Australia & California Shoot It out Again!

Upon seeing this headline, I could barely contain my excitement. I fully expected a bit of the old 'Mine is bigger than yours', but to my surprise, it went more like 'mine is just slightly more marginal than yours'. What a complete waste of time. Here's the round up:

Top Scoring Wines:
Chardonnay
Madfish 2003 Chardonnay, Western Australia

Sauvignon Blanc
Geyser Peak 2003 Block Collection Sauvignon Blanc,
Russian River Valley, California

Other Whites
Eberle 2003 Mill Road Viognier, Paso Robles, California

Cabernet Sauvignon
St Supery 2002 Limited Edition Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley,
California

Merlot
Reynolds 2001 Reserve Merlot, New South Wales, Australia

Pinot Noir
Pfendler 2001 Copeland Creek Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast, California

Red Blends
Clautiere 2002 Mon Beau Rouge, Paso Robles, California
St Supery 2000 Elu, Napa Valley, California

Syrah/Shiraz
Lindemans 2003 Bin 50 Shiraz, South East Australia
Rosemount Estate Diamond 2002 Shiraz, Australia

Other Reds
Yangarra Estate 2002 Old Vine Grenache, McLaren Vale, Australia

Sparkling
Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs, Sonoma County, California

Dessert
De Bortoli 2002 Noble One Semillon, Australia

Madfish? I can't tell you how much I love animals and seemingly unrelated descriptors. Geyser Peak S.B? Is this really the best that California has to offer? If so, they are in bigger trouble than previously thought. And CA. couldn't put anything up against Lindemans and Rosemount? Is somebody asleep at the wheel? I trust that houses that actually make wine, are too busy selling it to bother with something like this. But then, they explain the strict methods by which the tasting was conducted:

Our wine review process is unique within the industry.

(For real?!? Then how did you reach the same crappy conclusions that everybody else does? What is that saying about polishing a turd?)

All wines are tasted without reference to producer, appellation or price.

(Another claim often made and one which I simply don't understand. What is wrong with context? What if the Pinot tastes like Syrah? Which category does it win?)

Each wine is judged and reviewed on its own merit.

(I simply don't believe this. The implication is that the wine has merit to begin with.)

The wines are rated using a 100 point scale. Wines are placed into flights and evaluated by a team of judges. The top scoring wines as selected by the team of judges are then submitted to the entire panel for review.

(WTF???)

All wines reviewed indicate a numerical score and are recommended from the "heart."

(Oh stop, I'm gonna bust out cryin'. From the heart? I can think of a few other parts of the human anatomy that might be a little more appropriate.)

The tasting panels are comprised of a diverse range of wine industry professionals from varying disciplines including restaurant and retail trade, winemakers, wine writers, wine educators, and wine consultants.

(Interesting use of the word 'discipline'. If any of the 'judges' had the slightest bit of discipline they would have thrown out the entire lot and started over.)

God helps us all.