Australian winery claims top international trophy at major US wine competition

South Australia’s Taylors Wines was named Winery of the Year (Import) at the San Diego International Wine & Spirits Challenge this year.

Judges crowned the Clare Valley family winemaker as the top imported winery in a competition that saw entries from more than 13 wine producing nations, including France, Italy, Spain, South Africa and the US.

The top honours were awarded to Taylors as more than 50% of the winery’s entries received a gold medal ranking or better. This is the second consecutive year that Taylors received the Winery of the Year honour.

“With the challenging year the industry has faced following bushfires, COVID-19 and the ongoing uncertainty of our trade relationship with China, this is welcome news for our family winery,” said third-generation winemaker and managing director Mitchell Taylor.

“As we continue to explore new markets to sell our wines, it’s awards like ‘Winery of the Year’ that help us tell the story of quality-made, premium Australian wines to wine lovers all around the world. We couldn’t be prouder to receive such a distinguished honour.”

Late in 2020, Australian wine producers were hit with major trade tariffs from the Chinese government which placed duties of more than 200% on some of Australia’s finest wines in response to an ongoing anti-dumping investigation by Chinese authorities. China was Australia’s leading wine export region, totalling just under $3 billion before the trade sanctions went into effect.

“We as an industry have had to think fast and work day and night to find ways to grow our other export markets to fill the gap left by China. With the USA being the largest wine drinking market in the world, we certainly have our sights set on growing Australian wine’s prominence in the region. This terrific award will help us continue to establish a premium profile as we meet with North American customers and distributors,” Taylor said.

In addition to the Winery of the Year trophy, Taylors’ Jaraman wines took top honours in the competition, with the 2019 Jaraman Shiraz bringing home a platinum award and ‘Best Shiraz’ and the 2020 Jaraman Grenache, a new vintage release, receiving a gold medal and the ‘Best Grenache’ title. In total, the family winery claimed eight medals at the competition.

 

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