Four Trophies at the 200th Sydney Royal Wine Show
First Creek Wines has taken home four trophies at the 2026 Sydney Royal Wine Show announced at the awards lunch in Sydney on Friday 21 August.
It is a milestone year for the show. The Sydney Royal Wine Show traces back to 1826, when the Agricultural Society of NSW first offered a gold medal for the best sample of colonial wine. Two hundred years on, it remains one of the most respected wine competitions in the country. To collect four trophies in the bicentenary year is a result the whole team is proud of.
The 2017 Single Vineyard Oakey Creek Semillon
Three of the four trophies went to a single wine.
The 2017 First Creek Single Vineyard Oakey Creek Semillon was awarded:
- The David Clarke Memorial Perpetual Trophy for Best Semillon
- The Dr Henry John Lindeman Memorial Perpetual Prize for Best Mature White
- Best Single Vineyard Wine of Show
Nine years in bottle and this wine is only now showing what it is capable of. That slow unfolding is the point of Hunter Semillon. Picked early, made without oak, low in alcohol and built to reward anyone patient enough to leave it alone. The Oakey Creek vineyard gives us the fruit to do it properly.
The 2025 Limited Release Vermentino
The fourth trophy went to the 2025 First Creek Limited Release Vermentino, which took out the Bert Bear Memorial Perpetual Trophy for Best Other White Varietal.
The same wine was named Best Other Single Variety White at the 2025 NSW Wine Awards, so this is back to back recognition for a variety that is still finding its audience in Australia.
Vermentino suits the Hunter. It holds its acid, it carries texture without weight, and it drinks beautifully young.About the show
The 2026 competition saw around 1,500 wines assessed across 55 classes by a panel of 30 judges over four days of judging in late July. UK wine writer Matthew Jukes returned as International Guest Judge for the first time since 2006.
Trophy winners were announced at the awards lunch held in the Grand Ballroom at the Four Seasons Sydney, hosted by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW alongside the Wine Communicators of Australia.
Taste the trophy winners
Both the 2025 Limited Release Vermentino and 2017 Oakey Creek Semillon are available to purchase online individual or as part of our award-winning six pack.
