The results of the New World Wine Awards have been released with New Zealand wines scooping the three top awards and over 60% of the medals (including nearly three-quarters of all the Gold medals). A record number of 1,165 wines were entered this year from 175 wineries, 29 wineries were new to the competition. There were 677 medals won this year – the highest number of medals awarded since the New World Wine Awards began 12 years ago. Of these, there were 63 Gold, 160 Silver and 454 Bronze medal-winning wines.
The New World Wine Awards are judged in Wellington by an independent panel of 13 expert wine judges using the same internationally recognised system as other leading wine awards. The only difference from other wine awards is that to be eligible to enter, wines must retail for below $25 per bottle and there must be at least 6,000 bottles available for sale. This responds to consumer demand for high quality wine that is also affordable and widely available.
In addition to Gold, Silver and Bronze medals (which will be displayed in store), the judges picked three Champion wines – the Champion Red, Champion White and Champion Bubbles. This year, the Champion Red was Thistle Ridge Pinot Noir 2013, the Champion White was The King’s Bastard Chardonnay 2013 and Champion Bubbles, for the second year in a row, was Lindauer Rose.
A more detailed analysis of the New World Wine Awards will appear in the November edition of New Zealand Liquor News.
