Longview's special tribute to mum is an award winner

Northland's oldest established vineyard, Longview Estate, has taken out a silver medal for its 2006 Milly's Malbec in the latest Winestate Magazine Awards.

The boutique red wine is named for, and commemorates the life of, vineyard owner Mario Vuletich's mother Milly.

 The label on the bottle pays tribute to a woman who was recognised for her "pride, honesty, passion and hard work".

The malbec grapes were picked three days before  she died at the age of 86 on March 24, 2006.

"I knew I had a good wine when it left the barrel and that's why I commemorated it to my mum," Mr Vuletich said.

He entered the competition to see if his feelings were right about the wine and, he says, they were.

The malbec was awarded four stars during the tasting of recent releases in the Winestate awards, which is equivalent to a silver medal.

Judge Michael Cooper described the wine as a "full-coloured red, sweet-fruited, with ripe, plummy, spicy flavours, showing good complexity. It's a generous, well-rounded northern style, delicious now."

Over the years Longview, which was established as a commercial winery in 1969, has won many awards and accolades. They include Air New Zealand Wine Awards, Liquorland Royal Easter Show, Winestate magazine and Cuisine magazine.

The wines have all been produced, grown and hand-picked on the estate.

The name Longview Estate reflects the commanding view  over Whangarei Harbour.

The vines cover 6.5ha and produce small quantities of boutique wine.  Current production is 12-16 tonnes but the vineyard has  a capacity of 60 tonnes.

Other wines produced on site include cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, syrah, chardonnay, gerwurztraminer and  the signature white diamond.