Rockburn Wines Win Decanter Gold Medal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
21st May 2013

Rockburn Wines Win Gold Medal in the World’s Biggest Global Wine Competition Decanter World Wine Awards

Rockburn Wines has been awarded a Gold medal in the 2013 Decanter World Wine Awards for their 2011 - and was the only Central Otago producer to be awarded a Gold Medal in the competition.
Rockburn Pinot Noir, a wine already noted for its trophy success at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards last year.

The Central Otago winery has a history of winning gold medals, particularly for its Pinot Noir, at such competitions as the Air New Zealand Awards, the Sydney International Wine Competition and the International Wine and Spirit Competition and was most recently awarded Champion Open Red Wine for the Rockburn Pinot Noir 2011 at the 2012 Air New Zealand Wine Awards.

Rockburn are honoured to add this latest award from the “world’s leading wine competition”.

Rockburn’s Winemaker, Malcolm Rees-Francis, feels: “This is a great treat for the crew at Rockburn at the end of another long vintage, and certainly helps cement our reputation for consistent quality.”

The competition is well known for its rigorous judging process, which has led to the Decanter World Wine Awards becoming the most authoritative source of wine recommendations for wine lovers worldwide. This year, the 219 judges were from all around the world assessed 14,362 wines from 52 countries. This year’s expert panel of judges included 75 Masters of Wine, and 13 Master Sommeliers.

Jean-Michel Valette MW, DWWA 2013 Judge, says: “What the DWWA team has really done is to recruit a panel of the very best palates in the world to taste each wine, and so when a wine wins a Decanter Medal in this competition, it’s something to be truly proud of.”

Malcolm notes: “The calibre of judges for the DWWA makes any award from them very special, and Gold medals are only usually handed out to around 1% of entries; we feel very privileged to be one of the few recipients.”

Chairman of the Decanter World Wine Awards, Steven Spurrier, points out: “The DWWA has arrived at an authority, thanks to the judges, the organisation, thanks to the whole packaging. We’re here to recognise quality, that’s all we’re here for.”

ENDS

www.rockburn.co.nz | A pure expression of Central Otago in your glass
Notes to Editors

• Rockburn has two vineyards in Central Otago, one on the Gibbston Back Road in the Gibbston Valley and the other at Parkburn in the Cromwell Basin with its state of the art winemaking facility based in Cromwell, Central Otago.

• Recent awards for Rockburn Pinot Noir:
- Rockburn Pinot Noir 2007, Champion Pinot Noir and Champion Open Red Trophies - Air New Zealand Wine Awards 2008
- Rockburn Pinot Noir 2007, Gold Medal - San Francisco International Wine Competition 2008
- Rockburn Pinot Noir 2007, Gold Medal - Liquorland Top 100 2008 (NZ)
- Rockburn 2008 Pinot Noir, Gold medal – Bragato Wine Awards 2009
- Rockburn 2009 Pinot Noir, Best Pinot Noir and Wine of the Show – Association of Australian Boutique Winemakers Awards 2009
- Rockburn 2009 Pinot Noir, Gold medal – Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition 2010
- Rockburn 2009 Pinot Noir, Gold medal - Royal Easter Show 2011
- Rockburn 2010 Pinot Noir, Gold medal - 2011 NZ International Wine Show;
- Rockburn 2010 Pinot Noir, Gold medal and ‘best in class’ - International Wine & Spirits Competition 2011, London
- Rockburn 2010 Pinot Noir, Pure Gold award - Air New Zealand Wine Awards 2011
- Rockburn 2010 Pinot Noir, Mike Wolter Trophy for Champion Pinot Noir and the
Richard Smart Trophy for the Reserve Champion Wine - Bragato Wine Awards 2012
- Rockburn 2011 Pinot Noir, Fairfax Media Champion Open Red Wine Trophy – Air New Zealand Wine Awards 2012.

• Rockburn 2011 Pinot Noir: RRP: $NZ 45.00

• Available at Cellar Door and international distribution visit: www.rockburn.co.nz

• Trade sales in New Zealand through Hancocks Wines & Spirits: www.hancocks.co.nz

• The DWWA was launched in 2004, and is celebrating 10 years as the world’s leading wine competition.
• This year, the DWWA welcomed a record-breaking 14,362 wines into the competition, from 52 countries around the world.
• The DWWA is respected internationally for its prestigious reputation and unrivalled consumer influence.
• The DWWA 2013 recruited 219 judges from 27 countries around the world, including 75 Masters of Wine, and 13 Master Sommeliers.
• Wines are organised for tasting by country, region, colour, grape, style, vintage, and price, to ensure that wines are judged in flights against their peers.
• Wines awarded a Gold or Silver medal are re-tasted by the Regional Chair for his or her confirmation.
• All the Gold medal-winning wines within each region are divided into categories according to price (under or over £15) and style or grape variety.
• All Gold, Regional Trophy and International Trophy winning wines are tasted up to four times.
• All Regional Trophy winners are then split into categories according to grape variety or style. These wines then compete for the Exceptional Value International Trophies (under £15) and International Trophies (over £15) in a separate tasting judged by Chairman, Steven Spurrier, our guest Vice-Chair, Gerard Basset MS MW OBE, and three Regional Chairs – the top wines from each region being pitted against each other to win the DWWA’s ultimate accolade.
• For more information on the DWWA, and for a full list of results, please visit: www.decanter.com/dwwa

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