Tasmanian Chardonnay takes out top honour at Australian Organic Wine Awards

Stefano Lubiana Wines’ 2018 Estate Chardonnay was awarded the Wine of Show Trophy at the 2020 Australian Organic Wine Awards at a virtual presentation held earlier this week.

Chairman of judges Ramon Arnavas, who was joined on the judging panel by Josh Martin, Ken Gargett and Alex McPherson, said he was highly impressed by the quality of the wines presented.

“The winners for our white and red categories, we feel, would be dominant performers in any national wine judging show,” Arnavas said.

“All awarded wines showcased varietal characteristics, as well as a great interaction between purity of fruit, acid, texture and winemaking artefacts.”

However, Arnavas said there was little deliberation when naming Stefano Lubiana Wines as the overall winner.

“Stefano Lubiana’s 2018 Estate Chardonnay stood out for all the right reasons and would be a strong contender in any Chardonnay class,” Arnavas said.

“It had a beautiful balanced interaction between stonefruit and grapefruit notes, bright acidity and struck match reduction, all tied together by a well-judged use of oak.”

Stefano Lubiana Wines’ Monique Lubiana described the win as as the culmination of many years of hard work.

“We are thrilled by the recognition as we feel Australia has some of the best organic wine producers in the world,” Lubiana said.

The fifth and sixth generation winemaking family embraced organic and biodynamic production in 2010 across its vineyards in the Derwent Valley and Huon Valley, which produce 10,000 to 13,000 cases of wine annually.

“We felt growing grapes synthetically didn’t align with our values, and organic and biodynamic production was the next step in creating the very best quality wine,” Lubiana said.

“We strive for perfection and, for us, producing wine organically and biodynamically is the next phase for achieving a diamond level of quality.”

The red category was awarded to Victorian producers, brothers Michael and Tony Lee, from Foxeys Hangout, for their 2019 Pinot Noir.

“Foxeys was a strong performer in the Pinot class, as it showed a remarkable balance,” Arnavas said.

Australian Organic Limited chief executive officer Niki Ford congratulated all Australian Organic Wine Awards 2020 winners and finalists.

“The robust quality of entrants has showcased the quality and wide variety of home-grown organic wines our thriving industry is producing,” Ford said.

“Organic wines are highly sought after around the world and this competition allowed our hard-working producers to benchmark their best drops in a bespoke competition.”

Ford said the success of this year’s event would secure the award’s position as an annual competition and, moving forward, the judging panel will welcome Mike Bennie as the chairman of judges.

The winners will receive a Riedel decanter and a special feature article in Gourmet Traveller WINE.

Other major winners included:
• Angove Family Winemakers, Gold Medal
• Robinvale Wines, Gold Medal

For a full list of winners visit the Australian Organic Limited website.

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