Wine judging. Image courtesy Royal Agricultural Society NSW.

The Sydney Royal Wine Show has announced its 2023 champion trophy recipients at an intimate dinner held in Sydney last night, and according to the results, it’s Australians who are the real winners. Following four days of judging almost 1,700 wines, 31 expert judges have selected the top drops of Australian wine.

Not only are Australians getting access to some of the best quality wine in the world, they’re getting it at reasonable price points. Out of the thirty trophies awarded last night, around 50 per cent of them are available to Australians at under $40, and a large portion of these can be snapped up for $30 or less.

A wine which falls into this category is the 2023 Tucker Seabrook Perpetual Trophy for Best Wine of Show, which went to the 2021 Evans & Tate Redbrook Estate Chardonnay. Described by judges as having a lovely structure and beautiful length, this trophy-worthy chardonnay has proven the variety’s reign in Australia is steadfast and won’t break the bank.

“Australian wine connoisseurs are winners here. The 2023 Sydney Royal Wine Show has demonstrated that not only are Australian producers delivering incredible wines, but they are doing so at reasonable price points for consumers,” said Sarah Crowe, chair of judges.

“This year’s Best Wine of Show is a fantastic example of this, Australian Chardonnays are at the top of their game and the Evans & Tate Redbrook Estate Chardonnay is delivering the highest quality at an accessible price for this level of wine.”

In addition to chardonnay, Australian sparkling has proven it is still one to be watched with the white & rosé sparkling wine, bottle fermented, less than 30 months tirage class boasting a twenty percent gold medal rating. Despite this, it was the 2015 House of Arras Grand Vintage that claimed the crown, winning The Thorp Annual Trophy for Best Sparkling White or Rosé.

“Alongside chardonnay, Australia has continued to deliver world-class sparkling wine and once again, we’ve seen this reflected in the high medal count. Equally notable is the rise of newer varieties to Australia such as Tempranillo, Grenache and particularly Grenache dominate blends, which were very impressive this year. Each of these classes scored about an eight percent gold medal rating,” Crowe said.

Four red blends claimed trophies this year including the 2022 Millbrook Regional GSM which took out The Dan Murphy’s Value Perennial Trophy for Best Value Wine, the 2022 Dune The Empty Quarter which won The Arthur Kelman Perpetual Trophy for Best Shiraz Dominate Blend, and the 2022 St Hugo Grenache Shiraz Mataro which was presented with The John Swann Perpetual Trophy for Best Other Red Blend.

Relatively young wine brand, George’s Folly also delivered an award-winning red blend, catching International Guest Judge (UK) Clara Rubin’s eye, with its 2021 George’s Folly “Pigs Might Fly” Montepulciano/Nero d’Avola taking home The International Guest Judge Annual Prize.

“In terms of vintage, 2022 has been an incredibly impressive year with over forty percent of trophy winners coming from this vintage. Western Australia also shone bright with the Margaret River fairing very well. Six of the thirty trophies awarded tonight come from the Margaret River.”

The Dr Gilbert Phillips Memorial Perpetual Trophy for Best Red went to the 2022 Montalto Pennon Hill Pinot Noir while The Liquorland Perpetual Trophy for Best White Blend went to the 2022 Rutherglen Estate Shelley’ Block.

Are you a Daily Wine News subscriber? If not, click here to join our mailing list. It’s free!