Top 100 Wines of Australia 2020

The 2020 coverage of Australian wine here at JamesSuckling.com is by far our biggest ever to date with more than 3,500 Australian wines tasted and rated – and we are not done yet! James and I are tasting at a fast pace as we head to the end of what has been a very different year and we are proud to have increased our coverage of Australia significantly in 2020 and to maintain an extensive global coverage.

There are five 100-point Australian wines this year and, more importantly, Australian wines featured very strongly in our Top 100 Wines of 2020 with a record 19 entries. This is the strongest ever showing from Australia by some margin and the message is clear: Australia stands shoulder to shoulder with the very best winemaking nations around the world. The best Australian wines hit the highest mark of quality in what are globally relevant yet unique styles.

The 2020 Australian Wine of the Year is the The Standish Wine Company Shiraz Barossa Valley The Schubert Theorem 2018 (100 points). Dan Standish is among a handful of winemakers that are redefining the modern face of great Barossa wine. He is a sixth generation Barossan and he cuts no corners. “It took me eight years to figure this vineyard out. I started taking fruit in 2001 and didn’t release the first wine until 2009,” Standish says. And on the 2018 vintage he is unequivocal in his view. “It is a 10 out of 10 vintage for us.”

Second to this is the Wendouree Shiraz Clare Valley 2018 and what is without question the best release of this wine in almost 30 years. This, like The Standish, hails from a vintage that delivered exceptional quality across all this year’s Wendouree releases. A single parcel planted in 1919, it has a brand of seamless length, balance and majesty that is underwritten by meticulously tended very old vines combined with an attentive, traditional winemaking approach. Also from the Clare Valley, the Jim Barry Shiraz The Armagh 2018 (No. 7, 99 points) and Adelina Shiraz 2019 (No. 20, 98 points) are exceptional inclusions.

The Gersch Vineyard in Moppa Springs, which has supplied grapes to Penfolds for 99 years.

Then we have a riesling in at number three. The Peter Lehmann Riesling Eden Valley Wigan 2015 is a triumphant rendition of a very classic style, subtly aged and flawlessly honed. This is a wine that also offers incredible value, is accessible and represents the zenith of its type. It has been one of the most consistently great Australian white wines for many years now.

There are also a number of 2020 vintage Eden Valley rieslings in the top 100 this year, from what is an exceptional vintage for this style. Tom Foolery Cut & Run (No. 72), Sons of Eden Freya (No. 75), Rieslingfreak No. 4 (No. 95) and Pewsey Vale (No. 96) are all rated 96 points. And at below AUD$20 the Pewsey Vale Riesling Eden Valley 2020 is the best value Australian wine of 2020 hands down. Drink it now or put it in the cellar, you simply cannot beat this wine for value.

An exceptional pair of 2019 rieslings from Western Australia’s Frankland Estate being Poison Hill and Isolation Ridge (No. 33 & No. 99, both 96 points), Jeffrey Grosset’s Riesling Clare Valley Polish Hill 2020 (No. 71, 96 points) and the Loosen Barry Riesling Clare Valley Wolta Wolta 2017 (No. 24, 98 points) round out a strong showing for great dry Australian riesling this year. The latter wine, a collab between Ernie Loosen and the Barry family is a watershed in stylistic development for Australian riesling so watch that project closely over the coming releases.

Clarendon’s elevated vineyards sites are highly sought after in McLaren Vale.

At No. 4 and leading Western Australia’s list of outstanding wines of 2020 is the Cullen Margaret River Diana Madeline 2018 (99 points) which offers a marriage of elegance with power that is found in only the greatest wines. The level of concentration along with such extreme poise in a blend of 79% cabernet sauvignon, 10% merlot, 6% cabernet franc and 5% malbec is an incredible achievement and certainly the care and attention to detail in this biodynamically farmed vineyard is paying handsome dividends at Cullen. Ditto the Cullen Chardonnay Margaret River Kevin John 2018 (No. 28, 98 points) which is a perfectly measured and smoothly fleshy chardonnay with real power and length.

The top-rated Victorian wine is the Mount Mary Yarra Valley Quintet 2018 (No. 5, 99 points), a wine of total harmony and unison with seamless tannins. This is the greatest Quintet of a generation, maybe more. The 2019 pinot noir wines from Macedon Ranges icon Bindi are great too. The Bindi Pinot Noir Macedon Ranges Original Vineyard 2019 (No. 12, 98 points) and the Bindi Pinot Noir Macedon Ranges Block 5 2019 (No. 61, 98 points) are very different but unanimously fine quality pinots and are at the top of a full set of outstanding Bindi releases tasted this year.

