Topping a total 2,186 entries, the two varietals, received the show’s most prestigious accolades, including the Courier-Mail Grand Champion Wine of Show and the historic Stodart Trophy.
First Creek Wines Winemaker’s Reserve 2014 Hunter Valley Chardonnay and Houghton Wines 2014 Bandit Shiraz from Western Australia were the successful recipients of the awards respectively.
Judges, including Chief Judge PJ Charteris, were impressed with the two styles, saying the quality of both continues to go from “strength to strength”.
Like chardonnay and shiraz, judges were also impressed with this year’s riesling submissions, with The Brisbane Club Best Riesling of Show awarded to Orlando Wines 2015 St Helga Eden Valley Riesling.
“Riesling continues to perform well”, Mr. Charteris said. “This variety represents seriously great value for money for what is a high quality product, so there are some real wins there for consumers who are in the know.”
Tempranillo also performed well in this year’s show, with Golden Grove Estate’s 2014 Joven Tempranillo winning both Best Queensland Wine of Show as well as the John Chandler Memorial for Best Other Single Varietal Red of Show.
Running since 1876, the awards aim to discover and highlight the best producers and styles currently in Australia, providing trade and consumers alike with a benchmark list of wines to look out for during the rest of the year.
To view all the results of the 2015 Royal Queensland Wine Show Awards, visit: www.rqfws.com.au/media/82091/2015_wine_results_catalogue_final.pdf
Greg Silkman from First Creek Wines
