The NSW Wine Awards is held once every year where top winemakers and judges from NSW convene to choose the best NSW wines. The panel of judges consisted of twenty judges split into five panels. Each panel had four people – a senior judge, two judges and an associate whose score doesn't count.
Early in the morning
Much work to be done
The Judges
The Chairman of Judges this year was Lester Jesberg, editor of Winewise Magazine, a magazine that has been around since 1985. Some of the Panel judges were some of the best palates in NSW such as Mike De luliis of De luliis Wine and Liz Jackson, Chief Winemaker of First Creek Wineries and Bryan Currie, Chief Winemaker of West End Estate. Some of the judges were Alex McKay of Collector Wines, Drew Tuckwell of Printhie and Andrew Guard of Andrew Guard Wine Imports, an importer of fine and rare wines. Well-know Associates were Rebecca Sutton who runs Ultimo Wine Centre, a WSET holder and a 2008 Len Evans Scholar. Chris Tyrrell, director of Tyrell's Wines, one of the Australia's profitable wine companies, was slated to be there as an associate but he didn't show up.
The NSW Wine Awards is different from the Boutique Wine Awards and the Tri Nations. Although the judging system used it the same as BWA (go to my BWA write-up to see how the wines are judged), this is not a show where gold, silver or bronze medals are awarded. The NSW Wine Awards is all about selecting NSW's top 40 wines. Of course, only NSW wineries are allowed to participate.
The following award categories are:
- Sparkling (any vintage including NV)
- Young White Chardonnay (2007-09)
- Young Semillon (2007-09)
- Young Sauvignon Blanc (2007-09)
- Young Riesling (2007-09)
- Young Other White varieties (2007-09)
- Young White Blends (2007-09)
- Mature Dry White (2006 & Older)
- Light Red Including Rose (2007-09)
- Young Shiraz (2006-09)
- Young Cabernet (2006-09)
- Young Pinot Noir (2006-09)
- Young Other Red varieties (2006-09)
- Young Red Blends (2006-09)
- Mature Dry Red (2005 & Older)
- Sweet White (non-fortified)
NSW Wine of the Year is selected from the category winners and there will be a "Best Organic Wine Award" selected from the organic wines entered in the above categories.
A lot of administration and thought has been put into this competition. Firstly, all the wines submitted are split into 26 different flights and each flight is assigned to one of the five panels to judge. Each flight is labeled with an alphabet. They are:
A Sparkling
B Young Riesling
C Young Sauvignon Blanc
D Young Semillon 1
E Young Semillon 2
F Young Semillon 3
G Young White Other 1
H Young White Other 2
I young white blend
J Young Chardonnay 1
K Young Chardonnay 2
L Young Chardonnay 3
M Matured dry white 1
N Matured dry white 2
O Light red rose
P Young Pinot
Q Young Shiraz 1
R Young Shiraz 2
S Young Shiraz 3
T Young Cabernet
U Young Red Other 1
V Young Red Other 2
W Young red blend
X Matured Red
Y Sweet 1
Z Sweet 2
Each flight has about 28 to 35 wines. Some even have as little as 9 wines.
Before the event, it has been roughly decided what the ratio of the top 40 wines would consist of; maybe 1 Sauvignon Blanc, 3 Chardonnays, 5 Shirazs etc. This ratio is based on how many wines of each category are being submitted.
The selection of the Top 40 is done using the twenty-point judging system but through a two-phase elimination process. All the top 40 wines are not ranked in any order except the Wine of the Show being ranked the first. This year, 798 wines are being entered.
Judging takes place over a period of two days.
Day One
Unlike the last two wine shows I did, this was much simpler because there were more hands involved and the organizers employed someone to actually do all the washing of the glasses(a boring and tedious task) as well as bringing the wine boxes up. All the logistics were already taken care by the hired hand. The set-up was quite different from the last two shows since it is under a different management.
Tables were first being laid out and strips of tape were pasted on each table. On the tape, the alphabets and the number of wines in each flight were written down.
Labelling begins
There are three groups of people involved in the next step, which is like a factory line.
Wines assembled
The first group will assemble the unopened boxes of wines in the centre of the room. All the wines are to be taken out of their boxes. All wines of the same brand will be placed on a table. In this show, each wine entered usually has four similar bottles. Two things we had to ensure was that there were at least four of the same wines and that the brands were the exactly the same.
Accounting for the wines
The second group consisted of two people who will mark the wines present against their sheet of paper. After marking, they would call out the alphabet and number of the wine to signify that the wine has been accounted for and are ready to be taken away to its rightful place.
The third group would come to the table where the second group was and take the bottles of wine to their respective alphabet and number.
