Marlborough Winery Celebrates a Decade of Gold at the Royal Easter Show
WELLINGTON, Apr. 6 /NZPA-AsiaNet/ --
Marlborough winemaker Alistair Soper has been awarded three gold medals, for his Highfield Marlborough
Sauvignon Blanc 2008, Chardonnay 2007 and Riesling 2008 at the New Zealand Royal Easter Show wine awards
held in Auckland on Saturday 21st March. Highfield Sauvignon Blanc also took out the Export Trophy for the third
time in ten years.
The gold for the Highfield Sauvignon Blanc 2008 at this weekend’s show stretches the un-broken run of gold
medals to 10 years for the same wine. Soper said “We’ve earned gold medals with every vintage of the Sauvignon
Blanc for the last decade, I doubt that any other winery could better that, especially as we only enter our wines into
a handful of shows each year”.
It has been a full decade now since Soper first took over the wine making reins at Highfield Estate in
Marlborough. Since that first vintage in 1999 he’s had a remarkable run of success.
The performance at the Royal Easter Show is particularly significant for Soper who said “We entered 5 wines this
year, so to win three golds, is a wonderful result. For Highfield wines we only use ‘free run juice’ which is the juice
which comes from the weight of the grapes and not from pressing them. This gives us the very finest quality juice to
work with”
At the Awards Dinner held in Auckland the Trophy for the best Export Wine in Show was accepted by
winemakers, Michael Mullany and Jeremy Brown. This is the third time the Sauvignon Blanc has won that particular
Trophy, which each year is awarded by the guest overseas judge who this year was Australian wine judge Mike
DeGaris who said of the wine “it's great to see Highfield recognised yet again for its excellence in the export
Awards. Three times in 10 years shows how consistent and quality driven their wines are.”
Soper’s talent as a wine maker and style of winemaking is endorsed by Master of Wine Bob Campbell who
considers Highfield as “clearly one of Marlborough’s first division wine producers. When you buy a Highfield wine
you are literally buying the cream of the crop” commented Campbell.
Ends
For further information contact Pete Coldwell, Sales and Marketing Manager, Highfield Winery on +64 (3) 572
9244 ext 4, fax +64 (3) 572 9257, mobile: +64 (21) 524 990, email: pete@highfield.co.nz
Related Website links
SOURCE: Highfield Estate Winery
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