Villa Maria winning streak continues

For the third consecutive year Villa Maria Estate has been named Champion Producer at the Liquorland International Wine Competition 2010 announced at the awards ceremony last night.

The trophy haul for Villa Maria Estate group included Champion Producer; a double win for the Villa Maria Single Vineyard Keltern Chardonnay 2007, winning both Champion Wine of the Show and Champion Chardonnay.

Associated wine company Thornbury received a trophy for Champion Pinot Noir (Thornbury Central Otago Pinot Noir 2008) and Vidal Estate won the trophy for Champion Viognier (Vidal East Coast Viognier 2009).

Villa Maria Senior Auckland Winemaker, Nick Picone commented: “We are ecstatic about these trophy wins and to be named Champion Producer for the third consecutive year is really encouraging for us.”

“The double win for our Chardonnay is excellent news. Chardonnay has battled an image problem in recent times, suffering from the ABC (anything but chardonnay) movement which essentially made the wine a victim of its own success. The quality of New Zealand Chardonnay is better than it has ever been, with better vineyard sites coupled with improved viticulture and sensitive winemaking creating wines which are of world class standard; it is a truly exiting time for Chardonnay”.

These trophy announcements come after the recent news that the Villa Maria Group picked up 15 Gold awards in the same competition. Five of the eight Gold’s awarded to Chardonnays were for Villa Maria wines.

The Liquorland International Wine Competition 2010 received more than 1400 wine entries from countries including New Zealand, Australia, France, Spain, Italy and Argentina.

A summary of trophy results:
Champion Producer (Villa Maria Estate)
Champion Wine of the Show (Villa Maria Single Vineyard Keltern Chardonnay 07)
Champion Chardonnay (Villa Maria Single Vineyard Keltern Chardonnay 07)
Champion Viognier (Vidal East Coast Viognier 09)
Champion Pinot Noir (Thornbury Central Otago Pinot Noir 08)