St Anne’s cab sauv a top drop

MYRNIONG winemaker St Anne’s Winery has taken out the top award for a cabernet sauvignon produced in 2022 or earlier at the Ballarat Wine Show.

The winery won the Top Gold honour as Best Bordeaux or Blend for its 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Bendigo, with director Angus McLean taking home the Labelhouse trophy at the presentation dinner at Morshead Park Stadium late last month.

St Anne’s scored 95 points in Class 15, for 2022 and older Bordeaux varieties and blends.

Judges Jen Pfeiffer, Krystina Menegazzo, Eden Walpole, Marcus Holt and Jacob Parton said the field of finalists was “a mixed bag, with the top wines shining brightly.”

“The top award was finer in style, with an elegance and purity of fruit, just pipping a more traditional full bodied style on the day,” they said.

The 39th annual show awarded prizes on a scoring system of gold for 95 to 100 points, silver for 90 to 94 points, and bronze for 85 to 89 points.

Ms Pfeiffer, of Pfeiffer Wines in Rutherglen, chaired the judging panel.

Mr Walpole represented Blue Pyrenees Estate in Avoca and Ms Menegazzo Galotz Wines in Gordon. Mr Holt is of Scotchmans Hill on the Bellarine Peninsula and Mr Parton of Best’s Wines in Great Western.

St Anne’s also took silver for its 2023 Shiraz Bendigo in the 2023 shiraz category, with finalists described by the judges as “A good class of well made wines, some in the ready-to-drink category and others built for the long haul.”

The Bendigo designation means the grapes used in the gold and silver-winning wines were grown at the winery’s Bendigo vineyard.

The iconic winery was originally established at Myrniong by Allan and Shirley McLean in 1972.

Since then, it has established vineyards in Bendigo and Echuca, and has expanded into markets in Vietnam and China.

The wine show is run by the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society.