The world’s most widely planted vine and Australia’s third most planted variety, Cabernet Sauvignon, is one of Australian wine’s great success stories.Home to the world’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines, planted in 1886 in the Barossa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon has a long and proud history in Australia.
In its fourth year, the Halliday Australian Cabernet Challenge respects this history whilst celebrating the producers of Cabernet Sauvignon, who are striving to make the best possible wines that reflect a sense of place.
Whether that is the sublime subtlety from the Yarra Valley, the elegant and balanced wines from the Coonawarra terra rossa soil, the rich and decadent signature style from Margaret River or the powerful and luscious expressions from McLaren Vale, the Challenge provides an opportunity for a Cabernet Sauvignon varietal competition of great interest.
Whilst in Margaret River last week, James Halliday recorded the results announcing the 2019 Halliday Australian Cabernet Challenge Trophy winner as the 2018 Ringbolt Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon. View video here.
Scoring 96 points and taking out the top prize from over 350 other entries from 25 regions across the country, the 2018 Ringbolt Cabernet Sauvignon was made from a selection of sites around Margaret River, in what winemaker Heather Fraser said was “near perfect Cabernet Sauvignon ripening conditions”.
The 2019 Halliday Australian Cabernet Challenge Regional Winners are:
Coonawarra Best of Region
Yalumba The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
Great Southern Best of Region
Forest Hill Vineyard Highbury Fields Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
Margaret River Best of Region
Ringbolt Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
McLaren Vale Best of Region
Wirra Wirra The Angelus Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
Pyrenees Best of Region
Glenlofty Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2017
Yarra Valley Best of Region
Dominique Portet Fontaine Cabernet Sauvignon 2018
The full results are also now available to view at www.australiancabernetchallenge.com.au
Cabernet Sauvignon of all vintages are eligible and judged by region without judges knowing which region they were officiating. Wines achieving a Gold Medal score (95 points and over) were selected to determine the Best of Region wine, then each Regional Winner was judged again for the Trophy.
The Halliday Australian Cabernet Challenge was conducted under the auspices of the Margaret River Wine Association in conjunction with the Langton’s 2019 Margaret River Wine Show. The 2019 Judges were:
David Brookes – Wine Marketing Labs, Chair of Judges (New South Wales)
Joe Czerwinski – Robert Parker Wine Advocate, International Judge (New York)
Melanie Chester - Sutton Grange Estate (Victoria)
Sandrine Gimon - Wine Rage Consulting (Victoria)
Stuart Hordern – Brokenwood Wines (New South Wales)
Alex Hudak – Pure Wine Co (Victoria)
Lisa Jenkins - Mac Forbes Wines (Victoria)
Kate Laurie - Deviation Road (South Australia)
Robert Mann– Corymbia (Western Australia)
Kate Morgan - Ipso Facto Wines & Byron & Harold Estate (Western Australia)
Sarah Pidgeon – Wynns Coonawarra (South Australia)
Ben Portet - Dominique Portet (Victoria)
Daniel Swincer - Pernod Ricard (South Australia)