Icons and Cults - Bob Campbell

The first step was to define an “iconic wine”. My definition is:

• High quality
• Internationally recognised 
• One of the country’s best examples 
• Have ageing potential

That needs to be differentiated from a cult wine, which I define as:

• High quality
• Likely to be adventurous or unusual
• Hotly pursued by wine geeks (i.e. the cult)

A cult wine could turn into an iconic wine but the reverse is less likely.

I then identified 15 candidates for iconic wine status (we’ll taste a handful at the Bragatto conference) and emailed the brand owners with a brief questionnaire. With about half the responses in (I think some of my emails may have found their way into spam folders) I am starting to build a profile of a cult wine. 

It is likely to have been first produced in 2001 or earlier, has a retail value over $60, is never entered in wine competitions, most is sold in export markets, it’s likely to be allocated, likely to be from a single vineyard and have a recommended cellaring potential of more than 10 years. Two-thirds are red and most of those are blended. More than half the producers that have responded so far say their wine is made every vintage. Presumably they keep quality high by a selection process which reduces production in difficult vintages. 

When I asked how their wine achieved iconic status I got a variety of interesting answers including:

• “Limited production, luxury price/brand positioning and a great product that stands up to all the hype”
• “Restraint in not producing in poor vintages … stellar reviews” (they average eight wines in each decade)
• “Low yields, good viticulture, sensitive winemaking”
• “Consistent quality, sensitive pricing”
• “High quality, good timing”

The interesting question remains, “does an iconic wine just happen or is it possible to deliberately set about creating one in much the same way as they created the Spice Girls?” Perhaps I’ll have the answer by the time I climb on stage at the Bragato.