The win was announced last month at the London Wine Fair’s Judgement of London wine tasting event, a broader spectrum version of Judgement of Paris.
Pegasus Bay Winery’s marketing manager Edward Donaldson says the win had "created quite a wee stir for us internationally in a very good way".
"We are over the moon with the result. It is a pretty big deal for us."
The Pegasus Bay 2011 Bel Canto dry riesling was no longer available for sale, but it had originally retailed for $35, he said.
Winning a competition like this up against wines that can cost over $1000 "is quite a coup".
Judgement of Paris, which was held on May 24, 1976, featured a blind tasting of six top Californian cabernets and chardonnays and four highly regarded Bordeaux (French) wines and four Burgundy (French) wines to act as markers against which to judge the Californian wines.
The judges included some of the best wine tasters in France, and the French wines were widely expected to win the competition, but to everyone’s surprise they chose the Californian wines over the French entries in both the red and white categories.
The tasting became known as the Judgement of Paris, and ended an era where it was thought fine wine only came from Europe.
Now, almost 50 years after that ground-breaking event, in a tribute to billed as "Old World" versus "New World" a little-known wine from Waipara stole the show at Judgement of London.
It came out on top against the best of the 32 specially selected vintages from Europe and the rest of the world.
Mr Donaldson says his family has always made wines that they felt "truly reflect our location and each season, as well as our own personal philosophies, rather than being influenced by chasing medals or scores".
"Having our Bel Canto riesling selected as one of the 16 wines to represent the very best of the new world was humbling enough.
"However, having our wine selected as the best overall wine has left us speechless."
By Shelley Topp
