Grape days indeed but prize chardonnay proves simply the best
Penfolds’ 2021 Bin A chardonnay from the Adelaide Hills has won best wine at the KPMG Royal Sydney Wine Show.
Mention the name Penfolds to the average wine enthusiast and their thoughts turn to powerful reds, notably the world-famous Grange, whose current vintage commands $950 a bottle, making mouth and eyes water at the same time.
Today, however, a new star is blazing above the Penfolds stable. Their 2021 Bin A chardonnay from the Adelaide Hills on Thursday night collected the trophy for best wine at the KPMG Royal Sydney Wine Show, out of 1800 wines entered into the competition and examined by 31 judges last week.
The judging game is intense and gruelling, but some wines just hit you with their excellence, says chair of judges Sarah Crowe, winemaker and general manager of the celebrated Yarra Yering winery in Victoria’s Yarra Valley.
“When I looked at the wine with the panel chairs, just by smelling it I knew. ‘That’s the business,’ I said to them.”
It was Crowe’s first year as chair but she brings enormous experience to the job. As a judge, she started as an associate with the Hunter Valley Wine Show in the mid-2000s; as a winemaker she has earned multiple accolades, including the prestigious Gourmet Traveller winemaker of the year in 2021, and was named our own James Halliday’s winemaker of the year in 2016.
This year’s entries were “very strong”, says Crowe, “with an above-average gold-medal strike rate”.
Some 134 golds were awarded, testament to the strength of Australia’s show system “which gives great feedback to producers as a benchmarking exercise, while consumers are given an insight into what wines to look for.”
The Bin A retails for $125 a bottle, a manageable price for what Crowe calls a “beautifully crafted wine that treads an elegant line between flavour and restraint”. For $20 less, you can taste this and all the other wines in the show, including trophy winners, alongside award-winning produce at the Sydney Showground’s Grape, Grain and Graze festival on Saturday.
For full details of wines and awards, or to buy tickets, visit rasnsw.com.au/events/grapegraingraze
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