Two Waitaki Valley wines have won gold medals at a prestigious London wine competition, and with winegrowers saying this year's grape harvest is bigger and better than usual, more awards could be ahead.
Ostler Caroline's pinot noir, from Ostler Wines, and John Forrest's Waitaki Valley pinot noir both received gold medals at the London International Wine Challenge and Ostler Wines spokeswoman Anne Jerram said three other Ostler Wines brands won silver medals.
Gold medals were were also awarded to four Central Otago wines - B2 Pinot Noir, Brennan Pinot Noir, Kingsmill Tippet's Dam Pinot Noir and Grasshopper Rock Central Otago Pinot Noir.
Mrs Jerram said the London competition was the ''biggest in the world'', making the gold medals ''huge'' news for the Waitaki Valley.
She added that there had been an ''excellent'' harvest this season, which was further positive news for the future.
''There has been a very big yield this year, bigger than usual and the grapes are amazing.''
Picking started at the Clos Ostler vineyard on Racecourse Rd, near Duntroon, on May 1, slightly later than usual, but there were still another seven or eight days left, she said.
''So we are still calling for volunteers.''
Ostler Wines volunteer co-ordinator Andrew Pickles said the wine company had used volunteer labour for the past four years to harvest grapes.
He said Ostler Wines calculated how much it would cost to pay a wage to a volunteer for the work, and then gave the money to the New Zealand Spinal Trust's (NZST) Connecting People peer support programme, which supported people living with spinal injuries.
''The year before last they gave $8000 to the charity, and last year they gave $5000.''
NZST project manager Hans Wouters said the amount of money raised showed that even a small community could make a ''big difference''.
Paul Stafford, from Burwood, broke his neck in a diving accident in 1980, but has been picking grapes at the vineyard - in a wheelchair.
