Lamb entries have again defied the devastating drought to be named winner of the 2018 Dick Stone Perpetual Trophy at the Sydney Royal Taste of Excellence Awards.
Held at The Stables, Sydney Showground, the awards saw prestigious trophy presented to Victoria’s Woodward Foods Australia for its export grade lamb (USA).
The trophy is decided amongst the championship winners to emerge from the Branded Meat section of the coveted Sydney Royal Spring Fine Food Show.
Dick Stone was a gentleman of the Australian meat industry and was resolute in his commitment to promoting excellence in the sector.
This year was the first the Dick Stone Perpetual Trophy has been expanded to include beef, lamb and pork classes.
Chairman of the Sydney Royal Spring Fine Food committee and Royal Agricultural Society of NSW councillor Lachlan Bowtell said this year’s competition was a testament to resilience.
“Even through the ravages of drought, Australian lamb producers have delivered yet again,” Mr Bowtell said.
“The high quality and flavours of the lamb presented to the judges this year made their role even more difficult.
“The Sydney Royal Fine Food Awards aim to reward excellence and this year was a true testament to the commitment and passion of not only lamb, but beef and pork producers, at times under dire circumstances.”
Chair of Judges in the Branded Meat competition George Ujvary agreed.
“The overall quality of beef exhibits this year was very high and it was interesting to see the gap between the marbling quality of grass fed and grain fed beef exhibits closing yet again this year,” Mr Ujvary said.
“The marbling of Wagyu exhibits this year was exceptional and flavour across all categories was very good.
“In the Lamb competition, the standard of some exhibits was exceptionally high this year despite the conditions seen across the country which presented a number of challenges to producers.
“The top exhibits were sweet in flavour, extremely tender and exceptional in mouthfeel and appearance.
“While the pork competition is still in relative infancy, the standard was high and we all look forward to seeing this competition develop.”
During the competition, 11 gold medals were awarded across seven classes in Branded Meat.