- South Australia’s Bleasdale Vineyards’ 2018 The Wild Fig SGM was awarded the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for Best Young Red at the 2019 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards (RMWA) presentation dinner held on Thursday 17th October.
The Wild Fig SGM is a blend of Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre sourced from Langhorne Creek and produced by Bleasdale Vineyards’ winemaker Paul Hotker. This is the first time a blend has taken home this top trophy since 2008.
The Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy is the Australian wine industry’s most coveted award and is awarded to the best one or two-year-old red wine and is named after the legendary Jimmy Watson, who championed table wine at his Carlton wine bar.
Amongst the wineries taking home the top awards were Shaw + Smith who were awarded the prestigious Francois De Castella trophy for Best Young White Wine for their 2018 vintage Shaw + Smith M3 Chardonnay. Chardonnay continued to shine with Handpicked Wines awarded the Douglas Seabrook Trophy for Best Single Vineyard Wine and Best Chardonnay for their 2017 Capella Vineyard Chardonnay. Handpicked Wines’ vineyard manager of it’s Capella Vineyard, Karl Roberts, was awarded the Kym Ludvigsen Trophy for viticultural excellence.
Conducted by The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) for over 135 years, the RMWA gives producers the opportunity to benchmark their wines against industry standards, seek advice from an independent panel of experts, and promote and market award winning products using the RMWA’s seal of excellence.
RASV CEO Paul Guerra says the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria has been enabling the wine community to celebrate and showcase their passion for over 135 years.
“The Royal Melbourne Wine Awards provides highly valued recognition for the best Australian wines and wineries each year. The top three awards – Jimmy Watson, Francois De Castella and Trevor Mast – are some of the most respected winemaking awards in the country and are recognised both nationally and internationally,” Guerra said.
This year saw the introduction of the new innovative judging and awarding of Shiraz wines, the Best State Shiraz trophies. The winners of each state trophy were tasted off against each other to award the Trevor Mast Trophy for Best Shiraz. This year’s Trevor Mast Trophy was awarded to Western Australia based Frankland Estate Wines’ Isolation Ridge Vinyard Shiraz 2017 vintage.
The James Halliday Trophy for Best Pinot Noir went to a Tasmanian winery for the fifth consecutive year with Pressing Matters taking home the trophy for their 2017 Pinot Noir.
Reflecting on another big year for the RMWA and the incredible success of so many producers, Paul Guerra says the Awards are a wonderful way to recognise Australia’s leading wine producers.
“With more than 3050 entries, the producers who took out this year’s major trophies, including Bleasdale Vineyards, Frankland Estate Wines, Shaw + Smith and more should be extremely proud of their achievements. The Royal Melbourne Wine Awards provide our winemakers with a unique and valuable platform to leverage their success locally and internationally through the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards seal of excellence.”
More than 3050 wines were tasted over five days during October at Melbourne Showgrounds by a judging panel of 37 industry experts led by Head Judge and winemaker, Matt Harrop.
Discussing the 2019 judging process, Chair of Judges Matt Harrop was proud of the 2019 awards and thankful for the winemakers that support the magnificent event.
“In the Australian wine industry, the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards is the pinnacle event. The results of this year’s RMWA reflect the dedication, hard work and expertise of winegrowers across this great country,” stated Harrop.
