Penfolds chardonnay wins export award

A Penfolds chardonnay has been named Australia's top export wine.
The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation said on Thursday the 2005 Penfolds
Yattarna Chardonnay had won the George Mackey Memorial Trophy, presented since 1990
to the best wine shipped overseas.
Corporation acting chief executive Jock Osborne said it was the third year in a row
Penfolds had taken out the prize, each time with a different variety.
Last year, it won with the 2004 Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon and in 2006 with the 2003
RWT Barossa Valley Shiraz.
"For a company and country famed for its iconic red wines, this award recognises the
exceptionally high standard of one of Australia's best chardonnays," Mr Osborne
said.
"To be chosen from more than 17,000 entries by an expert panel cements this wine's
reputation.
"There seems to be a chardonnay renaissance with some absolutely outstanding
chardonnay being grown in the Adelaide Hills, resulting in some brilliantly crafted
wines."
Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago said the 2005 Yattarna Chardonnay should now be
included in the upper echelon of global chardonnay.
"We are thrilled that the 2005 vintage was sourced exclusively from Adelaide Hills
vineyards, symbolically none of which are too great a distance from Penfolds'
spiritual Magill Estate home," he said.
The George Mackey trophy is presented in memory of the former Australian Wine and
Brandy Corporation chairman who died in 1990.
To be eligible at least 200 cases of each wine must be shipped to export markets.