Gibbston Valley Wines Pinot Gold!

Press Release - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Queenstown 17 July 2006

Gibbston Valley Wines Pinot Gold!

Central Otago Winery Gibbston Valley Wines have scored a rare two gold medals in the prestigious San Francisco International Wine Challenge for their 2005 vintage Pinot Noirs. The competition is the largest and most prestigious in North America – this year a panel of 40 judges swirled, sipped and spat their way through more than 3,800 individual wines.

Both wines entered – the Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir and the Gibbston Valley Reserve Pinot Noir - shot to the top of their class to each take a Gold Medal. “This is a fabulous result, “ says Gibbston Valley. “2005 was a cool vintage and has produced beautifully concentrated wines with depth and elegance. The harvest gave us the quality to produce both our signature Pinot Noir, and also our much sought after Reserve label. We already knew that this vintage produced fabulous white wines,” (the Gibbston Valley 2005 Riesling won the NZ Champion Trophy) “and it is a great delight to see both our premium pinot noirs gaining such high international acclaim”.

This is the first time that Gibbston Valley Wines have entered this competition, and it is a rare event for one winery to win two gold medals in the same class for the same vintage. In all, only 18 gold medals were awarded out of the total of 128 medals for the pinot noir class.

Gibbston Valley Wines is a boutique producer of the highest quality wines, set in Queenstown's spectacular Gibbston Valley. They are one of the original pioneers of the Central Otago wine region and produced the first commercial vintage for the region in 1987. Today it is NZ's most visited winery. It comprises vineyard, wine cave, restaurant, wine tours, courtyard alfresco dining, wine sales and gift shop. Gibbston Valley Wines has won more awards for Pinot Noir than any other winery in New Zealand, including the trophy at the London International Wine Challenge for the top Pinot Noir/Burgundy in the world.

ENDS

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