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, founder of The Winefront and mattinson, and former chief editor of Halliday.

When you pick up a wine book and see thousands of top-scoring wines, it’s hard to know which wine to choose. Mattinson guides you through this maze, giving you an honest view of the best Australian wines, the best wine stories, the best wine producers, the best value wines and simply, the best tasting wines. Importantly, Mattinson will tell you about the top-rated wines and also about the underrated wines. In short, Mattinson knows Australian wines inside and out.

Mattinson has been a photo-journalist since 1987. For the past 25 years he’s been a voice that you can trust when you’re looking for the best wines. 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, and is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter. He’s not afraid to put a score beside a wine. But what he’d rather do, is tell you the wine’s story.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
Previous

Accolade announces name change to Vinarchy, forms world’s largest specialist wine company

Next

Tasmania’s Best Restaurant Wine Lists