2024 - WA Dominates the ‘Best of Varietal’ Capital City Wine Show Trophies
WA’s wines are not only maintaining their reputation but elevating it, one trophy at a time.
Western Australia might produce only 2% of Australia’s wine, but in 2024, it has once again proven that it’s not the quantity that counts.
So far this year, WA has claimed 8 out of the 16 (50%) Chardonnay and Cabernet trophies awarded in the Capital City Wine Shows across Australia, demonstrating that our top producers are consistently outperforming their counterparts from larger wine-producing regions…
To further illustrate WA’s extra-ordinary show record…
2023 Best Chardonnay Trophies - WA took home 6 out of 7 trophies (85%)
2023 Best Cabernet Trophies - WA took home 3 out of 7 trophies (42%)
2022 Best Chardonnay Trophies - WA took home 4 out of 6 trophies (66%)
2022 Best Cabernet Trophies - WA took home 2 out of 6 trophies (33%)
2021 Best Chardonnay Trophies - WA took home 4 out of 7 trophies (57%)
2021 Best Cabernet Trophies - WA took home 5 out of 7 trophies (71%)
2020 Best Chardonnay Trophies - WA took home 2 out of 2 trophies (100%)
2020 Best Cabernet Trophies - WA took home 2 out of 2 trophies (100%)
(only two shows due to covid)
2019 Best Chardonnay Trophies - WA took home 5 out of 7 trophies (71%)
2019 Best Cabernet Trophies - WA took home 7 out of 7 trophies (100%)
There are small quantities of the 2024 award winners below available!
Devil’s Lair 2022 ‘Margaret River’ Cabernet Sauvignon
James Halliday Trophy - Best Red Wine of Show - National Wine Show of Australia 2024
Cabernet Trophy - Best Cabernet of Show - National Wine Show of Australia 2024
Trophy - Best Cabernet of Show - Royal Queensland Wine Show 2024
Top Gold Medal & 95 Points - National Wine Show of Australia 2024
Top Gold Medal & 96 Points - Royal Queensland Wine Show 2024
Gold Medal & 95 Points - Margaret River Wine Show 2023
95 points - James Halliday Wine Companion
It has all the regional flavours one could wish for – the sweet mulberries, cassis, the bay leaves, freshly rolled tobacco, choc-mint and nori. But wait, there’s more. It’s full bodied, rich and ripe, structured and detailed in equal measure with plentiful if firm tannins. This is going to last quite some distance, but it offers a compelling argument to have a glass or two now, such is its vibrancy and appeal.
2021 Houghton ‘Jack Mann’ Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Frankland River
2025 Best Cabernet Sauvignon of the Year in Australia
98 points - Panel Decision, Halliday Wine Companion
This is elegance personified. So smooth, so luscious, so rich and yet it finds levity and a sense of drive. Inky cassis, lavender and violet floral lift, fancy feeling mahogany and new leather elements, clove spice, bay leaf and faint sea spray characters in the mix. It feels quite tightly wound despite its velvety suppleness and flow, tannins in a web of fine, graphite-like mineral accents delivering tension and poise. It's a wine that delivers an experience and visceral pleasure. Drink now after a lusty decant, but save some for long cellaring, too.
– Mike Bennie