Trinity Hill Syrah scoops top Air NZ wine award

Trinity Hill Homage Syrah 2006 won the top prize at this year’s Air New Zealand Wine Awards. The wine, which chair of judges Steve Smith MW described as, ‘an iron fist in a velvet glove,’ took the Champion Wine of the Show Trophy. Steve said, ‘It has extremely complex flavours which are simply fantastic, but it is not flamboyant or hard-hitting.’

Another wine from the Hawkes Bay region took the country’s first ever sustainable wine award in the most prestigious Kiwi wine competition. Cottage Block Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2006 won the Bell Gully Champion Sustainable Wine Trophy. Steve said this was, ‘rich with strong savoury characteristics complete with a nutty complex.’

International judge Peter McCombie MW, who is a Kiwi living here in England, said New Zealand should be proud of its internationally renowned wines.

‘New Zealand is continuing to make world-class wines and the Air New Zealand Wine Awards is one of the most professionally run wine competitions. Consumers can be confident with any wine awarded an Air New Zealand Wine Awards medal,’ he said.

This year 1,540 wines were entered into the competition. Hawkes Bay came away with seven trophies overall, as did Marlborough, while Central Otago took two trophies and Gisborne one.