- IS MY WINE ELIGIBLE - With the exception of New Releases, each wine is eligible for entry multiple times throughout the Winestate Judging Calendar. NEW RELEASES REGIONAL TASTING A wine is eligible for this tasting only once. Please see below for the regional breakdowns to see whether your wines are eligible: If a wine has been judged by a previous ADELAIDE HILLS Winestate panel it is no longer eligible. Piccadilly Valley, Mount Lofty Ranges, Lenswood The vintage must not have been seen by BAROSSA/EDEN VALLEY the Winestate Tasting panel before in a Barossa Valley, Eden Valley, Springton, Mount Pleasant previous edition. BEST OF THE WEST The wine must be commercially labelled Swan District, Perth Hills, Peel, Geographe, Margaret River, Great Southern Pemberton, & available at time of publication – please Blackwood Valley, Manjimup, Waneroo & Gingin email [email protected] for CENTRAL & WESTERN NSW & CANBERRA REGION clarification of any dates. Central Ranges (Cowra, Mudgee & Orange), South Coast (Shoalhaven Coast & Southern VARIETAL/STYLE TASTING Highlands), Southern New South Wales (Gundagai, Hilltops & Tumbarumba) A wine must be at least 51% of the main CENTRAL & WESTERN VIC varietal fruit to be eligible for a varietal & Bendigo, Heathcote, Goulburn Valley, Upper Goulburn, Central Victorian Highlands, blends tasting. Strathbogie Ranges, Ballarat, Pyrenees, Grampians & Henty i.e. Shiraz & Blends can feature a wine that CLARE VALLEY is 51% Shiraz; 40% Cabernet; 9% Merlot to Clare Valley, Auburn, Mintaro, Leasingham, Penwortham, Sevenhill & Southern Flinders be a Shiraz blend. FLEURIEU Anything Less than 51% of the designated Langhorne Creek, Currency Creek, Clarendon, Kangaroo Island & Southern Fleurieu variety is not eligible. HUNTER VALLEY & NORTHERN NSW Hunter Valley, New England, Hastings River Sparkling versions of these wines/blends are ineligible for any varietal tasting, as they LIMESTONE COAST Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, Padthaway, Mount Benson, Mount Gambier & Robe are judged in the Sparkling Wine Show – early July. McLAREN VALE McLaren Vale Sweet/Fortified versions of these wines/ NORTH EAST VICTORIA blends are ineligible for any varietal tasting, Rutherglen, King Valley, Glenrowan, Beechworth, Alpine Valleys & Indigo Valley as they are judged in the Sweet White & QUEENSLAND Fortified Wine Show – Late January. Brisbane & Scenic Rim, Darling Downs, Gold Coast Hinterland, Granite Belt, North i.e. Late Harvest Riesling cannot be judged Burnett, Somerset Valley, South Burnett, Sunshine Coast, Western Downs in the Riesling Wine Show. RIVER REGIONS Merlot/Bordeaux Blends wine show is River Regions of SA, NSW, Victoria, Riverina, Big Rivers & surrounding areas open to wines that are varietally dominant in TASMANIA the following categories: Merlot, Cabernet North West, Tamar Valley, Pipers River, East Coast, Coal River, Derwent Valley, Southern Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Carmenere. regions YARRA VALLEY & SOUTHERN VICTORIA Italian/Spanish/Portugese this wine show Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula, Gippsland, Geelong, Sunbury, Macedon Ranges is open to wines that are varietally dominant in the following categories: Sangiovese, For NZ Regions please contact: [email protected] Garnacha (Grenache), Tempranillo, FEATURE TASTINGS Nebbiolo, Pinot Grigio, Barbera, Arneis, Winestate also runs feature tastings – including From The Producer; Brandy, Fiano, Zinfandel, Aglianico, Montepulciano, Cognac & Armaganac; NASAA Organic Tasting; Wines of South Africa; Vermentino, Touriga, plus others – please Whiskies of the World. Please email [email protected] if you require any contact [email protected] prior to other information regarding these specialty tastings. Following each tasting, the wines will be either used in Winestate Public tasting for confirmation. Tastings, or donated to a charity function. Winestate Publishing | 81 King William Road UNLEY SA 5061 | [email protected] P: 08 8357 9277 F: 08 8357 9212 | Winestate Publishing - ABN 56 088 226 411 - HOW WE JUDGE - Our tastings and published ratings are designed with one thing in mind: to provide a useful, honest and genuine, balanced guide on wines to our readers. In order to achieve this we follow certain procedures in an activity that is notoriously difficult! There are regular criticisms of wine shows and various scoring systems; here is how we approach our tastings. A WIDE SELECTION OF WINES: final ‘medals’ are then converted into featured regardless of advertising. The Wines are invited from any producer, a star rating system for publication in judges’ decisions are final and these provided that they meet the criteria of Winestate. A gold means 5 stars, silver are published according to the judges’ the class being judged. The class may is 