Our 2010 William Randell Shiraz has continued its recent run of success. Today it was announced the wine has won a highly regarded ‘Blue Gold’ medal at the 2014 Sydney International Wine Competition, we are still contenders for a Trophy which will be announced in March 2014.

The Sydney International Wine Competition is one of the few wine competitions globally where the wines entered are assessed alongside food and judged on how well they accompany / complement a dish deemed as suitable for the style (William Randell is classed ‘Fuller Bodied Dry Red Wine’).

With 2000 entries and a tasting panel consisting of five Australian judges and 7 international judges a ‘Blue Gold’ is an excellent result – fingers crossed we collect a trophy in March.

With a double trophy win at the International Wine Challenge this year, multiple gold medals in international wine shows, a spot in James Hallidays Top 100 wines last year and numerous other accolades to its name, the 2010 William Randell has certainly proved to be a hit with all who taste it. 

Congratulations go to our Senior Winemaker Helen McCarthy for scooping two out of the three prizes at the “2013 Young Winemaker of the Year Awards”! Not only did Helen win the “Supporter Choice Award”, an award judged by the sponsors and trade but she also took out the “Finalists Choice Award”, an award given to her by her peers for her William Randell Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 and William Randell Shiraz 2010.

This year the award, which has been running annually since 2001, attracted a field of 69 nominees from ages 35 or younger. Judging was conducted in two rounds – with industry stalwarts Ian McKenzie, Greg Melick, Travis Fuller and Toni Paterson MW responsible for the first cull to determine the 10 finalists.

From here, the finalists’ wines were shipped to an international judging panel comprising recognised industry leaders and wine show judges from Australia and New Zealand. The 2013 finalist panel comprised of John Belsham (Foxes Island), Tom Carson (Yabby Lake), Iain Riggs (Brokenwood), James Halliday, 2013 Sommelier of the Year Jarrod Mills (EST.) and last year’s The Wine Society Young Winemaker of the Year, Nick Picone (Villa Maria).

“As in previous years, the quality of the wines was fantastic,” said Ian McKenzie.  “It is a great opportunity as a judge to see the wines from this new generation of winemakers. They will obviously continue to gain experience and offer more to the industry in future years.”

2013 International Wine Challenge: 2010 William Randell Shiraz

Double Trophy Winner – Top Australian Shiraz and Top Barossa Shiraz

Australian wine producer Thorn-Clarke Wines continued its remarkable run of trophy wins yesterday at the London-based International Wine Challenge.

The 2010 vintage of Thorn-Clarke’s flagship William Randell Shiraz came away with Trophies for Best Australian Shiraz and Best Barossa Shiraz, in a field of outstanding wines from around the globe.

Over the last 10 years the family-owned ‘quiet achievers’ have logged an impressive record of 20 trophies for their Barossa wines from International and major Australian wine shows.

Chief Executive Sam Clarke, speaking from the London Wine Trade Fair said today that Australian winemakers can take heart from the high standards they set both domestically and internationally.

“Australian wines are consistently setting the pace for elegance and balance and they are worthy ambassadors of Australian culture,” he said.

“With an ever-strengthening reputation for quality, effective point-of-origin regulation and clean, green credentials, Australian wineries continue to be among the nation’s most successful exporters.”

“We are in an excellent position to take advantage of the recent improvement in our terms of trade following the fall of the Australian dollar.”

Mr Clarke said the 2010 William Randell Shiraz was awarded 97 points and a ranking in James Halliday’s Top 100 wines for 2012 late last year. The company had also taken out three trophies for their Shotfire and Terra Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz blend in the Great Australian Red competition recently.

“The International Wine Challenge wins confirm that our wines hold both local and International appeal. It’s a big win for our winery and vineyard team, whose dedication and quality focus have made this success possible”.

Vintage Roundup for 2013:

Thanks to a very dry spring and summer vintage 2013 wines are of a high standard.   The weather resulted in little to no disease pressure during the growing season.  Vintage was on average two weeks earlier than normal.

The white wines (all grown on our Mount Crawford vineyard) are showing crisp acid backbones and delicate flavours.

