RULES 2024

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The Riverina Wine Awards is only open to finished wines i.e. wines that have been bottled during a commercial bottling run with a seal/cork that the consumer will break to consume. THEY NEED NOT necessarily bear a commercial label or be available for sale at the time of judging. Where a finished wine is not commercially labelled, the exhibitor must list on the entry form the commercial brand under which the wine will be sold. Failure to do so may see the wine disqualified. Commercial labels should NOT be removed from exhibits.

1. All classes are open for competition to winemakers and distillers and wine and spirit merchants. A wine merchant shall mean any person, association or company buying wine and brandy for re-sale or wholesale. A winemaker shall mean any person or firm manufacturing wine from grapes.

2. An Exhibitor shall mean the person(s), business or company as designated on the Wine Show entry form and also includes an agent and anyone acting or purporting to be acting on the Exhibitor’s behalf, whether or not employed by the Exhibitor.

3. The Committee means the Riverina Wine Show Committee convened under the Riverina Winemakers Association Inc.

4. “Open” means any geographical indication recognised within Australia.

5. Entry fee is $60.00 (inc. gst).

6. Entries shall comprise FOUR bottles 750 ml sized totalling 3000 ml. Smaller sized bottles can be sent as long as it is equivalent in mls required.

7. There is no limit to the number of entries in any Class.

8. An exhibitor may be awarded more than one medal in any Class.

9. No exhibit may be entered in more than one class, and no exhibit may be entered in the show by more than one exhibitor.

10. MINIMUM QUANTITIES: 100 by one-dozen cases of 750ml bottles or equivalent at the time of entry or at the time of judging. To be eligible for the most popular premium trophy an exhibitor must hold a minimum of 90,000 litres at the time of judging or entry and this may be a combination of bottled stock and stock stored in tank. Any stock stored in bulk must be in bottle ready condition and be identical in all respects to the bottled stock. A minimum stock of 9,000 litres must be bottled, commercially labelled and available for purchase at time of entry or time of judging.

11. Up to 1 dozen of any medal winning wines may be requested at wholesale price for the presentation function. 

12. Medals will be awarded as follows, based on the agreed score of the three judge panel:

    Bronze Medal 85 - 89 points

    Silver Medal 90 - 94 points

    Gold Medal 95 - 100 points

13. Entries are to be made via the online form found at https://www.riverinawinemakers.com.au/wine-shows/

14. No person will be permitted to inspect an entry form after receipt by the Secretary. No person will be permitted access to the exhibits, with the exception of the Judges, Stewards, Secretary and staff, until the awards have been determined.

15. EXHIBIT LABELS WILL BE GENERATED VIA THE ONLINE SHOWRUNNER SYSTEM. Exhibits are to bear the labels supplied by the Committee. Commercially labelled wines should retain commercial labels. Please apply Committee labels on the entries in a manner that allows the organisers to ascertain product descriptions and other label matters

16. Varietal wines must comprise at least 85% of the nominated variety. Labelling of blended wines must conform to the Australian Food standards and the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Acts and Regulations as amended from time to time.

17. Still table wines may contain a small amount of residual sugar to balance the palate. However they must have a dry finish and exhibitors should refer to the wine style descriptors. All still table wines entered with a residual sugar greater than 7.5g/L must declare the level of residual sugar on the entry form.  Sweet white table wines should enter the Sweet Wine Challenge.

18. Entries in the Sparkling wine classes may be made in any style and sweetness, however, residual sugar level must be noted on the entry form.  Flavoured wines and/or wine products will not be accepted.

19. All exhibits shall become the property of the Committee.  Exhibits must be solely the produce of Australian grapes and conform to the respective Acts of the States and the Commonwealth which govern the manufacture of Australian Wine and Brandy. 

20. The Committee reserves the right to have any exhibit inspected and/or analysed by one or more persons appointed for that purpose.

21. No protest will be entertained unless made within seven (7) days of the announcement of the awards.

22. No entry will be received from any person or persons disqualified by this or any other similar Wine Show Organisation. Should any entry be accepted, it shall, when discovered, be deemed void, and the entry fee and exhibit shall be forfeited.

23. All persons exhibiting shall accept the decision of the Judges appointed by the Committee, as to the merits of the exhibits.

24. Exhibitors agree that their results can be published in the catalogue of results.

25. Audit of exhibits and use of medals will be undertaken. This may involve establishing minimum stock levels and consistency between exhibits and commercially obtained products. It is a condition of entry that exhibitors will co-operate with auditors acting at the request of the Riverina Wine Show. If requested, exhibitors will provide samples from company warehouses.

    TROPHY AND MEDAL ASSESSMENT

26. With the exception of the Most Successful Exhibitor Trophies, trophies will only be awarded where a wine has won a gold medal in the Show.

27. Points counted towards the trophy for the Most Successful Exhibitor are determined as follows:

    • Only one wine from each class is eligible and points will be allotted on the basis of five for Gold medals, three for Silver medals and one for Bronze medals. 

    • Where an exhibitor has gained more than one medal in a Class, the higher will count towards the Trophy.  In the event of a tie in points, the exhibitor gaining the higher number of Gold medals will be the winner. If still tied, the higher number of Silver medals will be the winner.

