Villa Maria Founder Sir George Fistonich inducted into the NZ Wine ‘Hall of Fame’

At the 2011 Royal Easter Show Wine Awards which took place this weekend, Sir
George Fistonich, founder and MD of Villa Maria Estate, was honoured to be inducted into the New Zealand Wine ‘Hall of Fame’ for services to the New Zealand wine industry.

Sir George has been selected for this honour for his significant contributions to the New Zealand wine industry in terms of development and enhancement, both domestically and internationally. This wonderful accolade comes not far behind his knighthood in 2009 which George also received for his contributions to the wine industry in New Zealand. The New Zealand Wine ‘Hall of Fame’ began in 2005 and since then has bestowed this privilege on a small number of individuals.

Further honours were also bestowed on Villa Maria during the show. The annual ‘Winemaker of the Year Award’ was conferred jointly to Villa Maria Estate’s
Group Winemaker Alastair Maling MW and Senior Auckland Winemaker Nick Picone.

This is the first time a joint award has been given in the show’s 19 year history.

To add more icing to the cake, Villa Maria Estate secured a record 17 gold awards alongside three trophies and the ‘Champion Wine of Show’ award.

Sir George comments: “The Royal Easter Show is a major annual event here in Auckland and this year we have been delighted to be able to attend with many of the Villa Maria team who were able to share in this very happy occasion. The success of Villa Maria and the quality of our wines is very much a team effort and we are honoured to receive this outstanding recognition.”