Framingham wins top NZ Riesling

For immediate release
15 May 2008

Framingham wins top NZ Riesling

• Framingham Classic Riesling 2008 awarded gold and trophy as New Zealand’s Best Riesling at the Decanter World Wine Awards – the world’s largest wine competition.
• Award supports Jancis Robinson’s earlier description of Framingham Wines as “New Zealand’s finest Riesling producer”.
• Winning wine a product of difficult 2008 vintage.

Deep in the heart of Marlborough, New Zealand, lies a small boutique winery that is big on quality. The latest accolade from the Decanter World Wine Awards is justifiable proof of that.

The Framingham Classic Riesling 2008 has just been awarded gold and the trophy for Best New Zealand Riesling, with the announcement made at the London International Wine Fair this week.

It is no great surprise that this company is acknowledged on the world stage for its high quality Riesling. Framingham Wines has a reputation for a range of exquisite aromatics, in particular the four different styles of Rieslings winemaker Dr Andrew Hedley crafts.

Earlier this year the world renowned wine writer Jancis Robinson described Framingham Wines as “New Zealand’s finest Riesling producer” and described the 2008 Classic Riesling as having, “Very pure, floral nose and very bright fruit.”

It obviously impressed the judges at the Decanter World Wine Awards as well, with the trophy one of only seven awarded to New Zealand wines.

Produced from some of Marlborough’s oldest Riesling vines, (they were planted in 1981) the wine comes from a year that viticulturists and winemakers describe as extremely difficult.

Vintage 2008 in Marlborough will be remembered for the rain that arrived just as harvest was beginning. However at Framingham it was business as usual as the team carefully monitored the Estate vines to ensure the fruit was not threatened by disease. As always yields were carefully managed, and the hard work undertaken in the vineyard allowed the winery to again pick at the optimum time, despite the adverse conditions.

Winemaker Dr Andrew Hedley says the trophy is a “triumph for our vineyard and vineyard manager Anton Groffen, in what can only be described as a difficult vintage.”

Viticulturist Anton Groffen simply said “it’s been emotional.”

The Decanter World Wine Awards is the largest wine competition in the world, with 10,285 wines entered, from 2,240 companies.

While the 2008 Framingham Classic Riesling has attracted the attention of judges overseas, it has not yet been released onto the New Zealand market. An exclusive early release at the Cellar Door is planned for this month.

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