A NUMBER of top quality wines were judged at the 2015 Blackwood Valley and Western Australia Boutique Wine Show in Bridgetown at the weekend.
The event, now in its 13th year, is designed to recognise excellence in boutique Western Australian wineries and promote the outstanding wines produced in the Blackwood Valley Wine Region.
This year the competition attracted a record 272 wines from 52 boutique wine producers who crush less than 250 tonnes within Western Australia.
Following the two days of judging, the presentation of awards was held on Saturday evening, providing an opportunity for everyone to sample the award winning wines of the show while mingling with producers, judges and sponsors in a relaxed environment.
The high quality judges, led by chief judge Rod Properjohn, assess the wines to Australian standards and were all very impressed with the wines entered in the show this year.
"This has been a great show and the overall results were fantastic, with 73 per cent of the wines entered receiving medals,” Mr Properjohn said.
"Usually in Australian wine competitions about 50 per cent of wines would be given a medal, so this outstanding achievement clearly demonstrates boutique wineries in Western Australia are producing wines of exceptional quality.
"A total of 199 wines received a medal with 8 per cent being awarded a gold medal, 22 per cent with silver and 43 per cent bronze," he said.
Beulah Wines won the Shire of Boyup Brook 'Best Blackwood Valley White Table Wine' award with their 2014 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc.
Nannup Ridge Estate won the Shire of Bridgetown Greenbushes 'Best Blackwood Valley Red Table Wine' with their 2014 Shiraz.
Firetails Wines 2013 Semillon won the Latitude 34 Wine Company 'Best WA White Table Wine' and Windance Estate won the Talison sponsored 'Best WA Red Table Wine' award as well as the Label Magic sponsored 'Best Boutique Wine of the Show' with their 2014 shiraz.
The Most Successful Blackwood Valley Exhibitor prize was awarded to Nannup Ridge Estate and the Most Successful Exhibitor of the Show, sponsored by Bridgetown Hotel, was awarded to Mandoon Estate.
Ryan Sudano from Mandoon Estate in the Swan Valley was happy to have received such recognition and was pleased to be a part of the show.
"We love this show and we love this area," Mr Sudano said. "We buy a lot of fruit from the Blackwood region and there are a lot of hidden gems here."
Association President Chris Shedley said it was great to have another successful show in the Blackwood Valley and a fantastic effort from all the local volunteers that make it such a wonderful event.
"It was a great show, we had slightly increased entries and a record number of medal winners," Mr Shedley said.
"The judges were extremely happy with the organisation of the event and the calibre of the wines. I would like to thank all the volunteers that help make this show the success that it is as well as the sponsors. We were very happy to have such a great team of judges this year."
