Bragato Wine Awards 2017 – The Trophies and Golds

The trophy winners of the Bragato Wine Awards 2017 have been announced at the Bragato Conference over the last two days, with the Champion Wine of the Show announced last night. This was The Boneline Waipara Cabernet Franc 2016. The wine also won the trophy for the Champion Emerging Red Wine and a gold medal in that class. This is a fantastic result for grower Lindsay Hill and the team at The Boneline.

From 506 entries, there were 49 (9.68%) gold medals awarded, 110 (21.74%) silver and 226 (44.66%) bronzes, making a total of 385 (76.09%0 of the wines entered winning a medal award. This is a little higher in comparison with most of the other wine judging competitions conducted in the country. It is a reflection of the focussed quality that can be put into the fruit of a single vineyard as an entity, as compared to spreading the viticultural work over many and diverse vineyard sites. Since New Zealand Winegrowers has taken the Bragato Wine Awards under its control, we have seen a number of changes culminating in the 2017 competition eligible only for wines that are composed of at least 95% of the fruit from one vineyard. This not only recognises the work of the grower and viticulturist, but also what could be the expression of terroir, or what we call in New Zealand Turangawaewae, the sense of place.

This is a welcome and natural development for the competition. Over the years that I judged the Bragato Show, I sensed that many of the wines had characteristics that were lost in the crowd at other shows, and that the quality across the board at the Bragato judging was a little higher. Mark Compton, the chief steward at most of the wine shows in the country also felt the same things, and I wouldn’t be surprised that his views have contributed to this progress.

This year’s competition was held on16-17 August, at the Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland, Shona White (the ‘Wine Show Queen’) as the competition co-ordinator. The chair of judges was Ben Glover and the international judge was David Stevens-Castro from Australia. The senior judges were Rod Easthope, Francis Hutt, Jeremy McKenzie, James Millton, Helen Morrison, Simon Nunns, Barry Riwai and Liz Wheadon. The associate judges were Hannah Burns, Jordan Hogg and Lauren Swift.

The most successful varieties were Pinot Noir with 9 golds and Chardonnay with 7 golds. The 9 Pinot Noir golds came from 111 entries, 4 from Central Otago, 3 from Marlborough and 2 from Nelson. The provenance of the Chardonnay golds was surprising, with 4 from Marlborough, 2 from Central Otago and one from Hawke’s Bay. This was from 75 entries.

The other well-performing classes in terms of number of gold medals awarded were the Sauvignon Blanc with 5 golds from 54 entries, of which 4 came from Marlborough and one from Hawke’s Bay, with only one wine from the challenging 2017 vintage. There were 36 wines judged as Emerging Whites, yielding 4 golds, 2 being Gruner Veltliners and one each Viognier and Sauvignon Gris. Of the aromatic whites, Riesling was the best with 4 golds from 38 entries, 2 from Central Otago and one each from Marlborough and Waipara. Syrah was another very good class, with 4 golds from 28 entries, this being proportionally high. All of these were from Hawke’s Bay

.

Varieties that performed proportionally well based on golds per number of entries were Gewurztraminer with 2 golds from 13 entries, the Sparkling Wines, also 2 golds from only 7 entries, and the Emerging Reds with 3 golds from 22 entries. The lesser performing classes were the Bordeaux varieties, 1 Cabernet Sauvignon-based gold from 16 entries and Merlot-based with 1 gold from 21 entries.

Villa Maria usually dominates the gold medal results at wine shows, but here, Domain Road, the Yealands Group, the Pernod-Ricard group and Rockburn all garnered three golds.  Villa Maria and its associated company Te Awa took four golds.

Following is a list of the trophy winners and gold medal winners. The gold medal wines are listed with wine name, then grower and then vineyard. All of the medal results, including ‘No Awards’ can be seen at www.bragato.org.nz

The Boneline Cabernet Franc 2016

Canterbury, Vineyard: Waipara West, Grower: Lindsay Hill

Ruby Bay Pinot Noir 2016

Nelson, Vineyard: Ruby Bay Vineyard, Grower: Andrew Tamplin

Coopers Creek SV ‘Chalk Ridge’ Syrah 2015

Hawke’s Bay, Vineyard: Chalk Ridge, Grower: Wayne Morrow

The Boneline Cabernet Franc 2016

Canterbury, Vineyard: Waipara West. Grower: Lindsay Hill

Saint Clair James Sinclair Cabernet Merlot 2015

Hawke’s Bay, Vineyard: Plateau Vineyard, Grower: Neal & Judy Ibbotson

Clark Estate Dayvinleigh Rosé 2017

Marlborough, Vineyard: Dayvinleigh, Grower: Kevin Johnston

Villa Maria Reserve Noble Riesling Botrytis Selection 2015

Marlborough, Vineyard: Rocenvin Vineyard, Grower: Christine Fletcher

Akarua Vintage Brut 2011

Otago, Vineyard: Cairnmuir Road, Grower: Mark Naismith

Waipara Hills Soul Deans Riesling 2015

Canterbury, Vineyard: Deans Vineyard, Grower: Accolade Wines

Devil’s Staircase Pinot Gris 2016

Otago, Vineyard: Rockburn Wines Ltd, Grower: Chris James, Richard Bunton, Paul Halford

