Best’s Great Western wins best value winery in Halliday Wine Companion 2021
Acclaimed wine critic James Halliday has named this Victorian winery as the best-value in his annual wine awards — here’s where you can buy a bottle from your local.
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A 100-year-old family winery in the Grampians has taken out one of the top gongs at the 2021 James Halliday Wine Awards.
During an online awards broadcast on Wednesday night, the doyen of Australian wine experts crowned Best’s Great Western as the Best Value Winery of the year.
Fourth-generation winemaker Viv Thomson said the award was a great honour to win in the centenary year Best’s had been in the Thomson family.
“It’s certainly a great award to win. Going back a number of years, Halliday wrote Best’s was one of the best kept secrets. I think he was alluding to the fact that we make great value wines,” he said.
“As a small, family, regional winery, we’ve done pretty well. Won a Jimmy Watson (Australia’s most prestigious award for red wine) won Halliday’s best wine two years ago, this now to me caps it off beautifully.
“It’s a great accolade for ourselves, and the district, and the staff. It’s absolutely fantastic.”
Thomson’s son Ben, the fifth generation to make wine on the site, said the family took pride in creating wines that delivered bang-for-buck.
“We like to over-deliver for the cost of the product. I think we do that. We’re not greedy people, we try to make a better wine that people think is worth more than they’re paying for it.”
Halliday and a select panel of experts taste almost 10,000 Australian wines annually to create the Halliday Wine Companion, with six major awards and 16 varietal winners crowned.
Bannockburn in Geelong won best pinot noir for its 2017 Serre, the 2018 Mount Mary Quintet was named best Cabernet Sauvignon, while the Yarra Valley’s Serrat took out the best Shiraz Viognier and Mayer also in the Yarra Valley won for its nebbiolo.
South Australia was a big winner in this year’s awards, with Henschke taking out winery of the year, Barossa Valley’s Brett Grocke from Eperosa Wines was named winemaker of the year, while best new winery went to Varney Wines in McLaren Vale.
The full list of tasting notes for more than 9000 wines are now available online, or in the 2021 Halliday Wine Companion which is released on Thursday.
MAJOR AWARD WINNERS:
Wine of the Year
2018 Brokenwood Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz, Hunter Valley, NSW
Winery of the Year
Henschke, Barossa Valley, SA
Winemaker of the Year
Brett Grocke (Eperosa Wine), Barossa Valley, SA
Value Winery of the Year
Best’s Wines, Great Western, VIC
Darkhorse Winery of the Year
Yarran Wines, Riverina, NSW
New Winery of the Year
Varney Wines, McLaren Vale, SA
VICTORIAN AWARD WINNERS:
Sweet wine
2018 Lethbridge Bortytis riesling TBA (Geelong)
Pinot Noir
2017 Bannockburn Serre pinot noir (Geelong)
Riesling
2019 Seppelt Drumborg Vineyard (Western Victoria)
Cabernet and Family
2018 Mount Mary Quinet (Yarra Valley)
Shiraz Viognier
2019 Serrat Yarra Valley Shiraz Viognier (Yarra Valley)
Other Red Varieties and Blends
Mayer Nebbiolo (Yarra Valley)
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