A Whole Lotta Love: The Wine Gippsland Awards 2024

The Gippsland wine scene was once relatively small and used to be a bit of a secret, but not anymore. I’ve heard on the grape vine that top-end Tokyo restaurants almost exclusively list Gippsland vintages as their sole Australian wines, and that a delegation of US wine writers are “only” going to Gippsland in Victoria this year to the vexation of other regions.

I was fortunate enough to attend both the judging and recent awards for the Westpac Gippsland Wine Show 2024. You might’ve heard it said: “Where there is no wine, there is no love.”  Well, there was a lot of love in the room at the awards, where I met some the legends, the rock stars and the upstarts of the Gippsland wine scene.

THE REGION

Gippsland is located in the East of Victoria and is huge: about the size of Switzerland.  Because of its size, the region offers a wide variety of conditions and terroirs, from Phillip Island in the West to the Lakes over 300 kilometres away, then heading south to north from Wilson’s Prom to the foothills of the Great Dividing Range.

I asked Jane Faulkner – Halliday Gippsland Region expert – at the judging what makes Gippsland wines notable. “Gippsland’s good for cool climate varietals like pinot noir, chardonnay, a cheeky little riesling and the odd surprisingly good sparkling wine,” she said. “It’s great to get a snapshot of all the vintages, and what’s happening across the region, where things are at. When we judge, we’re looking for joy in the wines.”

Some of Australia’s best wine tasters were on the panel. With Jane, there was the chair Sarah Fagan (Tarrawarra’s chief wine maker) and Julian Grounds (Stonier Wines, Mornington Peninsular) who tasted 114 entries from 20 wineries across Gippsland.

 

CARRAJUNG ESTATE – THE AWARDS

The awards were held at Carrajung Estate, north of Yarram and about three hours from Melbourne. The countryside around there looks like “Middle Earth”, with rolling hills of green and peaceful yet positively mystical outlooks. The Estate, famous for their sparkling wines and flat whites, is beautiful. You’d struggle to find a better view to sip wine, as crimson rosellas fly through vines with rose bushes at the end of each line, with historic houses dotted about the landscape that you can stay in – a perfect place for weddings. Their sparkling wine Carrajung Estate 2020 Vintage Sparkling Chardonnay was sensational and won the best sparkling in the show this year, their first trophy.

 

THE LEGENDS

Rick Lacey and Maira Vitols from Purple Hen winery cleaned up in the awards on the night. In addition to winning Best White Wine of Provenance for the Purple Hen Off Dry Riesling 2020, 2021, 2024, and Best Shiraz with the Purple Hen 2023 Shiraz, they also received a lifetime award for their contribution to the local wine scene. Rick has trained many of the other award winning wine makers.

I had the nerve-wracking moment of trying the Purple Hen sparkling wine, another medal winner, while wine maker Rick Lacey looked on. He asked me what I thought. “It tastes like French cheese in the mid-profile” I replied, and he agreed, telling me he left it on the yeast after it had died back, to give it that flavour.

 

THE ROCK STARS

Dirty Three’s wine maker Marcus Satchel has become the star of the region, coming to be known as the “Jo Marsh (of Billy Button fame) of the South”. He studied under Rick at Purple Hen before setting up Inverloch based “Dirty Three” several years ago with three different allotments of soil, hence the “three dirts” of their name. In addition to making wine, Marcus also plays saxophone, bass and drums, so actually is a real rockstar. His partner Lisa Sartori got on the bus to the awards with a silver dish of ice and Capi soft drinks to share, a great touch for the long journey. No wonder they keep winning!

Marcus and Lisa took out the Best Red Wine of Provenance for the Dirty Three All The Dirts Pinot Noir 2019, 2022, 2023. In the Rieslings their trendy Dirty Rizza also won its class, though I was also absolutely floored by the class 3c Aromatic White other varietal Wyanga Park 2024 Field Blend which won its section.

 

THE SILK

Of course it wasn’t a race between just two horses. The Gippsland Wine Company 2023 Loch Chardonnay not only won best Chardonnay but also won the best wine in show.

The Best Pinot Noir class was hotly-contested, with nearly a page of listings, and five Gold and three Silver medals awarded. The trophy was won by Emily and Hercules Van Der Walt with their Silverwaters Vineyard 2023 Pinot Noir, another first-time trophy recipient.

The intergenerational Lightfoot Wines – from the Lightfoot family – of the Gippsland Lakes near Myrtleford won best exhibitor... which boils down to having the top four rated wines by points (gold and silver medals). And last but not least in my notes I must highlight Bass River Winery. Their wine maker, the illustrious Frank Butera, was chief wine steward at the judging, and while they did not take any trophies won a number of medals.

 

THE UPSTARTS

Ernie Carra, a quietly spoken man I met on the bus to the awards – who told me he’s had a change of career from IT – won the best Rosé in show with the Gurdies Winery, his first ever vintage after leaving Rick Lacey of Purple Hen’s tutelage. He told me on the two-hour drive back across Gippsland all the other things he would do to make it better next year.

“But you won your category!” I exclaimed.

“Yes, but I only got a silver (90-94.9 points). Next year it’s gonna be a gold. I follow the Japanese concept of continuous improvement. You can be at the top of your game, but if you sit on your laurels you’re headed for a fall. You’ve always got to improve even if what you’ve already done is fantastic.”

A very sound principle. And spoken by someone with a whole lot of love. Another rock star in the making? Watch this space.

 

To see the complete list of awards, visit:

https://www.winegippsland.com/2024-gippsland-wine-show