Announcing the 2017 NZIWS Trophy Winners

New Zealand’s largest wine competition - the New Zealand International Wine Show – announced the Trophy winners for 2017 at the Awards dinner at Auckland’s Crown Plaza on Saturday 7 October.

The competition this year provided the industry with its first major assessment of the 2017 vintage for our most important variety, Sauvignon Blanc.  The judges awarded 18 golds from 152 entries from wines produced in the 2017 vintage, a terrific result.

New Zealand’s other major export variety, Pinot Noir, was rewarded with 29 Gold Medals – with 13 wines coming from Central Otago, 8 from Martinborough and 7 from Marlborough.

For the 9^th time since 2005 a Chardonnay has been crowned Nissan Champion Wine of the Show. Villa Maria Reserve Marlborough Chardonnay 2016 was selected as the top wine from the 19 Gold Medal Chardonnays and after voting by all of the senior judges, declared this to be the supreme winner.

Invivo Central Otago 'Michelle’s' Pinot Noir 2016 received the Trophy for Pinot Noir continuing their success for Pinot Noir’s produced in the southern region.

There were significant results in several classes, notably 19 Gold Medals for Pinot Gris and a very positive 13 Gold Medals for Rosé from a staggering 130 entries.

The variety receiving the most Gold Medals was Shiraz/Syrah with 40 wines exciting the judges, this was the most Gold Medals ever awarded to a single class in the history of the competition.

Go to the NZ International Wine Show website for a full list of results.