Chief Winemaker Nikolai St George added some impressive bling to the Matua awards cabinet on Saturday night at the 2015 New Zealand Royal Easter Show Wine Awards, triumphing over all to take home the Royal Easter Show Trophy for Champion Wine of the Show in addition to the Pullman Hotels Trophy for Champion Syrah for the 2013 Matua Single Vineyard Matheson Syrah. With an additional two gold medals, 10 silver and two bronze, St George then took to the stage again to claim the Royal Agricultural Society Gold Medal for Wine Maker of the Year, which he also won in 2013.

This is the second time in six months that both the 2013 Matua Single Vineyard Matheson Syrah has been New Zealand’s star Syrah and that St George has won the ultimate winemaker title at a major show. In September the Syrah was awarded two trophies – Champion NZ Syrah and Champion Shiraz/Syrah –  at New Zealand’s largest wine competition, the New Zealand International Wine Show, and St George was crowned Nissan NZ Champion Winemaker of the Show. The Syrah also took the trophy for Champion Exhibition Red Wine at the 2014 Air New Zealand Wine Awards in November, making it a clean sweep of trophies across New Zealand’s three most prestigious wine shows and the third consecutive year that St George has been awarded Winemaker of the Year.

St George was elated to see his favourite wine again take the critics by storm. “This is only the second time we’ve made a single vineyard Syrah at Matua, and each time it’s been a trophy winner. We only make it in small quantities – all of our single vineyard wines are made from small hand-selected fruit parcels from our best vineyards – and it really is cool climate Syrah at its absolute best,” he said.

“Just the other week it pipped a well-known Aussie Shiraz in the New Zealand Winegrowers Great Trans-Tasman Wine Challenge – it’s great to see a New Zealand Syrah do so well considering it is a varietal traditionally dominated by Australian wineries.

“I’m also rapt to have been awarded gold for our 2014 Matua Regional Sauvignon Blanc, which is impressive for a wine that you can buy for around $15.

“Congratulations must go out to the Matua winemaking and viticultural family for producing the most elegant wine that we’ve ever made from our Matheson Vineyard and for their relentless dedication, ” he said.

The Royal Easter Show Wine Awards is New Zealand’s longest running national wine competition, held every year at the Auckland Showgrounds. In 2015 there were over 1200 entries. It presents a forum for the country’s leading winemakers, as judges, to experience first-hand the best efforts of their peers and gain knowledge to improve their own winemaking.

In addition to 10 Silver and two Bronze medals, Matua’s accolades at the 2015 Royal Easter Show Wine Awards are as follows:

About Matua: Matua began forty years ago with a vision shared by Bill and Ross Spence – to revolutionise the New Zealand wine industry by making wines with the best fruit from the best vineyards. A philosophy that still stands today.

It’s hard to separate New Zealand and Sauvignon Blanc these days, but Matua was the first to put them together, producing the country’s first bottle in 1974. Not just about producing great Sauvignon Blanc – Matua is also committed to being world leaders in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and today it is one of New Zealand’s most awarded and internationally acclaimed wineries.

Matua wines include the fruit driven Regional Range (teal label), the lighter in alcohol and calorie Regional First Frost Sauvignon Blanc, the Lands & Legends Series, and the Single Vineyard Collection.

www.matua.co.nz

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