PURPLE HEN WINES WINS FIVE TROPHIES AT GIPPSLAND WINE SHOW 2011

Purple Hen Wines followed on from their success at last year’s Wine Show with another great performance – taking out trophies for Best Pinot Noir, Best Shiraz, Best Sparkling Wine, Best Red Wine and Most Successful Exhibitor of Show.

Over 40 wineries and 200 wines from across Gippsland compete in the annual Show with a judging team chaired by David Bicknell of Oakridge Wines, who also chairs the judging team at this year’s Royal Melbourne Wine Show. The awards took place at Lardner Park Exhibition Centre on Thursday 8^th September after two days of judging.

Purple Hen won medals for five of its six wines entered, with Golds for the Shiraz, Pinot Noir and Sparkling Blanc de Blanc, Silver for the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc and Bronze for 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon. This is the second year in a row that the Purple Hen Shiraz has won both its class Trophy and the Trophy for Best Red Wine in Show.

In receiving the awards Rick noted his great pleasure in the performance of Purple Hen’s Blanc de Blanc, winner of the Best Sparkling Wine. “This is our first sparkling white wine and the first time we have entered it in a wine show. For it to do so well gives us great confidence for the future. It takes a lot of time and extra expense to produce sparkling wines using bottle fermentation, this wine has justified that time and effort”, he said.

Rick also noted that the results reflected a team effort in both the vineyard and the winery. “Taking out the Trophy for Most Successful Exhibitor for a second year reflects consistent attention to detail in the vineyard and winery plus the strength of the Phillip Island and San Remo climate and soils.”