Great Award News for Portree

With the official announcement of results for the 2005 Sydney International Wine Competition being published shortly, we are celebrating a Blue Gold Medal for the Portree 2002 Pinot Noir. As you know, we do go on a bit about food with wine, so this competition gets a nod from us because it is the only one which judges wine with food. It also attracts a selection of in-vogue and highly rated New Zealand Pinot Noir, so we feel that our wine is in good company - Pinot is very fussy about the climate in which it is grown.

In addition, the soon to be released 2001 Chardonnay received a Gold Medal at the 2004 Macedon Ranges Wine Exhibition in October last year. Only half a point separated it from the trophy wine in a field of 38. Ken happened to be an associate judge at the show and listened to the judges 'to and fro' debate on the two wines. The result continues our good record at this show - no Portree Chardonnay judged lower than Trophy or runner-up standard in the eight years of the show.

The official announcement of the Pinot award by Top 100 Wines is on 5 March, you can take a look at their web site. Traditionally, one can even get the recipes for the food dishes used to judge the wines; we imagine the 2005 version of the site will be the same.

If you are keen to place an order for Portree award-winning wines, you can download an order form and delivery will be arranged. The special prices apply to orders received from now, until the end of March '05. Read on for your invitation to the celebration at the cellar door.

International Guests at the Vineyard

Portree recently held a 'technical exchange' visit from the winemaker, two viticulturalists and the marketing manager from Grace Vineyard in Shanxi Province, China. Their vineyard data provided us with an interesting climatic comparison to Portree. Both vineyards are at 37 degrees latitude and we both grow Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay, but (thankfully) we don't have to bury Portree in winter to protect against the minus 25C temperatures.

Your Invitation to join in the Celebration

To help us celebrate the awards we invite you to join us at the Portree Cellar Door on 20 March. The tasting room will be open from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm, exclusively for our mailing list members (that's you). We will be serving complimentary finger-food all day and have our full range of wines on tasting, including the award-winning Portree duo, the '02 Pinot and '01 Chardonnay.

We will have special prices on the day too, with bottle prices reduced by 10%, and dozens (including mixed dozens) by 20%. Please bring your friends (signing up to our newsletter on the day will make them a member and entitle them to the special prices), and enjoy a relaxed day in the beautiful Macedon Ranges here at Portree Vineyard.

If you are planning to come and help celebrate, please RSVP to secrets@portreevineyard.com.au by 10 March.

Note: as mentioned earlier, the special prices are available for newsletter subscribers from now until the end of March. In case you can't get along to the cellar door.