Thursday, 24 March 2022

Victorian Wine Show

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (10:34): Last night I was so happy and so proud to celebrate the success of long-time great friends of mine. Tom and Sarah Guthrie of Grampians Estate winery at Great Western were in this wonderful building to be given belated congratulations and adulation for winning the Premier’s trophy for the 2019 Victorian Wine Show champion wine. Their St Ethel’s 2017 Great Western shiraz was the prized drop. What an extraordinary achievement. My family shares a farming background with the Guthries. We also share sadder tidings, with both families losing a son, each in their prime with so much more ahead of them.

This award for being the best is just so apt. The Guthries are the best not just for their wine but for their ability to rise above and seek excellence despite the odds. Those odds also came in the form of flames in 2006. A massive wall of fire flattened all but 5 per cent of the property in the Mount Lubra fires of January that year. They could not stop it or fight it. Tom and Sarah and their winery were all but destroyed. It is why last night’s award was truly like the phoenix rising. Last night embraced another Western Victorian winner, with the Taltarni winery accepting the Premier’s trophy for last year’s award with their 2019 old vines shiraz. We should always celebrate hard work and excellence.