Our top-rated chardonnay is the Tolpuddle Chardonnay Tasmania 2019 (No. 10, 98 points) ahead of the Giaconda Chardonnay Beechworth Estate Vineyard 2018 (No. 16, 98 points), both very different styles but sharing a common complexity, sophistication and resiliently powerful DNA. The Giant Steps Chardonnay Yarra Valley Wombat Creek Vineyard 2019 (No. 31, 97 points), the Shaw + Smith Chardonnay Adelaide Hills Lenswood Vineyard 2018 (No. 36, 97 points), the Joshua Cooper Chardonnay Macedon Ranges Old Port Righ Vineyard 2019 (No. 37, 97 points), Dr Edge Chardonnay Tasmania South 2019 (No. 39, 97 points), Vasse Felix Chardonnay Margaret River Heytesbury 2018 (No. 44, 97 points), Murdoch Hill Chardonnay Adelaide Hills Rocket 2019 (No. 50, 97 points), Seville Estate Chardonnay Yarra Valley Reserve 2019 (No. 52, 97 points), Deep Woods Estate Chardonnay Margaret River Reserve 2018 (No. 57, 97 points) and others from Cherubino (No. 64, 97 points), Xanadu (No. 67, 97 points), Flametree (No. 78, 96 points) and Leeuwin Estate (No. 81, 96 points) round out a strong national showing. Australia makes some of the world’s greatest chardonnay hands down.

Shiraz is dominated by high pedigree South Australia examples with an extremely strong showing on the back of harvest 2018, as well as some older, later release wines. The Sami-Odi Shiraz Barossa Valley Hoffmann Dallwitz 2018 (No. 6, 99 points), Henschke Shiraz Eden Valley Hill of Grace Vineyard 2015 (No. 8, 100 points), Clarendon Hills Syrah McLaren Vale Astralis 2016 (No. 15, 98 points), Torbreck Shiraz Barossa Valley The Laird 2015 (No. 17, 98 points), Spinifex Shiraz Eden Valley Rostein 2018 (No. 18, 98 points), and First Drop Shiraz Barossa Valley The Cream 2018 (No. 19, 98 points) make a strong collective case and there are many more in the list.

Some cooler-climate wines also making headway into the list are the Clonakilla Canberra District Murrumbateman T&L Vineyard Block One 2018 (No. 25, 98 points), Seville Estate Shiraz Yarra Valley Dr. McMahon 2017 (No. 42, 98 points), the Serrat Shiraz Viognier Yarra Valley 2019 (No. 45, 97 points) and the Clonakilla Shiraz Canberra District Murrumbateman Western Vineyard 2018 (No. 60, 98 points).

The Tyrrell’s Shiraz Hunter Valley Old Patch 2019 (No. 21, 100 points) marks the fourth consecutive release of this wine achieving a perfect 100-point rating after the 2018, 2017 and 2014 vintages. The 2019 shiraz wines from Tyrrell’s have elevated in unison to very high quality and, from a parcel planted in 1908, the Tyrrell’s Semillon Hunter Valley Johnno’s 2019 (No. 23, 99 points) is the greatest young semillon I have tasted. These latest Tyrrell’s wines belong in every collector’s cellar.

And while there are many classically established, credentialed and highly evolved wines in this year’s Top 100 Australian wines, there are many newer names like Joshua Cooper, Dilworth & Allain, Eperosa and Aphelion all making the grade. It would be remiss not to mention the Ochota Barrels wines here and to mark the important contribution Ochota made to the Australian wine landscape before his untimely passing earlier this year.

The six-wine 2018 release from Wendouree includes the 100-point shiraz, which is our No. 2 Aussie wine for 2020.

The Ochota Barrels Grenache McLaren Vale A Sense of Compression 2019 (No. 11, 98 points) and the Ochota Barrels Grenache McLaren Vale Fugazi Vineyard 2019 (No. 32, 97 points) represent the late Taras Ochota’s most important contribution to the Australian wine scene, that of reshaping the realm of possibility for great Australian grenache to be fresh, vivid and enlivening and inspiring a legion of other younger winemakers to believe strongly in themselves.

In addition to these Ochota grenache wines, there’s a convincing showing of great grenache with McLaren Vale producers flexing their collective might. The Yangarra Grenache McLaren Vale High Sands 2019 (No. 9, 100 points) is a pinnacle of the style, followed closely by the S.C. Pannell Grenache Clarendon Smart 2018 (No. 29, 97 points), the Yangarra Grenache McLaren Vale Ovitelli 2018 (No. 48, 98 points), S.C. Pannell Grenache McLaren Vale Old McDonald 2018 (No. 55, 96 points), the Thistledown Grenache McLaren Vale This Charming Man Old Vine Clarendon 2019 (No. 58, 97 points) and She’s Electric Old Vine Single Vineyard Seaview 2019 (No. 85, 96 points) and the Aphelion Grenache McLaren Vale Confluence 2019 (No. 63, 96 points). Head Wines (No. 77, 97 points) and Adelina (No. 92, 96 points) loop in Barossa and Clare Valley too.

The prevailing message in this year’s Top 100 Australian Wines is of profound stylistic diversity and wines being made to the absolute highest level of quality. So many of these wines are backed by elite vineyards that are in many cases planted to old and very old vines and are farmed by highly skilled practitioners with sound, sustainable farming methods. Winemaking is astutely evolved in this class of 2020 and the results are wines of deep provenance and unique, highly relevant styles. Add in the value factor of many wines here too and Australia’s fine wine offering is certainly hard to beat.

– Nick Stock, executive editor