Rockburn Wins 2004 Winestate Wine of the Year Awar

Press Release From Rockburn Wines
Monday 29th November 2004

Rockburn Wins 2004 Winestate Wine of the Year Award

At the lavish Winestate Wine of the Year Awards dinner held in the Wentworth Hotel, Sydney, Rockburn Pinot Noir 2002 was judged to be the top Pinot Noir of the year for Australasia.

“We are delighted to win such a prestigious award, given the very high standard of Pinot Noirs currently coming out of New Zealand and some regions of Australia” director Mr Dick Bunton said after receiving the award on behalf of the company.

Over the course of the year the writers at Winestate magazine taste 10,000 wines from Australia and New Zealand. Every wine that gets a rating of 4 1/2 or 5 stars is then re-evaluated blindly and the top five in the category are selected. The top 2 wines are chosen and are served at the dinner with the runners up and winner being announced on the night.

“We became hopeful that we had done quite well,” Dick Bunton said, “when they asked us to send 3 cases of our wine over for the dinner”.

This latest award comes at a time when Rockburn has firmly established itself as a leading producer of quality wine from Central Otago. Since its first release in 1998 (originally under the Hay’s Lake label) Rockburn has won major awards for all its vintages of Pinot Noir and has also collected an impressive array of medals for its other white varieties.

Currently the 2002 Pinot Noir is served in the first class cabin of Air New Zealand’s flights to Europe, won a Gold Medal at the Royal Easter Show and in the latest ‘Wine Spectator’ magazine was rated by respected wine critic, Harvey Steiman, as one of New Zealand’s top red wines.

To cap off an exciting time for the company, Rockburn 2003 Pinot Noir, yet to be released, was awarded a Gold medal at the recent Air New Zealand wine show.

The grapes for Rockburn wines come from the company’s two vineyards, one in the Gibbston Valley (8 Ha) and one at Lowburn (33 Ha). Pinot varieties, Noir and Gris, account for 70% of the total plantings with a full portfolio of other white varieties. The wines are made in Cromwell by Rudi Bauer of Quartz Reef, an acknowledged master with the Pinot Noir variety. Currently a new purpose built winery is being planned with construction due to be completed ready for the processing of the 2006 vintage.

Rockburn wines are distributed throughout New Zealand by the Glengarry Hancock Group and are available throughout New Zealand. They appear on the wine lists of a number of New Zealand’s finest restaurants. The company also exports to Britain, USA and Asia.

“Over the history of Rockburn we have worked hard to set a high standard for quality, and the success our wines are achieving gives us confidence that we are setting a standard to be very proud of and seek to maintain,” Mr Bunton said.

“In the Winestate Awards you really are putting yourself up against world class wines, and to be recognised as such, is a huge buzz and all the effort that’s put in at the vineyard and winery make it all very much worthwhile” said Mr Bunton.

www.rockburn.co.nz www.winestate.com.au

© Scoop Media