What's New
03 March 2010Royal Easter Show 2010 – Gold Medal Winners
Gimblett Gravels wines have won 12 Gold Medals at the 2010 Royal Easter Show Wine Awards.
Considering only 102 Gold medals were awarded, this haul represents over 10%, from an area representing less than 3% of national plantings.
Gold Medals were awarded to:
Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot Predominant Class
Mills Reef Elspeth Trust Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
Te Awa Cabernet Merlot 2007
Trinity Hill The Gimblett 2007
Villa Maria Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2008
Merlot Class
Church Road Cuve Merlot 2007
Te Awa Left Field Merlot 2007
Villa Maria Reserve Merlot 2007
Syrah Class
Esk Valley Winemakers Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2007
Trinity Hill Homage Syrah 2007
Vidal Reserve Syrah 2006
Villa Maria Cellar Selection Syrah 2008
Chardonnay Class
Squawking Magpie Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay 2007
For a full list of show results, visit www.wineshow.co.nz
25 February 2010Gimblett Gravels in Matthew Jukes' 60 Best New Zealand Wines
4 GG wines feature in the 60 Best New Zealand Wines for 2010 listed by leading UK wine commentator, Matthew Jukes.
The 4 wines are:
Craggy Range Les Beaux Cailloux Chardonnay 2007;
Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah 2007;
Esk Valley Merlot Cabernet 2007;
John Forrest Collection Syrah 2006.
For a full list of wines, visit Matthew's website www.matthewjukes.com
23 November 20093 more trophies at Air New Zealand Wine Awards
Gimblett Gravels wines collected 3 more trophies at the weekend, reaffirming their status as New Zealand's leading region for fuller bodied reds. Click here for more detail.
11 November 2009Golds galore at Air New Zealand Wine Awards
Gimblett Gravels wines added 12 more Gold Medals to the trophy cabinet at the 2009 Air NZ Wine Awards.
Click here to read more.
16 October 2009Gimblett Gravels Trophy Bonanza at Hawke's Bay A&P Mercedes Benz Wine Awards
Champion Wine of Show, Best Sustainable Wine of Show, 6 category trophies and 12 gold medals – this was the haul for Gimblett Gravels wines at the recent Hawke’s Bay A&P Mercedes Benz Wine Awards, judged by a panel of leading international and local palates. Click here to read more.
16 October 2009Mills Reef Double Gold at MUNDUS Vini
The MUNDUSvini International Wine Award is a competition held in Germany for wines from all the wine-growing regions in the world. Click here for more detail.
9 October 2009 - Media ReleaseGimblett Gravels: ‘Serious Contenders’.
Red wines produced from a tiny 800 hectare appellation, the ‘Gimblett Gravels’, continue to gather international attention and recognition. Click here to read more.
5 October 2009Liquorland Top100 results
Gimblett Gravels 2007 vintage wines dominated the fuller bodied reds categories, securing 2 trophies and 6 gold medals at the Liquorland Top 100 awards, announced today. Click here to read more.
1 October 2009Harvey Steiman - Wine Spectator review
"Any way you look at it, the folks who make make wines from Merlot and Cabernet in New Zealand’s Gimblett Gravels district proved that they belong on the same table as those from big-name Bordeaux châteaus. The Kiwis did it the only legitimate way, in a blind tasting against the best"
So says Harvey Steiman following a tasting organised by Gimblett Gravels member, Craggy Range, in San Francisco recently. 6 wines, 2 from Craggy Range and 4 from other Gimblett Gravels members were tasted blind along with leading wines frm Bordeaux.
Harvey, along with other leading wine critics, ranked their wines with the overall group scores emerging, as follows:
Craggy Range Sophia 2007 ($50): group rank: 1
Church Road Tom 2005 ($85): group rank: 2
Sacred Hill Helmsman 2007 group rank: 3 (tie) "Any way you look at it, the folks who make make wines from Merlot and Cabernet in New Zealand’s Gimblett Gravels district proved that they belong on the same table as those from big-name Bordeaux châteaus. The Kiwis did it the only legitimate way, in a blind tasting against the best"So says Harvey Steiman following a tasting organised by Gimblett Gravels member, Craggy Range, in San Francisco recently. 6 wines, 2 from Craggy Range and 4 from other Gimblett Gravels members were tasted blind along with leading wines frm Bordeaux.Harvey, along with other leading wine critics, ranked their wines with the overall group scores emerging, as follows:($50): group rank: 1($85): group rank: 2group rank: 3 (tie)Château L’Evangile Pomerol 2005 ($250): group rank: 3 (tie)
Blake Family Vineyard Redd Gravels 2006 ($54): group rank: 5
Craggy Range Sophia 2005 ($50): group rank: 6
Château Pavie St-Emilion 2006 ($200): group rank: 7
Château Pontet-Canet Pauillac 2005 ($190): group rank: 8
Vieux-Château-Certan Pomerol 2006 ($175): group rank: 9
Château Rauzan-Ségla Margaux 2005 ($140): group rank: 10
Château Mouton-Rothschild Pauillac 2006 ($695): group rank: 11
Trinity Hill The Gimblett 2006 ($30): group rank: 12(prices in US$) Harvey added, "One element working in New Zealand’s favor is price. The Bordeaux in this tasting ranged from $140 to $695 per bottle. The Kiwi reds sell for $45 to $85, but they are made in very small quantities, on the scale of hundreds of cases vs. thousands for the Bordeaux.
