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Welcome to Australian Wine Online Wineshows Archive - Latest Wineshows
13 August 1999
1999 Royal Melbourne Wine Show
Wolf Blass Black Label has returned to the winner’s circle, winning its fourth, record-breaking Jimmy Watson Trophy at the 1999 Royal Melbourne Wine Show. The trophy is awarded to the best red wine made from the previous year’s vintage.
With the trophy came a number of firsts for Black Label and its Barossa-based winemakers John Glaetzer and Caroline Dunn. Glaetzer becomes the first winemaker to win four Jimmy Watson trophies while Dunn is the first female to have her name adorn the Australian wine industry’s most prestigious prize.
The trophy winning Black Label is a 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon-based blend sourced primarily from South Australia's Barossa Valley. The win came 25 years to the day since John Glaetzer picked up his first Jimmy Watson.
Wolf Blass Black Label won three consecutive Jimmy Watson trophies in 1974, 1975 and 1976 and the wine was largely credited with 'creating' the incredible public interest in this award.
Ms Dunn and Mr Glaetzer are a classic combination of 'the old and the new' with Mr Glaetzer having made the Wolf Blass red wines for 25 years and Ms Dunn having been at the Bilyara winery only since 1997. Ms Dunn was the dux of the University of Adelaide’s winemaking degree in 1996 and is widely regarded as one of the future 'greats' of the Australian industry. Glaetzer is well and truly in that class already with his four Jimmy Watson trophies alongside many other accolades throughout his career.
John Glaetzer said the wine was a triumph of teamwork and dedication and he paid tribute to everyone at the Wolf Blass winery. 'I've waited more than 20 years to win this thing again,' he said. 'And we couldn’t have done it without all the winery staff, the cellar hands, the grape growers and anyone else I might have forgotten.'
There were 23 gold medal winning wines in contention for the Jimmy Watson trophy with 10 being made by various wineries within the Mildara Blass group. To cap things off for the Wolf Blass winery the new 1998 'Blass' Barossa Valley Shiraz won the trophy for Best Commercial Dry Red wine while the 1999 Wolf Blass Gold Label Riesling won its third trophy of the year for Best Current Vintage White Wine.
Other gold medal winning Mildara Blass winners at the Melbourne Show were:
1999 The Clare Essentials Carlsfield Vineyard Riesling, 1999 Wolf Blass Riesling, 1998 Flanagan’s Ridge Cabernet Merlot, 1998 Robertson’s Well Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, 1998 Mt Helen Cabernet Merlot, 1998 Maglieri Shiraz, 1998 Pioneer’s Rest Shiraz, 1998 Robertson’s Well Coonawarra Shiraz , 1998 Mt Ida Shiraz , 1998 Annie’s Lane Shiraz, 1998 Jamiesons Run Merlot, 1998 Jamiesons Run Reserve Coonawarra Red, 1998 Wolf Blass President’s Selection Chardonnay (Export), 1998 Wolf Blass Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, 1996 Blass Vineyard Selection Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon, 1999 Annie’s Lane Semillon, NV Mr Pickwick’s Port, 1997 Andrew Garrett Vintage.
Arlewood Estate's 1997 Cabernet Reserve was awarded one of only two gold medals in the Cabernet Sauvignon class at the show.
McWilliam’s Wines won the Francois de Castella Trophy for Most Successful Exhibitor – for the second year in a row - at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show. With this latest success, McWilliam’s Wines has made a clean sweep of the first four wine shows held this year. It has been named Most Successful Exhibitor at the Royal Sydney Show, the Royal Brisbane Show, the Cowra Show and now Royal Melbourne.
Gold medals were awarded to table wines from all five of McWilliam’s premium wine-producing regions including the Hunter Valley (Mount Pleasant), Coonawarra (Brand’s), Yarra Valley (Lillydale), Riverina (Hanwood) and Hilltops (Barwang). The company's Lillydale Vineyards, situated just outside Melbourne in the Yarra Valley, was named Most Successful Exhibitor in the Victorian wine classes while the Lillydale 1999 Chardonnay was the Best Current Vintage Dry White Victorian Table Wine (Cuno Zeta Plus Trophy) Altogether, McWilliam’s won five trophies as well as 13 gold, 20 silver and 37 bronze medals. Other trophy winners were Brand’s of Coonawarra 1997 Merlot (Best Merlot in the Show) and McWilliam’s Reserve 1997 Botrytis -- Best Sweet White Wine.
Three consecutive vintages of Mount Pleasant Elizabeth, Australia's most awarded white wine, all won gold medals -- the 1993, 1994 and the 1995 (due for release in January 2000) -- as did the 1987 vintage. The current release Mount Pleasant 1994 Elizabeth has now won a gold medal at every wine show held this calendar year, a rare four-in-a-row achievement.
Gold medal winners that are currently commercially available included: Brand’s of Coonawarra 1997 Merlot, Barwang 1997 Chardonnay, Barwang 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon, Lillydale 1998 Gewurztraminer. Yet-to-be released wines that won gold included Brand’s of Coonawarra 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon and Lillydale 1999 Chardonnay.
The Orlando Wyndham group won trophies for best red and best older red wines with the Jacob's Creek Limited Release Shiraz Cabernet 1994.
BRL Hardy won five trophies including best Muscat and Best 1997 Shiraz with its Cellar Door Shiraz 1997.
Peter Lehmann Wines' 1993 Riesling was named Best White Wine, Best Riesling and Best Aromatic Wines and the Peter Lehmann Reserve Chardonnay 1995 was judged Best Chardonnay.
Angove's Pty Ltd was named most successful exhibitor in the brandy classes.
Evans & Tate carried the Western Australian flag in the Jimmy Watson Trophy classes by virtue of a gold medal in Class 22 for the 1998 Margaret River Merlot -- the nly WA wine to win a gold medal in Classes 19-23 and earn a place in the Watson taste-off. Brian Fletcher, chief winemaker for Evans & Tate, said he believed that with a lot of extra attention in the vineyard, Merlot could produce long-living, serious wine styles from Margaret River. 'The key is to control yields and avoid over-cropping,' he said. 'Old vines have also helped provide character and a point of reference for the wines' overall style and weight.
Penfolds won gold medals for its two currently-available 1996 vintage Cabernets, Bin 707 and Bin 407, at the Melbourne Wine Show. Penfolds chief winemaker John Duval said the accolade for Bin 407 was particularly satisfying. 'It is a pat on the back for the winemaking team that the Melbourne judges found both Bin 707 and its "little brother," Bin 407, to be of such high quality,' he said. While Bin 707, Penfolds' flagship Cabernet, is second only to Grange in the Penfolds red wine hierarchy and costs about $100 a bottle, Bin 407 is a quarter of the price (around $22.50 a bottle). The 1996 vintage for Cabernet Sauvignon in the Barossa Valley has been described by Mr Duval as the best he can remember in his 15 year career with Penfolds.
A total of 3,670 entries were received for the 1999 awards, which surpasses the record 3,329 wines entered in the 1998 Royal Melbourne Wine Show. The number of exhibitors has increased by 25% to a total of 444.
South Australian wineries submitted a total of 1,496 entries, followed by Victoria with 1,066, New South Wales 715, Western Australia 259, Queensland 27 and Tasmania 15.