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21 August 2000
2000 Royal Melbourne Wine Show
SOUTH AUSTRALIA TAKES TOP HONOURS WITH JIMMY WATSON WIN
A South Australian winemaker, Punters Corner of Coonawarra, has won the prestigious Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy at the 2000 Royal Melbourne Wine Show, conducted by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria Limited. Punters Corner Shiraz 1999 was awarded the 2000 Jimmy Watson for the best one year old red wine. The trophy was presented at the annual Royal Melbourne Wine Show Awards Dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne.
South Australia has now won the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy on 29 occasions. Victoria has won the prestigious award six times and New South Wales and Western Australia twice each.
The Premier's Gold Trophy for the Best Victorian Wine in the 2000 Show was awarded to Morris Wines for its Rare Liqueur Muscat - Blend. It is the third year in succession that Morris Wines has won the Premier's Trophy, which was initiated in 1997 to recognise excellence in the Victorian wine industry.
The Francois de Castella Trophy for the Most Successful Exhibitor of the Show was won by the Hardy Wine Company. The Best White Wine in Show was judged to be Eden Valley Riesling 1984, entered by Great Western Champagne Pty Ltd. The wine received The Vintage Cellars Trophy. The Best Red Wine in Show was won by Malleea by Majella Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz 1998, entered by Majella Wines. It received the Douglas Seabrook Memorial Trophy.
The BRL Hardy wine group continued its dominance of the 2000 Australian wine show circuit by being named 'Most Successful Exhibitor of the Show' in Melbourne. The BRL Hardy winemaking team took out 5 trophies, 25 gold medals, 39 silver medals and 111 bronze medals. Last month BRL Hardy won 4 of the 16 tropbhies awaraded at the Brisbane Wine Show. Former Jimmy Watson winner, Leasingham Wines' 1994 Classic Clare Shiraz, was the winner of the BMW Trophy for the best dry red at the show. The wine comes from the famous Leasingham winery in Clar , SA, which is traditionally known for some of Australia's finest premium wines in Riesling and Shiraz. The 1994 Classic Clare Shiraz won the Jimmy Watson Trophy as a one-year-old vintage in 1995.
Led by its sparkling wine portfolio and Leasingham and Houghton brands, the BRL Hardy group won trophies for the Best Dry Red in the Open section, 95 vintage and older; Best Sparkling Wine of the Show, Best Sparkling White Wine in Classes 73 and 74; Most Successful Exhibitor in the brandy section, and Most Successful Exhibitor of the Show.
The group's sparkling winemaker Ed Carr was successful for the third year in a row in claiming the trophy for Best SparklingWine in the Show. This year the 1998 Yarra Burn Pinot Noir Chardonnay Pinot Meunier was awarded the trophy. Following on from her success in Brisbane with 2 trophies for the 1998 Bin 61 Shiraz, Leasingham's manager/winemaker Kerri Thompson once again performed well, winning the BMW Trophy. Newly appointed winemaker/manager Larry Cherubino won 4 gold medals for Houghton's red wines, three of which were from Larry's first vintage in 1999. Hardy's Black Bottle Brandy continued its recent run of success, winning anothergold medal.
The 2000 Royal Melbourne Wine Show set a new record with a total of 4029 entries which surpasses the 1999 record of 3650 wines entered. The number of exhibitors for the 2000 event has risen to 464, up from 411 in 1999.
South Australian wineries submitted a total of 1636 entries for the 2000 Show, followed by Victoria with 1022, New South Wales 984, Western Australia 315, Queensland 30, Tasmania 39 and the ACT 3.
The Royal Melbourne Wine Show, which is the largest and most prestigious wine show in Australia, was supported by BMW (key presenting sponsor), and major sponsors Visy Board and Cleanevent.
McWilliam’s strategy of seeking out grape varieties that are best suited to the terroir of particular regions paid dividends at the Melbourne Wine Show where the company won 4 trophies, 11 gold, 28 silver, and 47 bronze medals. Two of the trophies were won by a wine from McWilliam’s Regional Collection – the Eden Valley 1996 Riesling. Its trophies were the Myria & Rudi Himmer Trophy for Best Aromatic Wine and the Wine Planet Trophy for Best Riesling of Show. Kevin McLintock, CEO of McWilliam’s Wines, said: 'The Melbourne Show results are a great pat on the back for our winemakers and viticulturists who sought out and selected particular varieties from particular regions -- Cabernet Sauvignon from the Coonawarra, Shiraz from the Barossa, Grenache from McLaren Vale, Riesling from Eden Valley and Tyrian from the Riverina -- to create the McWilliam’s Regional Collection.'
Kevin McLintock added that he was particularly pleased that Melbourne Show trophies had been awarded to wines across all price points in McWilliam’s premium portfolio. In addition to winning the trophy for the Best Victorian Dry Red wine with its 1998 Cabernet Merlot from the Yarra Valley, McWilliam’s Lillydale Vineyards also won a gold in the Jimmy Watson class with the Lillydale 1999 Cabernet Merlot 1999. The Mount Pleasant 1994 Elizabeth, Australia's most awarded white wine, also won a gold medal at the Melbourne Wine Show. It has now won 4 trophies, 13 gold, 5 silver and 8 bronze medals.
One of the winning trophy winners at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show announces the re-emergence of one of Victoria’s quality vineyards. The Cork Supply Australia Trophy for the Best Victoria Dry White Table Wine in class 30 was won by a 1998 Riesling vintaged from 25 year old vines on the Longleat Estate vineyard at Murchison in the Goulburn Valley. The Longleat Estate 'Rivers Edge' Riesling 1998 was awarded the trophy against formidable opposition from some of Victoria’s most prestigious vineyards and award winning wines. Longleat Estate was established in 1975 by Peter Schulz and was recently purchased by a new family and friends partnership. The vineyard on the outskirts of Murchison village is regarded by winemakers who had previously purchased the estates grapes as one of consistently high quality. The rich ancient river soils on the gently slopping banks of the Goulburn River account for superior quality grapes that the new owners will make into wines exclusively for Longleat Estate.
The Ian Loftus Trophy for the best sparkling red at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show was won by Seppelt and Sons Ltd with their 1991 Show Sparkling Shiraz. Seppelt have had previous show success having won the first trophy awarded in 1993. Since then they have won six Ian Loftus Trophies. The Ian Loftus Trophy is named after the founder of National Sparkling Red Day Australia whose marketing and publicity company is widely acclaimed to have revived and sustained national and international growth of Australian sparkling red wine. Since the early 1990s entries at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show have grown from one or two samples to over 30 at the 2000 judging.
At the awards night Ian Loftus was delighted with the results: ‘This is a great result for Seppelt who have made this wine style since1893 and it is pleasing to see almost half of the entries win medals. The top wines were excellent examples of the style and the judges were equally impressed when they declared the top wine a great aged example. The quality of these unique Australian sparkling reds improves every year.’
The multi-award-winning Lindemans 1998 Padthaway Pinot Noir won a gold medal at the 2000 Melbourne show. Lindemans also won gold medals for its Classic Oloroso Z273 and Classic Tawny Z186. The 1998 Padthaway Pinot Noir is currently available in limited quantities at around $16 a bottle.
Goundrey Wines received gold for their 1999 Reserve Shiraz, which was in the taste-off for the Jimmy Watson Award, and also the 1996 Show Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.