Last year I launched my inaugural Australian Sparkling Report 2016 to highlight the very finest Australian sparkling wines worthy of your attention. The response was overwhelming and has prompted a substantially expanded sequel – the biggest and most comprehensive report I have ever compiled on Australian sparkling.

In 2016 I singled out some 100 cuvées spanning all sparkling categories of méthode traditionnelle, charmat method, transfer method, blanc de blancs, rosés, proseccos, sparkling reds and moscatos. This year I tasted 500 cuvées for this report and have featured my notes on every one of them.

Sparkling wines are the most complex of all to grow and make, with more variables in the production process to define the house style than any other wine. For this reason, I have gone to greater lengths than ever this year and called on the assistance of my two helpers Jody and Felicity to research and collate more background detail on each cuvée than I have ever compiled on Australian sparkling wines before. The result is the inclusion for the first time this year of all of the background we could unearth on the sourcing, blending, production, ageing and disgorgement of each and every cuvée.

Each of these wines were tasted in the midst of assessing 800 cuvées for The Champagne Guide 2018-2019. I judge everything on the same scale, providing a fair basis for comparison between the two countries. Throwing Australian sparkling wine into the arena of the global benchmark of sparkling is both sobering and revealing.

More discernment than ever is called for in your choice of Australian sparkling wines this year. I’ve singled out 136 stunning cuvées worthy of your attention, many of which represent fantastic value for money.

My Australian Sparkling Report 2017 features the following chapters:

• Australian Sparkling 2015-2016
• Sparkling Imports 2015-2016
• Global Sparkling 2016
• The year Australian sparking came of age
• Using this report
• The spread of my scores this year
• Hall of Honour
• Tyson Stelzer’s Australian sparking wines of the year 2017
• Regional heroes
• Sparkling closures
• Making sparkling wine
• Cellaring sparkling wine
• Serving sparkling wine
• The best sparkling wines of the year under $20
• The best sparkling wines of the year under $30
• The best sparkling wines of the year under $50
• The best sparkling wines of the year over $50
• The best blanc de blancs of the year
• The best sparkling rosés of the year
• The best proseccos of the year
• The best sparkling red wines of the year
• Moscatos
• Sparkling Wine Glossary

It is a great privilege to present the second edition of Australia’s only dedicated sparkling wine report. I invite you to download my Australian Sparkling Report 2017 free of charge and to reproduce, forward and share it ad nauseam.

Cheers!

Tyson.