What's your pick for NSW Wine of the Year?
And the winner is - Brokenwood 'Forest Edge' Orange Chardonnay 2007
Pepper Tree [©Pepper Tree]
Now announced: read the results of NSW Wine of the Year 2009 here »
The finalists for the 2009 NSW Wine of the Year were:
The 2009 NSW Top 40 reveals the best of the best NSW Wines identified by 20 highly qualified judges, Chaired by Lester Jesberg, who gruelled over a competitive field of 800 entries across two days to find the Top 40 Wines announced today.
From here the field will narrow to Trophy winners and ultimately, the announcement of the 2009 NSW Wine of the Year on Monday, 19th October at the 2009 NSW Wine Awards Gala Presentation Dinner at Catalina Restaurant, Rosebay. This is NSW’s most sought after award, last year’s winner receiving over $1 million in media coverage.
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.
Bigger and better, the 2009 NSW Wine Awards Events Program is designed to encourage NSW to get behind our state – discover the best wines of NSW, meet the people behind them and learn more about NSW Wine.
- Monday October 19 - 2009 NSW Wine Awards Gala Presentation Dinner at Catalina
- Tuesday October 20 – Tetsuya’s NSW Wine ‘Best of the Best Trophy Winners’ Dinner hosted by Huon Hooke
- Thursday October 22 – NSW Wine ‘Best of the Best Top 40’ Tastings at Customs House, Barnet Long Room, 31 Alfred St, Circular Quay. Trade & Press tasting 2.00 – 5.00pm. Pre-registration compulsory. Consumer tasting 5:30 – 9:00pm. $40pp including NSW Wine glass, wine and cheese tasting and winemaker-hosted Top 40 wine tours.
And the 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 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
Regions
- Canberra Region (NSW)
- Capital Country NSW (NSW)
- Explorer Country (NSW)
- Hilltops (NSW)
- Orange (NSW)
- Riverina (NSW)
- Tumbarumba (NSW)
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