Oakridge Wines’ David Bicknell is among Yarra Valley winemakers who can reflect on 2010 as “a very good year”.
By Kath Gannaway
YARRA Valley winemakers are flying the banner for the region with exceptional performances at recent prestigious wine events.
Oakridge Winery won Winery of the Year in The Age/Sydney Morning Herald Wine Awards 2012, and its 2010 vintage 864 Chardonnay won Wine of the Year and Best Chardonnay.
Oakridge received glowing accolades from Good Wine Guide editor Nick Stock who made the awards based on the more than 1500 wines he has reviewed.
Stock praised chief winemaker and Oakridge CEO David Bicknell’s vision after Oakridge took over the business from Evans and Tate four years ago.
The fruit for the 864 Chardonnay comes from Stephen Shelmerdine’s Lusatia Park vineyard in Woori Yallock, a grape-growing area Stock said is “widely recognised as the best source of high quality chardonnay grapes”.
Mr Bicknell said the awards were good for Oakridge and good for the Yarra Valley.
“Theses awards are all about the wine and it’s (the Winery of the Year award) great recognition of all the wines we make here by a highly respected wine maker.”
Yarra Valley chardonnay and pinot noir wines also performed exceptionally well at this year’s Melbourne Wine Show at the Royal Melbourne Show.
Medhurst Wines won the Dan Murphy Trophy in four classes for Best Pinot Noir (2010), part of an impressive accumulation of 22 medals for pinotnoir with gold medals going to Medhurst, Helen’s Hill Estate, Sticks Yarra Valley and St Huberts.
Silver medal winners included Mandala Wines, Giant Steps, Seville Estate, De Bortoli’s, Yering Station and Coldstream Hills.
Of the top 10 pinotnoir exhibited, four were from the Yarra Valley.
Elmswood Estate was rewarded for their hard work in the vineyard with two medals in the Single Vineyard Chardonnay class – a gold for their 2010 Elmswood Estate Reserve Chardonnay and a bronze for the 2010 Elmswood Estate Chardonnay.
Other medal winners in the chardonnay classes were Domaine Chandon, Giant Steps and Hoddles Creek Estate.
Wine Yarra Valley CEO Richard Howden said the success was great for the Yarra Valley and highlighted the success of the 2010 vintage.
“It was a particularly good vintage, for pinotnoir and chardonnay, but right across the board,” he said.
The other positive, he said, was for consumers. “What’s also great is that a lot of those wines are on the market at the moment.”
