With John Pilger vintages, as with wine vintages, there are gems and there are particularly crook ones.
John has bottled some bad fruit among the harvest for this one.

I once lived in the Hunter and now live in the riverland. I have 4or5 wineries close by, and drink any red or white BUT what is made by any of them.
Berri made some top reds once, now the yanks have got them and they pump out rubbish on the whole. The odd Hardy's from Coonawarra being the exceptions.
Unlike the cities I can't buy many imported wines.
I have fond memories of the Hunter where you could experience "the good the bad and the ugly" all in one day. Now I just get the ugly.
I know a lot of men who do the vintage, and have no illusions as to what happens to perfectly good grapes to make what I consider rubbish, but in great quantity.
I'm hoping the BIG guys go broke and again we may drink better wine made by families who have personal interest in their efforts!
Taking too long.
fluff

I have participated in the development of the Australian wine industry since the mid 1970s.

I agree, to a point, with John Pilger's comments, but the 'industrial' wines are only part of our great industry.

Australian winemakers pioneered the technical revolution in wine making over the past 30 years that has led to a dramatic improvement in winemaking all over the world.

This is fantastic for the discerning consumer. Regions formerly renowned for 'vin ordinaire' such as Languedoc in Southern France, are now making wonderful wines from the lovely fruit that was hidden by the poor winemaking practices of the past. Similarly, wines from the flagship regions of Burgundy and Bordeaux have seen a marked improvement in winemaking standards - it is now a rare experience to pour an expensive Burgundy down the drain as undrinkable.

The technical revolution has lifted wine quality in Spain, Italy, Argentina, Chile, Romania, Bulgaria etc.

The downside for the emerging boutique winery operator is the difficulty of establishing a brand in the face of such intense competition. And the larger companies sometimes find it hard to find a home for their better quality wines that are in excess of what the brand can support in terms of sales.

The result is that we are seeing very often excellent wines sold at low prices as 'cleanskins'. The discerning buyer who has developed some serious wine tasting skills can enjoy exploring well made quality wines from all over the world - different grape varieties, blends, climates, terroir.

And some exciting new areas are emerging even locally. For example, I have recently seen some lovely reislings from the Southern Highlands - a potentially world-class region.

That is the other issue to consider actually. It takes time to understand which varieties work best in which region, and to develop the styles. We are seeing that in NZ and also in Australia. At least the 'industrial' wineries are offering clean, well made wines, perhaps without great distinction, for a very fair price. And the more premium labels within the brands are offering at times very exciting wines.

While I share Pilger's concerns about increasing alcohol levels in wine often detracting from the quality, to say that "the reds down under are revolting" is a very silly generalisation.

I must however reiterate the best part of Pilger's article where he quotes Scruton:
"Shiraz has soared above 15 per cent . . . The deceitful euphemism is 'full-bodied'. Roger Scruton, the astute English wine writer, noted that 'to force Syrah up to an alcoholic content of 14 per cent or more, tricking it into early maturation, so as to put the result on the market with all its liquorice flavours unsubdued, puffing out its dragon breath like an old lecher leaning sideways to put a hairy hand on your knee, is to slander a grape that, properly treated, is the most slow and civilised of seducers'."

Pilger's more generalised comments trashing Australian wines display either disregard for accuracy in the interests of a tabloid headline (the headline may be the work of Online Opinion?), or ignorance of the many great wines continuing to be produced by Australian winemakers.

Of course, a lot of our wine (and that of other countries) sold here and overseas responds to a market for an ordinary bottle whether it be Yellowtail or over many years Jacob's Creek. Let's not judge the Australian wine industry by its necessary response to a wide market but certainly let's stop the nonsense of excess alcohol.

I live on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland.
There is a great story about the Granite Belt wines in the March issue of the Qantas In-Flight magazine.
www.granitebeltwinecountry.com.au
I have lived here for 16 years and seen the wineries expand from 12 to about 60. None of these are owned by overseas interests. I have seen the quality improve greatly in that period of time.
Check it out!

john Pilger's slip slop slap slide into the vine setting paragon is a nonsensical abstraction to his intrusion which delivers a beguiled sideways entry and nonchalant cordial interlude to Australian industry.

I visited the "granite" belt about 15 years ago, found the ambition there to be much the same as the ambition of the early Hunter.

Diversity, I hope it hasn't changed. The corporate where all taste the same is so boring.
The potential for the granite vines were great, then the vines were soo young, twaze easy to evaluate their potential though.

reminded me of the Hunter wines after there rebirth in the sixties, young and energetic. Sorry about the "energetic" bit but it describes
young wine in my mind best. The wine tasted then, was as young as the girl who served it, bright and feisty. Not yet the sophisticate. As previously stated here in the riverland it is all so "the same" high alcohol and no subtlety.
fluff

Although not great and far from sophisticated wine drinkers my wife and I have enjoyed the odd bottle over the years. An old favorite used to be the Wolf Blass cab/savs. The Yellow Label as the normal safe option and the grey or even black for special occasions. We hadn't had one in nearly a decade but this month saw a Yellow make its way into the shopping.

To our surprise this usually 'safe' wine was very, very, ordinary, but trying to be fair we tried another from a different vendor with the same disappointing result.

It was rubbish and Mr Pilger's article seems to offer a reasonable explanation for this noticeable drop in quality.

However I would think further experimentation is called for in order to ascertain if there is indeed an overall decline in the majority of Australia's best known reds.

My wife and I are willing to shoulder that burden. We will report back in due course.

Cheers.