There are so many wine competitions weighing into the world of wine these days it is hard to keep up with what really matters in terms of their awards, medals and trophies. I often think that almost any wine can win some kind of medal somewhere if it gets entered enough times, and I also think that most people have the same skepticism around all the medals and stickers on bottles.
But in the Aussie context there are some smaller, regional-specific wine shows that represent the absolute pinnacle of these ventures and produce really meaningful results that place the right wines in the spotlight. The Hunter Valley is one of the most established wine regions in Australia with old vines, a mature winemaking culture that supports strongly established styles of wine and a young group of winemakers that are driving the place forward with real conviction. Their regional wine show is one of the absolute best.
I judged the 2014 Hunter Valley Wine Show recently and left impressed as always. Semillon has, in recent years, really set the pace in this competition, showing the ability to produce exciting young wines that really sing with purity and concentration, as well as long ageing wines that are among the most age-worthy whites made anywhere on the planet.
One of the newest and most prestigious awards is the Wine of Provenance Award, which was won this year by Andrew Thomas’ Braemore Semillon. To win this award a winemaker needs to submit three vintages of a wine, the vintages spanning a minimum of 10 years. Thomas put forward a stunning 2014, a 2006 that was only just starting to turn the corner and build some hints of toasty bottle aged character and a magnificent ten year old 2004 that delivered a full suite of characters form fresh citrus to toast with magnificent structural integrity.
Whilst all the class and prowess of Hunter semillon is thrilling to see all laid out in one powerful display of greatness, the major highlight for me this year was the quality of the red wines. These have lagged behind the semillons for the last two decades or more in terms of quality and consistency and tasting wines in vintage-specific brackets this year revealed that the shiraz wines are moving to a new position of quality and coherent style.
The most famous Hunter reds were made from the very late 1940s through to the 1960s and, I hope, we are on the cusp of seeing a generation of the best red wines the Hunter Valley has ever produced. So much so, I am returning there in coming weeks to write a special tasting report on the new generation red wines highlighting the best producers and the wines to watch over the coming years.
In the meantime, here are the results of the 2014 Hunter Valley Wine Show where you’ll find a cross-section of the region’s most famous and established names and some of the hottest new winemaking talent. There’s no shortage of either! Photo credit: Chris Elfes.
Trophy Winning Wines – 2014 Hunter Valley Wine Show:
Marshall Flannery Trophy – Current Vintage Semillon
Briar Ridge Vineyard 2014 Dairy Hill Single Vineyard Semillon George Wyndham Memorial Trophy – Current Vintage and One Year Old Chardonnay Tyrrell’s Vineyard 2013 Belford Chardonnay Henry John Lindeman Memorial Trophy – Best Two Year Old and Older Chardonnay Tyrrell’s Vineyards 2012 Belford Chardonnay Alexander Munro Memorial Trophy – Best One Year Old Shiraz Brokenwood Wines 2013 Mistress Shiraz Singleton Council Tropy, Most Successful Exhibitor of Young Wines – Current Vintage Dry White Wines & One-Year-Old Dry Red Wines Brokenwood Wines Ed Joualet Memorial Trophy – One year old Dry Semillon Two Rivers Wines 2013 Stones Throw SemillonBest Other Red Wine – Alternative Red Varietals & Blends De Iuliis Wines 2013 Shiraz Touriga Nacional James Busby Memorial Trophy – Best Mature 3 Year Old and Older Shiraz Pepper Tree Wines 2011 Tallawanta Grand Reserve Shiraz McGuigan Family Trophy – Best Mature 2 Year Old and Older Semillon Tyrrell’s Vineyards 2006 Vat 1 Semillon Trevor Drayton Memorial Trophy – Best Fortified Wine Drayton’s Family Wines Heritage Vines Verdelho NV John Lewis Newcastle Herald Trophy – Best Museum Red Wine De Iuliis Wines 2006 Show Reserve Shiraz Graham Gregory Memorial Trophy – Best Museum White Wine Tyrrell’s Vineyards 2005 HVD Semillon Hector Tulloch Memorial Troph – Best Shiraz Pepper Tree Wines 2011 Tallawanta Grand Reserve Shiraz Maurice O’Shea Memorial Trophy – Best Semillon Tyrrell’s Vineyards 2006 Vat 1 Semillon Murray Tyrrell Chardonnay Trophy – Best Chardonnay
Tyrrell’s Vineyards 2012 Belford Chardonnay Draytons Family Trophy – Best Named Vineyard Red Wine Pepper Tree Wines 2011 Tallawanta Grand Reserve Shiraz Tyrrell’s Family Trophy, Best Named Vineyard White Wine McLeish Estate 2007 Semillon Len Evans Trophy, Best Named Vineyard Wine McLeish Estate 2007 Semillon Petrie-Drinan Trophy, Best White Wine of the Show Tyrrell’s Vineyards 2006 Vat 1 Semillon Doug Seabrook Memorial Trophy, Best Red Wine of the Show Pepper Tree Wines 2011 Tallawanta Grand Reserve Shiraz Iain Riggs Trophy, Wines of Provenance Thomas Wines Cellar Reserve Braemore Semillon 2004, 2006, 2014
Nick Stock is a renowned Australian wine writer, author, presenter and filmmaker who reports on his worldwide wine tasting experiences for JamesSuckling.com.
