Canadian Win For New Zealand Wine

Canadian Win For New Zealand Wine

A New Zealand wine has won top honours at a leading Canadian wine contest.

Kim Crawford’s 2003 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was awarded the Grande Médaille d’or (top gold medal) for the best wine in the Sauvignon Blanc category at this month’s Sélections mondiales des vins in Montreal.

The same wine also won the Prix du Jury décernés par pays, as the overall best New Zealand wine competing at the event.

The Sélections mondiale is one of Canada’s most celebrated wine competitions and takes place every second year. Wines from a total of 25 countries were this year sampled by a distinguished international panel of 90 judges, including a substantial representation from the traditional wine-growing countries of Europe.

“We are absolutely delighted by this award, which provides yet further evidence of the high regard in which New Zealand wines are held around the world, “ says Kim Crawford Wines Marketing Director, Erica Crawford.

“It’s also tremendous to see our label’s Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc continuing to perform well at international competitions. It’s been scoring gold ever since our label was first launched in 1996 and is now gaining the status of a ‘classic’ amongst lovers of quality wine,” she says.

Erica Crawford adds that Canada is an increasingly important market both for Kim Crawford Wines and for our wine industry as a whole. New Zealand wine exports to Canada in 2003 stood at approximately $10 million or 3.6% of the total value of our global wine exports. Kim Crawford Wines plans to send approximately 8% of its exports to Canada during the current year.

“ It’s very satisfying to achieve the same recognition in Canada as in other significant markets such as the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. It’s certainly a feather in our cap to have the quality of our Sauvignon Blanc recognised in Montreal, the largest city of the province of Quebec, with its rich Francophone culture, conservative tastes and entrenched reverence for French wines, including Sauvignon.

“Quebec is Canada’s second most populous province and a unique and essential part of the huge, diverse and still relatively untapped North American market. Greater exposure for Kim Crawford Wines in Quebec should mean greater awareness there for all New Zealand wines,” she says.

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