Ben Small (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The 50th anniversary of the National Wine Show of Australia was celebrated in style at Parliament House on Thursday 12 June this year. To be eligible for the National Wine Show of Australia, wines must first win a gold or silver medal at a qualifying state, capital city or regional wine show, making this a true showcase of Australia's best of the best. Wines from the Margaret River region, despite representing just two per cent of the national grape crush, took home eight of the 23 national trophies. This is the highest number of trophies awarded to any single region this year, underscoring the exceptional quality and reputation of Margaret River producers on the national stage.

In the hotly contested battle of the wine region electorates, Forrest took the top honours this year, collecting an impressive eight national trophies. Mayo followed closely with six. Barker and Bendigo each secured two. Wineries in the Hunter Valley, Flinders, Indi, Bass and Clark brought home one apiece, highlighting the breadth of diversity of Australia's top-performing wine regions. The award-winning wines represented an outstanding quality across a wide price range, with retail prices from $16 to $138 a bottle. Notably, some 16 of the 23 trophy winners are priced under 50 bucks a bottle, making this year's champions both accessible and exceptional in value. Forrest's trophy winners came from tripe.Iscariot, Hamelin Bay Wines, Xanadu Wines, Deep Woods Estate and Evans & Tate.

The Decanter Worldwide Wine Awards, the world's largest and most respected wine competition, is in its 21st year this year and is regarded as one of the most rigorous and influential wine competitions in the world. Amongst the 57 countries participating, Australia ranked fourth overall with only France, Italy and Spain in front. Margaret River, of course, emerged as the most awarded wine region in Australia, securing a total of 104 medals at the show, including 22 Top-Tier awards, one Best in Show award, four Platinum medals and 17 Gold medals. According to Decanter, only 50 wines globally received a coveted Best in Show accolade, representing just 0.3 per cent of all entries. This year, Xanadu's Reserve Cab Sav 2022 picked up a Best in Show gong. Cape Mentelle, Deep Woods Estate, Fermoy and Gralyn Estate all picked up Platinum awards, whilst Gold awards went to Amelia Park, Brookland Valley, Brown Hill Estate, Cape Mentelle, Deep Woods Estate, Domaine Naturaliste, Flametree, Forester Estate, Gralyn Estate, House of Cards, Howard Park, Nocturne, Once & Well and Stella Bella. It is really no wonder that the Margaret River wine region is renowned on the global stage as one of Australia's premier wine regions.