Judging of one of the leading regional wine shows in Australia, the Hunter Valley Wine Show, is well underway after escalations of the COVID-19 Delta outbreak caused delays for the initial show date back in August.
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Thanks to First Creek Wines, more than 4,000 bottles were transported from across the region to the Singleton Army Base to be sipped, sniffed and swirled by a diverse panel of judges over several days.
Unable to source an international judge due to the travel ban, the 2021 panel of judges were scouted from across the state to assist in the large task at hand.
Luckily, the Hunter region is home to many of the country's highest regarded wine connoisseurs, including Chair of the 2021show PJ Charteris. PJ has had more than 25 years of winemaking experience and has judged many regional and capital wine shows across the country, including currently sitting as the Chairman of Judges at the Sydney Royal Wine Show.
"Overall the medal strike rate was very strong given the limited 2020 vintage the Hunter had last year due to drought and bushfires," said Mr Charteris.
"The number of entries for 2020 reds and whites were significantly down because of this, but nonetheless the few that were entered were of a very high calibre."
The museum classed wines were considered a particularly enjoyable category to judge for not only PJ, but all the judges, with some entries dating back to nearly a decade ago from 2011.
"There was an absolute joy we shared when tasting the older semillons and older reds that did not disappoint," Mr Charteris said.
"In a world where so many white wines are curated for early consumption and there isn't a focus on letting the wines mature to greatness, to judge the museum classes and see such pedigree is unique in Australia and if not the wine world all together."
It was concluded by the panel of judges that both semillon and verdelho varieties from 2021 were of great strength and the 2018 and 2019 reds also displayed a high level of complexity.
"The best part about a regional wine show compared to a capital wine show is that the judges are given a complete snapshot of what a region has to offer," PJ continued.
"So, for our judges from afar who are unfamiliar with the region and the varieties the Hunter does specialise in, they leave here with a clear understanding of the quality that the region has managed to achieve in the past few years."
Volunteers from the Singleton Army Barracks assisted with the set up and continuous washing of glassware. Due to the constant changing of COVID rules, the official CCL Hunter Valley Wine Show trophy presentation will kick off Friday, November 5 at 11am. The presentation will be livestreamed on the Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Facebook page.
