The Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show is held annually at Mildura. The Show, which started off as a Sangiovese challenge in 1999, has been growing steadily ever since.
It brings together some of the best wines in Australia, but with a twist. The wines are all made from so called alternative grape varieties. Alternative grape varieties are best explained by those that are excluded.
The rules of AAVWS exclude from the show:
- Wines or blends made primarily from the varieties Chardonnay, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc,
- Cabernet Sauvignon, the Cabernet family generally, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Shiraz, Chenin Blanc,
- Riesling, Colombard, Grenache and Verdelho.
You can find more information about alternative varieties from Vinodiversity.com
About six hundred wines were entered in 24 classes. They were judged by a panel headed by wine writer and commentator Max Allen Trophy winners in 2008
And the Winners were...
Best Scoring Murray Darling Wine
Given to the highest scoring local wine to make sure the host region gets at least one trophy.
- Trentham Estate 'la famiglia' Pinot grigio (Murray Darling Region).
Stewards' Choice Award
The Stewards spend the week opening bottles, pouring wines, checking details and making sure everything runs smoothly during the judging process. Their award is analogous to the 'Packers choice' at the Archibald Portrait Prize.
- Coriole Fiano 2008 (McLaren Vale Region).
Best Blend
- Wrattonbully Vineyards Marsanne Viognier 2006 (Wrattonbully Region)
Best Commercial Volume Wine
- Tahbilk Marsanne 2004 (Nagambie Lakes Region)
Best Spanish Varietal
- Mayford Tempranillo 2006 (Alpine Valeys Region)
Best Italian Varietal
Two wines shared this trophy
- David Hook Barbera 2006 (Hunter Valley Region)
- Dal Zotto Arneis 2008 (King Valley Region)
Best Red Wine
- Mayford Tempranillo 2006 (Alpine Valeys Region)
Best White Wine
- Tahbilk Marsanne 2004 (Nagambie Lakes Region)
Best Wine of Show
- Mayford Tempranillo 2006 (Alpine Valleys Region)
Chairman's Wine to Watch
Selected by Chief Wine Judge Max Allen
- Quealy 'Sensa Nome' Tokai Friulano (Mornington Peninsula Region)
Following the ever unfolding story of new varietal wines in Australia is a fascinating pastime. This show always has a few surprises. Old favourites like Tahbilk Marsanne always do well, but the best wine of the show was won by newcomer Mayfield Wines of Porepunka with their Tempranillo.
The trophies don't tell the whole story. Four white wine varieties showed out among the medals. Read about the emergence of these new white varieties at the 2008 AAVWS in this article.
Where can you find these wines?
By their nature alternative varieties are often made in small quantities and are not readily available. The exception of course in the list above is the Tahbilk Marsanne which is widely distributed.
Here is a good place to start your search for an online source for these and other less common wines.
Darby Higgs - Darby Higgs is a wine writer and webmaster based in Melbourne Australia. He is the Author of Emerging Varietal Wines of Australia: a guide ...
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