If you tap “timing is everything” into your web browser, don’t be surprised if the face of one Stephen Charles Pannell pops up smiling on your screen. The winner of the 2014 Jimmy Watson Trophy, Australia’s most coveted wine show accolade, says things couldn’t be any better.
Pannell has been here once before when he took the same trophy home in 1996 as a 30-year-old group red winemaker for Hardy’s, winning it with his first ever Eileen Hardy Shiraz (vintage 1995). He’d changed the winemaking regime considerably, and the award brought the support of his peers and a renewed commitment at Hardy’s to continue to evolve their wines.
Fast-forward to 2014 and this Jimmy Watson trophy will take pride of place in his newly purchased cellar door right in the heart of McLaren Vale, which I wrote about in my blog recently. It’s home to his eponymous wine label, S.C. Pannell, which he founded just a decade ago.
Pannell and wife Fiona Lindquist have also recently acquired a significant vineyard parcel up around the Seaview end of McLaren Vale and are geared up to take their small family business to the next level. A Jimmy Watson Trophy awarded to their 2013 Adelaide Hills Syrah is the perfect catalyst for changing gears, as it comes with guaranteed sales and places the S.C. Pannell label front of mind for Australian wine consumers and collectors.
“I just try to create wines that suit our climate and way of life. Wines to drink with the food we grow, make and eat in Australia,” says Pannell. “That’s the opportunity we see, and that’s why we’ve just opened our first cellar door. Now I hope people will come and check out the new Jimmy!”
Pannell fortuitously bumped up production of this Syrah from making a mere 1000 cases in 2012, to 3500 cases in 2013. Talk about good timing – the planets could hardly be better aligned.
Click for note and score: 2013 S.C. Pannell Syrah Adelaide Hills
Contributing Editor Nick Stock is a renowned Australian wine writer, author, presenter and filmmaker who reports on his worldwide wine tasting experiences for JamesSuckling.com.
