Ladies who Shoot their Lunch wins Best Australian Shiraz!
Plunkett Fowles wines, from the Strathbogie Ranges, has won the Trophy for the Best Shiraz in Australia at the 2010 VISY Great Australian Shiraz Challenge. The winning wine was the intriguingly named Ladies who Shoot their Lunch2008 Shiraz - a wine blended to match with game food. For the first time in history, the prize has been awarded to a Victorian winery.
Comments from Chairman of Judges, Stephen Henschke of Henschke Wines
“The top wine was an exemplary example of a great cool climate Shiraz.”
“The focus of this year’s Challenge was to find Shiraz wines that showed a sense of place.”
“These wines were a joy to judge.”
Comments by Plunkett Fowles
“We are very proud and humbled to have received this great award. It is a real vindication of the outstanding wine that is made in the Strathbogie Ranges.” Sam Plunkett, chief winemaker.
“We are delighted to win this award amongst such awe-inspiring competition. I think it speaks to Sam Plunkett’s genius as a winemaker!” Matt Fowles, CEO of Plunkett Fowles.
“What a thrill to be the first Victorian winery to win this magnificent award. We are very honoured! It is a great endorsement for the future of wines from the Strathbogie Ranges, and I think Victorian wines generally.” Matt Fowles.
The philosophy behind Ladies who Shoot their Lunch
Matt Fowles, together with Sam Plunkett and Luise Fowles (label designer), created this range of wines to complement wild game meat.
Matt Fowles believes “Game is different. Wild animals grow differently to their domesticated counterparts: they eat different food, they have different feeding habits and they live in varied surrounds. These circumstances impart the unique qualities we find in game - the meat is denser and leaner, so often ‘drier’ than commercially reared meat and, as a result, more challenging to the palate.”
“It is the unique nature of game meat - texture, flavour and aroma - that we are thinking about when making our Ladies who Shoot their Lunch range.” Matt Fowles.
The wine - Ladies who Shoot their Lunch 2008 Strathbogie Ranges Shiraz
“The fruit for this Shiraz is sourced from the cooler areas of our family vineyards. We select the fruit from the cooler parts of the block to promote intensity of aroma and flavour which is important when matching the wine to game food.” Sam Plunkett.
“Part of the magic in this wine is in the maturation. We age the Shiraz in 100-year-old, 5000-litre English oak casks. The aggressive oak tannin found in new oak is absent in these older casks. In addition, the large casks with their thick staves, allow a remarkably low rate of micro-oxygenation, which helps preserve more of the intense violet and berry aromas that we desire when matching with game. The casks also allow bitter grape tannins to polymerise creating a softer mouthfeel, which is an important part of this wine.” Sam Plunkett.
The 2010 VISY Great Australian Shiraz Challenge statistics
The 2010 Challenge received 411 entries, with 282 from South Australia, 61 from Victoria, 46 from Western Australia, 19 from New South Wales, and three from Queensland.
The competition
Ladies who Shoot their Lunch 2008 Shiraz was judged against:
| Wine | Winery | RRP |
| 2008 Ladies who Shoot their Lunch Shiraz | Plunkett Fowles | $35 |
| 2005 The Octavius | The Yalumba Wine Company | $106.75 |
| 2005 Eileen Hardy Shiraz | Hardys Wines | $85.00 |
| 2005 Saltram No 1 Shiraz | Saltram Wine Estates | $77.99 |
| 2007 Penfolds RWT Barossa Shiraz | Penfolds Wines | $174.99 |
| 2008 Philip Shaw No 89 Shiraz | Philip Shaw Wines | $44.00 |
| 2004 Taylors St Andrews Shiraz | Taylors Wines | $65.00 |
| 2006 Seppelt Benno Shiraz | B. Seppelt & Sons | $55.99 |
| 2008 Hungerford Hill Epic Shiraz | Hungerford Hill | $75.00 |
| 2008 Medhyk Shiraz | Angove Family Winemakers | $80.00 |
| 2008 "100 Year Old Vines" Shiraz | Chateau Tanunda | $95.00 |
| 2006 Elderton Command Single Vineyard Shiraz | Elderton Wines | $95.00 |
| 2004 Geoff Merrill Henley Shiraz | Geoff Merrill Wines | $150.00 |
| 2005 Stonewell Shiraz | Peter Lehmann Wines | $90.00 |
| 2006 Saltram Journal Shiraz | Saltram Wine Estates | $124.99 |
| 2006 Wolf Blass Platinum Label Shiraz | Wolf Blass Wines | $169.99 |
The full results can be found at www.shirazchallenge.com.au/results/index.asp?action=browse&year=2010
RRP
The Ladies who Shoot their Lunch range of wines sells for $35 per bottle. The range consists of a Riesling, a Wild Ferment Chardonnay and a Shiraz.
Available from
The Ladies who Shoot their Lunch range of wines is available directly through the winery. Phone 03 5796 2150, email info@plunkettfowles.com.au or visit www.ladieswhoshoot.com.au
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