For the first time in the New World Wine Awards’ 20-year history, the single varietal red wine class has eclipsed New Zealand’s most popular wine class, sauvignon blanc, to become the largest class in the competition.
There were more than 180 entries for single variety red wines, such as pinot noir, cabernet savignon and merlot — a 30% increase on normal.
There has also been an increase in "new to New Zealand" red varieties like grenache, malbec, petite sirah and tempranillo.
For co-chair judge Jen Parr, of Valli Wine in Central Otago, this is one of the wonderful things about the competition.
"It helps people along the pathway to discovering new wines."
More than 150 wineries and wine distributors from around New Zealand and the world have entered the competition, which focuses on finding the top wines under $25. Each is vying for a spot in the Top 50 winning wines.
Parr says the Central Otago wineries played a part, with a 25% increase in entries across all varietals, including pinot noir.
The reason for the increase from Central Otago is two-fold: the success of the region’s pinot noirs last year - McArthur Ridge Brassknocker won champion pinot noir - and the success of the 2022 harvest, Parr says.
"We had a wonderful harvest in Otago with great volumes and great weather."
The region was very lucky to miss the wet weather that caused problems for wine-making regions elsewhere in the country.
Having spent a couple of days tasting, Parr is excited about what she has been experiencing — the quality of wines shining through across the board from sauvignon to pinot.
Sparkling wine has also increased in popularity, with about 130 bubbly wine entries. Prosecco is one of the styles behind the leap in entries.
"The quality of the sparkling wines, in particular the methodes, is exceptional."
Rose is also seeing a record-breaking year, with more than 170 pink wines entered.
“Incredibly, this is a 50% increase on last year’s entries – which was a record in itself,” Parr says.
She believes it is unlikely the country will hit "peak pink" anytime soon, the rise in entries a sign of both consumer demand and the quality of the rose being produced in New Zealand and internationally.
This year’s field includes more than 100 New Zealand-made rose wines, as well as entries from France, often considered the "epicentre" of rose, and Australia.
Parr and assistant judge Steph Maddox, of Queenstown, were part of an independent panel of 17 wine industry experts who spent three days last week assessing the entries and tasting about 100 wines a day.
New technology which has computerised the way judges record their assessments is exciting, Parr says.
"I love it."
The panel evaluates each wine on colour, taste and smell, making collective scoring decisions according to the internationally recognised 100-point system to award Gold (95-100 points), Silver (90-94) and Bronze medals (85-89).
Judging is "blind", meaning the judges only assess the wine in the glass on the day, and do not know the brand of any entry.
To earn Gold, a wine will have been tasted and graded at least 19 times by 11 different judges, and it will be tasted again to be ranked for the New World Wine Awards Top 50. The best of the Top 50 will then be tasted once again by the entire judging panel to determine the champions of each main varietal, and an overall champion for red, for white and for sparkling.
The full results will be announced in October.
