The trophy winners of the 2011 Air N.Z. Wine Awards were announced at the awards dinner last night at The Langham, Auckland.
The Champion Wine of the Show went to Villa Maria ‘Single Vineyard – Keltern’ Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2010, this wine also winning the trophies for Champion Sustainable Wine and Champion Chardonnay. This is the fourth time this wine has won a Champion Wine of the Show award, adding to that of the Hawke’s Bay A&P Mercedes-Benz Wine Awards, N.Z. International Wine Show and Bragato Wine Awards, all judged earlier this year. (Click here to read my review of this wine.)
Regionally, Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough each won 6 trophies, 3 trophies went to Martinborough wines and one each to wines from Nelson, Central Otago and Auckland. Emphasising the New Zealand focus on sustainability, there were 23 Pure Elite Gold medals awarded, 10 more than in 2010. Of these, 6 were awarded to Pinot Noir, 5 to Chardonnay and 3 to Sauvignon Blanc.
