Two Australian gins score 99 points at IWSC

Barossa Shiraz Gin from Seppeltsfield Road Distillers and Mt Uncle's Botanic Australis Navy Strength were both awarded 99 points at the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) and were the only Australian distilleries to score so highly.

The two other gins that scored 99 points went on to win trophies: Northern Ireland's The Copeland Distillery Irish Gin won for World's Best Contemporary Gin while Estonia's Junimperium Distillery Sloe Gin won for World's Best Flavoured Gin.

Nicole (Head Distiller/Owner) and Jon Durdin (Managing Director/Owner) were ecstatic about the results. In its fourth vintage, the 2021 Barossa Shiraz Gin was the only gin in its category of Flavoured Gin to be awarded 99-points, closely followed by their new release Musician’s Cut to be awarded 98-points in its first ever competition.

“IWSC is the most respected of the global spirits competitions. To gain this recognition highlights the quality of our product to new and existing markets around the world,” said Owner Jon Durdin.

“We’re excited to return to Junipalooza London in June, and now even more excited to share our 99-point Barossa Shiraz Gin with the UK."

The Barossa Shiraz Gin is made by macerating locally harvested Shiraz grapes from each vintage in the house gin. Once the grapes have been macerated, they are crushed, filtered and bottled at 38.5% ABV.

“We knew our 2021 Barossa Shiraz Gin was special” said Head Distiller Nicole Durdin, “With each vintage we learn and improve our craft, and the amazing fruit we received from our growers has made this our best vintage yet.”

Botanic Australis Navy Strength Gin is a “navy gin” produced in Queensland and bottled at 57% ABV. The judging panel described the gin as: "Bold, bitter orange and savoury on the nose. The rich lime, lemon and eucalyptus on the nose is highly fragrant and equally expressive on the palate. With bags of flavour this is an absolute banger that has tremendous length."

Over two weeks, 85 of the world’s leading spirit experts gathered to assess over 4,000 spirits from over 90 countries, entered into 21 different categories. Each spirit was tasted and awarded a score, translating for many entries into a Gold Outstanding, Gold, Silver or Bronze medal.

In total, over 500 spirits were awarded the sought-after Gold Outstanding and Gold medals, with whiskies – including whiskies from Scotland, France, Ireland, America, Canada, Germany, India, Israel, Sweden, Taiwan and Japan – making up half the Gold medal haul.

Rum entries were up 23 per cent but Gin continued to dominate at the awards this year, accounting for more than 1,200 of total entries and taking home 15 per cent of the year’s Gold Outstanding and Gold medals.