Wine improves with age, the older I get the more I like it. Improving with age, however, is not the case with the wine judged to be best of the Dookie Wine Show this year. Going against the trend for the second year in a row, white wines took out the honours, which, according to a local wine merchant and chairman of the Dookie Wine Show, Paul Phillips from Phillips Cellars, white wines should be fresh.
Sponsored by The Adviser, this year’s Wine of the Show was a 2019 Garganega coming from Longleat Wines of Murchison that was indeed fresh. It was also the winner of Class 6 – Other Whites. The variety is from Italy and only a handful of vintners are growing this variety in Australia.
The Dookie Wine Show has now been going for 16 years with the aim of promoting local wines and this year was no different. Held at the McIntosh Centre at the Shepparton Showgrounds in conjunction with Shepparton GOTAFE where the students provided the catering to over 200 attendees with food and matching wines, seven awards were presented to different classes of wine.
Taking out honours in Class-1 for a Shiraz was a 2018 Wine by Sam Shiraz of Forest Hut. In Class 2 – Cabernet was a 2016 Cabernet from John Gehrig of Rutherglen. Class 3 – Merlot was awarded to Gapsted Wines of Myrtleford for their 2018 Cabernet Merlot. Class 4-Other Reds was also awarded to John Gehrig for their 2017 Durif. In the whites, the award for Class 5 – Chardonnay was awarded to the Gapsted High Country 2017 Chardonnay. The final award for Class 7 – Sparklings went to Longleat Wines for their Cuvee Brut.
While the most consumed wine of the evening was the Garganega, which is a cross between a Riesling and a Pinot Grigio that has a fresh taste on the front palate trending to a peach flavour on the middle palate and finishes off clean and crisp, a wine over which there was much comment during the evening was the John Gehrig Durif.
With a general interest in anything red and wet, I was challenged to try the Garganega, which will be central to the next warm Saturday afternoon in the sun.
