The 2013 Sydney Wine Show Trophy Winners

I’m a fraction behind on this update, considering that the results were released almost a month ago, though still worth detailing methinks.

Mike Bennie accepting a wine Logie for best actor in an Australian
tele-movie. Or such

The following wines all thus won trophies at the 2013 Sydney Wine Show and were opened for the WCA Sydney Wine Show, an annual event that couples an awards ceremony for the WCA (Wine Communicators of Australia) with some trophy winning wines.

I’ve heard this luncheon described as ‘the wine Logies’ due to the the awards dished out (given to our best wine communicators) but it is otherwise renowned as much for its knees-up celebration of wine and general wine fuelled debauchery. Last year I was drinking for well over 12 hours…

Anyways, I ended up – somewhat fortuitously considering my whereabouts last week (in Jacobs Creek land) – on an Orlando Wyndham table, flanked by winemakers and friends of the brand (and such), all of whom were rather glad to see the 2012 Jacobs Creek Reserve Chardonnay take out some silverware at the show. I must admit to liking the wine less on the day than I did last week at the winery, which goes to show that either I’m a crap taster or that the wine looked only ok on the day (or I just had more time to appreciate it last week). Either way I’m convinced that it is a very solid, very good value wine but perhaps not of true trophy medal quality. Then again, many of the trophy winners from the show also fit that description so we won’t really go into it…

The wines (these are but a selection of the trophy winners):

Peter Lehmann Wigan Riesling 2008 (Eden Valley, SA)
Trophy – Best Premium Dry White Wine 2 Years and Older
Trophy – Best White Wine of the Show.
I’m not convinced that this is a great vintage for this wine, although many at the table, in the room and on social media thought otherwise. I’m normally quite a fan of Wigan and thought this was good, not great, a toasty, advanced and rather full wine that is impressive in its rather rich and intensity yet probably too forward and almost heavy-going. I can absolutely understand why this won trophies (its so overt), yet I struggled a fraction to actually drink it. Perhaps another year to soften out further might help, though I wouldn’t really be hanging on to this. 17/20 90/100

The Wine Society Tyrrell’s Hunter Valley Semillon 2012 (Hunter Valley, NSW)
Trophy – White Wine of the Show with a wholesale price excluding WET and GST not exceeding $10 per bottle.
What a surprise that a Tyrrell’s Semillon won a trophy here. This is unsurprisingly good too, a light, crisp, early picked style with lots of C02 (helps with the freshness), a little yellow apple palate sweetness and quite pristine varietal flavours. Lively, authentic, crisp and genuine. Simple but good. 16.5/20 88/100

Chalice Bridge Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2012 (Margaret River, WA)Trophy for Best Varietal Wine, Sauvignon Blanc
Little wonder this also scored a trophy – it’s almost a caricature in its taut expression of Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc, complete with raw, cutting herbaceous passionfruit aromatics and a sharply focused, bone dry palate. You can smell and taste every nook and cranny of this wine, but such laser precision and overt acid dryness makes it seem like a wine that is fighting you. A little less sharpness (via some barrel/lees work) could really propel this forward. I appreciate it, but don’t love it. 16.8/20 89/100

Jacobs Creek Reserve Chardonnay 2012 (Adelaide Hills, SA)
Trophy – Best Premium Previous Vintage White Wine
Open, toasty, white peach aromatics on a quite open palate, Has a lovely sweet fruit middle and is ultimately a really smart, commercial. A little more complexity could make this much more interesting though as its very much by-the-numbers wine now. 16.5/20 88/100

(I’ve drank several bottles of that wine now and believe I was being rather harsh then. It deserves more love)

Best’s Bin 1 2011 (Grampians, Vic)
Trophy – Best Show Wine exhibited at major State Wine Shows within the 12 months preceding judging
Every month I like this even more. Every month it gains more weight and looks more impressive. I’m now changing my tune from ‘almost there’ to there. Spicy, grapey, bold and juicy. I like the plums through the middle and the spice to exity. Mid weight but also full through the middle. Purple fruit is classic Grampians Shiraz. Still could do with more tannins but growing on me. 17.5/20 91/100

Bay of Fires Pinot Noir 2011 (Tasmania)
Trophy – Best Wine of Show
Trophy – Best Red Wine of the Show
Trophy – Best Varietal Wine, Pinot Noir
Ah, now we’re cooking with gas! A big and rather extractive, firm Pinot Noir with dry, manly, slightly soapy minty fruit with pan juice meatiness, concentrated blueberry flavours and plenty of spice and bark. Proper Pinot in a masculine form. The acidity is firm, the tannins too, the wine perhaps lacking just a little flesh and delicacy but oh-so satisfyingly Pinoty. Yes. Very good. 18.5/20 94/100

