Mudgee's Robert Stein Wines has scored a trophy at the distinguished Sydney Royal Wine Show.
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Their 2016 Dry Riesling was awarded The Douglas Lamb Perpetual Trophy for the Best Riesling of the Show at last Thursday's Awards Dinner.
Winemaker Jacob Stein - for whom this year marks a decade of making wine back at his family's winery - said it was humbling when you look at the other names on the trophy. However, he was confident given how strongly their Rieslings have performed recently, and the 2016 is now hitting its stride.
"I watch it every year and the Sydney Royal, to me, would be the most prestigious wine show in Australia. It's got that esteem about it, excellent judges, and it's always highly anticipated who wins the big awards," he said.
"Obviously I'm very grateful and humbled that we won it, but nationally we've been doing really well with our Rieslings in the last 10 years, so I was really hoping this would happen one day.
"I think 2016 was an exceptional year for all wine-making really - Riesling in particular - because we had excellent conditions all the way through harvesting and perfectly ripe fruit.
"That [Riesling] is a blend of numerous vineyards, mainly Robert Stein and Miramar.
"And three-year-old Riesling is just at the start of an excellent point in its life. People like to drink Riesling when it's very young or with a few years of age, so it's at that point where it's drinking exceptionally well and not yet reached its peak but will do for a number of years yet."
The prize will go someways towards realigning the reputation of the Mudgee region, which is known for its reds. The fact that it was a Stein's Riesling was also fitting, considering that the family has a link to Australia's first cuttings of Rhine Riesling around 140 years ago.
The winery's past four vintages of the wine have accumulated 30 trophies and 45 gold medals. And Jacob said that more since the big prize winning 2016 are looking good as well, when they'll hit the similar age window.
"I think the 2017 and 2019 Rieslings have the potential to repeat it and I've got high expectations of the 2019 Dry Riesling, which is about to be released as well," he said.
"I think the 2019 is a very similar wine to the 2016 when it was young, so I know it's going to go a long way."