Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Wine Shows

In previous posts I have mentioned the South Coast Wine Show, details of which can be found at http://www.southcoastwineshow.blogspot.com/
This is only open to commercial wineries but was spawned from the long running amateur winemaking competition at the Milton Agricultural Show nearly 10 years ago.
The latter continues and I decided this year to enter some wines, two Cabernet Sauvignon vintages and a Pinot Noir/Tempranillo/Cabernet Rose' in the Milton Show.
Wonder upon wonder, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon won first prize in the red wine section.

This is no big deal but it is good to know that the judges appreciated the wine style and above all could not pick up any obvious wine faults.
We had only bottled it a week before the show and had hoped it had settled down a bit after that "trauma".
On speaking to the judges later, it turned out that the Rose' was also under consideration so that augers well for this year's vintage.
The Semillon has been made and is in the tank settling after being racked off the lees. The Pinot Noir will be picked and crushed tomorrow (weather permitting) and the Tempranillo is not far away. I am still considering whether to make another rose' out of that or try for a varietal red.
The Cabernet Sauvignon will sit on the vines for a few more weeks and is likely to be picked just after Easter or maybe early April. I would really like to get it really ripe this year despite the terrible season and produce a wine with a resultant higher alcohol than the previous vintage.

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