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Year
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Rating
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Drinkability
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Style
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1972 |
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drink now
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Dry, relatively cool season in which later harvesting Coonawarra and Eden Valley fared best |
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1973 |
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Not a vintage to demonstrate Australian winemaking talent |
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1974 |
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drink now
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A disastrous vintage with very few exceptions |
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1975 |
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drink now
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A disappointingly cool and meagre vintage |
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1976 |
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drink soon
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Drenching pre-harvest rains preceded an excellent vintage throughout most of Australia |
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1977 |
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A desolate year |
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1978 |
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drink now
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A dry growing season produced reds of richness and longevity |
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1979 |
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drink now
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A generally disappointing year |
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1980 |
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drink now
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A good year for wines from the Barossa and Victoria, also Cabernet and Shiraz from Western Australia |
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1981 |
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A hot, dry and forgettable vintage with many hard and tannic wines |
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1982 |
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Some notable wines from Victoria; an exceptionally good year for Coonawarra Cabernet |
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1983 |
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A very good vintage throughout Australia; excellent Penfolds Grange |
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1984 |
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A bewildering season which has never really lived up to its much-touted potential |
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1985 |
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An uneven year but good in Victoria |
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1986 |
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An excellent vintage, producing some classic wines with good aroma and structure |
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1987 |
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A cool summer produced wines for drinking relatively young |
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1988 |
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A largely unexciting vintage |
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1989 |
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A very disappointing harvest |
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1990 |
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An exceptionally good year in South Australia; the harvest in New South Wales was spoiled by rain
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1991 |
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An excellent vintage in all regions produced textbook wines |
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1992 |
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A mixed year but some good wines from Western Australia and Victoria |
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1993 |
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Good Cabernets were produced in Western Australia. Elsewhere the vintage was mixed, with rather light wines
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1994 |
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An excellent vintage in the Margaret River; South Australia also produced some classic wines |
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1995 |
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A poor year in the Barossa but very good in New South Wales and Western Australia |
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1996 |
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Most of Australia experienced an excellent but late vintage after an unusually cool summer |
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1997 |
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Erratic conditions reduced yields and dramatically compromised quality |
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1998 |
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A great vintage and the best for Hunter Valley wines since 1991; yields were low, following drought |
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1999 |
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A difficult vintage throughout all regions, producing wines of variable quality |
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2000 |
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A curate's egg: less than laudable, tiny vintage, but some stellar stuff |
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2001 |
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A very good year for premium reds, particularly Barossa Shiraz, which shows rich concentration and ripeness |
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2002 |
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Elegant wines with a good balance of natural acidity and fruit |
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2003 |
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Powerful and stylish Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon wines |
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2004 |
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Classic Australian reds showing clear varietal character offer good value for money this year given the country’s current wine glut |
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2005 |
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Fruit-forward wines with excellent structure |
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2006 |
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Outstanding vintage, though quality falls short in Western Australia. Fully ripe wines with good tannic structure and well-developed flavours.
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2007 |
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Inconsistent quality, with ripeness to the fore. Best reds have concentrated flavours, deep colours and supple tannins, with Shiraz and Grenache standing out. Cabernets may lack elegance.
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2008 |
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Challenging harvest heat and rain in eastern half of continent, while plain sailing in Western Australia. Inconsistent quality but some fine examples across the appellations - going on four stars. |
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Decanter World Wine Awards
