for wines labelled S1…S159. The judges knew their onions as the scores and prices have a positive correlation of 0.28. Or when it comes to Shiraz, the more you pay, the more you get (on average).
Applying the RECM Best Value algorithm that assumes that in an ideal world, the best rated wine should sell for the most money, we computed a notional value for each wine. The discount of retail price to this value was then used to choose the top 12 best value wines, which are:
Saronsberg Provenance Shiraz 2012 score 16.58 price R76.00 value R361.43
Rickety Bridge Shiraz 2011 score 16.42 price R79.00 value R340.83
Ashton Shiraz 2012 score 15.42 price R41.00 value R123.11
Hartenberg Shiraz 2010 score 16.33 price R110.00 value R286.45
Neethlingshof Shiraz 2010 score 15.58 price R62.00 value R159.46
Boschkloof Syrah 2012 score 16.75 price R145.00 value R372.74
Rooiberg Shiraz Reserve 2012 score 15.33 price R70.00 value R118.95
Fairview Shiraz 2012 score 15.50 price R57.75 value R140.45
De Wet Cellar Shiraz 2013 score 14.83 price R35.00 value R81.89
Jordan The Prospector Syrah 2012 score 16.08 price R99.00 value R224.65
Bonnievale Barrel Select Shiraz 2012 score 15.50 price R62.00 value R138.00
Welbedacht Bohemian Syrah 2010 score 15.83 price R90.00 value R191.46
Interesting to note that there are six wines in both selections: Saronsberg, Rickety Bridge, Hartenberg, Boschkloof, Fairview and Jordan. The wines in the best value selection but not in the best scoring six are mainly Co-op wines from Ashton, Rooiberg, De Wet and Bonnievale with Lusan property Neethlingshof and Schalk Burger’s Welbedacht making up the dozen.
How ironic that the largest volume wines from Ashton, Rooiberg, De Wet and Bonnievale are overlooked in the Shiraz SA selection but feature in the RECM line-up. Priced between R35 and R70, these are the wines to take the sexy Shiraz message to the wider SA and deserve their 15 minutes of fame.
