The Shout Magazine (New Zealand)

New World Wine Awards champions snapped up

NZLN-New World- 2015 Champion Wines_optThe New World Wine Awards Champion wines are proving to be more popular than ever this year. The Champion Pinot Gris, The Luminary Martinborough Pinot Gris 2014, and the Champion Sparkling Wine, Hunter’s MiruMiruTM NV, were on the brink of selling out just ten days after the awards were announced.

“The fact that the Champion Pinot Gris and the Champion Sparkling Wine have been snapped up so quickly reflects the recognition among consumers of the credibility of the New World Wine Awards for identifying top quality wines at affordable prices,” says Jim Harré, chair of the judging panel.

While there might be limited opportunities for consumers to buy the Champion Pinot Gris and the Champion Sparkling Wine given they are close to selling out, the good news is there are lots of other Gold medal wines showcased in New World’s 137 supermarkets nationwide, in the New World Wine Awards 2015 booklet and online.

In order to be eligible for entry to the New World Wine Awards the wines entered must retail for $25 or less and there must be at least 5,000 bottles available for sale.

This year there were 1,309 entries in the New World Wine Awards, including a full range of varietals. The 13-strong independent panel of wine experts who judged the wines using the same internationally recognised points system as all other major wine shows, awarded 86 Gold, 236 Silver and 483 Bronze medals. The best wines in each category were then re-tasted to determine the Champion wine of each key varietal, and the overall Champion Red and Champion White.