Stuart Pierce receiving the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy at the
Royal Melbourne Wine Show 2010

Stuart Pierce from Harvey River Bridge Estate was honoured to take home the JIMMY WATSON TROPHY at the Melbourne Wine Show 2010 for our premium reserve wine brand JOSEPH RIVER ESTATE CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2009.  Stuart was also honoured to receive SILVER in the same Jimmy Watson Classes for Best Young Red 2008 and 2009, for our Billy Goat Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 made from Geographe grapes.

The winning wine, Joseph River Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, is made from small parcels of the finest, hand selected fruit comprised of 91% single vineyard Cabernet from northern Margaret River with 9% Geographe fruit aged in 60% new French oak for 24 months.  These small parcels are then blended and matured in French oak for 14 months. The area’s Mediterranean climate and proximity to the Indian Ocean, together with the gravelly loam soils and altitude of the Darling Ranges, provide a ripening season that results in fruit of excellent quality.  The Joseph River Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 is a medium to full bodied dry red wine with a youthful red plum rim and an intense nose of dark berries with cigar box and tobacco complexity- this is a wine to savour.  Stuart Pierce recognised the quality of the fruit for the Joseph River early in 2009 even before vintage. "We looked at maybe eight or nine fruit samples on the tasting bench just before the 2009 harvest and one in particular jumped out as head and shoulders above the rest.  It was from a small vineyard at the northern end of the Margaret River region and I said then that we just had to have that fruit.  We gave it the full treatment in the winery and also supplemented it with about 10 per cent Geographe fruit that seemed to make all the difference to the final wine", Stuart explains. 

THE JIMMY WATSON MEMORIAL TROPHY is one of the wine industry’s most prestigious awards, named after the legendary Jimmy Watson who championed wine consumption in the middle of the last century.  The Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy has been presented every year since 1962 at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show for the best young red wine from a recent vintage or vintages.

TASTING NOTES
Intense dark berries with cigar box and tobacco complexity.
Dry medium to full bodied with silky smooth tannins supporting blackcurrant and cherry fruits. 91% single vineyard Cabernet from northern Margaret River, 9% Geographe fruit aged in 60% new French oak for 24 months. 

Read full tasting notes here