Arguably the most excited were Jason and Alesia Brown when it was announced that their Moppity Vineyards 2015 Estate Shiraz was awarded the title of Wine of Show and the Peter Robertson Trophy for the ‘Hilltops Wine of the Year’.

The Shiraz class, also attracted the most entrants - 30 in total - and was hotly contested, with the judges describing it as “a very strong class with an impressive 80% medal strike rate”.

The Cabernet Sauvignon class was also very solid, being described by the judges as “a highlight of the Hilltops Wine Show” and produced the show’s top runner-up, the McWilliam’s Wines 2014 Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, that took home the Trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon.

“It seems fitting that in the Hilltops Wine Show’s first year the top awards went to a Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon as these reds have historically excelled in the granite based soils of the Hilltops region and done well in other wine shows in the past,” Hilltops Vineyards Association President, Peter Creyke said. 

It is great to now be able to recognise, promote and celebrate them in our own show.”

Freeman Vineyards won the award for the Best White Wine category, Grove Estate won the Best Italian Varietal Wine category and Moppity Vineyards won the Best Other Red/Mature Red category.

“We are really excited by the success of this inaugural Wine Show and grateful to the Riverina Winemakers Association for their support in our first year and conducting the judging in conjunction with the Riverina Wine Show,” Peter Creyke said. 

“Whilst most of the wines entered were from local Hilltops wine producers, we were also delighted to receive entries from nine wineries outside the region, who purchase our grapes to make a Hilltops wine.

“We are still an emerging wine region but both the quality and variety of wines from the Hilltops region continue to grow.”