Winners of the 2024 Sydney Royal Wine Show. Image courtesy Royal Agricultural Society of NSW

A young Tasmanian Pinot Noir has claimed the Tucker Seabrook Perpetual Trophy for Best Wine of Show at the 2024 Sydney Royal Wine Show Awards on Thursday last week.

The 2023 Bream Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir is the youngest red to win the acclaimed title for over 24 years and is the first Pinot Noir to claim Best Wine of Show since 2015. It is also the first Tasmanian wine to win since 2016.

Sydney Royal Wine Show chair of judges, Sarah Crowe, said the young red was a real standout and she congratulated Bream Creek on a fantastic vintage.

“The young Pinot class was a real highlight for our judges this year, and this standard of quality can be reflected in our 2024 Wine of Show winner, the 2023 Bream Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir,” Crowe said.

“For a young red to stand out amongst over 1,700 entries is impressive, and if that wasn’t remarkable enough, it is also the youngest red to win Wine of Show in Sydney in the last two decades, if not longer. It is quite the achievement.

“In addition to the high-scoring young Pinot Noir class, Chardonnay was an absolute delight to assess. Chardonnay is at the top of its game and Australian producers are consistently delivering a world-class wine that rivals any international competitor.

“From the larger producers like Evans & Tate, who took home Best White and Best Chardonnay with the 2022 Evans & Tate Redbrook Reserve Chardonnay, to smaller producers such as Silkman Wines, who claimed Best Small Producer with the 2023 Silkman Wines Silk Chardonnay, the quality of Chardonnay Australians are getting is exceptional.”

Across the 52 classes judged during the Sydney Royal Wine Show, the 2024 and 2023 Chardonnay class claimed the highest medal count with 118 medals awarded, 9 of which were gold medals.

What say the winners?

Yalumba Sanctum Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 was awarded its sixth trophy at the Sydney Royal Wine Show for Best Cabernet Sauvignon, and senior winemaker Heather Fraser was delighted to collect the The Perennial Trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon in person at the awards ceremony held at Sydney Showground.

“Sanctum is a modern take on a classic regional and varietal stalwart that is fun, flavoursome, stylish and uninhibited,” said Fraser.

Fraser reflected on the characteristics of the 2021 vintage that led to the award-winning wine.

“It was an excellent growing season, and the harvest period will be remembered for being dry and exceptionally mild which resulted in grapes that retained freshness, acidity and wonderfully expressive flavours.”

“It is the product of a great vintage and a real testament to the viticultural team headed up by James Freckleton in the southeast.”

Tasmania’s House of Arras is also toasting to a win at the Sydney Royal Wine Show with its Grand Vintage 2015 crowned as Best Sparkling White for the second year running.

“We are thrilled to gain this recognition once again for our Grand Vintage 2015 at such a prestigious and well-respected program such as the Sydney Royal Wine Show,” said House of Arras chief winemaker Ed Carr.

“There’s no doubt that the sparkling wine sector in Australia is growing to produce exceptional examples that rival the best-of-the-best, so we are very proud to be a part of that movement.”

Calabria Family Wines said it was “honoured” to be awarded the Arthur Kelman Perpetual Trophy for Best Shiraz Dominant Blend for its Barossa Valley Calabria Saint Petri 2022 Shiraz Carignan.

Bill Calabria AM described the award as a testament to Calabria’s dedication in the vineyard and winery.

“Someone was working hard in 1914 when they planted these vines, and we’ve done our very best to maintain the integrity of the vines and the fruit they produce,” said Calabria. “This wine represents not only our family’s love and dedication for the craft of winemaking, and also the families before us that worked hard and made sacrifices to develop the vineyard.”

NSW dominates gold

All wine producing states from across Australia secured a trophy this year, however, it was New South Wales that proved it was the state to beat claiming the highest gold medal count and representing 10 out of the 23 wines awarded a trophy. Australia’s largest producing state, South Australia, received the highest overall medal count.

Cooler NSW regions like Orange and Mudgee also made their mark at this year’s show winning trophies with non-traditional varietals for their regions such as Best Grenache, Best Shiraz, and Best Riesling.

These titles went to Mudgee’s Huntington Estate and Robert Stein Winery for the 2023 Huntington Estate Special Reserve Grenache and 2017 Robert Stein Riesling, while Orange’s Mercer Wines won Best Shiraz in the region for the first time since 2011 with the 2022 Mercer Wines Limited Release Shiraz.

Robert Stein Winery also won Best Current Vintage for the 2024 Robert Stein Dry Riesling and Best NSW Wine for the 2023 Robert Stein Reserve Riesling.

“New South Wales did exceptionally well at this year’s show and what really stood out for me was the range of renowned producers who have won trophies with wine varietals that are not traditional to their area. For a Mudgee grenache to not only claim Best Grenache but also be a strong contender for Best Red is outstanding.”

Brokenwood’s 2019 Brokenwood Tallawanta Vineyard Semillon was another NSW standout this year winning not one but three trophies, including Best Semillon, Best Mature White, and Best Single Vineyard Wine.

Twenty-seven trophies were awarded at the Sydney Royal Wine Show Awards, with winners ranging from Best Sparkling to Best Value wine. Out of the 1,754 wines judged, five percent of entries received a gold medal.

“I congratulate all of our producers, and especially our trophy winners, on such a fantastic competition. It has been a challenging time for the Australian wine industry but if I know anything, it is that we are a resilient bunch, and we should all be incredibly proud of the world-class wines we are producing.,” said Crowe.

“I also want to thank our judges. When we are in that room, we all have a common goal and that is to help Australian wine get better and stronger in the future. Tonight’s awards are a celebration of that goal and of the wineries leading the charge,” Crowe said.

Following a three years guiding the Sydney Royal Wine Show, the 2024 competition will be Sarah Crowe’s, last year as chair of judges.

“I feel very proud to have been the chair of judges at Sydney Royal,” Crowe said.

“It is a great honour, not only due to the importance of the show to our exhibitors but also because of the way in which it brings our community together. Judging allows producers to get a deeper understanding and independent review on what they are producing, which is important for development.

“What we are trying to achieve through shows like Sydney Royal is the improvement of the industry together, as winemakers, sommeliers and growers.”

In 2025, Sydney Royal chair of judges, Sarah Crowe will hand the baton to Hunter Valley winemaker and owner of De Iuliis Wines, Michael De Iuliis.

As the producer of many trophy-winning wines himself, De Iuliis has a long history of judging at some of Australia’s most prestigious wine shows and, like Crowe, will bring a wealth of knowledge to the role.

De Iuliis will hold the role as chair of judges for the next 3 years including the 200^th Anniversary of the first Sydney Royal Wine Show in 2026.

To explore all the 2024 Sydney Royal Wine Show results, including trophy winners and medal recipients, please visit www.rasnsw.com.au/wine.

To taste-test all medal-winning wines including the 27 trophy winners, tickets to the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW’s Grape, Grain & Graze Festival are on sale now. The festival will take place at Sydney Showground on Saturday, 21 September. Visit www.rasnsw.com.au to learn more.

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