CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

It gives me great pleasure on behalf of the Kiama Show Society to present the Winning Wine Guide for the 2006 Kiama Regional Wine Show.

A wine show can be extremely influential for exhibitors but consumer approval is essential for a wine’s success.  Kiama Regional Wine Show aims not only to identify quality local producers and help promote excellence in the wine industry by issuing awards; it also seeks to create a structure that provides a forum for networking, communication and education.

This year, in addition to a Winemakers Workshop run by Rob Geddes MW of Winestream focusing on the importance of reputation and strong brand identity for producer and region alike, for the first time there were both Public and Trade tastings as part of the Wine Show at which orders could be taken by participating vineyards.

It is important to give the local trade and consumers a chance to discover for themselves the quality and diversity of their local districts. Wine creates spin-offs for other industries. It drives up demand for jobs in construction, publishing, tourism, education, food production, and hospitality.

To assist this year’s new program, the 2006 Kiama Regional Wine Show received a $15,000 State Government grant.  Further financial assistance was provided by Kiama Council, Kiama & District Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Kiama and a number of commercial sponsors.  We are very grateful for this level of support. 

The mix of a value adding program and secure funding resulted in a record number of entries.  In our third year entry numbers are up by over 35%, with 172 wines entered from 31 commercial producers, making a wonderful showcase of the huge potential both our local wine regions have to offer.

The 2006 judging panel contained two new members, Rob Geddes MW and Nick Ryan, a leading member of the next generation of wine journalists now starting to make their mark in Australia.  Led by Chris Cameron, Chief Winemaker of Pepper Tree Wines, as chairman, the panel focused more on the technical attributes of the wines submitted than in previous years.  The judges praised the noticeable improvements achieved as vines mature and made several helpful comments and suggestions which will assist the vignerons in their continuing pursuit of excellence.  The judges awarded 1 Gold, 9 Silver and 62 Bronze medals.  Congratulations to those who received these awards, and thank you to all exhibitors who took part.  Without exhibitor participation there would be no show and no opportunity to promote the industry.

The Kiama Show Society hopes this guide will help you to explore the many fine wines of our district.

Sandy Rendel
Chairman