MERILYN and Graham Hutton felt extremely honoured when they attended the National Wine Show of Australia Trophy Presentation Dinner in Canberra recently.
The National Wine Show is recognised as Australia’s premier wine show, and entry is restricted to wines that have previously won awards in Australian regional and capital city wine shows.
The Gralyn 2011 Reserve Chardonnay Wildberry Springs won a gold medal in the Single Vineyard Class.
However it was a phone call from the chairman of the Wine Show Committee inviting them to have the Gralyn Chardonnay served at the dinner, that really got them excited.
Merilyn said a snap decision to fly to Canberra was made in a matter of minutes. “We didn’t have a lot on that week and it’s not every day one gets to attend such a prestigious dinner, especially in such a wonderful venue.
“Anyway it was the only way the five dozen wines were going to get there in time – as part of our luggage.”
“The black-tie dinner for 360 guests in the Great Hall of Parliament House was indeed memorable.
“There were four award-winning white wines and four award-winning red wines served with the dinner. Our chardonnay was the only chardonnay served. It was a great honour for a small family owned and operated vineyard like Gralyn.”
“The wine is really starting to show well,” Graham said.
“It has won four gold medals in the last few weeks, including the Qantas Wine Show of Western Australia, the Australian Small Winemaker’s Show and the Margaret River Wine Show, as well as the National Wine Show.”