4, and bronze is 3 stars. scores, whether advertising is taken or not. be a feature, regional, style or new THE BIGGEST JUDGING SYSTEM: release tasting and generally the wines Winestate examines on average more THE JUDGES: must be available for consumers to Australasian wines per year than We take care in selecting our judges. purchase, although we have museum any other forum - more than 10,000. But remember: judges are human and and rare wine tastings as well. Compare this to the biggest show in their own preference will influence AWARDING SCORES: Australia, the Royal Melbourne wine their scores. We use judges with Winestate carries out the judging show, with just over 4000 entries. complementary backgrounds and a three-person panel for each flight will using Australian capital city wine show INDEPENDENCE OF ADVERTISING: procedures; where the wines are not include winemakers with technical Winestate does charge a nominal known to the judges. The three judges expertise and often a marketing/retail entrance fee for wines submitted taste the wines blind and assign a score expert who knows consumer tastes. which covers our administration costs without reference to each other. Once Often one or more of the judges are only, and will often purchase ‘yardstick’ this is done, only then do they compare Masters of Wine with vast international wines to be evaluated where we scores, and if there is dissension they experience, and most judges have believe that these are of consumer or re-taste the wines and come to an experience at local or city wine shows. trade interest, if these have not been agreement. Scores are compiled using When we are judging a region, for entered by the wineries. In order the 20-point International system: gold example, we will have a winemaker to produce the biggest and best is 18.5 and above; silver is 17 and judge from that region because that wine magazine, Winestate includes above and is an excellent wine; bronze person knows the local style. We is 15.5 and above and represents advertising; however, this is fiercely occasionally balance that with a judge good wine. A reasonable, sound independent of any wine tasting from outside the region and generally everyday drinking wine scores 15 (but editorial. Wine companies are advised someone with broad and mature does not gain a medal). A bland but of the blind tasting results and it is experience. clean wine scores 14. Below this score their choice to advertise if they wish, there are unpleasant flavours. These their awarded wine’s review will be HOW WE COMPARE International 20 Winestate Rating Comment Wine show Medal 100 Point System Point System HHHHH Outstanding Gold 18.5 - 20 98 - 100 HHHH1/2 Excellent High Silver 18 - 18.4 95 - 97 HHHH Very Good Silver 17 - 17.9 92 - 94 HHH1/2 Good/Very Good High Bronze 16.5 - 16.9 90 - 91 HHH Good Bronze 15.5 - 16.4 88 - 89 Wine judging is an inexact art, not a science - even at the highest levels of proficiency. Accordingly, Winestate uses the star rating system which reflects a range, rather than a specific point score. Point systems indicate a level of accuracy that simply does not exist in our view and experience! Winestate Publishing | 81 King William Road UNLEY SA 5061 | [email protected] P: 08 8357 9277 F: 08 8357 9212 | Winestate Publishing - ABN 56 088 226 411 AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND the wine & spirit insider BEST VALUE BUYS - $20 & Under (NZ $25 & Under) UPGRADE PACKAGE The Winestate BEST VALUE BUYS is a major feature in both the Winestate Magazine and the Wine & Spirit Insider, and often the first section our readers look at! Many of our readers rely on this section when choosing their everyday wines – why not make yours memorable? ESTA THIS PACKAGE INCLUDES: N T • Large Format Bottle Image with accompanying wine details, review and your company details directly below. See example layout below. I E W BEST • The review will also be highlighted in the original tasting with a bright red Best Value Buys stamp (these are one of the first reviews our readers are drawn to on the page). This is a value ad for you totally free of charge. VALUE • Medal stickers are also available exclusively for wines featured in this section. Please see attached booking sheet for further information. E M N • Review featured in both Winestate Magazine and the Wine & Spirit Insider = double exposure for your product! ABUYSI G A Z High resolution photo of your wine bottle Name of your wine bottle Description of your wine Contact details of your company The image above is an enlarged example, not to scale. Bottle image size featured in the magazine is 135mm high. AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND the wine & spirit insider BEST VALUE BUYS You can gain maximum exposure for your product by choosing a bottle shot in both