Red wines led the way at this year's Orange Wine Show trophy presentation lunch on Friday with a Colmar Estate 2018 Block 1 Pinot Noir winning best wine.
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The pinot noir, other medal and trophy award winning wines as well as all other show entries will be available for public tasting at the Orange Wine Show Tasting and masterclass, on Friday, October 18 in the Hotel Canobolas Grand Ballroom.
The winning wines were announced after eight judges, spread over two panels, tasted of 340 wines between them in one-and-a-half days.
Colmar Estate owners Bill and Jane Shrapnel also won best exhibitor of the show, best red wine of the show for their 2018 Block 1 Pinot Noir, which also won best pinot noir.
Colmar Estate also won the Special Chairman's Award for their 2018 Reserve Pinot Noir, and they won best rosé with a 2019 Pinot Noir Rosé.
The couple described their suite of wins as "amazing" and said every wine they entered in the show won a medal
"It's a great reward for five years of hard toil," Mr Shrapnel said.
"In 2016 we did particularly well with whites and this is the first time we've excelled with pinot noir.
"The market for pinot noir is growing, it fits very much with the modern lifestyle, people are looking for lighter, finer styles of red wine.
"2018 was a relatively warm year in a cool climate, [which was] perfect for making perfect pinot noir."
We only get one chance a year to make great wine.
- Tamburlaine Organic Wines managing director Mark Davidson
Chris Derrez and Lucy Maddox from Madrez Wine Services, along with Léonore Salanon, who joined the business from Bordeaux one-and-a-half years ago, worked behind the scenes making many of the medal-and-trophy-winning wines.
"It's just working with passion, it a bonus to be rewarded with a trophy," Ms Salanon said.
Mr Derrez said he's been making wine for 18 years and said the expectations at the wine shows were increasing.
"It all starts in the vineyard," Mr Derrez said.
"You cannot make good wines without good grapes."
Among the other winners was Tamburlaine Organic Wines, which won trophies for its Orange-based organic wines including best cabernet sauvignon, best riesling and its 2017 Malbec won best Bordeaux style.
Tamburlaine managing director Mark Davidson was delighted with the wins but said events like the award lunch, which was held in the Hotel Canobolas Grand Ballroom, also gave wine makers from across the region a chance to come together and share their knowledge about the industry.
"To be recognised at this event it's a great honour," he said.
"We only get one chance a year to make great wine.
"Wine making is a continuing learning process. At every wine show we learn something."
Mr Davidson said the Tamburlaine award-winning wines were grown, along with other varieties on a 90 hectare block.
The market for pinot noir is growing, it fits very much with the modern lifestyle, people are looking for lighter, finer styles of red wine.
- Bill Shrapnel, Colmar Estate
"We've got 13 varieties there," Mr Davidson said.
"What's wonderful about that place is that 23 years ago it was grazing sheep and 23 years ago we didn't know quite what to plant."
"The other thing was when we converted to organic productions no one was doing it."
He said now about 45 per cent of wines produced in Orange were organic.
"We'd like to see it grow to 55 per cent, which will make Orange the organic wine growing capital in Australia," Mr Davidson said.
As well as winning awards at Friday's lunch, Mr Davidson said the 2017 malbec was also runner up for the Jimmy Watson trophy last year for best young red wine in Australia.
Tickets for the Wine Show Tasting are $65, with a glass included. To book visit https://www.orangewinefestival.com.au.
2019 wine show trophy winners:
- BEST WINE OF THE SHOW - Colmar 2018 Block 1 Pinot Noir
- BEST EXHIBITOR OF THE SHOW - Colmar Estate
- BEST WHITE WINE - Gartelmann 2018 Sarah Elizabeth Chardonnay
- BEST RED WINE OF THE SHOW - Colmar 2018 Block 1 Pinot Noir
- CELLAR DOOR OF THE YEAR - Highland Heritage Estate
- BEST CABERNET SAUVIGNON - Tamburlaine 2017 Orange Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
- BEST SHIRAZ - Heifer Station 2018 Shiraz
- BEST BORDEAUX STYLE - Tamburlaine Orange 2017 Reserve Malbec
- FOR BEST PINOT NOIR - Colmar 2018 Block 1 Pinot Noir
- BEST ROSÉ - Colmar 2019 Pinot Noir Rosé
- SPECIAL CHAIRMAN'S AWARD - Colmar 2018 Reserve Pinot Noir
- BEST OLDER CHARDONNAY - Cooks Lot 2016 Allotment 3 Handpicked
- BEST YOUNG CHARDONNAY - Gartelmann 2018 Sarah Elizabeth Chardonnay
- BEST SAUVIGNON BLANC - Printhie 2019 Mountain Range Sauvignon Blanc
- BEST RIESLING - Tamburlaine 2019 On the Grapevine Riesling
- BEST SPARKLING - Swift NV Rosé No.3 Chardonnay Pinot Noir
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