GISBORNE chardonnay has recently bagged its sixth gold medal. It is to be mentioned here that one of two were awarded to the company for the Gisborne wines in the Air New Zealand Wine Awards.

While the Villa Maria Barrique Gisborne chardonnay bagged the gold medal in the champion chardonnay section of the competition, it may be noted here that it is one of the biggest and unique in its nature in the country. It may be recalled here that the Barrique chardonnay was also the name that won the trophy for the champion chardonnay at last year’s awards ceremony.

The pure gold awards are given to the wines that are 100% sustainable in nature and Millton Vineyard Riverpoint Vineyard Gisborne Viognier 2009 stood tall in the category by bagging the pure gold medal for the other white and rose section of the competition.

For the record, Gisborne bagged close to 14 medals in this year’s competition wherein two of them were gold medals, four of them were silver and the remaining eight were bronze medals. New Zealand Winegrowers’ global marketing director Chris Yorke said that he is very delighted with the number and the quality of the gold medal winning wines this season.