Great Southern shines in wine awards

Wine connoisseurs swirled and sipped hundreds of wines last week as part of the 37th Qantas Wine Show in Mt Barker.

A judging panel, including international judge Chuck Hayward and chief judge Iain Riggs, tasted 990 wines from 157 WA producers over three days.

Mr Riggs, the chief winemaker at Brokenwood Winery in NSW’s Hunter Valley, Shanghai International Wine Challenge chairman and Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales 2014 Contributors Award recipient for his services to the wine industry, said the show was “hugely successful”.

“Nearly 60 per cent of the entries got medals, which is high but reflects the stand-out quality of these wines,” he said.

The Great Southern was well represented in the medal tally, claiming 23 of the 74 gold, 39 of the 145 silver and 48 of the 610 bronze.

Mr Riggs said cabernet and cabernet blends, chardonnay and sauvignon semillon blends were the “strengths of the State”, Great Southern riesling was “outstanding” and shiraz was “very smart.”

“The trophy judging really highlighted how strong this part of the world is in chardonnay, cabernet and riesling,” he said.

Mr Hayward, a California-based fine wine buyer, said his first time judging a WA wine show was a great opportunity to learn about WA’s wine regions in more detail.

“A show like this offers great exposure and is a chance to recalibrate my palate with Australian judges to see what I think is a gold is what they think is a gold,” he said.

“Every day has been a revelation for me.

“There is a lot of comparison between what we put up for gold or not for any medals, which is a testimony to the show system — the best wines really do come forward.”

Mr Hayward heaped praise on local wines, describing 2012 cabernets as “incredible”, Mt Barker rieslings as “crisp and zippy” and Frankland River shiraz drops as “very polished, velvety and balanced”.

“I am still trying to suss out Denmark and Porongurup, but a number of wineries have produced some of the best pinot noirs I have ever tasted,” he said.

The winners of 20 trophies will be presented in Perth on October 31.