The wines in their rightful places
After all the wines have been placed on the tables, the next thing to do would be to check the wines against another list to see if the wines are in their correct order. If they are, labels will be pasted onto the bottles. Any mistakes and changes to the list will be corrected.
Glasses laid out
Finally, four glasses will be placed on each number.
Judging tables set
Simple treats for the judges
Other things that needed to be done were the setting up of the judging area. Numbers were drawn on the judging tables. Spittoons and stationary were being placed.
Day Two
Ready to go
This is the first phase of elimination. The five panels are each assigned a number of flights to be judged. The judges only know the grape and the vintage of the wines but not the producer or origin. All flights are to be completed in day one. Out of the 798 wines, only 119 wines made it through to the second stage. For more information on what wines were entered and which wines were eliminated at each stage, click here.
Wines laid out
Ready to be served
The wines were being opened and poured into the four glasses. Then, the glasses were being taken out one by one and placed on the judging tables.
Judges hard at work
Unlike the last two wine shows, all the pouring was done behind the judging area so that the judges won't catch a glimpse at the wine label. What we used to do in the last two wine shows was to cover the wine labels with chucks, walk into the judging area with the bottles in our hands, and pour the wine into the glasses that has already been set up on the judges' tables. In the last two shows, the judges would have cleared out of the judging area. I feel that both methods are just as effective in delivering the wines without the judges being able to see the label.
All wines that made it through are silver medal wines or better.
Once the judging is done, all glasses are being cleared and the wines dumped. Wines that made it through round one will be set aside for round two.
Day Three
Round 2
The second phase of elimination begins. This time, 40 wines will go through out of the 119 wines. The same judging system is used. The judging panel is also scaled back to only the Chairman and the senior judges – six judges in total split into two panels. The wines are separated into the sixteen categories and the eight flights are being assigned to each panel.
Packing up of wines that didn't make it through
Once the two panels have selected the top 40 wines, the best white, red, sparkling and dessert wines are being selected out of the forty. All the top 40 wines are separated into the four categories and all flights are being served to all six judges. Judging is not done by the twenty-point system but by ranking.
The survivors
For example, let's say seven white wines made it through. Each judge will rank each wine according to which wine they think is better than the other through benchmarking. For a wine that is considered the least favourite among the seven, it will be given zero. The wine which is considered the best out of the seven is given six. All scores are being submitted to the Chairman who will add it to his own score. The wine with the highest score is considered the best white wine.
Once the four wines out of the top forty have been chosen, the Wine of the Year is selected by another tasting. The four wines are being served to all the judges and the winner is picked.
This year's judging panel from left to right: Mike De luliis of De luliis wines, Stuart McGrath who organised this show, Lester Jesberg, Byran Currie from Westend, Len Sorbello, Mike De Garis, and Liz Jackson from First Creek Wines.
As you can see, selecting the top forty wines isn't an easy task. It goes to several tastings and stages.
All the wines that have been tasted are being packed up in boxes and brought down to the shipping area for transport.
The place is being cleared and tables are dismantled.
Stuart and his wife, Noni. Wonderful people.
I would like to thank Stuart McGrath-Kerr who runs the show under the NSW Wine Industry Association and his lovely wife, Noni for having me on board thier team. Stuart also does the Riverina Wine Show. It was also a pleasure to have met Charlene from Optimiste wines, Paul from Indigo Ridge, Susan, Mark Pollard from Cellarmasters (thanks for telling me more about the judging system), Micheal and Colin Moss.
For more info on NSW wine awards, check out their website here.
I leave you with an extract from their website as well as the winners. All this is available on their website.
