For the third year running Robert Stein Winery and Vineyard has picked up a medal for their Riesling and winemaker Jacob Stein said he is overwhelmed with this year’s gold medal.

“This is a very important show for us,” he said.

“We are judged amongst the most recognised small producers and to have people like James Halliday judging at these awards is something special.”

The gold medal wine is a 2010 Half Dry Riesling which was entered in a sweet white class.

In 2009 the winemaker also picked up gold for his Riesling and in 2008 collected a medal for being in the top 10 of the Canberra Riesling Challenge.

Mr Stein, a third generation winemaker at Robert Stein, said the half dry Riesling is successful on the back of old vines.

“You want to be able to express where the fruit is grown and give the Riesling its true qualities,” he said.

“You have to be careful and don’t play around with it, making sure we give it the typical Riesling qualities.”

The hand picked, whole bunch pressed, half dry wine has a residual sugar content of 18 grams which means during fermentation the wine was stopped when reaching the desired residual level.

Also collecting a gold medal at the 2010 Winewise Small Vignerons Awards was Mudgee’s diLusso Estate for their 2006 Sangiovese.

The team at diLusso’s said they were very proud to win the medal and credit must go to both former winemaker Drew Tuckwell for establishing the wine and current winemaker Julia Conchie for bottling and presenting it.

The Winewise Small Vignerons Awards recognises producers who crush less than 250 tonnnes of fruit.

From a panel of three judges wines must be rated greater than 18.4 points out of 20 by each judge to qualify for the gold medal.

By obtaining a gold medal, the half dry Riesling and Sangiovese have qualified for the premium and single vineyard classes in the 2010 National Wine Show of Australia.

Mr Stein said young winemakers in the region were really starting to make an impact not just in Mudgee.

“Mudgee’s young winemakers are really starting to show their true spirits now,” he said.

Other vineyards who also contested and won medals at the Winewise Small Vignerons Awards were Clearview Estate, Burnbrae, Frog Rock, Huntington Estate, and Two Furlongs.