Hot Red Hawke’s Bay adding whites

Hot Red Hawke’s Bay adding whites

Hot Red Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand’s biggest regional wine expo has taken a big step this year and added white wines to the show.

Hot Red Hawke’s Bay was established in 2004 to showcase the premium red wines from the region and to cement Hawke’s Bay’s reputation as the New Zealand ultra-premium red wine capital. Eight years on, Hawke’s Bay has more than proven it owns that title and organisers feel the time has come to add the equally popular white wines to the mix.

2011 has over 20 wineries attending at least one of the two expos taking place in Auckland and Wellington this year. Most have been part of the event since its inception as Hot Red Hawke’s Bay is thoroughly enjoyed by the winemakers, wine trade and media and public alike. Ongoing awards and accolades for Hawke’s Bay red wines continue to flow for all varieties, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Hawke’s Bay blends and Syrah.

With over 100 wines able to be tasted at the event, this year will allow Hawke’s Bay white wines to stand alongside the reds. Sixty percent of the wines shown will be red and 40 percent are white. Chardonnay is Hawke’s Bay’s traditional white wine strength and dominates the list of whites that will be at the show.

Recent international interest and acclaim for New Zealand and Hawke’s Bay Chardonnays make a strong case for the world class recognition Hawke’s Bay gains for both red and white wine.

Andrew Caillard, MW, and writer for Gourmet Traveller WINE said in the March 2010 issue of the magazine, “the region’s exquisite and compelling chardonnay’s; (is) a genre overlooked by the world’s media, yet impressively coherent in style and quality.”

“The world is catching on to Hawke’s Bay’s whites, especially Chardonnay,” said Lyn Bevin, Executive Officer of Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers. “The inclusion of white wines at our annual regional expo has always been hotly debated. We think the time is now right, we have some of New Zealand’s greatest red wines and can truly compete with our white wines as well.”

This year the event will be held in Wellington at the Chaffers Dock Function Centre on Wednesday 22 June and in Auckland at The Floating Pavilion at the Viaduct Basin on Thursday 23 June. Wine trade and media can register directly with Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers Inc through the website www.winehawkesbay.co.nz and public tickets are available from www.eventfinder.co.nz .

ENDS