Villa Maria wine wins big at international wine event

New Zealand’s most awarded winery, Villa Maria Estate been awarded the title of ‘New Zealand Wine Producer of the Year’ at the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) in London.

It’s the fourth time that Villa Maria has received the award in recent years and the third occasion this year that the wine company has taken the top New Zealand prize at an awards competition.

The International Wine & Spirit Competition is the most highly regarded and longest running competition in the world. Thousands of wines from more than 33 countries are blind tasted by industry experts to reveal the best in each category by hemisphere.

In addition to clinching the top title, Villa Maria collected the IWSC Trophy for Sauvignon Blanc for its Cellar Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2009, making it the fourth consecutive year that a New Zealand wine has won this trophy.

Villa Maria Group Winemaker, Alastair Maling MW says the win is another incredible achievement for Villa Maria, particularly given the tough competition faced in this event.

“While the 2009 vintage was particularly favourable for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, the fact that we are continually out-performing other wines of this variety around the world confirms that we are achieving consistently high quality in our winemaking and setting the benchmark for Sauvignon Blanc internationally. Full credit must go to the growers and vineyard teams, as well as the winery teams in each of our key wine growing regions.

“On the back of being named New Zealand Wine Producer of the Year, this award is great recognition of Villa Maria’s cumulative results this year. Winning top wine producer is an accolade that any winery would aspire to, so to have won three such awards this year alone is truly outstanding,” Maling says.