Howard Park wins gold in Portugal

Western Australian winery Howard Park is the only Australian wine producer to be awarded gold at the 2006 Wine Masters Challenge – VIII Concurso Mundial de Vinhos in Portugal.

Awarded two gold medals and two silver medals, the win will further entrench Howard Park’s place in the international wine scene.

It was the 2003 Howard Park Leston Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2002 Howard Park Cabernet Sauvignon that snared the converted gold. Silver went to the 2003 Howard Park Scotsdale Shiraz and the 2004 Howard Park Chardonnay.

The Wine Masters Challenge took place in Portugal last month. Despite being a fairly new fixture on the wine calendar, the event has already been deemed by international wine scribes to be one of the best for its strict rules concerning wine selection and voting parameters.

The VIII Wine Masters Challenge 2006 was open without limitation to all wines coming within the scope of international standards; this year, 3,712 wines were sampled.

Of these, only 1,146 made it through to the finals, where 75 were awarded gold, 127 silver and 126 bronze.

These latest accolades provide further indication that the work of vineyard manager (Margaret River) David Burch, chief winemaker Michael Kerrigan, and winemaker Andy Browning is on track.

Following rave reviews by Australian wine doyen James Halliday, the 2003 Leston Cabernet Sauvignon won the ‘blue gold’ award at last year’s Sydney International Awards.

The wine comes from stock first planted in 1998, and along with the 2002 Scotsdale Shiraz, comes from the Single Vineyard Series – wines designed to exemplify regional differences of shiraz and cabernet from the Great Southern and Margaret River.

Shiraz has been a proven winner for Howard Park’s expansive commitment to single vineyard wines. While the grape doesn’t immediately spring to mind when one thinks of Margaret River, Mr Kerrigan’s commitment to the variety, exemplified in the Leston plantings in Margaret River, are testament to shiraz’s potential in the area.

One needs only remember that the 2002 Leston Shiraz also claimed gold at the 2005 International San Francisco Wine Competition.