7 Gold Vintages in a Row for Waipara Hills Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
24 April 2013
Momentum around the success of 2011 Waipara Hills Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is continuing to increase and there’s no end in sight if previous vintages are anything to go by.
• 2 trophies
• 23 Gold medals
• 26 Silver medals all awarded over 7 vintages from various competitions around the world
Awards received at prestigious competitions in Australia, UK, Vienna, Germany and Japan reflects the broad appeal of this wine. The 2011 vintage is evidence that its stylistic characters are constantly evolving and developing in a delightful fashion.
Only nineteen Sauvignon Blanc’s were awarded gold medals at the 2013 Royal Easter Show with Waipara Hills Sauvignon Blanc the only 2011 gold medal wine.
‘Interesting’ and ‘Complex’ are words winemaker Simon McGeorge uses to describe the 2011 Waipara Hills Sauvignon Blanc “It’s hugely satisfying to see the wine developing in such a graceful way and exciting to hear that we’ve received gold at the Royal Easter Show! It’s testament to our on-going work, especially getting the fundamentals right in the vineyard, making for wines that find their own balance and have greater aging potential. It is also excellent to see how well this wine is showing and how interesting and complex it’s become, especially retaining the fresh guava, snow pea characters which really characterised this wine for me when it was first released.”
The 2013 Royal Easter Show Wine Awards received a total of 1130 entries and is regarded as one of the most influential wine competitions in NZ, with our country’s finest and most experienced wine judges reviewing them. Over the past 60 years, the annual wine competition has been the crowning achievement in New Zealand winemaking, reflecting the huge advances in quality and style in NZ wines, now earning $1.2 billion from over 130 export markets.
Waipara Hills Sauvignon Blanc RRP $20 is available nationwide at all leading liquor stores and supermarkets.
For more information, images or to set up a media visit with Waipara Hills, please contact Kate Cameron – Communication, PR and Event Co-ordinator. Phone: + 64 21 222 7858 Email: kate.cameron@nzve.co.nz
Waipara Hills Winery
Established in 2001, Waipara Hills wines have become famous for their intensity, character and complexity – wines that express the true soul of the south. From the Air New Zealand Wine Awards to the International Wine Challenge in the UK, Waipara Hills wines have received more than 200 awards in the brand’s short history. At Waipara Hills our philosophy is simple. It’s about allowing the characteristics of each season’s fruit to shine, then creating perfect balance with as little interference as possible. The results are wines that are rich, vibrant and bursting with complex flavour.
For us every harvest signals the beginning of a new adventure, the chance to create wine that is distinctly from our place – a place where from contrast comes beauty.
More about our Winemaker – Simon McGeorge
After completing a degree in commerce and marketing, Simon studied winemaking at Lincoln University in Canterbury. He then spent several years travelling between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres working harvest and following styles and winemaking techniques, until he was offered a fulltime position at De Loach Vineyards in the Russian River, California in 1999. After four seasons Simon travelled to France for his next harvest and made wine in the Loire.
In 2006 he was excited to be offered a role as winemaker at Waipara Hills, an opportunity to work in an emerging wine region with aromatic varieties such as Riesling and Pinot Gris, two of Simon’s favourites. Several years on, Simon has played an instrumental role in forging the direction of the Waipara Hills wine styles, seeking to reflect both the region that they come from and the people that work to create them.
PO Box 1034, Blenheim 7240, New Zealand | Phone: +64 3 520 6011 | Fax: +64 3 578 1765
marketing@waiparahills.co.nz www.waiparahills.co.nz