23 September 2009September Show Success - New World Wine Awards, NZ International Wine Show, Tri-Nations Wine Challenge.
Click here for further details.
Romeo Bragato Success
It has been another successful weekend for Gimblett Gravels at the 2009 Romeo Bragato conference in Napier.
Click here to read more.
25 May 2009Unique Syrah Offering
Gimblett Gravels wine fans have the chance to secure a unique 2008 Assemblage Syrah, especially created and donated as an auction lot at the Midlands Hawke’s Bay Charity Wine Auction on 30 May 2009.
Proceeds go to a very worthy cause, the Cranford Hospice, Hawke’s Bay’s specialist palliative care service. The Gimblett Gravels lot is number 17; bids for this, and other unique lots, can be made online via www.charitywineauction.co.nz.
Bottled into 12 x 750ml & 12 x 1500ml (Magnum) formats, this wine is an assemblage of Syrah donated by members of the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association.
From the excellent 2008 vintage, each member’s Syrah component has been carefully blended by winemaker Gordon Russell. The bottles have been hand filled and sealed with high quality cork covered by a traditional wax finish.
Gimblett Gravels members contributing to the wine comprise: Beach House Wines, Craggy Range Winery, Matariki Wines, Mission Estate, Newton Forrest Estate, Sacred Hill Wines, Squawking Magpie Wines, Trinity Hill Wines, Unison Vineyard, Villa Maria Group.
Critics Comments
In the wake of the Gimblett Gravels London masterclass tasting in February, there have been other international tastings involving wines from Chile and California compared against leading Bordeaux.
It has prompted Jancis Robinson MW to recently summarise on her website www.jancisrobinson.com that …” the Gimblett Gravels producers certainly proved that they make wines very similar to top Bordeaux – at a fraction of the price..” 
Not to be outdone, the other ‘star red variety’, Syrah, has been the focus of recent attention by Winewise Magazine, one of Australia’s revered publications that has just celebrated 25 years of publication.
On the front cover of its April 2009 edition - featuring a tribute to Australian Shiraz - it shows a photograph of the Gimblett Gravels wine growing district and poses the question: “Is this the best Shiraz region in the world?”
Need we say more?!!
International Success
Gimblett Gravels red wines have excelled at two of the world’s largest wine competitions, the Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine Challenge. Click here to read more
With judging standards incredibly high and in context with global wine styles, achieving trophy or gold medal success is an incredible achievement.
In the Decanter World Wine Awards, Villa Maria secured the NZ Bordeaux Varietal Trophy (over £10) with their Reserve Merlot 2006, with Craggy Range scoring a Gold Medal for their Merlot blend, Sophia 2005.
Syrah shone in the International Wine Challenge, with Mission Estate securing rare gold medals for both their Reserve and Jewelstone Syrahs, both from the 2007 vintage.
Vintage 2009 report
Vintage 2009 on the Gimblett Gravels will be one to remember for red grape varieties and is expected to create some of the best ever wines to date. Click here to read more. 24 March 2009More ‘Golden Eggs’ at Royal Easter Show
Gimblett Gravels red wines added 2 more trophies and 8 Gold Medals to its burgeoning tally at the 2009 Royal Easter Show Wine Awards. Click here to read more
20 February 2009 Media Information: London Bordeaux & Gimblett Gravels Masterclass Tasting
Gimblett Gravels wines repeat strong showing against top Bordeaux
A gathering of some of the UK's leading palates struggled to separate Gimblett Gravels wines from First Growth Bordeaux 2005. Click here to read more
23 October 2008Media Information: MasterClass tasting Bordeaux & Gimblett Gravels
Taupo Surprise!
Fledgling New Zealand winegrowing district Gimblett Gravels is recognised as a serious challenge to some of the world’s finest wines.
A very exclusive event took place in Taupo this past Saturday. A selection of six New Zealand produced ‘off the shelf’ wines from the tiny 800ha Gimblett Gravels wine-growing district in the Hawke’s Bay were tested against six very highly-rated wines from the celebrated Bordeaux region in France.
Click here to read more>>  | |  | The Top 6 - The top ranked wines - 1-6 (left to right) | | International wine judge, James
Halliday, announces the results. |
News Archive and Wine Show Results
For older news stories please refer to the News Archive section.
For historic Wine Show Results, please refer to the Accolades section.
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