Teetotal winemaker comes up trumps
Winsor Dobbin
Winemaker, Bill Calabria, from Griffith winery Westend Estate
A winemaker who is allergic to alcohol scooped the pool when the 40 finalists for the 2009 NSW Wine of Year award were announced.
Teetotaller Bill Calabria, from Griffith family winery Westend Estate, had no fewer than five wines named among the finalists - more than any other winery.
The top 40 wines were selected from over 800 judged by a panel of 20 wine experts over two days.
The winning wine will be announced on October 19, but the Calabria family are in with a in one-in-eight chance after their Westend Estate 2007 3 Bridges Durif, 2008 Richland Viognier, 2008 Richland Merlot, 2008 Viognier and 2008 Cabernet Shiraz were all named as finalists. Four of the five wines sell for under $15, while the Durif has a recommended retail price of $21.
Bill Calabria suffers from a rare allergy to the acid in wine but says: “You don't have to swallow to know whether a wine is good or bad."
Francesco and Elizabeth Calabria migrated to Australia from South Italy in the 1920s and established Westend Estate, originally known as Calabria Wines, in 1945. Westend now exports to over 25 countries around the world, makes 300,000 cases of wine each year and employs over 40 people, including eight members of the Calabria family.
The NSW Top 40 finalists hail from six different wine regions and include 17 different grape varieties, underlining the versatility of the state when it comes to wine production.
The Hunter Valley still dominates the list followed by the Riverina, Hilltops, Canberra, Orange and Tumbarumba.
Semillon remained the dominant variety with 13 semillons among the finalists, ahead of shiraz (5) and chardonnay (4),
Joining Westend Estate with more than one wine in the finals were Hunter Valley wineries Briar Ridge (3), Audrey Wilkinson, Hungerford Hill and Swish Wines/Warraroong Estate with two each.
And the winner was...
Brokenwood 'Forest Edge" Orange Chardonnay 2007.
Read about Brokenwood and the other trophy winners in the 2009 NSW Wine Awards.
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- Explorer Country (NSW)
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The battle narrows for the coveted 2009 NSW Wine of the Year award on October 19th with the announcement of the Top 40 Wines. Demonstrating the diversity of NSW ... And the Top 40 NSW Wines of 2009 are »
Westend Estate was established by Francesco and Elizabeth Calabria, newly arrived migrants from Italy in 1927. They purchased a five acre block of land at the Western ... read more
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