HUNTER VALLEY WINE INDUSTRY AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT GALA NIGHT
The Hunter Valleys night-of-nights was held last night at Cypress Lakes Resort to toast the outstanding achievements of those in Australia’s oldest winemaking region who have made major contributions and excelled within the Hunter Valley Wine Industry. Winners were announced in seven categories, including the newest Hunter Valley Wine Industry Legend, who was inducted into this prestigious group.
Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association (HVWIA) President Andrew Margan said the evening recognises the skill, hard work, dedication and excellence of the region’s winemakers, viticulturists and industry professionals.
“Tonight’s awards recognise those who have been integral in building and maintaining the Hunter Valley’s standing as a world-class wine producing region,” Mr. Margan said.
“The short list of finalists was exceptional and they should all be congratulated. Our region is well known because of the passion these individuals have for the profession. We are proud of their achievements as members of our unique community.”
The 2013 Award winners are:
2013 Hunter Valley Wine Industry Living Legend:
Ian Scarborough
Living Legends are individuals who have shown long-term vision and commitment to the betterment of the Hunter Valley Wine Industry.
Ian – or Scarbie as he is more commonly known - has been an active Hunter Valley winemaker for more than 40 years. He moved to the Hunter Valley in 1973 to work for Tulloch as chief winemaker and during the 1980s acted as a successful winemaker and wine consultant for several Hunter Valley wineries.
Scarbie then went on to launch his own brand, Scarborough Wines Co, in 1987 and has worked tirelessly to establish it as one of the region’s premier labels producing home-grown Hunter Valley wines. He has contributed immensely to the development of brand Hunter Valley and while he may be soft-spoken, his wines speak loudly of his skills.
2013 Winemaker of the Year sponsored by Harris Transport and Storage:
Peter Hall, McGuigan Wines
This award recognises an outstanding Hunter Valley winemaker who is a leader in their profession. It is judged based on experience, qualifications, winemaking techniques, experimentation or individual style resulting in unique wine styles produced.
Peter has extensive local knowledge gained over 33 vintages, processing more than 106,000 tonnes of fruit in the Hunter Valley. He has also been Senior Judge at the Hunter Valley Wine Show and Hunter Valley Small Winemakers Show for the last three years.
While McGuigan Wines has garnered many accolades under Peter’s tenure leading the winemaking team, the highlight of the last year would have to be winning the prestigious International Winemaker of the Year Award at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London… for the third time. Says Peter of this success: “I am always proud when Australian wine performs well, however the most important benefit has to be that the Hunter Valley shone on the world stage”.
In 2012 McGuigan Wines was also awarded three National Trophies, 10 Regional Trophies, 16 International Gold Medals, 10 National Gold Medals, 15 Regional Gold Medals, 48 Silver Medals and 64 Bronze Medals.
2013 Rising Star of the Year sponsored by Riedel:
Sally Scarborough, Scarborough Wine Co
This award recognises an aspiring star of the Hunter Valley Wine Industry. They can be involved in winemaking, vineyard management, marketing or sales and have made an outstanding contribution over the preceding 12 months, showing vast results and achievement.
The daughter of the 2013 Hunter Valley Wine Industry Living Legend inductee, Sally Scarborough grew up in the heart of Hunter Valley wine country and expanded her wine industry knowledge working in the Napa Valley.
She is a passionate advocate not only for the Scarborough Wine Co brand, but the Hunter Valley Wine Industry in general, serving as Marketing Chair for the Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association, during which time Sally oversaw the creation of the new Hunter Valley branding in conjunction with Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism.
Over the past 12 months, Sally has managed the opening of a new cellar door, launched a leading edge e-commerce website and there has been significant growth in value and volume within Scarborough Wines Co, which can largely be contributed to her innovative sales and marketing plans.
2013 Viticulturist of the Year, sponsored by First Creek Winemaking Services:
Keith Barry & Katrina Barry, Brokenwood Wines
This award recognises an outstanding viticulturist involved in the management of Hunter Valley vineyards. The criteria include demonstration of vineyards that have achieved single vineyard status and any research and development undertaken to improve quality.
Keith Barry has worked solely in Hunter Valley vineyards for more than 40 years (with 21 vintages at Brokenwood), and daughter Katrina followed in his footsteps, picking grapes in her school holidays for Brokenwood before joining the company full-time in 1997.
For Keith and Katrina, viticulture is all about persistence and dedication to achieve high quality fruit. As a vineyard team they have produced Graveyard Shiraz, Mistress Shiraz and Veronia Shiraz consistently through some difficult weather conditions. New chemicals and ideas sourced from new technology and experiments play a large role in their work, researching and developing new techniques for the ongoing preservation and improvement of the vineyard.
2013 Cellar Door of the Year, sponsored by CBA Local Business Banking:
Margan Family Wines
This award recognises excellence at the cellar door, which largely influences the overall public perception and image of the Hunter Valley Wine Industry.
The Cellar Door of the Year Award is judged by “secret shoppers”, who had the following to say about their experience. “Margan Family Wines is a five-star experience. It’s a beautiful cellar door with lovely grounds and friendly, knowledgeable staff. The fantastic kitchen garden and chook shed (behind the restaurant) gives added value.”
“The Margan cellar door team did a great job. They demonstrated a good knowledge of the Hunter region and its wines, actively promoting other Hunter wineries. The wines at Margan Family Wines were all of great quality and well presented, with prices to suit all tastes and budgets. Outstanding.”
2013 Hunter Valley Heritage Award, sponsored by Brian & Fay McGuigan:
Halls Cottage
This award honours the Hunter Valley’s history as Australia’s oldest commercial wine region. The recipient of this award is selected by the Living Legends.
Built in 1876 by the Hall family, one of the Hunter Valley’s founding families, this National Trust-listed ironbark cottage retains many original features, including the timber slab walls and brick chimneys. In 1989 Murray and Linley Robson, Sally and Robert Molines, and Mike and Suzie O’Connor collaborated on the Pepper Tree project, which incorporated the historic cottage into a new restaurant, Robert’s Restaurant, and opened in 1991. Today, the cottage is used as a reception area and offers a range of intimate and private dining rooms, adjacent to the main restaurant.
2013 Hunter Valley Wine Industry Award for Excellence:
Ian Napier and Stewart Ewen
This new award recognises honourable contributions benefiting the Hunter Valley Wine Industry generally and will
only be given in exceptional circumstances.
Ian Napier from Wombat Crossing Vineyard and Stewart Ewen from Bin 688 Vineyard have collaborated for many years to promote the Hunter Valley as a premium wine region in Australia and protect the GI regions from further mining exploitation.
They spearheaded the campaign to combat the coal seam gas mining activities that threatened the Hunter Valley and over the last 12 months saw the climax of more than eight years work, which included many major submissions to Government, lobbying both Federal and State politicians and myriad meetings, when the State Government announced coal seam gas exclusion zones around critical industry clusters in the Hunter Valley.
This award recognises their outstanding contribution to protecting the Hunter Valley wine and tourism industries.
For further information and images, please contact:
Kylie White, White Ink
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(02) 9439 1633 or (0401) 408 080