The Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales has awarded its most prestigious wine, dairy and fine food Award to South Australia's Shottesbrooke Vineyards.
The family-owned business had to beat 4,000 other competitors and 81 other Sydney Royal champions from all over the country to take the 15th President's Medal.
Producers are judged on a triple bottom line assessment to determine their social, economic and environmental impacts.
Judges travelled to Shottesbrooke Vineyards and five other locations to conduct extensive reviews of the finalists' operations.
Shottesbrooke's story
Established in 1981, the vineyard is run by the second generation of the Shottesbrooke family and produces wines that are distributed around the world.
Managing director Hamish Maguire said the business continued to grow and produce wines that truly reflected their origin.
"We are, quite literally, able to plant the vineyards, grow the grapes, create the wine and then take that bottle to the other side of the world to enjoy," he said.
Shottesbrooke won a trophy in the Best Single Vineyard category for its 2020 Adelaide Hills chardonnay at the 2021 Sydney Royal Wine Show, which put it in the running for this year's President's Medal.
Judge Michael Bullen said Shottesbrooke embodied everything the President's Medal stood for.
The other finalists:
Pecora Dairy
Pecora Dairy, in Robertson in the NSW Southern Highlands, is an artisanal sheep milk dairy and cheesery run by Michael and Cressida Cains.
Sheep milk is ideal for cheese production because it contains double the amount of solids as cow milk does.
Pecora's hand-crafted ewes' milk cheese, Yarrawa, was Australia's first uncooked raw milk cheese.
Pecora Dairy won Best Cheese of Show for the Yarrawa at the 2021 Sydney Royal Cheese and Dairy Produce Show.
Tathra Oysters
The Rodely family has been farming their Sydney Rock Oysters in Nelson Lake, situated in the Mimosa Rocks National Park on the Far South Coast of NSW, since 1988.
The Rodelys have received more than 180 awards for their oysters.
Tathra Oysters won Champion Aquaculture Product and Champion Sydney Rock Oysters for its Nelson Lake Bistro Cylinder oysters at the 2021 Sydney Royal Fine Food Show's aquaculture competition.
Stockyard Beef
Stockyard breeds and raises grain-fed Wagyu and Angus cattle in Jondaryan, on the Darling Downs in Queensland, and has been doing so since 1958.
It is a family-owned and run business and Stockyard-branded beef can be found in restaurants and hotels in Australia as well as more than 20 international markets.
Stockyard Beef won Champion Beef and Branded Meat Grand Champion for its Stockyard Black at the 2021 Sydney Royal Fine Food Show's branded beef competition.
Sunshine Meats
Established in 1988, Sunshine Meats has won many awards for its artisanal hams, poultry products and smoked smallgoods.
Inspired by the flavours of Madeira, Portugal, owner Jose Pereira started out by producing chorizo and salami.
Using only Australian pork, chicken, beef, duck and turkey the company's products can now be found in delicatessens, supermarkets and specialty stores in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
Sunshine Meats won gold in the Other Charcuterie Product category for its smoked duck breast in the 2021 Sydney Royal Fine Food Show's smallgoods and charcuterie competition.
Rio Vista Olives
The Rio Vista olive trees were planted by hand in Mypolonga in SA in 1996.
Each olive is grown, harvested, cold-pressed and packaged onsite, and care is taken to get the oxygen, temperature, crushing time and extraction elements right to make it an artisanal product.
Rio Vista Olives won Champion Flavoured or Culinary Oil for its chilli pressed olive oil at the 2021 Sydney Royal Fine Food Show's oil and olives competition.
