The McWilliam’s Wines-owned Lillydale Estate, in Victoria’s Yarra Valley wine district, has triumphed at this year’s Melbourne Wine Show, securing top awards for its currently-available chardonnay and cabernet-merlot blend.

The awards were:

• LILLYDALE ESTATE CHARDONNAY 2002 ($19.50) - top-awarded Chardonnay in commercial classes (silver medal, class 54);
• LILLYDALE ESTATE CABERNET MERLOT 2001 ($23.50) – TOP GOLD in commercial dry red class (class 60)

McWilliam’s Chief Winemaker, Jim Brayne said these important accolades were further affirmation of the company’s faith in the consistently high quality of fruit – both white and red –available from the cool-climate Yarra Valley region.

Fruit for both wines was rigorously selected from a range of the Yarra Valley’s best vineyard sites. This includes McWilliam’s own highly-regarded vineyards – named Morning Light and Sunnyside – which span 13.5 hectares and are located at the cooler, southern-most end of the Yarra Valley.

This diverse fruit supply provides McWilliam’s winemakers with a broader range of blending options, and the ability to produce wines that are high in quality and consistent in style from year to year despite varying vintage conditions.

Mr Brayne said the Lillydale Chardonnay’s elegant, yet full-flavoured and well-structured style had attracted many loyal supporters, and the current 2002 vintage was no exception. “It’s a stylish, essentially fruit-driven wine, with a richness and depth derived from time spent in new French oak,” he said.

Mr Brayne said the Lillydale Cabernet Merlot 2001 was from one of the best red vintages the Yarra Valley has seen in recent years. Mild to warm conditions towards the end of vintage, and little rain during harvest, resulted in exceptional colour and flavour intensity.

“This wine is also made to a rich, full-flavoured, yet elegant style with distinctive blackcurrant and herbaceous Cabernet flavours,” Mr Brayne said. “The small Merlot component (10 per cent) rounds off the palate and imparts a velvety richness and persistence to the final wine.”

The Lillydale Estate range is available in limited quantities from fine wine stores nationally. It is also available from the Lillydale Estate Winery Cellar Door and Restaurant, located at 45 Davross Court, Seville, 3139 (Melways 305 F1). Phone: 03 5964 2016.

Mr Brayne’s detailed winemaking notes on the medal-winning Lillydale Estate wines follow (page 2).

In other show highlights, judges also awarded the family-owned McWilliam’s Wines:

• The HR Haselgrove Memorial Trophy: Most Successful Exhibitor, Brandy classes;
• A gold medal for the multi-award-winning, currently-available McWilliam’s Limited Release Botrytis Riesling 2001 ($24);
• Gold medals for two vintages (1996 and 2003) of Mount Pleasant’s super-premium, single-vineyard Lovedale Semillon; and
• A gold medal for McWilliam’s super-premium, currently-available Show Reserve Olorosso ($44.99)
• In total, McWilliam’s Wines secured a trophy, nine gold, 21 silver and 47 bronze medals at the show, the results of which were announced last night (Thursday 7 August).

McWilliam’s Chief Winemaker, Jim Brayne’s detailed winemaking comments on the medal-winning Lillydale Estate wines are as follows:

LILLYDALE ESTATE CHARDONNAY 2002

Fruit for this 100 per cent Chardonnay was rigorously selected in early to mid-April. After crushing and draining, the clear free-run juice was inoculated with a neutral yeast to begin fermentation, which initially took place in stainless steel tanks. The wine was then transferred to 100 per cent new French oak barrels to complete primary and partial malolactic fermentation. It was kept on fermentation lees in the same barrels for ten months, with regular (every fortnight) lees stirring. The final wine was fined, cold stabilised, filtered and bottled. A fruit-driven, balanced wine showing lemon, lime and cut straw aromas on the nose and citrus fruit flavours on the palate. The wine finishes with firm, and pleasantly persistent French oak and buttery malolactic fermentation characters.

LILLYDALE ESTATE CABERNET MERLOT 2001

A blend of 90 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 10 per cent Merlot picked during the cool of the night to retain the fruit’s fresh, elegant flavours. Fermentation initially took place in a combination of rotary and headed-down open fermenters and was completed in a combination of new (50 per cent) and two-year-old oak. Seventy per cent of the wine was barrel fermented, with the balance receiving new oak treatment once extended maceration was complete. The wine was then matured for 17 months in a combination of American (55 per cent) and French (45 per cent) oak. This is a rich but elegant wine with great persistence and tight, powerful tannins. The wine offers intense lifted violet and herb aromas on the nose and herbaceous, blackcurrant fruit on the palate.