The red wines are intensely coloured and flavoured.  The dry weather however resulted in extremely low crop levels on our red vineyards across the Barossa region.

Winemakers:

Helen McCarthy and Anna Broms

Thorn-Clarke winemakers Helen McCarthy and Anna Broms will be attending the “Women in Wine” event.

Surf Coast Times 2/4/2013 page 72

“Grapevine” Brought to you by Jon Helmer:

“Believe it or not, but this ‘Piper’ was pipped at the post by only half a point by the winner of last year’s Jimmy Watson Trophy (the Bests 2011 Bin 1 Shiraz- $25, a wine that went on to sell out extremely quickly as per usual with Jimmy Watson winners of yore). Not only that, but the 2011 Sandpiper Shiraz has so far won a Gold Medal at the 2012 Melbourne Wine Show and a Gold Medal at the recent Sydney Wine Show….phew! Considering the price point, this is huge news and punters looking for an exceptional buy should be jumping all over this!

The 2011 vintage was as most know a much cooler vintage with a slower ripening period which has helped produce more elegance than usual in the reds of the Barossa – well known for their big ripe flavours and generous fruit. The Sandpiper range is all about value and the 2011 Shiraz delivers in spades. Typical dark berries, plums and spice dominate the rich palate with a whiff of oak in the background and soft tannins and good length on the finish. Now, how many of you can keep this under your hat so that we all can enjoy it before all hell breaks loose whenword gets out? I wonder.”

James Halliday’s Top 100 Wines,

Reds over $20

The Weekend Australian Magazine,

November 2012, Page 29

Inky purple crimson, as the colour promises, a wine saturated with all manner of black fruits and bitter chocolate. Yet it has an open-weave texture that keeps it light on its feet and allows a farewell of juicy fruit to find its way through the quality oak and fine tannins. An exceptional Shiraz.

Drink to 2050 with squab breast.

Every year there is a wine challenge organised by Tyson Steltzer and Matthew Jukes to see who has made the most outstanding blend of Shiraz and Cabernet.

Blending of these two varieties is a practice unique to Australia.

Thorn-Clarke was the winner of this year’s challenge against some very stiff competition

Details were;

Terra Barossa Shiraz Cabernet Petit Verdot 2010

Gold and Trophy for the the best wine under $20

Shotfire Cabernet Shiraz 2010

Gold and Trophy for best wine in the $20 – $50 range

Overall Winner – Trophy for the Great Australian Red 2012

We have received some fantastic awards from 4 international wine shows recently:

2008 William Randell Shiraz – GOLD

2010 Shotfire Shiraz – SILVER x 2

2010 Sandpiper Shiraz – GOLD

2010 Shotfire Quartage – GOLD & SILVER

2010 Shotfire Cabernet Shiraz – GOLD

Highly acclaimed Barossa Winery Thorn-Clarke is pleased to announce that Helen McCarthy will be joining the family owned company as its’ Senior Winemaker on the 4^th October.

Helen cut her teeth as a graduate winemaker at Southcorp before moving on to Taylors Wines where she remained for nine years. In her new role, Helen will have oversight of all Vineyard and Winery operations.

Helen is highly credentialed as she has completed the Len Evans tutorial and the Wine Industry Future Leader’s program in addition to holding a degree in Oenology from Adelaide University with First honours. She is currently a fully certified wine show judge and is studying for an MBA.

She has been involved in crafting some great wines in previous roles and is looking forward to taking over the winemaking reins at Thorn-Clarke. Given Thorn-Clarke’s fabulous success in the market place, Helen plans to keep making the same outstanding quality but already has a few ideas as to how the wines might be developed further.

Given Helen’s great background and approach to leadership, everyone at Thorn-Clarke Wines is looking forward to working with her.

Former winemaker, Derek Fitzgerald who made some great Estate wines over his eight  vintages with Thorn-Clarke is moving on to pursue other opportunities in the industry.

Thorn-Clarke’s Estate grown wines from the Barossa has been one of the outstanding success stories of the past 10 years in the Australian Industry.

If you have any questions, please contact Sam Clarke on 0417 989 651.