High fives for GIMBLETT GRAVELS red wines

18 October 2012

High fives for GIMBLETT GRAVELS red wines

Wines from five different vintages win gold at Hawke’s Bay A&P Mercedes Benz Wine Awards

GIMBLETT GRAVELS red wines won 6 trophies and 13 gold medals last Tuesday night, including the coveted prizes of Champion and Reserve Champion Wines of Show.

For the eighth time in the award’s twelve year history, Syrah was the star, with Esk Valley Winemaker’s Reserve Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2010 adjudged the Champion Wine of Show.

Reserve Champion Wine of Show was awarded to Sacred Hill’s Merlot predominant blend, Brokenstone 2010.

Both wines won their respective class trophies with Te Awa’s Cabernet Merlot 2009 winning the Cabernet predominant class and Best Export Wine of Show trophies.

Indeed, GIMBLETT GRAVELS wines from five different vintages, 2007-2011 inclusive, were awarded 13 of the 17 gold medals awarded to red wines.

Deputy Chairman of Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association, Tony Bish of Sacred Hill Winery, attended the awards and commented:

“For GIMBLETT GRAVELS wines to win Champion Wine and Reserve Champion Wine of Show is an outstanding achievement and confirms our members’ long held confidence that 2010 vintage is one of the finest to date.

"Equally satisfying was that wines from five different vintages, going back to 2007, were considered by the international panel of judges to merit gold medals. These results help to cement the fact that our unique soils and mesoclimate create wines that are of consistently high quality, year to year, and that such wines have the ability to be enjoyed young or with cellaring. These two attributes are acknowledged hallmarks of all the most sought after wines around the world.”

GIMBLETT GRAVELS is a fully registered trademark owned by the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association, established in 2001. Only members of the Association are entitled to brand their qualifying wines as GIMBLETT GRAVELS where such wines comprise a minimum of 95% fruit grown on specific free-draining gravel soils deposited by the Ngaruroro River in inland Hawke’s Bay.

The combination of these deeply layered gravels - of which there are only 800hectares (2000 acres) by area - and warm maritime climate has served to produce blended (Bordeaux varietal) red and Syrah wines that have achieved critical acclaim in New Zealand and internationally.

ENDS

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