A Top Award shows that a wine is in the top of its class
Top Rank awards
A Top Rank award allows you to very quickly see that a wine is in the top of its class. It means that a wine in the top 5 or top 25% of wines in its ranking list, whichever is greater.
Easily identify Top Rank wines with our blue Top Rank award.
How are wines ranked?
A wine's ranking list is based on a minimum set of wines from a single vintage, made from grapes grown within the smallest wine region, and that share the same dominant grape variety and wine style.
For example:
Wynns Coonawarra Estate V & A Lane Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2016 has been awarded a Top Rank for being ranked #3 of 18 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon blends from Coonawarra.
We display ranks for a wine once we have reviewed at least 15 comparable wines within a common wine region.
This means that you may see wines that have been ranked within regions that seem larger than needed for that wine.
For example:
A 2018 shiraz from Clare Valley may be ranked out of 2018 shiraz tasted from the Mount Lofty Ranges. This means that we haven't tasted enough 2018 shiraz from Clare Valley to rank that wine, but have tasted enough out of the greater region of Mount Lofty Ranges (which encloses Clare Valley).
Once we taste 15 or more 2018 shiraz from Clare Valley, the wine's ranking list will be updated to Clare Valley.