The medal-winning wines of 2021’s ICC Sydney NSW Wine Awards have been revealed, raising anticipation as to who will be named the best wine in NSW at the 26th annual NSW Wine Awards.
Judging took place at the International Convention Centre Sydney, with 16 expert wine judges tasting for three days, awarding 84 wines with gold.
The gold medal tally was slightly up on last year, highlighting some outstanding reds from 2019, and whites from 2021 in particular.
Among the second category was a 2021 Riesling from Canberra’s very own Mount Majura Vineyard.
The proud winemaker, Frank van de Loo, was ecstatic to bring home the award after his team worked double-time to beat La Niña to the punch.
“The 2021 season was cool and therefore ideal for development of beautiful flavours and aromatics, but also riskier in terms of bringing the fruit in clean and getting the picking date right,” Mr van de Loo said.
“It was all hands on deck to pick the 2021 [batch] the day before the big rains hit.”
For those wondering what goes into making the perfect Riesling, Mr van de Loo confirmed that it’s a delicate process.
“We want sunshine on the leaves but not the grapes themselves, so leaves around the bunch zone are important.” However, since good airflow and low humidity around the bunches are also critical, any winemaker worth their barrels will exercise “canopy management”.
“After that, it’s just making sure we do everything carefully in the winery – any mistakes will show up.”
Alongside Mount Majura Vineyard’s contender, 12 other Canberra wines have been moved forward as finalists for the best wine in NSW, to be crowned at the presentation luncheon on 10 December.
The other finalists include wines from Eden Road, Ironcutter Wine, Lerida Estate, McWilliam’s Wines, Nick O’Leary, and Shaw Wines.
“The Canberra District is small in terms of total production, but we’re very focused on quality, so having 13 entries in the shortlist is just where we want to be,” Mr van de Loo said.
Chair of Judges at the ICC awards, Nick Spencer gave hope to underdogs when he admitted to several occasions when “it was almost impossible to separate two or three exceptional wines to determine the ‘wine of class’.”
He considered this a testament to the quality and consistency of the contenders.
“We know NSW produces wines that are up there with some of the best in the world, but this year really highlighted that exceptional quality across regions,” Mr Spencer said.
Congratulations to the Canberra 13:
- Eden Road 2019 Syrah, Canberra District
- Eden Road 2019 Cullarin Block 71 Syrah, Canberra District
- Ironcutter Wine 2017 Sherwood Park Shiraz, Canberra District
- Lerida Estate 2019 Single Vineyard Murrumbateman Shiraz, Viognier, Canberra District
- Lerida Estate 2019 Canberra District Shiraz, Canberra District
- Lerida Estate 2019 Cullerin Shiraz, Canberra District
- McWilliam’s Wines 2019 Eliza Jane Shiraz, Canberra District
- Mount Majura Vineyard 2021 Riesling, Canberra District
- Nick O’Leary 2019 Bolaro Shiraz, Canberra District
- Shaw Wines 2018 Reserve Merriman Cabernet Sauvignon, Canberra District
- Shaw Wines 2019 Estate Shiraz, Canberra District
- Shaw Wines 2019 Winemakers Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, Canberra District
- Shaw Wines 2021 Estate Riesling, Canberra District
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