The Air New Zealand Wine Awards is the premier wine competition in New Zealand. It recognises excellence in winemaking throughout the country. The competition organised by New Zealand Winegrowers, the national organisation for the country’s 1,300 grape growers and winemakers.

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107 gold medals have been awarded at this year’s Air New Zealand Wine Awards – the highest in the Awards’ history and up five from the 102 awarded last year. Pinot Noir received the most gold medals for the third year in a row (32), the most ever awarded for this varietal, followed by Sauvignon Blanc (14) and Chardonnay (14).

Pure medals were introduced in 2007 to acknowledge medal-winning wines that are 100 per cent sustainably grown and produced. Of the gold medals awarded this year, almost 40 per cent (39.2) are pure gold medals. “In addition, 13 of the 14 gold medals in the Sauvignon Blanc class are pure gold medals,” Mr Yorke said.

From this year, wines grown and entered from the 2010 vintage onwards had to be 100 per cent sustainably produced in both the vineyard and winery. This only applied to wines entered from the 2010 vintage. The introduction of the new criteria led to an increase of almost 140 per cent in sustainable entries over last year – moving from 261 to 621.

The 2010 Air New Zealand Wine Awards gala dinner will be held at SKYCITY Convention Centre on Saturday 20 November 2010

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Jayson Bryant, of The Wine Vault, tastes Two Rivers Wairau Pinot Gris and Greystone Waipara Valley Pinot Gris 2008.

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TravelMail’s Tim Clark heads to New Zealand and enjoys a ‘gastro-wine’ tour including Mission Vineyard in Hawkes Bay.

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Johner Estate harvests it’s 2009 Pinot Noir vintage. Johner Estate is part of the wider Wairarapa Region, one of the best keep tourist secrets in New Zealand.

Johner Estate is outside of Masterton New Zealand in the northern Wairarapa Valley. Wairarapa is a young wine growing region north of Wellington over the Rimutaka Hills. Johner Estate has planted 8 ha of various Pinot Noir clones, originally selected in Burgundy, 3 ha of Sauvignon Blanc and a further hectare of 10 trial Varieties ranging from Pinot Gris to Syrah.

The better known wine town is Martinborough which is in the southern part of the valley. It is not unusual to see Martinborough wines on North American shelves crowded of course by the big daddy of New Zealand wine regions, Hawkes Bay and Marlborough. [Wairarapa PhotoStream]

Wairarapa was traditionally a farming and market growing community, but now boasts a strong wine growing heritage as well as one of the largest Wind Farms in New Zealand to the west of Masterton. Masterton also came to fame recently because Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords fame was raised here and returned for a one off concert for the locals.

Because of time constraints, many tourists stop off or skip the Wellington region and head south to Queenstown and Christchurch, however Wellington, the Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa also offer a spectacular experience.

Of particular note is the Toast Martinborough Wine and Food Festival held in November [Photostream]. There are however many activities that can occupy several days (or weeks). There are numerous Wine Cellars and museums you can visit as well as the cafe towns of Featherston, Greytown and Martinborough itself. If you are armed with plenty of SD cards (film) because the scenery from Cape Ferry in the south and Ekatahuna in the North. Wairarapa is not a Napa Valley experience it is more like a journey through Canada’s Niagara Wine Region or Hunter Valley in New South Wales.

One of our favorite destinations, if you are looking for a truly down home experience in New Zealand, it would be difficult to pass up spending time in Wairarapa, one of the fastest growing tourist areas in New Zealand.

Links:

Johner Estate

Martinborough Tourism

Te Kairanga Wines

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WineLibraryTV, the Top Gear of Wine Reviewers, and Gary Vaynerchuk dig into three New Zealand Sav Blancs.

They are the 2008 Chasing Venus, the 2008 Allan Scott and the iconic 2007 Cloudy Bay. All of these are from the Marlborough region at the top of the South Island.

Gary has an in your face style of Wine Journalism and is not short on sharing his opinion. However he is extremely knowledgeable. His popular blog WineLibraryTV can be found here.

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Meet the new face of lumberjacking, World-champion female lumberjack Shana Martin and Olivia Judd show us how at the Royal Easter show in Auckland.

All systems are go for this week’s Royal Easter Show held at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds from Thursday 9 to Monday 13 April 2009.

Montana Wines have had a great start with the Montana Chardonnay Pinot Noir Rosé winning the Champion Sparkling Wine Trophy. The genesis of the wine came about in 2002 and it has only been available for six months. It is a blend of recent vintages – the oldest being from 2005. Corban Wines Tony Robb was declared Winemaker of the Year and Corbans Cottage Block Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2007 was awarded Champion Chardonnay and Champion Wine of Show.

The Royal Easter Show had its beginnings 166 years ago, beginning as a purely agricultural event to help the fledgling colony develop a sound farming economy. The first A&P show was held in 1843. The aims of the event were to demonstrate excellence in agriculture and animal husbandry, and to promote the breeding of stud animals to establish and increase the farm animal gene pool in the emerging colony. You can read more information on the show here.

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Photo By KiwiBloke - Cloudy Bay Vineyard Marlborough

Nick Passmore of Business Week’s current Wine of the Week is Shepherd’s Ridge Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough Region. At $14 it over shadows the popular but elitest Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc.

That’s why Nick’s current Wine of the Week, Shepherd’s Ridge Sauvignon Blanc ($14) is such a standout. It’s a finely made NZ sauvignon blanc that equals those at twice the price. It shows delicate, zesty fruit flavors balanced by just a hint of those hallmark herbaceous elements without being overwhelmed by them. Cool fermentation and sur lie aging result in a full, rich mouth-feel without any oak contact, and wine that’s a pure delight at a very moderate price.

Crafted at the Wither Hills Winery, the first Shepherds Ridge wine was Shepherds Ridge Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 1999. This wine was selected by Wine Spectator Magazine in their Top 100 wines of the year and awarded 90 points. Subsequent vintages also achieved 90 points, and the Shepherds Ridge Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2002 was awarded a Gold Medal at the prestigious International Wine Challenge.

Shepherds Ridge is to the South East of Blenheim:

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