Wooing Tree Blondie takes out the Champion Rosé at the Royal Easter Show

Wooing Tree Blondie takes out the Novotel Ellerslie Champion Rosé at the Royal Easter Show, New Zealand’s oldest and most respected wine competition.

Wooing Tree co-owner Steve Farquharson said “from what started out as an experiment a few years ago, to now win the Champion Rosé is a fantastic result. The faintly pink wine made from 100% Pinot Noir is not a straight-forward wine to make, it causes a fair bit of head scratching and a lot of hard work each year at harvest. However I think the winery team secretly like making it", he added. “It is certainly a fun wine to sell with plenty to talk about and has started to gain a real following”. Award-winning local winemaker Carol Bunn and her team at Vinpro made the wine.

MC at the awards ceremony Vic Williams described the wine as the “eye of the partridge” or in French “Oeil de Perdix”, this refers to the wine’s very pale pink colour much like that of the bird’s eye. The history of the wine style dates back to the Middle Ages in the Champagne region of France, which spread to Switzerland where it would become a popular dry rose made from Pinot noir. Apparently it is a very popular style in Paris at the moment.

The show’s director, Terry Dunleavy, remarked on the increase of top medals awarded over the judging, saying it was a good indication of the extent to which New Zealand’s winemakers have raised the bar on quality in recent years. The newly appointed chair of judges, Kate Radburnd comments: “White wines from the 2009 vintage and reds from earlier vintages, mainly 2008, reflected the evident focus of the winemaking community on improving quality by lower yields in vineyards and continued honing of their winemaking technique. The gold medal wines are top class by the highest international standards. Five panels judged 1517 wines of which only 102 were awarded gold medals, 276 Wineries entered the competition.

2010 Royal Easter Show trophy winners were announced at the official awards dinner at the ASB Showground’s on Saturday night. This is the second time Wooing Tree has won the Royal Easter Show Champion Rosé, the Wooing Tree Rosé won it back in 2007 and the Wooing Tree Blondie won the New Zealand Innovation of Winemaking Trophy in 2008.

Wooing Tree is situated in the heart of Central Otago, New Zealand, next to the town of Cromwell and opposite the big fruit sculpture. The family owned single vineyard site specialises in Pinot Noir. The Wooing Tree label has had a remarkable first few years, 6 trophies, numerous gold medals, 5 star ratings, and praise from wine writers worldwide. Most recently the Wooing Tree Pinot Noir 2007 gained 95/100 and 3rd place in the Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine Pinot Noir tasting to add to the 2 trophies and 8 gold medals it has already achieved.

Wooing Tree is currently exported to Australia, UK, Ireland, Sweden, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, China, Canada (Ontario and Quebec) Hong Kong, Macua and Korea. We are seeking distribution in other countries, including the US.

Wooing Tree wines are available at fine wine stores and restaurants throughout New Zealand and in many overseas countries. See www.wooingtree.co.nz

Trade sales and enquiries: -

Steve Farquharson

WOOING TREE VINEYARD
Postal: 7 Westmoreland Place Cromwell 9310
Delivery: Shortcut Road Cromwell 9310
Ph: 03 445 4142 || Fax: 03 445 4152 || Mb: 021 9444 71
Email: steve@wooingtree.co.nz || Web: www.wooingtree.co.nz

and

Michelle Morpeth

Ph: 03 445 4142 || Fax: 03 445 4152 || Mb: 021 2400 121
Email: michelle@wooingtree.co.nz || Web: www.wooingtree.co.nz

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Steve Farquharson

WOOING TREE VINEYARD
Postal: 7 Westmoreland Place Cromwell 9310
Delivery: Shortcut Road Cromwell 9310
Ph: 03 445 4142 || Fax: 03 445 4152 || Mb: 021 9444 71
Email: steve@wooingtree.co.nz || Web: www.wooingtree.co.nz

Follow us on Twitter :- http://twitter.com/wooingtree
Become a Wooing Tree Facebook fan