In late October, preliminary results (trophies only) were released from the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Challenge. Chris Cormack’s PEGERIC Wines of Macedon won TWO major trophies.
With the release of the full results, a picture of outstanding success has emerged – Two trophies, 2 runners-up, 4 gold medals, 4 silvers and 3 bronze medals. All from just 3 wines being entered – the 2007, 2009 & 2010 Pegeric Pinot Noir, all grown on a single 2 hectare site in Tylden.
The Hong Kong show distinguishes itself above some other shows by awarding a significant proportion of the trophies for wines in their ‘natural habitat’ – they’re judged with food. A dozen classic dishes are nominated within national cuisines – Chinese, Japanese, etc., and winemakers can choose to enter wines to suit.
In the prestigious ‘judged with food’ class at the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition (HKIWSC) –The ‘Best Wine in the World with Sweet & Sour Pork’ was won by the 2007 Pegeric Pinot Noir (narrowly beating the 2009). The 2009 Pegeric did have a win however – it took out the trophy for the ‘Best Wine in the World with Steamed Garouper Fish,’ with the 2010 Pegeric Pinot Noir in 2nd place. The 2007 was also narrowly pipped for the trophy for Roast Suckling Pig, and was also in 2nd place for the overall ‘Best Pinot Noir of the Show.’ No wonder the Pegeric wines were described by the chief judge as having “stormed the Chinese category.”
According to Chris, “Pegeric is one of the smallest wineries in Australia – in most years we make just 100-200 cases. Wine Shows such as the Cathay Pacific International in Hong Kong give us a rare opportunity to benchmark ourselves against the best in the world – not just Macedon, Victoria or Australia. It’s great that in such an open competition, and as one of Australia’s smallest producers, we were able to compete with and actually beat a number of well-resourced multinational wine companies. To win TWO Trophies and be runner-up for a number of others in such strong company is almost unbelievable!”
Chris’s previous trophies at HKIWSC have included Best Wine in the World with Braised Abalone (2011), Best Wine in the World with Peking Duck (2012), and again with Braised Abalone in 2014.
Pegeric’s results at the HKIWSC alone since 2010 have now netted 5 TROPHIES (and 5 runners-up for TROPHIES), 8 gold medals, 19 silver and 24 bronze.