Cheers to Frankland success
A shiraz from the Great Southern region has been voted the second-best red in Australia by WA’s leading wine expert.
The West Australian wine editor Ray Jordan’s top 100 reds had Frankland Estate’s Isolation Ridge Shiraz 2014 judged runner-up in the best wines category with a score of 96/100 in The West’s annual top 100 red wines list.
This year’s tasting was the biggest yet, with nearly 650 wines entered from wineries across Australia.
Frankland Estate winemaker Brian Kent said the winery was thrilled with the win.
“We are very excited to gain this awareness; we sell most of our shiraz to the east coast of Australia and to the some 18 export markets that we have worked hard to establish, so it’s always fantastic to get some local endorsement for a wine we are so passionate about,” he said.
“We are absolutely resolute that the Frankland River region can be considered as a truly world-class shiraz region — the region offers consistency and a cool climate.”
The award-winning Isolation Ridge Shiraz 2014 and the estate’s Isolation Ridge Riesling were listed in James Halliday’s top three Australian rieslings in his 2017 Australian Wine Companion and has been in his top 3 per cent of Australian wine producers for several years.
Mr Kent said he was proud of the second place, adding it meant there was room to improve.
“It’s awesome and we are super-excited to be held in this regard and we are pleased that Frankland River is mentioned on numerous occasions through Ray Jordan’s publication,” he said.
“The region consistently over-delivers on price and quality — it excels in wine shows and with reviews from wine pundits globally, especially considering the small number of producers we have in the region.
“It’s certainly a region to watch and we are pleased we have been at it long enough to be refining the wines we are making to be continually considered in the country’s best.”
Frankland Estate will celebrate 30 years of wine growing in the region next year and boasts more than 150 vintages of experience within the family, and this alone gives a considerable point of difference.
Mr Kent said the shiraz, while ideal on its own, could best be paired with lamb or a good slab of cheese. The wining wine in the best wine category was the Woodlands Clementine 2015.
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