2015 NZ Organic Wine Awards Results
After a successful debut in 2014, the New Zealand Organic Wine Awards has enjoyed large growth in terms of both
participating vineyards and media interest for the 2015 awards.
We believe that the increased participation is due to both a successful debut season, but also a an increase in organic
certifications and conversions from both existing and new wineries.
Organic wine is a fast market growth area, with consumer demand and interest growing exponentially. Organic Wine doesn’t
just offer health benefits such as being pesticide free, and generally lower in sulphites; it is our principal belief
that organic growing produces a better tasting product.
Traditional wine competitions tend to use a generic scoring system to judge wine’s, which rarely lends itself well to
organic wines. Organic wines are frequently more complicated than non-organic; but may lack some of the specific notes
that judge’s expect in a particular category, causing them to miss out on points.
Our judging was completed blind, by a large and varied tasting panel, and scored in accordance with what should be
expected from an organic wine.
All members on our panel are independent and not connected to any wineries partaking in the awards, as with all aspects
of the awards, judging is undertaken on a voluntary basis, so we wish to thank our judging team
Wine’s were judged on a variety of factors and awarded points for each.
Based on the points score for each wine, the top wines are assigned a ‘medal’. Which can be displayed by the vineyard on
the bottle in the form of a sticker, or used in marketing material in connection with the awarded wine.
The NZ Organic Wine Awards are dedicated to sustainable practices, for the 2015 awards we have introduced the ‘NZ
Organic Wine Awards Sustainable Vineyard of the Year’ Award. Congratulations to Kaimira Estate on claiming this title in
its debut year.
Throughout the coming months tasting notes will be made available on our website, along with full results list.
Organic Wine Awards Vineyard of the Year: The Darling
NZ Organic Wine Awards Sustainable Vineyard of the Year: Kaimira Estate
NZ Organic Wine Awards Wine of Show: Muddy Water Hare’s Breath Pinot Noir 2012
ENDS