Oakdene Vineyards claims Victorian Wine Show’s Premier’s Trophy

A BOUTIQUE vineyard on the Bellarine Peninsula has been awarded the prestigious Premier’s Trophy at this year’s Victorian Wine Show.

Ocean Grove’s Oakdene Vineyards received the top honour for its 2022 Oakdene Liz’s Chardonnay, a wine director Steven Paul describes as “out-of-the-box”.

The Premier’s Trophy was established in 2017 and aims to promote Victoria’s diverse wine regions and showcase the state’s finest wines.

Judged by a panel of wine experts, the award is based on a “taste off” between each of the winning wines from Victoria’s regional wine shows, typically held the previous year – the task requiring a champion wine to be selected from a group of champions.

“The taste off demonstrated the diversity and quality of wine produced in Victoria,” chair of judges Simon Osicka said.

“The winning Chardonnay was a wine of great concentration and complexity, and it just pipped a Yarra Valley Pinot Noir from De Bortoil to take the prize on the day.”

Mr Paul said while it was “amazing” to be recognised with the Premier’s Trophy, it was also “extremely unexpected”, first to earn the top gong at the qualifying Geelong Wine Show – the vineyard’s second win at the regional show in 25 years – and to then beat out the 14 other finalists to take the trophy.

“It’s not something that comes around very often.

“I guess it just confirms our belief that we’re on the right track, that we’re making wines that are good enough to stand on the world stage – certainly the national stage – and we’re going in the right direction.”

Oakdene is nestled on the peninsula alongside several other high performing and award-winning vineyards, and Mr Paul believes attention to detail is the secret to its success.

“I wouldn’t think that we are doing any more than our competitive set at home here in Geelong and on the Bellarine Peninsula. Everyone is striving to make the absolute best wines we can from the vineyards we have access to.

“I think the great thing is, everyone’s striving means that the level continues to raise.

“We were fortunate to be judged best late last year and again this year – I’m sure it’ll be someone else’s turn next year.”

He said Oakdene’s wine being “100 per cent estate-grown” was also an important aspect of the vineyard’s approach.

“The great thing is, if your wine knowledge is at a level where you’re really interested in not only a single vintage wine, but also a single site wine, that’s what Oakdene’s bringing to the market.

“The wine is made from the same Chardonnay block every single year. It’s handled quite similarly, and you get an expression of the site, but also an expression of the vintage.”

But for those eager to taste Oakdene’s award-winning Chardonnay, there is some bad news: the vintage has already sold out.

The 2023 vintage of the Liz’s Chardonnay has however hit the market and is available for purchase.

After a recent “bumper harvest”, Mr Paul said he was looking forward to Oakdene’s “next phase” as it begins bottling its 2024 wines and preparing them for release ahead of summer.