Sarah and John Collingwood run Four Winds Vineyard together in Murrumbateman. Photo: Erin Dando.
Canberra region vineyard and winery Four Winds has won five major trophies at the prestigious Melbourne Royal Wine Show with their 2023 Shiraz.
The family-owned and run vineyard won the Trevor Mast Trophy for Best Shiraz, The Douglas Seabrook Trophy for Best Single Vineyard Wine, the Best NSW/ACT Shiraz and The Kym Ludvigsen Trophy for Viticultural Excellence.
The biggest win was The Jimmy Watson Trophy, awarded for the best young red wine.
Sarah Collingwood took over the vineyard from her parents and now runs it with her husband, John. She said that it’s been “ridiculously exciting”. She explained that the Jimmy Watson Trophy is such a big deal in the industry they actually use it as a benchmark for their winemaking.
“When we sit down to plan each vintage we say, ‘we just want to make a wine that will win the Jimmy Watson Trophy’,” Sarah told Region.
“But we definitely didn’t expect to actually win it!”
Sarah and John with their many trophies at the Melbourne Royal Wine Show. Photo: Supplied.
The Jimmy Watson Trophy is awarded to young red wines that drink particularly well in their first or second years, rather than requiring a long aging process. Sarah said that they always try to make wines that are really approachable, delicious and driven by the flavour and characteristics of the fruit.
It’s been a challenging few years for the vineyard, affected by smoke taint from the 2020 bushfires and then the devastating hailstorm in 2021, so to come away with a win like this is an incredible feat.
“These are the highs and lows of agriculture! You can’t predict what mother nature will throw at you and what each vintage will bring, so it’s really nice to have a win like this after a few unpredictable years.”
Both 2022 and 2023 were cool, wet vintages, which made managing the grapes more challenging but also gave them a long, slow ripening time. This brought out interesting characteristics, which you may not get with a fast-ripening vintage in a hotter year.
The winning wine sold out very quickly after the results were announced. Photo: Supplied.
If you want to get your hands on some of this award-winning wine, well, you can’t. The wine was released for sale on the Four Winds website over the weekend, and it sold out quickly. But there are still bottles of their 2022 Shiraz and their other wines like Riesling, sparkling wines and Shiraz Rose. But the good news is that they’ll be increasing production for their next vintage.
“We will definitely make more shiraz than we’d planned to!” Sarah said.
“We’re a micro-winery, so we really don’t make very much, but we’re looking at the vineyard and potentially grafting over a few other varieties that might not be working so well and changing them over to Shiraz.”
This is the first time a Jimmy Watson Trophy has been awarded to a wine made with Canberra district grapes, so it’s a very exciting time for winemaking in the area.
Visit the Four Winds Vineyard Cellar Door at 9 Patemans Lane, Murrumbateman, NSW. Check out their remaining wines on their website, or follow them on Facebook or Instagram.
See the full list of winners at Melbourne Royal Wine Awards.
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