    • Wines entered in the Riverina Open Classes are counted towards the most successful exhibitor trophy.

28. Judges will judge each class without collaboration. 

29. The Chair of Judges shall have the final power to arbitrate the Awards. Judges will not have access to the exhibits apart from the glass placed in front of them by the Stewards. Judging will be conducted in accordance with the rules of the show.

30. The judges shall have the power to disqualify or dismiss, as not being eligible for judging, any exhibit which, in their opinion, does not comply with regulations in every respect, and any such disqualification shall be accepted as final.

31. Awards may be withheld in any Class where exhibits are considered unworthy.

    DISPLAY OF AWARDS

32. The Riverina Wine Show adheres to the Winemakers Federation of Australia Code of Practice governing the display of awards. This states that producers will not use medals, stickers, symbols or other devices on a bottle in order to misleadingly convey the impression the wine has received an award at an open, objective and independent competition.

33. Awards received by an individual wine will bear the year of the award and the class description and shall only apply to wines bearing the name under which the exhibit was entered.

34. Compliance by a producer to the WFA’s Code of Practice for the display of awards is a prerequisite for entry to the Riverina Wine Show. Any exhibitor making improper use of Awards for Advertising purposes may be disqualified from any future shows.

CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

STILL WHITE TABLE WINE

Should be in brilliant condition, pale to medium straw in colour, preferably with a slight green tinge. Light to full-bodied, medium to high acidity with a fresh bouquet, clean after taste, no lingering sweetness. In the wooded classes, the oak should be balanced and in harmony with the body and flavour of the wine.

STILL LIGHT BODIED RED & ROSÉ

Colour, pink to medium red. A blue or purple tint may be present. Aroma and bouquet – varietal aroma may occur in varying degrees. It should be fresh and fruity and in harmony with the body and flavour of the wine. Palate – soft and light without being thin and rounded in the mid palate. Dry styles should finish clear and crisp with soft astringency.

STILL RED

Colour medium to deep red. According to age, a blue or purple tint may be present in a young wine or a light brown edge may be present in an aged wine. Aroma and bouquet – varietal aroma may occur in varying degrees. It should be fruity and in harmony with the body and flavour of the wine. The bouquet may show evidence of maturation in oak and in older wines, bottle age. Palate soft, rounded and generous in mid palate. Body medium to full and in balance with the acidity. Finish clean, with tannin from maturation in wood but this should not predominate.

FORTIFIED STYLES

Sweet White Dessert Styles -Golden to dark brown in colour depending on age. Must not show Muscat character but have fruity and aromatic bouquet. It must be full bodied, soft and luscious.

Fortified Muscat Styles - Colour golden to red. Distinct Muscat bouquet and palate. Full bodied, soft and luscious.

Fortified Tawny Styles - Colour pale red with distinct amber tinge. Bouquet, fruity and aromatic, palate full and soft with distinct dryness on the finish. Some flavour of oak tannin from the maturing wood is desirable. A lingering sweetness on the after palate is undesirable.

Fortified Vintage Ruby Styles - Colour deep ruby to light ruby, possibly with slight amber tint, depending on age. Bouquet- fruity and characteristic of bottle aged vintage port. Should not show wood character. Flavour full and soft with firm astringent finish and no lingering sweetness.

Fortified Apera

Fino style Colour straw to pale golden. Bouquet characteristic of flor. Flavour light and dry without excessive acidity or astringency, but some oak character. Finish dry, aromatic with distinct ‘nutty’ after taste.

Amontillado style Colour golden to light amber. Bouquet showing more age than Fino. Palate fuller and softer than Fino with some oak showing through. Finish dry and aromatic with characteristic ‘nutty’ after taste.

Oloroso style Colour amber to brown. Bouquet showing both oak and apera character. Palate soft and round but with a dry finish.

SPARKLING WHITE & ROSÉ

Colour should be pale to straw or pink. Should have good acidity and not be too light in body. Bouquet should be fresh without particular varietal character and may indicate some years in the bottle. Entries in the dry class should have a dry finish but show no astringency. Bubbles should be fine and persistent. Carbonated wines are not permitted in the dry class.

SPARKLING RED

Colour should be light to medium ruby. Older wines may show a trace of amber but no more than a trace. Bouquet fruity but may show bottle age. Fairly pronounced acidity.  Entries in the dry class should have a full flavour and body, some sweetness but with a dry finish, and may show slight oak character. Bubbles should be fine and persistent.   Carbonated wines are not permitted in the dry class.

The Riverina is the country’s largest wine producer, accounting in NSW for 60% of the state’s production. Uniquely and proudly, five family-owned businesses are essentially responsible for driving the region’s engine-room, supplying one in every four glasses of Australian wine. 

As a result, over time, these producers have been compelled to draw from well beyond the Riverina to meet demands for the considerable volumes of consistent quality wine they produce, to compete at key price points in both domestic and overseas markets. 

Likewise, the Riverina Wine Show has expanded concurrently to reflect this reality, acknowledging the wider resources required by inviting large companies beyond the region to participate in the Riverina’s national competition, which has formed the basis of the Riverina Wine Show, now in its 46th year.