Top 40 NSW Wines of 2009 (in alphabetical order) are:
- Allandale Winery 2003 Semillon (Hunter Valley) $26.00
- Angullong 2008 Fossil Hill Shiraz Viognier (Orange) $20.00
- Audrey Wilkinson 2006 Museum Reserve Semillon (Hunter Valley) $50.00
- Audrey Wilkinson 2009 'The Ridge' Semillon (Hunter Valley) $35.00
- Bimbadgen Estate 2006 Botrytis Semillon (Riverina) $26.00
- Briar Ridge Vineyard 2008 Botrytis Semillon (Riverina) $25.00
- Briar Ridge Vineyard 2009 Early Harvest Semillon Sauvignon Blanc (Hunter/Orange) $21.00
- Briar Ridge Vineyard 2009 'Homestead' Verdelho (Hunter Valley) $21.00
- Brokenwood Wines 2007 'Forest Edge' Chardonnay (Orange) $30.00
- Chalkers Crossing 2006 Hilltops Shiraz (Hilltops) $30.00
- Charles Sturt University 2005 Limited Release Pinot Noir Chardonnay (Tumbarumba) $19.80
- De Iuliis Wines 2008 Show Reserve Chardonnay (Hunter Valley) $20.00
- Freeman Vineyards 2004 Rondinella Corvina (Hilltops) $30.00
- Gartelmann 2003 Reserve Semillon (Hunter Valley) $30.00
- Glandore Estate 2006 'Elliott' Semillon (Hunter Valley) $30.00
- Grove Estate 2007 'Sommita' Nebbiolo (Hilltops) $30.00
- Helm Wines 2008 Premium Riesling (Canberra) $45.00
- Hungerford Hill 2008 'Higher Octave' Chardonnay (Tumbarumba) $35.00
- Hungerford Hill 2007 Semillon (Hunter Valley) $50.00
- Lerida Estate 2008 Botrytis Pinot Gris (Canberra) $24.50
- Lillypilly Wines 2002 Noble Blend (Riverina) $38.50
- Tempus Two 2007 'Copper Zenith' Semillon (Hunter Valley) $20.00
- Mcleish Estate 2009 2009 Semillon (Hunter Valley) $23.00
- Meerea Park 2004 'Alexander Munro' Semillon (Hunter Valley) $35.00
- Mistletoe 2005 Reserve Chardonnay (Hunter Valley) $35.00
- Moppity Vineyards 2008 Shiraz (Hilltops) $19.95
- Nick O'Leary Wines 2008 Shiraz (Canberra) $27.00
- Pepper Tree 2007 Reserve 'Coquun' Shiraz (Hunter Valley) $35.00
- Printhie 2009 'Mountain Range' Sauvignon Blanc (Orange) $17.00
- RidgeView 2006 'Generations' Reserve Shiraz (Hunter Valley) $40.00
- Swish Wines 2009 Warraroong Estate Semillon (Hunter Valley) $30.00
- Swish Wines 2009 Warraroong Estate Verdelho (Hunter Valley) $25.00
- Two Rivers 2009 'Stones Throw' Semillon (Hunter Valley) $14.00
- Tyrrell's Vineyards 2005 'Stevens' Semillon (Hunter Valley) $35.00
- Westend Estate 2007 '3 Bridges' Durif (Riverina) $21.00
- Westend Estate 2008 'Richland' Viognier (Riverina) $12.00
- Westend Estate 2008 'Richland' Merlot (Riverina/Hilltops) $12.00
- Westend Estate 2008 Viognier (Riverina) $15.00
- Westend Estate 2008 Cabernet Shiraz (Riverina) $15.00
- Yass Valley Wines 2009 Riesling (Canberra) $18.00
Facts about the 2009 NSW Top 40 Wines
The 2009 Top 40 demonstrates the diversity of NSW Wine in style, variety and region with the Top 40 hailing from 31 wineries, 6 NSW Wine regions and 17 varieties/blends.
The most exciting thing about the 2009 NSW Top 40 is the success of new, emerging wine regions. Tumbarumba, Hilltops and Canberra –which until recently were not known 'wine regions' – stand side by side with long established regions such as the Hunter Valley and Riverina. Six of NSW's 14 wine regions dominate the list, with the regional breakdown being Hunter Valley (18.5) – the 0.5 represents a blend containing that region – Riverina (7.5), Hilltops (4.5), Canberra (4), Orange (3.5) and Tumbarumba (2).
Whilst Hunter Valley Semillon continues to dominate with 13 wines, another stand-out feature of the Top 40 was that outside Semillon the wide diversity of varieties, with a total of 17 varieties / blends featuring in the Top 40 ranging from Viognier, Nebbiolo to Botrytis Pinot Gris with white wine dominating over red wine. Varietal breakdown: Semillon (13), Shiraz (5), Chardonnay (4), Semillon Sauvignon Blanc (2), Riesling (2), Viognier (2), Botrytis Pinot Gris (1), Botrytis Semillon (1), Cabernet Shiraz (1), Durif (1), Merlot (1) Nebbiolo (1), Noble Blend (1), Pinot Noir Chardonnay (1), Rondinella Corvina (1), Sauvignon Blanc (1), Shiraz Viognier (1), and Verdelho (1).
Successful wineries with more than one wine in the Top 40: last year's NSW Wine of the Year winner, Audrey Wilkinson (2); Briar Ridge (3); Hungerford Hill (2); Swish Wines (2) and Westend Estate which has a whopping five wines in the 2009 NSW Top 40. For a full listing of the 2009 Top 40 Wines see page 2 of this press releas
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