Photo: Bobbie and Mollie
Murrumbateman Winery’s new 2021 Chardonnay received a score of 95 and a gold award at the Tradies Canberra and Region Wine Show last month.
Winemaker and owner Bobbie Makin said he thought it was the pick of the season and the gold award was a reflection that it was a good wine from the beginning.
“We’ve had some challenging years with smoke and fires and hailstorms and all sorts of things,” Bobbie said. “But that wine was a joy to create from the beginning to the end. It was a beautiful experience to get it done.”
The wine show, which showcases locally grown and produced wines, and recognises the achievements of winemakers in Canberra and the surrounding region was set to be held last September but was pushed back to January due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Bobbie said he was super happy that these wine shows and events were running again.
“It’s really lovely to get a result from our production,” he said. “It’s a lot of hard work.”
“I was always feeling that it was our pick of the season for our whites, and it just came in beautifully clean and really on point with acid,” Bobbie said.
“It made my job a lot easier in the winery to just coax it along and do my little work with oak on it and just make sure it was all balanced.”
Bobbie said the chardonnay just seemed to gravitate and liken to the conditions that came up in 2021.
The winemaker described the chardonnay as lightly oaked with a vibrant acid and very dry finish contrasting with some playful sugars.
“You would expect it to be something that really vibrates that citrus behind a buttery oak and then just have a really light playful sugar that just follows along behind it.”
Bobbie said most of the vineyard’s wines were very aromatic and vibrant in acids, which he believes could be a result of soil compaction through long drought followed by heavy rains brought on by La Nina.
“What we’ve found in 2021 vintages they were really showing a lot more natural acidity in the vault forming grapes than we had seen in the previous vintages recent years.”
The winery’s popular glass – the 2021 Mollie’s Sauvignon Blanc – also achieved a silver award. Named after Bobbie’s Husky cross rescue dog from the RSPCA, a portion of proceeds from the wine’s sales go to the RSPCA.
Bobbie said they try to make Mollie’s wine as approachable as they can leading to a rather tropical experience.
“I was surprised to see the judges gravitate to that so well because I made that more for the punter than the competition,” he said. “I think it’s just an easy-drinking wine that anyone could just come to and enjoy, not just the experienced wine taster.”
In the Murrumbateman Winery’s 2021 vintage they increased their RSPCA wines to four and also host several events such as Santa Paws Day, which generates funds for the charity.
By Brianna O’Rourke