KING VALLEY SHED WINE SHOW TASTING AND AFTER SHOW PARTY 2007

Saturday 6th October 2007

Bigger crowds... and
even more fun than last year!

107 wines were on show and more than 200 people participated in the judging.

The annual King Valley Shed Wine Show was held on Saturday October 6th, at Gracebrook Stables. This is a unique show in which the public is the judge. Over 200 people participated in the judging of the wines this year. For many it was the first time that they had been in this role. Their job was made easier by being guided through some tastings by a number of local wine makers. Written step by step guidelines were also provided, outlining the actual scoring system which was based on three characteristics, bouquet, taste and color. The shed show is governed by just one rule…”it is for fun” and that was certainly adhered to by all participants. A summary of all the trophy winners can be found here

There were 107 wines on show from 22 King Valley wineries and several amateur winemakers. Both inside and outside the stables was a great collection of stalls featuring local food and wine. The crowd enjoyed having time out from wine judging to indulge in the picturesque vistas of the King Valley and a gourmet lunch.

The winner of the best Shed wine was a 2004 Merlot made by Gary White. The grapes came from his Warrawong Vineyard at Edi. Gary was presented with $500 worth of sponsorhip from Tafco. The place getters for all entries in the Shed Category can be found here

Pictured is David Maples, president of the KVV presenting Gary White, on the leftwith his trophy.

The Vintage Category was a new addition this year and attracted 10 wines, all at least 5 years old. This was of great interest to the public as tasting older wines is not usually available at cellar doors. The winner of the best Vintage Category wine was a 2002 Shiraz made by Michael Cope Williams from Vic Alps Winery. The grapes came from 4 King Valley vineyards – Murtagh’s, John Cavedon’s, Micheli’s and Politini’s. The prize for this category was $500 of products donated by E. E. Muirs. The runner up was the 2002 Nugan Estate Chardonnay, winning a dinner voucher from King Valley Cuccina
The place getters for all entries in the Vintage Category can be found here

It is in the Mediterranean and Other Varieties Category where the great diversity of wines made in the King Valley can be seen. There were 31 wines including some little known ones like Barbera, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Marzemino, Graciano, Verduzzo, Arneis, Graciano and Sagrantino. This year the winning wine was a 2006 Pizzini Verduzzo made by Joel Pizzini. Southern Cross Cooperage presented Fred Pizzini with an oak wine barrel. The runner up was the 2006 Symphonia Las Triadas Tempranillo made by Sam Miranda. He was awarded a dinner voucher from King River Café. The place getters for all entries in the Mediterranean and Other Varieties Category can be found here

Pictured is David Maples, president of the KVV presenting Fred Pizzini, on the left, with his trophies.

There were 63 entries in the Traditional Wine Category in 10 different classes. A prize was awarded for each class and these were taken out by 8 different wineries with Flying Duck Estate and Politini Wines taking out 2 classes each. The place getters for all entries in the Traditional Varieties Category can be found here

Two other trophies were awarded - for the best wine in the show made by a small and by a large wine maker. The best wine made by a small winemaker was a 2005 Shiraz / Viognier made by Paul Burgoyne of Flying Duck Estate. Paul was awarded a 1200 litre stainless steel fermentation tank donated by OP industries. Runner up was the 2006 Graciano/Merlot blend from Ciavarella Oxley Estate. They were awarded a Bendigo Coopers Spittoon. The Pizzini Verduzzo took out the best wine made by a large winemaker and was awarded $500 worth of label printing from Hansen’s Printers. Brown Brother’s Late Harvest Riesling was the runner up and received a dinner voucher from Rinaldo’s of the King Valley.

All prizes were presented at a new event for this year - an after show party also held at Gracebrook. Delicious and unusual gourmet finger food was supplied by Adam Pizzini from Rinaldo’s of the King Valley and participants had their choice of 107 wines to drink with it. Everyone was most interested to find out the identification of the wines they had tasted during the day’s judging and to see how their assessments of the wines matched the overall results. Mr Fergus McGhie, the Canberra Times wine writer was in attendance. He tasted all the wines and gave an informative presentation during the party. He was impressed by the quality of the wines, and thought the public judging was a wonderful concept. He was surprised at how seriously the public took their job as judges and encouraged KVV to continue running this unique event.

Pictured above are Fergus and Cindy McGhie tasting some of the wines.

See lots more photos of this unique event here