2024 Jimmy Watson Trophy winner up for sale

Written By Campbell Mattinson

The winner of the 2024 Jimmy Watson Trophy – Four Winds Vineyard, in the Canberra wine region – was put up for sale today.

When the sale goes through, it will be the end of an era for owners John and Sarah Collingwood, who took over the vineyard from Sarah’s parents Graeme and Suzanne Lunney 15 years ago. Four Winds Vineyard is 30 minutes from downtown Canberra. It was only last November that the 2023 Four Winds Shiraz was announced as the winner of the 2024 Jimmy Watson Trophy winner.

Ms Collingwood said that while it was sad to be leaving a place dear to three generations of her family, she and her husband and their two young children felt it was the right time to hand over the baton.

“We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built, but it’s time for new adventures,” Ms Collingwood says. “Winning an award as prestigious as the Jimmy Watson feels like the perfect high note to step away on.”

The sale of the Four Winds Vineyard includes the Collingwoods’ four-bedroom home, with tennis court and woodfired pizza oven in the garden, 12-hectare vineyard, and business infrastructure.

Campbell Mattinson

This article was written by Campbell Mattinson, former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of the highly respected The Winefront site.

Mattinson has been an independent wine critic and photo-journalist since 1987. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the prized Best Australian Sports Writing Award.

Mattinson, who is 100% independent, puts a score out of 100 on every wine that he reviews. But what he’d rather do, is tell you the wine’s story.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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