Winery rustles up win

By Kath Gannaway
WILD Cattle Creek Wines of Wandin won its first gold medal at the recent Lilydale Agricultural and Horticultural Society 2005 Yarra Valley Wine Show.
Owner Graham Smith was thrilled with the win and very keen to share the kudos with his winemaker Geoff Wright and vineyard manager Adam Dobson.
“It’s the first time we have entered our wines in a competition and to have two out of the four wines we entered awarded medals is terrific,” Mr Smith said.
The judges awarded a gold medal for the 2004 sauvignon blanc, describing it as being ‘true to style’. The 2005 sauvignon blanc was awarded a bronze medal.
“We have endeavoured to maintain this true style of sauvignon blanc throughout the last few years and we have been rewarded with our first gold medal.
“To get this particular gold medal is especially pleasing because it is the first gold awarded to a sauvignon blanc for many, many years, and secondly, because gold is not automatically awarded in all classes,” Mr Smith said.
The competition was also steep, he said, with many of the bigger, more established wineries entering this year.
Mr Smith said he also felt sauvignon blanc was seeing a revival in popularity over the past few years.
“People seem to be getting away from the drier wines and going more for the sweeter wines.”
Wild Cattle Creek grows sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, merlot, pinot and pinot gris on its 27.2 hectares (65 acres) of vineyard at Yarra Junction and a smaller vineyard at Wandin where it operates its Wild Cattle Creek cellar door in conjunction with the Rustic Charm Restaurant.