Devils Lair Fifth Leg Shiraz 2011 (Western Australia)Trophy – Best Large Volume Dry Red Wine
File this under ‘won thanks to approachability’. Berried, sweetly open and chocolatey, this is playful and easy and carries good natural acidity. The palate looks a fraction generic and rounded in that choc-berry ‘where was this from again’ homogenous Australian style, yet still with plenty of fun flavours. No alarms, no surprises, good value drinking. 16.5/20 88/100

Rosemount Nursery Mataro 2011 (McLaren Vale, SA)
Trophy – Best Red Varietal Wine in Class 24
Want a perfect example of what a really cool vintage does to a heat-loving variety like Mataro (Mourvedre, Monastrell, whatever you want to call it)? Look no further. Again I can see how it could win trophies but as a wine it’s hardly a smart Mataro, the flavours rather thin, the acid prominent, the fruit confected. It’s actually quite well made for the vintage but no more than a well made light Mataro. 16/20 87/100

Yalumba Reserve Barossa Cabernet Shiraz 2006 (Barossa, SA)
Trophy – Best Aged Vintage Red Wine
What happens when you have your own cooper (which Yalumba effectively do with AP John)? You end up with wines carrying as sexy oak as this. The dark chocolate, sweet-yet-savoury oak on this is very seductive indeed. What’s more, the wine underneath is hearty and seriously genuine too, the power limitless and the tannins firm. A 20 year wine, built in a no-nonsense, big flavours style that you can’t help but admire. I did. 18.5/20 94/100

The full list of the 2013 Royal Sydney Wine Show trophy winners:

(These are as copied from the results schedule)

LIQURLAND PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Large Volume White Wine entered in Classes 1 to 6.
JAMIESONS RUN CHARDONNAY (2011)

THE HANAMINNO PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Large Volume Sweet White Wine entered in Class 7.
MCWILLIAM’S MORNING LIGHT SEMILLON (2009)

THE A P JOHN COOPERS PERENNIAL TROPHY – Best Varietal Wine, Chardonnay entered in Classes 16, 25 and 28.
EVANS & TATE REDBROOK CHARDONNAY (2010)

THE DOUGLAS LAMB PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Varietal Wine, Riesling entered in Class PETER LEHMANN WINES WIGAN RIESLING (2010)

THE RAS OF NSW ANNUAL PRIZE FOR BEST SAUVIGNON BLANC – Best Varietal Wine, Sauvignon Blanc entered in Class 18.
CHALICE BRIDGE ESTATE SAUVIGNON BLANC (2012)

THE DAVID CLARKE MEMORIAL PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Varietal Wine, Semillon entered in Class 19.
FIRST CREEK WINEMAKERS RESERVE SEMILLON (2011)

THE BERT BEAR MEMORIAL PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Premium Previous Vintage White Wine entered in Classes 33 to 37.
JACOB’S CREEK WINES RESERVE ADELAIDE HILLS CHARDONNAY (2012)

THE FOUR SEASONS HOTEL SYDNEY PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Premium Dry White Wine, two years and older, entered in Classes 34 to 37, 42 and 45.
PETER LEHMANN WINES WIGAN RIESLING (2008)

THE DR HENRY JOHN LINDEMAN MEMORIAL PERPETUAL PRIZE – Best Aged Vintage White Wine entered in Classes 52 to 55.
AUDREY WILKINSON MUSEUM RESERVE SEMILLON (2006)

THE DAN MURPHY’S VALUE PERENNIAL TROPHY – Best White Wine of the Show with a wholesale price excluding WET and GST not exceeding $10 per bottle.
THE WINE SOCIETY SOCIETY TYRRELLS HUNTER VALLEY SEMILLON (2012)

THE ALBERT CHAN MEMORIAL PRIZE – Best White Wine of the Show.
PETER LEHMANN WINES WIGAN RIESLING (2008)

THE WINE COMMUNICATORS OF AUSTRALIA PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Large Volume Dry Red Wine entered in Classes 9 to 13.
DEVIL’S LAIR FIFTH LEG SHIRAZ (2011)

THE GEOFFREY CRUNDALL PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Varietal Wine, Pinot Noir entered in Class 23.
BAY OF FIRES PINOT NOIR (2011)

