Concours Mondial du Sauvignon
Whitehaven’s 2019 Greg Awatere Valley Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc has won a coveted award at France’s prestigious Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2020 competition.
The wine, named after Whitehaven founder the late Greg White to reflect his unwavering passion for quality, was awarded the Revelation 2020 for the best Sauvignon from New Zealand.
“Greg would have been absolutely delighted with this award – such an outstanding achievement of which we are all extremely proud,” said co- founder and managing director Sue White. “It is testament to the uncompromising focus that goes into producing our wines.”
The award continues a fantastic run of success for Whitehaven Wine Company in the first part of 2020.
Both the 2019 Greg Awatere Valley Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc and the 2019 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc won gold medals at the Concours Mondial competition, held in Touraine in the Loire Valley – the heart of Sauvignon country in France. A third of all French Sauvignon is produced in this region.
The Concours Mondial competition recognises the outstanding aromatic qualities of Sauvignon and its popularity worldwide. It is open to all producing wine regions in the world. More than 1100 wines from 24 countries including New Zealand were entered. Judges included 75 wine experts including oenologists, sommeliers, importers and wine journalists representing 20 nations.
The gold medal winning wines securing the highest scores were judged again and eight Revelation trophies awarded recognising the excellence of Sauvignon in the relevant categories. From those the Whitehaven 2019 Greg Awatere Valley Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc was awarded the Revelation 2020 for the best Sauvignon from New Zealand.
Royal Easter Show Wine Awards
This huge honour came hot on the heels of success for the 2019 Greg Sauvignon Blanc at the Royal Easter Show in Auckland in March where the wine was awarded the Mainfreight Champion Export Trophy. Whitehaven’s senior winemaker Diana Katardzhieva, who made the wine, was on hand to collect the award.
The grapes for the 2019 Greg Sauvignon Blanc are grown at Andy and Michelle Peter’s Alton Downs vineyard in the Awatere Valley. The cooler climate and terraces of gravel and sandstone create wines with an appealing herbaceous and mineral character.
Robert Parker
Both the 2019 Greg Sauvignon Blanc and the 2019 Whitehaven Sauvignon were recently awarded 90 points by highly regarded American wine publication Robert Parker. The publication employs a 100-point quality scale and is considered a leading authority on wines.
Reviewed by Joe Czerwinski, the Greg 2019 Sauvignon Blanc was described as having distinctive notes of crushed tomato and celery leaf along with bright citrus and stone fruit notes. It was medium bodies and crisp.
The 2019 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc was described as being more restrained than previous vintages with a focus on generous grapefruit aromas and flavours and hints of green herbs and passionfruit. Overall, the wine was medium bodied and elegant, the publication said.
Notes:
- To qualify for the Trophy for Champion Exported Wine, entries must have been exported after 1 March 2019 with a minimum volume of any exported variety or style to be - 1000 cases of six 750 ml bottles (or equivalent) to not less than 4 named overseas countries.
- The 2020 Royal Easter Show results can be found at https://www.wineshow.co.nz/Results/1/84/0
- Details for the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2020 can be found at https://cmsauvignon.com/en/the-results-are-out-for-the-2020-concours-mondial-du-sauvignon/
- Robert Parker reviews can be found at https://www.robertparker.com/
