Tasmanian winemakers have achieved outstanding success in national and international wine shows conducted over the past few days.
At the Six Nations Wine Challenge in Sydney, Pressing Matters winery near Richmond took out one of the event’s most prestigious awards by winning the trophy for the Best White Wine amongst hundreds of entries from Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
Earlier, judges had awarded the same wine the Trophy for the Best Riesling. It was produced by Winemaking Tasmania and is marketed under the label Pressing Matters R9 2012.
The Six Nations Challenge is by invitation only with the invitations being made by an appointed judge from each country. One hundred wines across seventeen categories were included in the judging. Amongst those hundreds of entries Tasmanian wines performed extraordinarily well.
A sparkling wine produced by Freycinet on Tasmania’s east coast was judged second in its category and was awarded a Double Gold Trophy. Gold Medals went to both Heemskirk and Jantz for their sparkling wines while Freycinet and Home Hill were awarded Gold Medals for their Pinot Noir wines.
At the prestigious Adelaide Wine Show last weekend, Winemaking Tasmania won the award for the best Pinot Noir in show and Chief Winemaker, Julian Alcorso, believes it may be one of the finest of its variety ever produced in Australia. The wine is marketed under the Wine Society’s label Directors’ Selection Pinot Noir 2012.
Mr Alcorso says Tasmania’s success at the Six Nations Challenge is especially significant given the state produces less than 0.5% of Australia’s total wine production. Of the 28 winning entrants from Australia, six were from Tasmania.
“In other words, Tasmania secured 21% of the awards won by Australian wine producers even though we produce less than half of one per cent of the nation’s production. Clearly we are punching well above our weight,” a delighted Mr Alcorso says. “It is a resounding endorsement of the quality of Tasmania’s burgeoning wine industry and a decisive barometer of the industry’s future potential.”
