Eight Trophies … including the Most Successful Exhibitor of the Show for at the 2025 Victorian Wine Show … plus nineteen Gold Medals, were awarded to Tahbilk and Dalfarras releases across last year, and not to mention a further twenty-seven Silver and thirty-two Bronze Medals.
All in all, a wonderful recognition from the ‘industry’ that we are justifiably proud of and kudos to our vineyard and winemaking teams for their efforts in achieving these results.
Wine Show Judging 101
There are around 70 Wine Shows held each year across Australia, with each having certain entry criteria. For example, wines must be made in a certain region or you need a certain volume of wine bottled or it may be an organic only wine show.
There are at least 3 judges and up to 2 associates who taste, comment on and score the wines. The scores given by the associate don’t count towards the wines final score. The associate is there to learn and may help the judges when deliberating over a wine/s by offering another opinion.
Wines are entered in various Classes & then judged on a number of criteria to a maximum of 20 points.
3 points – appearance (colour/clarity etc.)
7 points – bouquet
10 points - palate.
Gold Medals are awarded for wines that achieve 18.5 points or more
Silver – 17 to 18.4 points
Bronze 15.5 to 16.9 points.
All Gold Medal winners are then reassessed in the judging to award Trophies.
There is no limit to the number of wines that can be awarded medals within each Class – if the wine is good enough it is recognized as such. Equally, for example, if no wines score 18.5 points or more then there will be no Gold Medals awarded in that Class.
It is also worth noting that over 70% of wines entered in Shows receives no medals at all, so whilst all that glitters is definitely Trophies and Gold, even a Bronze Medal has its own cachet.
