The path to reach the final list of wines for The West Australian 's Top 100 was the most arduous and challenging in all the years I have been conducting this annual event.
It wasn't so much the standard of the wines that made the final list but the quality of those I had to leave out, among them wines that in previous years would have walked into the Top 100.
To give you some idea of the challenge faced, and the difficulty in making the final decision, with nearly 600 red wines from all around Australia submitted, it meant that nearly five in six wines did not make the final cut.
Of course, it means that the Top 100 is made up of some mighty good wines, from value-for-money wines in the highly competitive under-$15 category to the hugely expressive and wonderfully made wines in the $25-$40 category.
And it also means that deciding on the best of the best was equally challenging. In the battle for the best-value wine of the tasting, not only were there the usual suspects in the under-$15 category, but some worthy wines in the $15 to $20 category, making for a difficult decision.
And the taste-off for the best wine of the tasting was very difficult, with some of the finest-ever wines submitted to this event vying for the title of the Best of the Best.
The tasting was conducted along similar lines to previous years. Producers and distributors from around Australia were invited to submit wines in four categories under $40 - under $15; $15-$20; $20-$25 and $25-$40.
It was a requirement that all the wines submitted were in reasonable supply in Perth retail shops. This can be a bit tricky because of exclusive deals between some producers and some of the bigger chains, so to be fair I have permitted wines that may be exclusively aligned to some chains, provided they are in healthy supply.
I also asked that prices for all of the submissions included all the standard taxes and a 35 per cent mark-up in price. Now in some cases this is less than the standard mark-up and in some it is more but the aim is to try to get an average price across the board.
With the fierce discounting still prevalent in wine retailing my advice, as always, is to shop around for the best deals. You will find many of the wines I have included in the Top 100 list for prices well below what I have quoted.
Overall, the standard of wines in all price categories was as good as I have seen in any of these tastings. This is not surprising, with the quality of the recent vintages around Australia being reflected in the wines which were largely from the 2014 and 2015 vintages.
Winemakers too have clearly lifted the bar, which you would expect because the competition for a share of the consumer buck is intense and building brand awareness and identity is a constant struggle. For this reason, it was pleasing when a few new names made it through to the final list.
Also pleasing was the number of quality pinot noirs, mostly in the higher- priced categories but also with a few cheapies, showing that you don't have to spend massive amounts to get a decent drop of this sometimes fickle little number.
By far the strongest variety was shiraz, which continues to deliver from regions all around the country. There is a range of different styles, from the traditional bolder South Australian wines to more elegant cooler-climate styles revealing a little more finesse.
So what was it that differentiated the best wines? In the main it was the quality of the fruit, which for me must be fully ripe and show no under-ripe green characters. They can be light or medium bodied but they must be ripe. Under-ripe fruit knocked out a wine straight away.
Other problems included sometimes heavy-handed oak and in some cases a little too much tannin or even acidity.
In the end it all adds up to balance. A wine, whatever the body or style, must be balanced, with everything working towards the common end of focus and palate length and completeness.
I think the wines chosen in the Top 100 easily meet those criterion.
This year I have taken a slightly different approach and chosen a best-value wine in each price category in addition to the usual best- value overall and best-value runner-up.
With fierce discounting still prevalent, my advice is to shop around for the best deals.