Almost all Australian wine is good. Yet some cost A$8 per bottle and others A$40. Can the average wine consumer taste the difference?

Recognising quality is fairly easy - the wine simply tastes good. However, your mood and the surroundings may influence you. Many people recite the experience of tasting at the winery. When they get home, the wines do not taste as good. If you are tasting a new wine, you probably should try it alongside an old reliable favourite so that a meaningful comparison can be done. The best means of evaluating quality is to look for a few objective criteria.

The first and most important criteria when looking for wine quality, is the presence of flavour. If you sniff the wine and then taste it, is there obvious flavour present? If so, then the wine has passed the first test. In a few cases, the wine may have a strong flavour but it is unpleasant - the wine is probably spoiled or faulty. For example, a tainted cork can give a wine an odour of wet hessian bags. A leaky cork will result in a flat slightly vinegar taste. However, the general case with Australian wine requires a decision not so much about bad tastes but rather about the lack of flavour at all. A common complaint about cheap wine is that, while there is nothing wrong with the wine, there is nothing right with it either. Such wines are insipid. Common descriptions are "watery", "light flavoured", "dull and boring" and so on. These wines may be perfectly acceptable as pleasant alcoholic beverages but they lack flavour. When you evaluate a wine, the first attribute to examine is the presence of flavour. The second quality attribute is the intensity of flavour. The more the intensity, the more a wine tastes of the grapes that made it. High grape variety intensity means high quality grapes in the first place.

For example, in Australia quality Chardonnay has aromas of melon, cashew nut and tropical fruit. Sauvignon Blanc has grassy herbaceous passionfruit flavour. Pinot Noir has strawberry plummy character. Cabernet Sauvignon has blackcurrant aromas. Whilst the winemaking and climate will influence the flavours considerably, good quality grapes will always shine through. In Australia, the general philosophy of winemaking is to preserve the natural grape flavour without modifying the flavour very much. In Europe, particularly in countries such as Italy, the opposite is true. Italian wines often have only subtle grape flavours and instead show austere smoky characters which are a product of the traditional winemaking techniques. There is slow change in Italy. Some expensive reds in Chianti, known as "super-Tuscany". Generally, Australian wines are priced proportionally to flavour intensity.

An important principle to remember is that different grape varieties have inherent different fullness of flavour. Riesling is almost always delicate; Chardonnay is typically full flavoured; Sauvignon Blanc has a lively aroma but a fresh light taste. Cabernet and Shiraz are rich and tannic compared to the lighter bodied Pinot Noir. Hence, it is unfair to compare, say, Riesling and Chardonnay in terms of fullness of flavour. A top quality Riesling will have a piercing acidic fresh floral flavour with subtle refreshing quality. A commercial Chardonnay will be full bodied especially if it has been aged in oak barrels for a while before bottling. The oak gives further richness which suits Chardonnay. Oak flavours do not team well with Riesling and this grape variety does not receive barrel maturation. The automatic richer flavour of Chardonnay compared to Riesling does not make it a better wine. They are different styles and it is a matter of "horses for courses". A light lunch wine on a hot day with fresh seafood.

The feeling on the middle of your tongue from a wine is a critical attribute. Even on light bodied styles such as Riesling and Pinot Noir, the "mid palate" richness taken in the context of the lightness of the wine, is critical. The source of mid palate richness is quality of the grape raw material. Hence, mid plate richness is often referred to as "fruit concentration". A wine may have components which give plenty of flavour such as acid sharpness, sweetness, rich alcohol and tannin but mid palate flavour is vital for a quality wine.

Another quality attribute is after taste. After you swallow, a lingering pleasant taste remains. Cheap wines disappear quickly. Good wine leaves an after flavour which lingers for 30 seconds sometimes.

Freshness is a pleasing attribute. Even an older wine still has freshness and appeal if it is a good quality example.

Subtlety of flavour is an important attribute. Subtlety is detected as various flavours are tasted over a period of time. Imagine that you had to "sit on" a single wine all evening. Some wines have big flavours which are cloying after the second glass. A subtle wine has appeal over a long period of tasting.

Complexity in wine flavour is sought after. There can be dozens of flavours present. When a complex wine is tasted by a group, different descriptive words are uttered by the various tasters present.

The final attribute is balance. The components of taste should be in harmony. Look especially for the fresh sharp acidity being balanced by the alcohol and/or sweetness. The higher the mid palate richness, the more acid level a wine should have. Also look in reds for the balance of acid with alcohol and tannin.

Don't simply quaff wine. Take some time and think about quality. Explore the thousands of wines available.

Lets summarise the attributes used for defining quality of wine:

1. Does the wine have pleasant flavour present?

2. Define the flavour attribute:

• Intensity - recognisable grape variety?
• Middle palate richness - ie. flavour concentration.
• After taste or after flavour - ie. lingering taste.
• Freshness
• Subtlety
• Complexity
• Balance - of acid / alcohol sweetness - of mid palate richness / acid - of acid / alcohol & tannin (in reds).