Sir George Fistonich, founder of family owned Villa Maria Estate
From a field of 155 of New Zealand’s top Pinot Noirs, Villa Maria’s Reserve Marlborough Pinot Noir 2013 has been awarded the Platinum Medal (Trophy) for best New Zealand Pinot Noir over £15 at the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards.
Held annually in London, the Decanter World Wine Awards is widely recognised as the world’s largest wine competition and this year’s competition had 16,000 entries.
Sir George Fistonich, founder of family owned Villa Maria Estate says: “New Zealand produces some outstanding Pinot Noir so to receive this accolade for our Marlborough Reserve Pinot Noir from over 100 entries is a great achievement. Marlborough is becoming known for its Pinot Noir and this award is testament to our vineyard sites, viticulturists and winemaking team”.
This award comes only two months after Villa Maria was awarded in the Top Ten Most Admired Wine brands in the world and Most Admired in New Zealand for the second year in a row by UK based Drinks International.
While in Bulgaria, the Villa Maria Cellar Selection Organic Pinot Noir 2014 won Gold at the 23rd Concours Mondial de Bruxells.
The International Wine Challenge also announced a gold medal win for the Villa Maria Reserve Clifford Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2015.
Vidal Estate Sauvignon Blanc on top of the world
Following two recent accolades, Vidal Estate’s Sauvignon Blanc success continues, with the announcement that Vidal Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2015 has picked up a Gold medal at the renowned Decanter World Wine Awards 2016.
This wine, already a double trophy winner has really hit a chord globally. “New Zealand leads the world in Sauvignon Blanc’s, so to win 3 times at different competitions is an extraordinary result,” says Vidal Estate winemaker Hugh Crichton
The Decanter World Wine Awards are widely recognised as the world’s most prestigious wine competition, judged by experts including some of the world’s greatest winemakers, sommeliers and Masters of Wine.
“It is an honour to receive such consistent results and be recognised at this renowned competition: “We’re the first to admit that when it comes to white wines, Hawkes Bay Chardonnays are our hallmark, but we understand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and most importantly we know where we want to go from a style point of view.
The beauty of the 2015 vintage in Marlborough is that yields were naturally low to moderate which has produced wines with brilliant flavour concentration,” says Crichton.
