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Montalto has taken home a trophy for the second straight year at Australia’s most prestigious white wine competition, the James Halliday Chardonnay Challenge.
The 2021 Pennon Hill Chardonnay was last night awarded the Regional Trophy for best Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay.
This latest recognition comes after the Montalto 2019 Tuerong Block Chardonnay won the overall trophy for Australia’s best example of the variety at last year’s competition from nearly 400 entrants.
The James Halliday Chardonnay Challenge sees Australia’s leading wines from every major Chardonnay growing region competing for the title of the country’s finest example of the variety.
In addition to the trophy win, Montalto also made it a gold medal clean sweep in the Mornington Peninsula class, with golds for the 2021 Montalto Estate, the 2021 Tuerong Single Vineyard and 2021 The Eleven Single Vineyard.
In celebration of this outstanding moment in time, Simon has curated a very special chardonnay pack:
Halliday Chardonnay Challenge Winning 6-Pack
3 x 2021 Pennon Hill (Trophy winner)
1 x 2021 The Eleven (gold medal - 96 points)
1 x 2021 Tuerong Block (gold medal - 95 points)
1 x 2021 Montalto Estate (gold medal – 95 points)
Every 6-pack purchased includes automatic entry into our competition to win a Behind The Scenes Winery Tour for 2 people (valued at $460) where you’ll get an exclusive preview of our 2022 vintage.
Montalto Chief Winemaker Simon Black says the results confirm his long held view that the region can produce some of Australia’s very best chardonnay.
“To me chardonnay is possibly the most consistent performer here on the Peninsula, and the 2021 vintage has again delivered exceptional quality” he said.
“While it’s understandable that our region is celebrated for outstanding pinot noir, sometimes I feel the sheer quality of the chardonnay can be overlooked.”
“I think the repeated success of Montalto demonstrates the region deserves to be in the national discussion around serious, high quality chardonnay.”
2023 HALLIDAY WINE COMPANION
In more amazing news, we’re thrilled to announce that our wine team has produced 4 of Australia’s top rated Pinot Noirs above 96 points, as featured in the 2023 Halliday Wine Companion. This includes:
2020 Merricks Pinot Noir – 97 points
2020 Main Ridge Pinot Noir – 96 points
2020 North One Pinot Noir – 96 points
2020 Tuerong Pinot Noir – 96 points
“It’s a great honour to be recognised as one of the top producers for Pinot Noir in James Halliday’s 2023 Wine Companion. This is particularly significant with the standard of Australian Pinot Noir being held in such high esteem.” ~ Simon Black, Chief Winemaker.
2021 SINGLE VINEYARD NEW RELEASES
As it happens, these incredible wins coincides with the release of our 2021 Single Vineyard wines.
The Single Vineyard range of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah are all out today (Friday 26th August), with each wine available for tasting onsite at Montalto this weekend (Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th August).
This weekend will be the only time that every 2021 Montalto Single Vineyard wine will be poured, or available to purchase, across the estate.
Simon Black, along with our wine team, will also be onsite on Saturday to discuss the 2021 new releases, making this an unmissable opportunity to take a deep dive into the sub regions of the Mornington Peninsula.
Please note: our 2021 vintage was a small one so these wines are extremely limited. If you can’t get down to Red Hill this weekend, you can purchase the range online here:
If you’re headed to the Mornington Peninsula, here’s all the ways to spend the day at Montalto:
