My inbox is getting its fair share of press releases as results from a swag of recent wine shows go public and are published.
New Zealand Wine of the Year Awards
Maude Wines' 2017 Central Otago Pinot Noir took home the trophy for Champion Wine of the Show at the inaugural New Zealand Wine of the Year Awards, the official wine show of the New Zealand industry.
Maude is a family-owned wine company, which produces hand-crafted wines from their vineyard just outside of Wanaka.
Huge congratulations to winemakers Sarah-Kate and Dan Dineen and their team.
New Zealand International Wine Show
As its name suggests, this also judges local and international wines.
With more than 2000 wines entered, I believe this is our biggest wine show with 25 trophies for best of class awarded from the more than 250 gold and nearly 1200 silver and bronze medal winners.
New World Wine Awards
With their price cap of $25 and volume requirements, this show hits the mark for accessibility: bulk purchases mean there can be many real bargains among its top 50. As for wines with a local connection, the 2017 Shaky Bridge Pioneer Series Central Otago Pinot Noir (Champion Pinot) and 2017 Summerhouse Central Otago Pinot Noir both made the Top 50.
Here's a selection from the New World Wine Awards that cut the mustard.
Price: $18.99 on sale
Rating: Very good to excellent
Bold sweet fruit in the darker spectrum with hints of mint/leaf and almost a sea- breeze freshness. Rich and full palate adding mint, tea leaf, blackberry and chocolate yet retaining a cool elegance. A lick of fine tannin gives this added backbone.
This shows nicely judged fruit depth, not at all overblown, and is right in the slot for summer drinking.
Price: $19.99 on sale
Rating: Excellent
Plum, smoke, earthy hints and a little menthol lead the way. Supple and slinky in the mouth before the very powerful, chewy tannins start to dominate. Slow out of the blocks; this just keeps getting better and better with time in the glass as the fruit weight builds, adding notes of leaf and stone, and the tannins soften.
This really shone with time.
Price: $18.99 on sale
Rating: Excellent
This just oozes appeal, a perfumed note leaping from the glass, the eucalypt, tilled earth and smoke a foil to the rich fruit. The sweetly fruited palate shows nice complexity with leafy eucalypt, pencil lead, earth and stony mineral notes, all framed by finely judged tannins. Excellent flow through the mouth and flavour interest on the long finish.
Lots of bang for your buck.
