Coles plonk top of drops

IT is enough to stop a wine snob dead in their tracks and send French winegrowers back into the streets in howls of wild protest.

For the second time in three years, Coles supermarkets has beaten thousands of wines to have its cheap private label semillon sauvignon blanc named best wine under $20.

To add further surprise to the fact Coles – the owner of Liquorland and First Choice Liquor – has once again won the prize, the wine only retails for $7 a bottle.

A panel of expert judges made up of winemakers, wine scientists and Masters of Wine chose the Story Bay Semillon sauvignon blanc 2017, priced at just $7 a bottle, from a field of 2500 wines over 12 months of blind tastings at the Winestate Wine of the Year Awards in Adelaide.

Winestate publisher and head of the judging panel Peter Simic said the wine, from Western Australia’s Margaret River region, stood out for delivering on both quality and value.

“It was pretty close but this wine had the highest rating out of all the tastings at the lowest price, it really deserved the trophy,” he said. “For the amazing value price of $7, plus high blind judging score, this should be everybody’s everyday drinking wine.”

In 2016 Coles stunned the local wine community when its even cheaper bottle of wine, the $5 Coles’ Big & Bold Shiraz 2015, an Australian shiraz sold exclusively at Coles key liquor arms, Liquorland, Vintage Cellars, First Choice and Liquor Market, took home the Winestate trophy.

Not only does it give Coles bragging rights over serious winemakers and winegrowers, it will serve to inject further credibility into the fast-growing private label wine sector that is quickly gobbling up shelf space across wine stores and bottle shops owned by Coles and Woolworths.

Coles acting chief executive liquor and hotels Cathi Scarce said the win was testament to the hard work of winemaker Alana Langworthy from WA winery Nocturne Wines, who has made exclusive wines for Coles Liquor since 2012.

The Story Bay Semillon sauvignon blanc 2017 was described by the tasting panel as having “vibrant tropical fruit aromas including passionfruit, with notes of lime and blossom, hints of herbal tea and fresh cut grass, and a zesty and refreshing acid backbone that provides structure and length”.

When the $5 Big & Bold wine won in 2016 it sold out immediately.