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Canberra Today 17°/21° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Canberra gets a taste of the world’s best rieslings

circ150378-romana-echenspergerNOW in its 16th year, the Canberra International Riesling Challenge, October 10-15, attracts competing wines from the major riesling-producing countries and regions around the world and is the most significant event of its type in the southern hemisphere, says Ken Helm, chairman of CIRC.

“The event is not just about judging wines, but the promotion of the riesling styles to the consumer, winemakers and sommeliers through seminars, master classes, food matching and a massive consumer tasting,” he says.

“Two key features of this year’s challenge are the Seminar on Riesling Excellence (Innovations in Riesling) and the Riedel Riesling Masterclass (41 degrees and further South, Rieslings from Tasmania and New Zealand), both taking place on Friday, October 14.

“Through these events, participants will be guided through the world of riesling to learn more about this unique variety. They are being held at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra.

“Judging will be held at the Albert Hall between Tuesday, October 11 and Thursday, October 13. All the CIRC judging is conducted on a regional basis and is designed to promote and explore the regional differences that riesling expresses.

circ151792“This year, judging will again be under the chairmanship of John Belsham, from NZ, assisted by Anne Krebiehl MW, a London-based German wine writer; Jim Trezise, from the US, and Australians Trent Mannell, Kerri Thompson, Greer Carland and Ralph Kyte-Powell.

“This year’s Riesling Challenge has again attracted strong interest in the associate judging positions, demonstrating the popularity and success of the initiative introduced in 2008 as a way of training up-and-coming judges in the appreciation of the world of rieslings,” says Ken.

“Judging will be conducted against the internationally recognised 100-point judging system, which was initiated in 2012 and brings the CIRC into alignment with other major international wine events.

“Judges are only given the vintage and the sugar levels of the wines. Regions with large numbers of entries in a particular class are broken up into small judging groups between the two panels to further hide their identity.

“Regions are only revealed in the results catalogue.

“We will judge 508 entries from eight countries, the second highest number of entries since the Challenge commenced, with record entry numbers from Australia and Austria and the highest numbers of entries from the US and Germany since 2009. It includes 22 entries from Canberra District wineries.”

Ken says the quality of riesling has improved markedly over the last 16 years along with increased understanding of the wide range of riesling styles. This is reflected in the growing popularity of riesling by Australian consumers.

“Interestingly, the ‘2015 National Wine Grape Vintage Report’, from the Winemakers Federation of Australia, showed strong profitability in cooler-climate, wine-growing areas, which are key Riesling-growing areas,” he says.

“This is very encouraging and augurs well for the future of Riesling.”

More information at rieslingchallenge.com

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