Image credit: Jess Purcell.
In an extraordinary result, South Australian winemakers have taken home three of the six national trophies, including the top title, the 2021 Young Gun of Wine.
Sam Berketa of Alpha Box and Dice, Dan Graham of Sigurd, and Charlotte Hardy of Charlotte Dalton Wines have claimed top titles this year.
Hardy has taken home the top title being named the 2021 Young Gun of Wine, while Berketa took home the People’s Choice Award, and Graham was presented with the Winemaker’s Choice Award.
Charlotte Hardy’s Charlotte Dalton wines were launched from the 2015 vintage, a Semillon and a Shiraz made in an unfussed lo-fi way. But these weren’t your classic new wave wines from Basket Range (Adelaide Hills).
They were certainly a pivot from the norm, unbound though not wild, essentially personal expressions. Hardy’s wines are like that, made with technical understanding, but intuitively, a reflection of mood and moment.
“There is change with the wines every year – all of my experiences and growth change the wines, which I always marvel at because they are really left to their own devices,” Hardy said.
“I don’t really make any stylistic choices, rather the grapes do. It’s the tiny things I do differently that I am not conscious of that change the wines.
“These things fascinate me, as I am quite interested in the science, but the numbers don’t give an indication of how the wine feels. Hard to explain. Wine has soul.”
“In our 15th annual edition, we are adding The Vigneron, which goes to a winemaker who grows the grapes from which the wines come,” said Young Gun founder Rory Kent.
“And it’s not a moment too soon. In fact, we should have done it years ago, because provenance and how wine is grown is where it all begins. As winemakers frequently say, ‘Great wine is made in the vineyard.’”
The Vigneron joins the Best New Act, Danger Zone, Winemaker’s Choice, People’s Choice and the 2021 Young Gun of Wine.
The 2021 judging panel consisted of wine writer Nick Stock, Crawford River vigneron Belinda Thomson; Leanne Altmann, Beverage Director at Trader House Restaurants (Cutler & Co, Gimlet, Marion, Builders Arms, Supernormal, et al); Master Sommelier Sebastian Crowther; Jeremy Shiell from Winespeake; Olivia Evans of Fleet Restaurant; and Chris Dilworth and Loïque Allain from Dilworth and Allain, the 2020 Young Gun of Wine.
“The 2021 awards cover such a comprehensive collection of winemakers and wine projects, there really is something here for everyone’s tastes and interests,” said Nick Stock.
“The stories behind our winners and all 50 finalists are so individual and so engaging – these are winemakers that really have something to say and a claim to stake on the Australian wine landscape.”
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