THE RUDY KOMON MEMORIAL PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Red Varietal Wine entered in Class 24.
ROSEMOUNT ESTATE NURSERY MATARO (2011)

THE LIQUOR MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA PERENNIAL TROPHY – Best Varietal Wine, Shiraz entered in Classes 26, 29 and 30.
SEPPELT VICTORIAN SHIRAZ (2011)

THE DAN MURPHY’S PERENNIAL TROPHY – Best Varietal Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon entered in Classes 27, 31 and 32.
WOLF BLASS GOLD LABEL COONAWARRA CABERNET SAUVIGNON (2010)

THE LESLIE KEMENY MEMORIAL PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best two year old Premium Red Wine entered in Classes 38 to 41, 43 and 44.
DEVIL’S LAIR HIDDEN CAVE CABERNET SHIRAZ (2011)

THE JOHN SWANN PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Premium Dry Red Wine, two years and older, entered in Classes 38 to 41, 43, 44 and 46 to 49.
DEVIL’S LAIR HIDDEN CAVE CABERNET SHIRAZ (2011)

THE THEO AND HELEN KAREDIS PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Aged Vintage Red Wine entered in Classes 56 to 58.
YALUMBA THE RESERVE BAROSSA CABERNET SAUVIGNON SHIRAZ (2006)

THE AUSTRALIAN WINE AND BRANDY CORPORATION PERPETUAL TROPHY. Best Red Wine of the Show with a wholesale price excluding WET and GST not exceeding $10 per bottle. WOLF BLASS RED LABEL SHIRAZ GRENACHE (2012)

THE DR GILBERT PHILLIPS MEMORIAL PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Red Wine of the Show.
BAY OF FIRES PINOT NOIR (2011)

THE RESTAURANT AND CATERING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Wine exhibited by a Small Producer in Named Vineyard Classes 68 to 75, 78 and 79.
THOMAS WINES CELLAR RESERVE BRAEMORE SEMILLON (2007)

THE LEN EVANS MEMORIAL PERPETUAL TROPHY Best Wine entered in Named Vineyard Classes 68 to 75, 78 and 79.
THOMAS WINES CELLAR RESERVE BRAEMORE SEMILLON (2007)

THE THORP ANNUAL TROPHY – Best Sparkling White Wine of the Show.
HOUSE OF ARRAS GRAND VINTAGE (2004)

THE J C M FORNACHON MEMORIAL PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Fortified Wine entered in Classes 59 to 67.
1. MORRIS WINES OLD PREMIUM LIQUEUR MUSCAT (NV)
2. MORRIS WINES OLD PREMIUM LIQUEUR TOKAY (NV)

THE JOURNALISTS’ CLUB ANNUAL TROPHY – Best Port entered in Classes 61 and 62.
ANGOVE RARE TAWNY (NV)

THE JJ MCWILLIAM MEMORIAL PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Brandy entered in Classes 76 and 77.
ST AGNES XO (NV)

THE JONES, STEAINS AND WALLER PERPETUAL TROPHY – Exhibitor gaining the highest number of points in the Varietal Wine Classes 16 to 32.
AUSTRALIAN VINTAGE LTD LYNDOCH SA 5351

THE LEO BURING MEMORIAL PERPETUAL TROPHY – Exhibitor gaining the highest number of points in Premium White Wine Current Vintage Classes 33 to 37.
PETER LEHMANN WINES TANUNDA SA 5352

THE HARRY DAVIES MEMORIAL PERPETUAL TROPHY – Exhibitor gaining the highest number of points in the Aged Vintage Wine Classes 52 to 56.
TAHBILK WINERY NAGAMBIE VIC 3608

THE MCCARTHY PERPETUAL TROPHY – Most Successful Exhibitor in the Wines and Brandy Section from Classes 1 to 15, 33 to 67, 76 and 77.
WOLF BLASS WINES PTY LTD NURIOOTPA SA 5355

THE NSW DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES JAMES BUSBY PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Wine or Brandy entered by an Exhibitor from New South Wales in any Class.
AUDREY WILKINSON MUSEUM RESERVE SEMILLON (2006)

THE MACQUARIE GROUP PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Wine of the Show.
BAY OF FIRES PINOT NOIR (2011)

THE FINE WINE PARTNERS PERPETUAL TROPHY – Best Show Wine exhibited at major State Wine Shows within the 12 months preceding judging.
BEST’S BIN 1 SHIRAZ (2011)

Wine

The 2013 Sydney Wine Show Trophy Winners