Clearview rates tops with international traveller magazines
Tuesday 25 September 2012, 1:09PM
By Kite Communications
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Clearview Estate Winery has been rated as having one of the 12 top Chardonnays in New Zealand by Master of Wine Bob Campbell, who was responsible for compiling the top 100 new release wines in the latest issue of Gourmet Traveller international wine magazine, while the winery itself takes lead spot in an article in Heathrow Traveller.
The small winery located on the coast of Hawke’s Bay scored 95 points out of 100 from Bob Campbell, who rated top five stars for its 2010 Reserve Chardonnay. A 2011 vintage of the same wine recently took out a silver award at the New Zealand International Wine Show, which had Bob Campbell as chair of judges.
In the opening paragraph of his Heathrow Traveller article, United Kingdom wine writer Jonathan Ray described Clearview Estate as “one of New Zealand’s finest wine producers”. He and his family travelled the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail last summer and tells his readers that while enjoying a meal of steamed clams and a bottle of “exemplary” Reserve Chardonnay at the iconic Red Shed restaurant, he experienced “one of those unexpected, unexplainable and all-too-rare surges of happiness”.
Heathrow Traveller is a glossy magazine available free to every one of the 190,000 travellers passing through the London airport every day (69.4 million total in 2011).
Three other Hawke’s Bay wines featured in Campbell’s top 12 Chardonnay list, with Mission Estate’s 2009 Jewelstone matching the Clearview rating and earning the praise of Mr Campbell who described the 12 wines has having “exceptional quality”.
In his wine blog, Mr Campbell says he tastes several thousand wines each year and records tasting notes for around 2500. One of only 264 Masters of Wine in the world and an international wine judge, Mr Campbell judges wine professionally in ten countries and contributes regularly to publications around the world. His specialty is New Zealand wine, which he reviews from an international perspective.
The other Hawke’s Bay top 12 Chardonnays were, at 94 points, the 2010 Trinity Hill Black Label and, at 93 points, the 2010 Church Road Reserve.