In August each year the judges, who are all senior members of the Australian wine industry, assess more than 700 of Australia's greatest red wines and pick one winner. The award is named in honour of the late Jimmy Watson, one of Australia's great wine characters and proprietor of the legendary Jimmy Watson's Wine Bar in Melbourne, which his grandsons continue to run today.

Jimmy was renowned for his ability to pick a great red wine in its youth and he would travel between regions each year choosing the best barrels of wine to be served at his establishment. To be one of the wines chosen by Jimmy Watson was considered one of the industry's great achievements in the 1950s. Jimmy died in 1961 and the Jimmy Watson Trophy was created in his memory in 1962 by his many friends and admirers. The inaugural Jimmy Watson was won by the famous 1961 vintage of Stonyfell Metala "Claret" and over the years it has been collected by such famous names as Penfolds, Lindemans, Cape Mentelle, d'Arenberg, Katnook Estate and of course four times by Wolf Blass.

Over the years the "Watson" has become the trophy everyone in Australian wine wants to win, the trophy that gains all the accolades sets the winning winery on its way to stardom. To win it once is a blessing, to win it four times . . . well that's almost unfair.

Biography of Jimmy Watson and the importance of the trophy to the Australian Wine Industry