SAWOL Round 6: the South Australian Wine Options League, our monthly blind tasting at Bar Septimus.
South Australian Wine Options League
Fourteen competitors, six wines, an average of 20.7 out of sixty. Alfred Yapp won the round on 37, and nobody in the room placed the opening sparkling in Burgundy.
Round 6 poured the less familiar version of familiar grapes: Pinot Noir with bubbles, Riesling from the Danube, Gamay from the Adelaide Hills.
The wines
Burgundy Sparkling Pinot Noir NV
Sparkling, Burgundy, France
Pinot Noir with bubbles, from Burgundy. Six named the grape. Not one competitor placed it: Tasmania drew most of the votes, with Penedès and the Western Cape behind it. Five took the non-vintage points.
Variety: 43%Region: 0%Vintage: 36%
Kremstal Riesling 2022
White, Kremstal, Austria
Eight found Riesling, then sent it to the Clare, the Rheingau or Alsace before Austria. Four placed it in the Kremstal, on the Danube west of Vienna. Dom Vu was the only competitor to score all ten.
Variety: 57%Region: 29%Vintage: 36%
McLaren Vale Viognier 2025
White, McLaren Vale
The hardest white of the night. Four named Viognier, with Marsanne, its Rhône neighbour, the common miss. Three placed it in McLaren Vale, and Alfred Yapp was the only one to call it a 2025.
Variety: 29%Region: 21%Vintage: 7%
Adelaide Hills Gamay 2025
Red, Adelaide Hills
Five found Gamay and five placed it in the Adelaide Hills, but only Stu Bates had both. Pinot Noir and Beaujolais drew most of the rest.
Variety: 36%Region: 36%Vintage: 29%
Valle del Rapel Carmenère 2023
Red, Valle del Rapel, Chile
Three found Carmenère. Merlot and Cabernet Franc took most of the variety votes, the same mistake Chile made in its own vineyards, where Carmenère was sold as Merlot until the 1990s. Alfred Yapp and Roy scored all ten.
Variety: 21%Region: 36%Vintage: 43%
Douro Port NV
Fortified, Douro, Portugal
Touriga Nacional, and the best hit rate of the night: nine named the grape. Rutherglen and Jerez took most of the region votes, and four placed it in the Douro. Alfred Yapp and Alex Hubczenko scored all ten.
Variety: 64%Region: 29%Vintage: 36%
Round 6 results
| Competitor | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alfred Yapp | 37 |
| 2 | Stu Bates | 33 |
| 3 | Roy | 28 |
| 4 | Malcolm Short | 26 |
| 5 | Dom Vu | 25 |
| 6 | Mengqi Zhou | 20 |
| 7 | William Abbott | 19 |
| 8 | Jeremy Reep | 18 |
| 9 | Alex Hubczenko | 16 |
| 10 | Cynthia Koch | 15 |
| 10 | Inyeong Jeong | 15 |
| 12 | Bernie | 14 |
| 13 | Sam Kurtz | 13 |
| 14 | Kris Saw | 11 |
Leaderboard after Round 6
| Competitor | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alfred Yapp | 34 | 50 | 27 | 41 | 34 | 37 | 223 |
| 2 | William Abbott | 27 | 34 | 35 | 42 | – | 19 | 157 |
| 3 | Petra | 43 | 17 | 35 | 19 | 22 | – | 136 |
| 4 | Stu Bates | 25 | 29 | – | 17 | 30 | 33 | 134 |
| 5 | Abraham Halim | 39 | 19 | 28 | 21 | 24 | – | 131 |
| 6 | Alex Stone | 43 | 18 | 23 | 21 | – | – | 105 |
| 7 | Amy Leask | 20 | 30 | 15 | 15 | – | – | 80 |
| 8 | Roy | – | – | – | – | 37 | 28 | 65 |
| 9 | Dom Vu | 21 | – | – | 6 | 13 | 25 | 65 |
| 10 | Mengqi Zhou | – | – | – | 20 | 18 | 20 | 58 |
| 11 | Will Schmidt | 45 | – | – | – | – | – | 45 |
| 12 | Malcolm Short | – | 11 | – | – | – | 26 | 37 |
| 13 | Andrew Munro | – | – | – | – | 35 | – | 35 |
| 14 | Dee Tran | – | – | – | 27 | – | – | 27 |
| 15 | Sam Watkins | – | – | – | – | 25 | – | 25 |
| 16 | Greg Wilkie | – | 22 | – | – | – | – | 22 |
| 16 | Sophie Liao | – | – | – | 22 | – | – | 22 |
| 18 | Jeremy Reep | – | – | – | – | – | 18 | 18 |
| 19 | Anita Wilkie | – | 17 | – | – | – | – | 17 |
| 19 | Avi Weiss | – | – | – | – | 17 | – | 17 |
| 21 | Alex Hubczenko | – | – | – | – | – | 16 | 16 |
| 22 | Cynthia Koch | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 15 |
| 22 | Inyeong Jeong | – | – | – | – | – | 15 | 15 |
| 24 | Bernie | – | – | – | – | – | 14 | 14 |
| 24 | Michel Neale | – | 14 | – | – | – | – | 14 |
| 26 | Sam Kurtz | – | – | – | – | – | 13 | 13 |
| 27 | Kris Saw | – | – | – | – | – | 11 | 11 |
Only a competitor’s best eight rounds count towards the championship.
The verdict
Alfred Yapp’s 37 was the top score of the night and took him to 223, 66 points clear of William Abbott. Stu Bates was second on 33 and Roy third on 28. Malcolm Short, back for the first time since Round 2, scored 26, and Dom Vu posted his best round of the season with 25.
The Carmenère is the glass worth remembering. Eleven of fourteen called it something else, and most of them chose the grape Chile mistook it for.
The Round 7 recap picks up the season from here.
The South Australian Wine Options League
SAWOL is our monthly blind tasting championship at Septimus. Six wines poured blind, points for guessing grape, region and vintage, and prizes on the night.
Catch up on the season
Come and taste it
SAWOL meets monthly at Bar Septimus, 220 Grenfell Street, Adelaide East End.
After SAWOL Round 6
The league runs on the first Monday of the month: six glasses poured blind, 24 seats, points for variety, region and vintage. See the upcoming rounds and the rules.