Family-owned Clare Valley winery Taylors Wines has triumphed to win Australia’s most coveted trophy for shiraz under $25 at the nation’s premier shiraz competition, The 2011 Visy Great Australian Shiraz Challenge recently.

Winning one of only two trophies on offer for Australia’s favourite red variety, Taylors 2010 Promised Land Shiraz took out the Trophy for Best Shiraz Under $25 and received an outstanding second place overall beating other more expensive wines of the 380 wines entered in the national competition.

With a recommended retail price of just $13.95, the 2010 Promised Land Shiraz is proof Australia’s great wines don’t need to be the most costly.

“Shiraz is Australia’s favourite red wine variety. We’ve watched it continue to grow in popularity with Australian wine drinkers and it now makes up almost one in every three bottles of red wine sold in the nation,” Mitchell Taylor, third generation Managing Director of Taylors Wines said.

This is just the second year Taylors has entered its Promised Land Shiraz into the Challenge. Although, this is not the first coveted trophy win for Taylors at the show, having taken out top honours with the Great Australian Shiraz Trophy for its 1998 St Andrews Shiraz in 2001 and the People’s Choice Award for its 1997 St Andrews Shiraz in 2000.

The 2010 Promised Land Shiraz exhibits all the hallmarks of a classic Australian shiraz with its lively red berry flavours, fine gentle tannins and soft silky finish. This is a shiraz to open with some Australian blue cheese or vintage cheddar. Its deep red and purple colour is matched by the vibrant red currant, plum and spicy aromas.

It is a wine fast growing in popularity among Australian wine drinkers and is in the top 10* in its varietal and price segment with an incredible sales growth rate of 62.7% year on yea*. The Promised Land Shiraz also won a Top Gold at the 2011 Cairns Wine Show recently.

Great Australian Shiraz Chairman of Judges Gary Baldwin said the panel was looking for wines that had strong or expressive primary fruit, secondary characters such as oak and other artefacts could be part of the wine, provided they were in balance. Gary was joined by an esteemed panel with Sue Bell, Simon Osicka and Richard Angove tasked with this tough job of selecting Australia’s best shiraz wines.

The annual Great Australian Shiraz Challenge was established in 1995 by the winemakers of the Nagambie Lakes region who laid down a challenge to determine Australia’s best shiraz producers.

Taylors Wines are available at leading liquor merchants: 2010 Promised Land Shiraz – $13.95

Full results are available on The Visy 2011 Great Australian Shiraz Challenge at www.shirazchallenge.com.au.

Related popular articles:

• To cork or not to cork
• The Eastern promise – forecasted growth for alcoholic beverage market is driven by Asia-Pacific
• Australian wineries increasingly say ‘Screw It’