Bladen Gewürztraminer 2016

Marlborough, Vineyard: Paynters Road Vineyard, Grower: Keven and Kerry Tilly

Askerne Viognier 2016

Hawke’s Bay, Vineyard: Askerne, Grower: Kathryn and John Loughlin

Konrad Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2016

Marlborough, Vineyard: Konrad Wines, Grower: Konrad Hengstler

Domaine Rewa Chardonnay 2015

Otago, Vineyard: Domaine Rewa, Grower: Philippa Fourbet

· Selaks Founders Chardonnay 2016, Constellation Brands, Airstrip Vineyard

· Hawkesbridge Reserve Marlborough Chardonnay 2016, Milton & Heather Staples, Walnut Flat Estate

· Isabel Marlborough Chardonnay 2016, Jeremy McKenzie Isabel Estate

· Saint Clair Pioneer Block 11 Cell Block Chardonnay 2015, Colin & Sandra Mackay, Cell Block

· Giesen The Fuder Clayvin Chardonnay 2014, Mike Poff, Clayvin Vineyard

· Domain Road Vineyard Chardonnay 2015, Graeme Crosbie, Domian Road Vineyard

· Yealands Estate Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2017, Gareth Goodsir, Seaview Vineyard

· Fairhall Downs Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2016, Brendon Bray, Fairhall Downs

· Konrad Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2016, Konrad Hengstler, Konrad Wines

· Jules Taylor OTQ Sauvignon Blanc 2016, Craig Plunkett, Plunkett Estate Vineyards

· Church Road McDonald Series Sauvignon Blanc 2016, Graham Bartleet, Redstone Vineyard

· Te Kairanga Riesling 2016, David Shepherd, Te Kairanga

· Waipara Hills Soul Deans Riesling 2015, Accolade Wines, Deans Vineyard

· Tigermoth Riesling 2016, Chris James, Richard Bunton, Paul Halford, Rockburn Wines Ltd

· Domain Road Vineyard Duffers Creek Riesling 2015, Graeme Crosbie, Domain Road Vineyard

· Toi Toi Marlborough Pinot Gris 2017, Kevin Joyce, Brookdale Vineyard

· Anthem Central Otago Pinot Gris 2016, James Dicey, Ata Mara Estate Ltd

· Devil’s Staircase Pinot Gris 2016, Chris James, Richard Bunton, Paul Halford, Rockburn Wines Ltd

· Villa Maria Single Vineyard Ihumatao Gewürztraminer 2014, Brett Donaldson, Ihumatao Vineyard

· Bladen Gewürztraminer 2016, Keven & Kerry Tilly, Paynters Road Vineyard

· Askerne Viognier 2016, Kathryn & John Loughlin, Askerne

· The Crossings Grüner Veltliner 2016, Gareth Goodsir, Seaview Vineyard

· Tinpot Hut McKee Vineyard Marlborough Grüner Veltliner 2016, Robyne McKee, McKee Vineyard

· Villa Maria Cellar Selection Marlborough Sauvignon Gris 2015, Christine Fletcher, Rocenvin Vineyard

· Akarua Vintage Brut 2011, Mark Naismith, Cairnmuir Road

· No 1 Family Estate Cuvée Virginie 2009, Daniel Le Brun, No.1 Family Estate

· Jules Taylor Wines Marlborough Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc 2015, Craig Plunkett, Plunkett Estate Vineyards

· Villa Maria Reserve Marlborough Noble Riesling Botrytis Selection 2015, Christine Fletcher, Rocenvin Vineyard

· Clark Estate Dayvinleigh Rosé 2017, Kevin Johnston, Dayvinleigh

· Brancott Estate Letter Series “T” Pinot Noir 2016, Vaughan Wolland, Brancott Estate

· Tohu Rore Reserve Pinot Noir Marlborough 2015, Mondo Kopua, Tohu Awatere Vineyard

· Catalina Sounds ‘Sound of White’ Waihopai Marlborough Pinot Noir 2015, Fraser Brown, Sound of White Vineyard

· Ruby Bay Pinot Noir 2016, Andrew Tamplin, Ruby Bay Vineyard

· Ruby Bay Captain’s Reserve Pinot Noir 2016, Andrew Tamplin, Ruby Bay Vineyard

· Tarras Vineyards The Canyon Pinot Noir 2016, Hayden Johnston, Tarras Vineyards The Canyon

· Nine Barrels Pinot Noir 2015, Chris James, Richard Bunton, Paul Halford, Rockburn Wines Ltd

· Maude Mt Maude Vineyard Kids Block Pinot Noir 2014, Dawn & Terry Wilson, Mount Maude

· Domain Road Vineyard Pinot Noir 2014, Graeme Crosbie, Domian Road Vineyard

· Alexander Merlot 2016, Michael Finucane, Alexander Vineyard

· Saint Clair James Sinclair Cabernet Merlot 2015, Neal & Judy Ibbotson, Plateau Vineyard

· Linden Estate Reserve Syrah 2015, Bruce Jans, Linden Estate

· Coopers Creek SV ‘Chalk Ridge’ Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2015, Wayne Morrow, Chalk Ridge

· Talisman Syrah 2014, Gareth Goodsir, Seaview Vineyard

· Te Awa Single Estate Hawkes Bay Syrah 2013, Paul Robinson, Te Awa Vineyard

· The Boneline Cabernet Franc 2016, Lindsay Hill, Waipara West

· Askerne Cabernet Franc 2015, Kathryn & John Loughlin, Askerne

· McDonald Series Marzemino 2015, Graham Bartleet, Redstone Vineyard