Syrah super success for Bay winemakers

Hawke's Bay wines scooped up a 23 medal pot of gold at this year's Air New Zealand Wine Awards as part of a total haul of 151 medals.

Not unexpectedly, the gold medals emerged strongly in the syrah, merlot and chardonnay categories - with the region's grapes completely sweeping up all seven of the golds awarded for syrahs.

In chardonnay, six of the 14 golds went to Hawke's Bay wines.

Along with the 23 golds, the region's wines picked up 39 silvers and 89 bronzes - which when added up showed that about half the 327 Bay wines entered for the prestigious annual awards picked up medals.

"We have dominated the areas we are good at," Hawke's Bay Winegrowers Association former chairman Rod McDonald said.

"Seeking awards is not the only thing that's important when making wine but there's no question about it - this is a nice shot in the arm."

The strength of Hawke's Bay's wines helped ensure that a record number of gold medals were awarded this year - 107 in total with Marlborough leading the charge with 47.

The quality of the wines on show drew admiration from the four international judges, with Melbourne-based wine critic and writer Philip Rich especially drawn to the Bay's syrahs.

"The highlight of the judging was the pinot noir and syrah classes," he said.

All the judges nodded towards pinot noir, which received 32 golds - more than twice that of any other varietal.

New Zealand Winegrowers global marketing director Chris Yorke said he was delighted with the number and quality of gold medal-winning wines this year.

"The quality of pinot noir entries is exceptional in this year's awards.

It's very exciting to see pinot noir going from strength to strength, and growing in its significance and standing."

Mr Yorke said the quality of sustainable wines entered was also exciting, and reflected in the high number of pure gold medals awarded. From this year, wines grown and entered from the 2010 vintage onwards had to be 100 per cent sustainably produced in both the vineyard and winery. The introduction of the new criteria led to an increase of almost 140 per cent in sustainable entries over last year - moving from 261 to 621.