The effort to come up with a fair winery rating continues. In 2007 I looked at the ratings for the last 3 years. If a winery has been rated at 5 stars in all 3 years, its 5 stars are displayed in red; if it has achieved a 5-star rating in 2007, but not in one or more previous years, it keeps the 5 stars displayed in black. In the longer term, the rating will depend on a 5-year track record, although special allowances will be made for new wineries.

The other comment is that, as in prior years (and in the future), the larger wineries tend to have a wide range of products, in a perfect world priced in line with their quality. Thus for both small wineries (which may only make a handful of different wines) and large, the rating is heavily biased by the performance of the best wines of that producer. To do otherwise would be to deny a 5-star rating to any of the 20 or more largest wineries, the most obvious single winery being Penfolds.

Understanding the ratings
Reading the winery details
Frequently asked questions