Wine show winners

Despite the cancellation of so many wine shows across the country this year due to the pandemic, two important regional shows bravely forged ahead with great results for the Hunter, and in particular, for local favourites Briar Ridge and De Iuliis Wines.

The Valley’s two classic varieties, Semillon and Shiraz, topped the charts at the Hunter Valley Wine Show, with Briar Ridge 2013 Stockhausen Signature Semillon receiving the trophy for Best White Wine of Show, while the gong for Best Red of Show went to De Iuliis Wines 2018 Talga Road Shiraz.

De Iuliis also scored the trophy for Best Other Red Wine with the De Iuliis 2019 LDR Shiraz Touriga Nacional. Other key trophy winners included Thomas Wines 2019 Elenay Shiraz, Tinklers 2019 Hill Chardonnay, Tyrrell’s 2018 Belford Chardonnay, 2020 Brokenwood HV Semillon and Bimbadgen 2019 Hunter Valley Vermentino. Pokolbin based Travertine Wines took out two Gold medals: for their 2017 Owen Reserve Shiraz Tannat and their 2018 Pinot Noir.

Iain Riggs commented that it was great to see so many golds going to the more up and coming varieties and blends like Shiraz Touriga, Mourvedre or Tannat, describing them as “stand-outs.”The Briar Ridge team was already glowing after their great result at the recent NSW Wine Awards, with Briar Ridge 2018 Dairy Hill Single Vineyard Semillon named NSW Wine Of The Year, having already won as Best White Wine and Best Semillon in Show. De Iuliis Wines 2018 LDR Vineyard Shiraz, Touriga Nacional was named Best Red Blend in Show and Margan 2019 Saxonvale Mourvedre was named Best Other Red Single Varietal.