Deep Woods Estate wins coveted Jimmy Watson trophy
The Deep Woods Estate 2014 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon has won Australia’s most prestigious and coveted wine award, the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for Best Young Red Wine, at the 2016 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards presentation in Melbourne.For the third consecutive year, the Deep Woods Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon won the Trophy for the Best Cabernet or Cabernet Blend at the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards – only the second winery in the history of the awards to do so. The wine was then chosen as the winner of the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy in its 55th year.
The Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy is named after Jimmy Watson, the proprietor of a wine bar in Lygon Street, Carlton between 1935 and 1962. Following his death in 1962 friends and customers established the trophy in his honour. The trophy is awarded to the best finished and bottled one- or two-year-old red wine in Australia entered in the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards.
Deep Woods Estate is only the fifth Western Australian and Margaret River wine to win the trophy which has traditionally been dominated by South Australian wines, such as Penfolds Grange and Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet.
Peter Fogarty, the Chairman and Proprietor of Fogarty Wine Group (which owns Deep Woods Estate, together with Lake’s Folly, Millbrook Winery, Smithbrook Wines and Margaret River Vintners) said winning the Jimmy Watson was the highlight of a commitment to creating excellence across the Group’s wine brands.
“In 2005 we purchased Deep Woods Estate in the northern end of Margaret River as I believed the Margaret River Wine Region was increasingly becoming one of the greatest wine regions of the world. We set ourselves the target of producing the very best wines across our range, but my personal goal was to produce the very best Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay of the region,” he said.
“In 2014 we won the James Halliday award for Australia’s Best Chardonnay and now winning the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy caps off a personal high point in the wine industry. Our winemaking team have done an outstanding job and exceeded all the goals I set them so far.
"My sincere thanks to our very committed team at Deep Woods Estate led by Chief Winemaker Julian Langworthy and Head Viticulturist John Fogarty.”
The Gold Medal and Trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Blend, and Jimmy Watson Trophy in Melbourne follow the awards at the Royal Adelaide Wine Show for Most Outstanding Red Wine of Show (Max Schubert Trophy) and Trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon in Show; plus Gold Medals at Perth (trophy runner-up), Mt Barker and Sydney wine shows.
The Deep Woods Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, 2013 and 2014 vintages have now won three consecutive Best Cabernet Trophies at the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards, and two Max Schubert Trophies (2012 and 2014), with a total 11 Trophies and 14 Gold Medals for the three vintages.
This consistency is proof that the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is now clearly rated as one of Australia’s greatest Cabernet Sauvignons.