Radenti steals sparkling show

Geoff Bull was a former newspaper photographer and abalone diver when he set about clearing 4ha of land outside Bicheno in 1979 to establish what would become East Coast Tasmania's Freycinet Vineyard. Early wine show successes with Pinot Noir soon had Bull referring to his ambitious developments as 'the Romanée-Conti of the south.'

But it was the planting of a separate 1ha vineyard block – further up the hill in a cooler, much more sheltered location back in 1995 – that was to have Bull singing from a different hymn sheet in another few years.

"Tasmania will make the best sparkling wine in Australia," he predicted at the outset of the 2000s.

"It's going to be bigger than Ben Hur in the long-term. It will give us prestige and export dollars, and in the long-term will make Tasmania the sparkling wine capital of Australia."

Bull's words rang true once again this week when his beloved Freycinet Vineyard received four trophies, two gold medals and lavish praise from the judging panel and organisers at the 2026 Australian Sparkling Wine Show.

The annual competition was held at Tamar Ridge Wines, north of Launceston, earlier this month. Its awards were announced at a special presentation ceremony and exhibitors tasting held at MONA The Source on Tuesday evening.

Freycinet's winning wines – the 2016 Radenti Grand Vintage Reserve Pinot Noir Chardonnay and the 2017 Radenti Vintage Sparkling Rosé – were the only two wines exhibited in the event by the small East Coast family company.

The older Freycinet wine virtually stole the show, winning four of the event's most prestigious trophies:

• Best Sparkling Over 60 Months Tirage
• Best Mature Sparkling Wine
• Best Tasmanian Sparkling Wine
• Best Wine of Show

Other 2026 Australian Sparkling Wine Show trophy winners were:

• Best Sparkling up to 24 months Tirage: NV Howard Park Petit Jete
• Best Sparkling 24 to 60 months Tirage: 2022 Marnong Estate Reserve Blanc de Blancs
• Best Prosecco: 2026 See Saw Wine Organic Prosecco
• Best Sparkling Rosé: NV Croser Rosé
• Best Sparkling Red: Peter Lehmann Wines 2021 Black Queen Sparkling Shiraz

According to chair of judges, Trina Smith, the seven classes of entries judged at the event represented a wide diversity of wine styles, 'from bright, fruit-driven tank fermented wines through to more complex traditional method examples with extended lees age, each showing its own quality, character, and intent.'

Smith and fellow judges Nic Bowen, Matthew Brooke, Mia McIntyre and Abbie Hoskin certainly set exacting standards during their two-and-half-day tasting schedule. Less than 10 percent of the show's 173 wine entries were awarded gold medals.

A third of the 15 gold medal wines were from Tasmania:

• 2017 House of Arras Grand Vintage
• 2017 Radenti Sparkling Rose Chardonnay Pinot Noir
• 2022 Pirie Millesime Prestige Blanc de Blanc
• 2021 Pirie Vintage Sparkling
• NV Josef Chromy Tasmanian Cuvée

Forty-two percent of the show's entries did not win a medal at all.

Australian Sparkling Wine Show committee chair Loïc Le Calvez told exhibitors and industry guests that the panel spent two-and-half-hours adjudicating on the 'Best Wine of Show' trophy.

"They had discussion after discussion in deciding this particular award," he noted.

"They made the right choice. Tasmania has got some of the best sparkling wines in Australia. It was an amazing opportunity for us to taste these trophy winners."

Both of Freycinet's entries in this year's event have had trophy successes elsewhere in recent years.

The 2016 Radenti Grand Vintage Sparkling won the Trophy for the Best Sparkling at the 2023 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards. The gold medal 2017 Radenti Vintage Sparkling Rosé was shortlisted for trophy contention at the same event.

As if to confirm world-class sparkling gets better with age, the 2017 Radenti Vintage Sparkling Rosé went one better the following year and was named Best Sparkling Rosé at the 2024 Australian Sparkling Wine Show. Twelve months on, it was Best Sparkling Wine of Show at the 2025 Melbourne Royal Wine Awards.

Wine Tasmania CEO Sheralee Davies was on hand to present the industry body's Trophy for Best Tasmanian Sparkling Wine.

"This is an incredible result for Tasmania," she observed.

"We all know in Tasmania how good our sparkling wine is, but these sorts of results are independent. They're objective. The wines are not known to the judges by region of origin, so the results really do support the view that Tasmania is the best place in the country to grow and make sparkling wine.

"We're all celebrating with Claudio because he's been there from the start, since 1993 and that first Freycinet sparkling wine. This win means such a lot to him and his team. Besides, it's so nice to see this award going to such a nice guy and such a great wine."

The Freycinet winemaker admitted to being a little overwhelmed by the success of his wines in this year's Australian Sparkling Wine Show.

"I'm not used to this, unlike Ed Carr, who usually fills up a wheelbarrow load of trophies at these wine shows," he jested.

"I'm totally thrilled with this result today. This event is a great celebration of Australian sparkling wine, and Tasmania is such an extraordinary, exciting place for sparkling wine.

"I'm especially grateful for my team back home. There are three families that have been with me for the past 20 and 30 years – the Singlines, the Grayson family, and the Nixon family. They toil away every day in the vineyard, and they're really the heart and soul of our wines. I'm so grateful to them.

"I'm also grateful to my in-laws, Geoff and Susie Bull, who established the vineyard all those years ago. It's been a good ride for the past 33 years.

"It was Geoff and Susie who said that we should try our hand at making sparkling wine. They were very encouraging. They even offered to drink all my mistakes."

Few people are more passionate about traditional method sparkling wine than the Australian Sparkling Wine Show committee chair.

French-born Le Calvez studied oenology in the wine capital of Bordeaux before gaining international winemaking experience and eventually moving to Australia in the early 2000s.

Between 2008 and 2015, he came to specialise in traditional method sparkling wine, working his way up to the position of group sparkling winemaker with Taltarni and Clover Hill Wines. Before joining Chandon Australia in 2023, Le Calvez became a valued member of Delamere Wines' vintage winemaking team for a handful of harvests.

In March of this year, he became head of winemaking at Chandon Australia.

Ever the sparkling wine professional, Le Calvez this week questioned why Australian consumers are not drinking more sparkling rosé.

"I think they are amazing wines," he added.

"We have the perfect weather for it, and the food for it... The rest of the world drinks a lot of sparkling rosé. But somehow in this area, we don't just go get it.

"I guess we'll get there one day."

Last page update: 24 September 2026