THERE was no whining for Two Rivers Winery as they took home four awards at a showcase event in Sydney last week.
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Denman locals Brett and Linda Keeping won big at the the presentation, earning prizes for Best Single Vineyard Wine, Best Mature White Wine, Best Young Wine Wine and Best Value White Wine.
They said the honours meant a lot because the KPMG Sydney Royal Show was such a prestigious event, with a long history and more than 2300 entries this year alone.
“To be judged and to be in among the winners in a show like this means an enormous amount,” Mr Keeping said.
“And, for us, it’s our 30th year here at Two Rivers, so it couldn’t be a better way to celebrate.”
Mrs Keeping said while the pair got a heads up they were set to win at least one category, they weren’t expecting the night to go as well as it did.
“We went off with the expectation of ‘let’s hope we go okay’, but to come away with four trophies absolutely blew us away,” she said.
They can expect more business now, according to Mr Keeping, with Best Value Wine often acting as a market-booster for smaller vineyards such as Two Rivers.
“That’s a good one to win, and I think it underpins what we’re trying to do here,” he said.
“We’ve always tried to produce premium wines at a good price.
“And, I think if people have that sort of endorsement for a show as credible as the Royal Sydney Wine Show then hopefully that will spin off into more sales.”
He said they were most pleased with the award for Best Single Vineyard Wine though, explaining how that validates all the effort they put into ensuring vine health and money they’ve invested into the property.
“While we may look to increase the amount we produce, we aren’t looking to expand beyond the current property or team we have at the moment,” Mr Keeping explained.
“We’ve been at it for such a long time now, and we’ve got a lovely site here and a great team of people as well, not only in the vineyard producing the fruit but a fantastic team of wine-makers behind us as well.”
The Keepings said while there were a few sore heads on Friday morning, likely the result of their award-winning Stone’s Throw Semillon, it was a good experience and they look forward to competing in the top competition in Canberra later this year.