Results from the Decanter World Wine Awards 2024 have seen Australia receive eight of the 50 Best in Show Awards, an accolade only granted to the 50 best wines out of the 18,000+ show entries.
Australia’s strong performance places it second only to France, which led with 12 wines out of the Top 50. This mirrors recently released results from the International Wine Challenge 2024, which also saw Australia lead out Italy and Spain to place second behind France. Australia loses its second place title when looking beyond the Top 50, however with its total Platinum medal count of 10 paling to Spain’s 17 and Italy’s 18. This means that eight of Australia’s 10 highest scoring wines were in the top 0.28% of global entrants.
Two of these eight were Tasmanian Pinot Noirs, with Accolade Wines owned brand Bay of Fires Pinot Noir 2022 and Lowestoft Single Vineyard Jacoben Pinot Noir 2022 both receiving 97 points. The Australian Pinot Noirs were joined by New Zealand's 2022 McArthur Ridge Southern Tor Pinot Noir as the three top scoring Pinot Noirs globally and as the only three Pinot Noirs in the top 50 shortlist.
“We may not have found any Burgundian Pinot Noir wines to feature in this year’s Best in Show selection, but three Pinots from the Southern Hemisphere goes some way to compensate,” said the Decanter judges.
Commenting on the result, McArthur Ridge’s International Sales Manager Jason Dellaca said "this is an outstanding result, showing yet again how special our vineyard site in Alexandra is and the ability and quality of our vineyard team, lead by Murray Petrie. Our sole focus as a team is to produce the best wines possible from each vintage, and to be globally recognized for this hard work is extremely rewarding for everyone at McArthur Ridge.”
Australian importer Vintage House Wine and Spirits has told Drinks Trade that the awarded vintage is due to arrive on 10 July.
Also making the Top 50 were a GSM, Grenache, and Shiraz from South Australia. This includes the Chaffey Bros Evangeline Syrah 2021 from the Eden Valley, Penny’s Hill Yeenunga Grenache 2023 from the Mclaren Vale, and Red Knot Classified GSM by Shingleback 2022 also from the McLaren Vale.
The Shingleback Red Knot Classified GSM is available now from Dan Murphy’s at only $20 per bottle.
Explaining the wine, Shingleback’s Chief Winemaker Mark Jamieson said, “with this particular GSM blend, I was aiming to highlight the unique strengths of each varietal. With this, you can then create a combination that surpasses their individual qualities.”
Rounding out Australia’s top eight performing wines is the 2014 Mcguigan’s Bin 9000 Hunter Valley Semillon, the 2022 Stella Bella Luminosa Margaret River Chardonnay, and the 2020 Fermoy Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
See below for links to Decanter’s commentary on Australian and New Zealand’s top performing wines.
Australia
- Bay of Fires, Pinot Noir, Tasmania 2022
- Chaffey Bros., Evangeline Syrah, Eden Valley, South Australia 2021
- Fermoy, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, Western Australia 2020
- Lowestoft, Single Vineyard Jacoben Pinot Noir, Derwent Valley, Tasmania 2022
- Mcguigan, Bin 9000 Semillon, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia, 2014
- Penny’s Hill, Yeenunga Grenache, McLaren Vale, South Australia 2023
- Red Knot by Shingleback, Classified GSM, McLaren Vale, South Australia 2022
- Stella Bella, Luminosa Chardonnay, Margaret River, Western Australia 2022
New Zealand
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