Judge Rock Pinot Noir 2012
Gold Medal awarded in the world’s largest & most prestigious wine competition
Judge Rock’s Pinot Noir has yet again collected a gold medal in the world’s largest wine competition.
First planted in 1998, this boutique family Alexandra vineyard has 13,000 Pinot Noir vines and 2000 St Laurent vines. In
2009 Judge Rock produced New Zealand’s first St Laurent wine.
Angela Jacobson owner and marketing manager at Judge Rock says: “This is the third time in 4 entries that our Pinot Noir
has won a Gold Medal or Five Stars from the Olympics of World Wine Competitions-few athletes could claim such success.
We are one of the world’s smallest vineyards from the most southerly wine growing region of the world, the Alexandra
basin in Central Otago. The excellent terroir, sustainable viticultural practices and great winemaking from Vinpro have
together proven that our 4ha vineyard can consistently make great Pinot Noir. Despite these successes our wines are
practically unknown outside of New Zealand. We are so small we are almost invisible, but we hope to change that.”
The Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) is the world’s largest and most influential wine competition. 2014 saw another
record-breaking year of entries, with over 15,000 wines entered into the competition from 46 countries.
The DWWA has gained international admiration from wine lovers around the world for providing a comprehensive and
authoritative source of wine recommendations for everyone, from beginners to the most experienced enthusiasts.
A panel of over 200 world-class judging experts, including Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers, wine writers, buyers and
important members of the wine trade carefully taste their way through each of the wine entries. Each entry is tasted
blind, individually discussed by the panel, and judges award the top wines with a Decanter medal.
Steven Spurrier, Chairman of the Decanter World Wine Awards, says: “Our role in this competition is to recognise and award wines. Awarding a wine with a Decanter sticker tells consumers
around the world that these wines have passed the ultimate test from our judges.”
END
Notes to Editors:
• The DWWA was launched in 2004, and is celebrating 11 years as the world’s leading wine competition.
• The DWWA is respected internationally for its prestigious reputation and unrivalled consumer influence.
• Wine entries are organised for tasting by country, region, colour, grape, style, vintage, and price, to ensure
that wines are judged in flights against their peers.
• The judges taste wines individually, with knowledge of their region, style, and price bracket and compare notes,
reaching a consensus on each wine’s medal. Wines awarded a Gold or Silver medal are re-tasted by the Regional Chair for
his or her confirmation.
• Gold wines are then re-tasted by members of the region’s panel who award Regional Trophies to the best wine in
each category (categories are determined by grape variety or style and whether the wine is under £15 or over £15).
• All Regional Trophy winners are then split into categories according to grape variety or style. These wines then
compete for the International Trophies in a separate tasting judged by our Chairman, Steven Spurrier, our Guest
Vice-Chair, Gerard Basset OBE MS MW, and three Regional Chairs.
• The results of the Regional and International Trophies will be announced at the Decanter World Wine Awards
Ceremony, taking place on Tuesday 24 June 2014 at the Blue Fin Building in London. For coverage of this event: www.decanter.com/dwwa from 24 June.
• A full list of all the results of the 2014 Decanter World Wine Awards, from Commended to International
Trophy-level will be available from 25 June 2014 on Decanter.com and as part of the DWWA commemorative supplement, available with the August issue of Decanter magazine.