Special value
Wines considered to offer special value for money; tasting notes will always appear in the Wine Companion

º alc.
I have endeavored to always include this piece of information, which is in one sense self-explanatory. What is less obvious is the increasing concern of many of Australian winemakers about the rise in levels of alcohol, and much research and practical experiment (picking earlier,higher fermentation temperatures in open fermenters, etc.) is occurring.  Reverse osmosis and yeast selection are two of the research fields of particular promise.

Cases
This figure (representing the number of cases produced each year) is merely an indication of the size of the operation. Some winery entries do not feature a production figure: this is either because the winery (principally, but not exclusively, the large companies) regards this information as confidential or because the information was not available at the time of going to press.

Contact details
The details are usually those of the winery and cellar door, but in a few instances may simply be of the winery; this occurs when the wine is made under contract, and is sold only through retail.

Date tasted
The tasting notes have been compiled over many years, during which time the wine will almost certainly change. For this reason I have provided the Date Tasted field, to show when the tasting note was made. More than this, remember the tasting is a highly subjective and imperfect art.

Drink
Rather than give a span of drinking years, I have simply provided a (conservative) 'best by' date. Modern wine making is such that, even if a wine has 10 or 20 years' future during which it will gain much greater complexity, it can be enjoyed at any time over the intervening months and years.

The ‘drink to’ date is the most subjective and elusive of all the yardsticks used to measure the quality or (as in this instance) the longevity of a wine.  While points out of a hundred have the appearance of objectivity, they are in fact every bit as subjective as objective.  They are simply the summary of the descriptive words which have preceded the points trying to describe the characters of the wine, and, in effect, the guide of the degree of success achieved by the winemaker.

The eternal question: When will this wine be at its best?, is best answered drawing two lines which intersect at their mid-point, forming a cross or an X.  The descending line (looking at the left hand side of the cross/X) represents the volume of primary fruit flavour, which will be at its maximum the day the wine is bottled, and which inexorably decrease as the wine ages.  The line which starts on the bottom at the left hand side, and travels upwards, is the complexity line.  An oblong box running from left to right can then be drawn around the point of intersection, and extending for a substantial distance either side of that point.  This is what I call the window of opportunity.  For those who most enjoy fresh fruit flavours, the extreme left hand end of the oblong (or, possibly even closer to the starting point) will mark the optimum drinking point.  (I should indicate running across the bottom of the page one has a scale of years.)  For those who place a high value on complexity, and are less concerned with primary fruit flavours, the optimum drinking point will be towards the right hand end of the window, or even further out.

Thus the ‘drink to’ date is the point at which I guess the lines will cross.

Est.
A more or less self-explanatory item, but keep in mind that some makers consider the year in which they purchased the land to be the year of establishment, others the year in which they first planted grapes, others the year they first made wine, others the year they first offered wine for sale, and so on. There may also be minor complications where there has been a change of ownership or break in production.

NV = non vintage.

Open
Although a winery might be listed as not open or only open on weekends, some may in fact be prepared to open by appointment. Many will, some won't; a telephone call will establish whether it is possible or not.  Virtually every winery that is shown as being open only for weekends is in fact open on public holidays as well. Once again, a telephone call will confirm this.

$
Prices have been included where possible. This price was correct at time of release.

Region
The mapping of Australia into zones, regions and subregions with legally defined boundaries is now largely complete for regions. The registration of subregions is stalled, but there is no fixed date by which all applications for registration of regions or subregions must be completed. Occasionally you will see 'Warehouse' as the region. This means the wine is made from purchased grapes, in someone else's winery. In other words, it does not have a vineyard or winery in the ordinary way.

Summary
My summary of the winery. Little needs be said, except that I have tried to vary the subjects I discuss in this part of the winery entry.

Web address
An increasingly important reference point, containing extra material and contact information for the winery.

Winery name
Although it might seem that stating the winery name is straightforward, this is not necessarily so. To avoid confusion, wherever possible I use the name that appears most prominently on the wine label, and do not refer to any associated trading name.

Winemaker
In the large companies the winemaker is simply the head of a team; there may be many executive winemakers actually responsible for specific wines.