Wine Show Directors Comments

The community spirit of the Eltham Wine Guild is alive and well. It started on Friday evening with members travelling from all over Melbourne and beyond assembling, with no fuss, to haul wine cartons and setup tables and glasses; some members have been doing this for over 20 years. On Saturday, the judging day, we had over forty member helpers, associate judges and stewards helping with good cheer. What was remarkable was the positive sense of fellowship which to me was the most pleasing result of the show. Our judges were very thorough and I was pleased to see member associate judges really enjoying the day and learning from our patient senior judges.

This is the second year that we have conducted the Hybrid Class which is a wine which is a combination of grape and country (or fruit) ingredients. The benefit of this wine class is that you can, quite cheaply, elevate the fruit flavour levels of a lesser grape wine. Some outstanding examples this year include Purple Basil & Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon & Redcurrant and Orange & Riesling.
Another innovation this year was the formation of the Pro Class which is aimed at members of the Guild and their families that have graduated from amateur status and are in fact starting to sell their wine in the marketplace. We don't want to lose their fellowship and we also wish to celebrate and support their success.

The current vintage reds have taken a battering these last two years with smoke taint from the 2009s and Downy Mildew from the 2010s, the good news from the judges is that for those that were patient the 2008s are looking very good right now.

It is with great pleasure that I announce that the Jo Illian Award for 2012 will be awarded to the best current vintage (2012) Shiraz!!

It's dangerous to single out individuals but I would like to give a special mention to some members that have gone above and beyond and beyond some more this year, namely Gary and the IT team, Chris Kearney with Logistics and Mario with the catering.

So Happy Winemaking, and thank you for all the support for this year.

Down load the full results book here. Wine Show Results 2011

Cheers

Greg Martin
Eltham Wine Show Director 2011.