Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year Awards 2010

Tonight, following the final Landmark Tutorial Chardonnay and fortified sessions we’ll all be heading down to Melbourne for the glitzy Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year Awards ceremony at the Hyatt hotel.  It’s a much coveted, prestigious title and I reckon everyone will be on tenterhooks until the result is announced. 

Up for the gong are:  Jim Chatto (Pepper Tree Wines), Sue Hodder & Allen Jenkins (Wynns Coonawarra Estate), Tom Newton (Hardys), John & Belinda Thomson (Crawford River), Virginia Willcock (Vasse Felix), Adam Wadewitz & Viv Thomson (Best’s Great Western), Alex McKay (Collector) and Tim Adams (Tim Adams Wines). 

It’s a real mix of talent which showcases the diversity of the Australian wine scene.  I particularly like the fact that Wynns’ double nomination is for viticulturist Allen Jenkins as well as Chief Winemaker, Sue Hodder.  Everyone says good wine is made in the vineyard, but you meet a lot more winemakers than viticulturists!  So good to go beyond the lip service and pay tribute to the viticulturist, though Sue Hodder left me in no doubt about the importance of Jenkin’s role when we met in May (see my report of a Coonawarra tasting and vineyard renovation at Wynns here).  And Jenkins can take heart in the 2006 result, which saw viticulturist Prue Henschke triumph with her husband Stephen!