Media Release for 2009

2009 Wine Show

29 October 2009

And The Winner Is...(Cigars all round!)

The Yalumba Wine Company’s 2006 Menzies ‘The Cigar’ Cabernet Sauvignon has collected four trophies at the 2009 Limestone Coast Wine Show. After being named ‘Best Cabernet Sauvignon’ and ‘Best Red Wine’, the prized drop went on to claim the Bill Redman Trophy for ‘Best Wine of Show’ after two intense days of judging this week at the Coonawarra Hall. The accolades earned Yalumba viticulturalist James Freckleton the major award for the night - the highly coveted Arthur Hoffman Trophy for Viticulturalist of Best Wine of Show.

Chairman of judges, Huon Hooke, declared the 2006 Menzies ‘The Cigar’ Cabernet Sauvignon a “definitive Coonawarra Cabernet”.

“What impressed me the most was what a complete wine it was – you taste the wine, and there is nothing that it lacks,” he said. “It has beautiful balance between bright fruit characters and more savoury complex aromas and flavours, and excellent structure with fine grain tannins running the length of the palate.”

The Coonawarra wine region took a virtual clean sweep of the trophies at last night's Caledonian-themed presentation feast at Naracoorte Town Hall, which featured past gold medal and trophy winning wines from the Limestone Coast Wine Show. Hollick Wines’ 2006 Wrattonbully Shiraz was an exception to the rule, winning the International Judge’s Award after impressing guest UK judge Andrew Jefford with “its wonderful core of beautiful, ripe fruits and prized savoury, earthy length”.

“It’s just one of those wines I kept going back to time and time again, and every time I went back, I liked it more – it just got under my skin,” he says.

Wynns Coonawarra Estate’s 2006 Wynns ‘The Gables’ Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz was named Best Blended Red / Other Single Red Variety 2009 and its 2006 Wynns ‘Alex 88’ Cabernet Sauvignon was declared Best Individual Vineyard Wine 2009 . Wynns was also declared the Most Successful Exhibitor for 2009, after topping the show in 2006 and 2007. Balnaves of Coonawara won Best Shiraz for its 2006 Balnaves of Coonawarra Shiraz, with the family-owned winery also collecting the The Ewen Fergusson McBain Trophy for Best Museum Wine for the 2001 Balnaves of Coonawarra ‘The Tally’. The neighbouring Punters Corner Wines showed its dominance with white varieties, winning Best White Wine and Best Chardonnay for its 2008 Punters Corner Single Vineyard Chardonnay.

All entries in this year’s show will be uncorked and ready for tasting at the Coonawarra Hall on Friday, 30 October 30 during a once-in-a-year opportunity to sample and compare notes with the expert judging panel.

Committee for the 9th Annual Limestone Coast Wine Show 2009

L to R: Joe Cory, Brendan Provis, Anita Goode, Pete Bissell, Robbie Mason, Ulrich Grey-Smith, Sarah Squire, Sean Murphy, Sarah Pidgeon, Gerard Coote, Amelia Anderson.

2009 Wine Show Trophy Winners