Wine Selectors' Top 50 wines of 2016

Wine Selectors, Australia's largest independent direct marketer of wine, has released its Top 50 Wines of 2016 list.

The Wine Selectors Tasting Panel tastes over 3000 wines from Australian producers each year and the list sums up "the top wines that wowed them in 2016."

Throughout the year, the Tasting Panel puts its expert palates to the test to determine which wines are sent out to members.

"The wine tasting process is extremely rigorous," says the editor of Selector magazine, Mark Hughes. "The wines are opened the morning of the tasting to allow them to breathe, placed into a bottle cover so no-one can see the label, and poured in brackets that group varietals or styles.

"The Panel tastes each and every wine and gives them a score out of 20, as per judging at an official wine show. This happens every Friday (and sometimes Wednesday) at Wine Selectors with our Panel tasting up to 100 wines a week. That equates to literally thousands of wines a year, from nearly every producer in every wine region across Australia."

The wine that scored the No.1 gong was Coonawarra's Di Giorgio Family Chardonnay 2015. The panel describes it as having “aromas of flint, struck match and oyster shell with a refined palate of intense fig, melon and nectarine.”

Winemaker Bryan Tonkin predicted recent dry weather in the region will mean strong and concentrated flavours in his 2016 vintage too.

"This year's vintage will be characterised by the long, dry period up to fruit development, which has seen us develop some really small berries on the bunches," he told ABC Rural.

"I think this will give us some quite concentrated flavours.

"Chardonnay development this year will be quite intense, and that will allow us to do everything from sparkling bases through to our heavily oaked chardonnays."

Out of the Top 50 there were only two producers who featured more than once – Howard Park (Marchand & Burch Chardonnay at No.6, and Howard Park Flint Rock Pinot Noir at No.19) and Brown Brothers (Devil’s Corner Pinot Noir at No.17 and Innocent Bystander Known Pleasures Shiraz at No.15). 

Here are the Top 10 (click here to see the full list) ...

THE BEST AUSTRALIAN WINES OF 2016

1. Di Giorgio Family Chardonnay 2015 (Coonawarra)

2.Ferngrove Off Dry Limited Release Riesling 2016 (Great Southern)

3. Tahbilk Marsanne 2010 (Nagambie Lakes)

4. Saddler’s Creek Ryan’s Reserve Vanessa Vineyard Shiraz 2014 (Hunter Valley) Try the 2012 vintage here

5. Stanton & Killen Classic Rutherglen Muscat NV (Rutherglen)

6. Howard Park Wines Marchand & Burch Australian Collection 'Porongurup' Chardonnay 2015

7. Tyrrell’s Wines Vat 1 Semillon 2011 (Hunter Valley)

8. Henschke & Co Tappa Pass Shiraz 2013 (Barossa)

9. Hamelin Bay Wines Five Ashes Vineyard Cabernet Merlot 2014 (Margaret River)

10. Serafino Wines Bellissimo Lagrein (Adelaide Hills) 2013