Best New Zealand Wine Trophy for Gibbston Valley

Media Release 21 July 2010

Best New Zealand Wine Trophy for Gibbston Valley

Gibbston Valley Wines has received another major international award in taking out the trophy for Best New Zealand Wine at the 2010 Japan Wine Challenge with its 2009 Gibbston Valley Pinot Gris. The same wine was also awarded the trophy for Best New World White Wine at the Japan competition.

Winemaker Christopher Keys was elated by the news, saying “for us at Gibbston Valley clarity of direction and consistency are translating into results, and on a world stage that is very satisfying. Pinot Gris has a natural affinity with Central Otago and offers so much complexity and balance, whilst being outrageously drinkable and food friendly.”

Already rated by some as “perhaps second only to Burgundy in the production of quality pinot noir”, Central Otago is now developing an enviable reputation for producing quality pinot gris, a variety which has soared in popularity in recent years.

Most of the fruit in the trophy winning wine came from Gibbston Valley’s Schoolhouse vineyard in Bendigo where the combination of warm days, cool nights and excellent exposure give the fruit a refreshingly intense, clean ripeness.

No stranger to international awards for its wines, Gibbston Valley took out the trophy for Best Pinot Noir at the Sydney International Wine Competition earlier this year with its 2008 Gibbston Valley Reserve Pinot Noir, the fruit for which also came from the company’s Schoolhouse vineyard in Bendigo.

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