Trophy Wins at the Rutherglen Wine Show and Australian Fortified Wine Show 2026

We are thrilled to share that Stanton & Killeen has had a big run on the show circuit this season.

Wendy and our winemaker Adriaan Foot were in attendance at the Rutherglen Wine Show, where our 2026 Alvarinho took home two trophies — Best Rutherglen White Wine and Best North East White Wine. And at the Australian Fortified Wine Show, our 2022 Vintage Fortified was awarded the Chris Killeen Memorial Trophy for Best Vintage Fortified Wine, adding to the growing list of accolades for a wine that is still young with so much promise ahead of it.

Three trophies across two shows. We could not be more proud.

To be recognised for our wines is wonderful, and it is a credit to the entire S&K team. The magic starts in the vineyard and continues through the winemaking process, all the way to the cellar door where we get to share it with you.

The Alvarinho — A Wine Ten Years in the Making

The story of our Alvarinho does not start with a trophy. It starts in 2015, when we made the decision to plant Arinto and Alvarinho on the estate.

Rutherglen has always been known for its reds and its fortifieds, but the climate is warming and we wanted to add some whites to the portfolio that would genuinely thrive here rather than simply survive. Portuguese varieties felt like the right answer — varieties evolved for warm, dry conditions, with natural acidity and brightness that makes them sing in the glass.

We first bottled the Alvarinho in 2018 and have been working on the perfect balance ever since. What started as a long-term experiment has become one of the most popular wines in our range — the bottles people keep coming back for, and the wine that surprises people most when they try it for the first time.

We would especially like to thank Adriaan Foot, our winemaker, who joined us in 2023 and has mastered the point of difference these varieties bring to our portfolio. His fingerprints are all over this result.

The judges at the Rutherglen Wine Show put it well:

"One cracker wine showing the promise of the variety in our country. Complex on the nose with hay, orange oil, jasmine and lemon. Lovely creamy texture and volume, with pepper notes, rosemary flowers and zesty orange peel. Good expression of the variety."

Crisp, acidic and full of zest, the Alvarinho is perfect chilled on a warm spring or summer afternoon. It is a wine that belongs in this landscape, and it has taken a decade of work to prove it.

The 2022 Vintage Fortified — Still So Much to Give

Our Vintage Fortified program has always been one of the things we are most proud of at Stanton & Killeen, and the 2022 Vintage Fortified is a wine that has been turning heads since release.

The Chris Killeen Memorial Trophy at the Australian Fortified Wine Show is a deeply meaningful award for our family, and to receive it for this wine — one that still has so much development ahead of it — makes it all the more special.

The judges described it as having an awesome nose, with florals, purity and fruit lift alongside heady complex spirit, savoury secondary characters, knitted tannin and bright red fruit. It is a beautiful wine and one we are enormously proud of.

"Awesome nose — florals, such purity and fruit lift with heady complex spirit. Complex savoury and long secondary characters. Knitted tannin, bright red fruit."

Both the Alvarinho and the Vintage Fortified are available now in the cellar door and online. Neither is made in large quantities, and trophy wins have a way of changing availability very quickly.

If you have been thinking about visiting or adding a bottle to your collection, this spring is a very good time to do it.

We will be raising a glass to the team who made these wines, and to everyone who has supported us along the way.