Despite having to deal with 'insufficient’ space, Virginia Rawling said the 2014 Australian Cool Climate Wine Show in Murrumbateman was a success.
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“It was fantastic,” the Australian Cool Climate Wine manager confirmed.
“We had a record number of people at the public tasting which was absolutely wonderful and the presentation awards event… at the Murrumbateman Winery was voted the best ever.”
The judges, who came from all over Australia, tasted in excess of 600 wines from around 100 wineries. In the end, it was a Victorian shiraz that claimed the Best Wine of the Show accolade.
The 2012 Blue Pyrenees Estate Shiraz won the top gong, Best Red Wine of the Show and Best Shiraz of the show.
Other notable winners were McWilliams Wines (Hanwood NSW) which won the Best White Wine of the Show and Best Chardonnay of the Show and Logan’s Winery, near Mudgee, entered the best riesling of the event.
Despite the positives, Ms Rawling is the first to concede that the Australian Cool Climate Wine Show needs to expand.
She said housing all the wines at the Murrumbateman Recreational Grounds Hall means some of the best winemakers in Australia have to be turned away simply because there’s no room.
“[The hall] is totally insufficient for our requirements,” she explained.
“It restricts the amount of entries that we can accept for the show and that is obviously a big negative… it also restricts the amount of people we can have at the event.”
She said there were not really any alternatives, either.
“Unfortunately there is no other location in Murrumbateman... there’s heaps in Yass but we’ve gone none out here.
“We’re hoping that Yass Council will start proceeding, very soon, with building the community facilities which it requires.”
But Ms Rawling said, despite the event’s shortcomings, she still received positive feedback about the 2014 show.
“Everyone that came had a wonderful time,” she said.
“We’re well known in the industry for our hospitality and all our judges always want to come back.”