WA cabernet sauvignons and red Bordeaux blends continued their domination of the Australian Capital City Wine Show Circuit at the Royal Perth Wine Show recently.
The locals won four of the nine (44 per cent) chardonnay gold medals, with Matilda’s Estate, Lenton Brae, Evans and Tate and Peccavi being the WA winners.
The West also gained two of the five riesling gold medals (Lamonts and West Cape Howe), three of the four awarded to Sauvignon Blancs (Brookwood Estate, Paul Nelson Wine Company and Wine By Brad) and five of the 15 gold medals won by shiraz.
The WA winners here were Upper Reach, Swings and Roundabouts, Deep Woods, Shenton Ridge and Matilda’s Estate.
These medals continue WA’s ever increasing shiraz profile in the show system – especially this year, as the South Australians are lauding their 2010 shiraz vintage, largely on show here, as one of their greatest ever.
However wonderful these results are for a State that produces less than one twentieth of Australia’s wine, the cabernet classes results are even more extraordinary.
This State, which often gains more than 50 per cent of the cabernet and red Bordeaux blend gold medals in the capital city wine shows, produces less than 5 per cent of Australia’s cabernet sauvignon.
The West won eight of the 13 gold medals awarded this year, over 60 per cent, against many of Australia’s most prominent and famous producers – in every price range.
In the judging section before the trophy selection taste off, the three highest pointed cabernets from this State were the Watershed Awakening Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 from Margaret River (their web site lists the 2009 release at $99.50), the Talisman Cabernet Malbec 2009 from Geographe (still available on their website at under $20) and the Wine By Brad Mantra Cabernet 2009 from Margaret River ($25 on their website), all of which gained 18.7 points.
The continuing and rarely mentioned in the press extraordinary domination of the Australian wine circuits’ cabernet classes by the Houghton Wine company is confirmed by the 2012 Perth results.
Houghton gained three of the 13 cabernet and red Bordeaux blend gold medals (23 per cent).