Tag: awards

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On The Up: Felton Road named top winery for 2025, wins second year in a row

Stephanie Holmes, Editor – Lifestyle Brands NZ Herald | May, 2025

New Zealand's top 50 wineries have been named in an annual awards list.
New Zealand’s top 50 wineries have been named in an annual awards list.
Blair Walter, winemaker from Central Otago winery Felton Road.
Blair Walter, winemaker from Central Otago winery Felton Road.
Destiny Bay, a winery on Auckland's Waiheke Island.
Destiny Bay, a winery on Auckland’s Waiheke Island.
Stephen Wong, MW, from The Real Review, an online wine critic platform.
Stephen Wong, MW, from The Real Review, an online wine critic platform.
Anna and Jason Flowerday from Te Whare Ra winery
Anna and Jason Flowerday from Te Whare Ra winery

Simon Sharpe and Lauren Keenan of Marlborough winery A Thousand Gods
Simon Sharpe and Lauren Keenan of Marlborough winery A Thousand Gods

Expert judges have crowned the top 50 wineries for 2025, with a Central Otago winery taking the top spot for the second year running.

Online wine critic platform The Real Review has named Bannockburn’s Felton Road as Winery of the Year.

“In a competitive field, Felton Road continues to lead by example,” says judge Stephen Wong, MW.

“Their wines are defined by purity, balance and a deep respect for the land.”

Wong says the second consecutive win reflects the winery’s “continuous improvement” that “sets a benchmark for the industry”.

The annual top wineries list recognises excellence across the country.

Wong says Kiwi wine-drinkers can use the list to give them “a clear sense of who is leading the way in New Zealand winemaking right now”.

Waiheke’s Destiny Bay took the runner-up spot this year, with Te Whare Rā and Framingham (both from Marlborough) and Martinborough’s Dry River rounding out the top five.

This year’s awards introduced a new “Best in Class” category, celebrating excellence across various wine styles. The inaugural winners were Quartz Reef‘s Methode Traditionnelle Blanc de Blancs 2017 for Sparkling Wine of the Year; Prophet’s Rock Cuvée Aux Antipodes Blanc 2022 for White Wine of the Year; Doctors Flat Pinot Noir 2021 for Red Wine of the Year; and Astrolabe’s Wrekin Vineyard Late Harvest Chenin Blanc 2022 for Sweet Wine of the Year.

It is also the first time a Vigneron of the Year award has been presented, recognising excellence in viticulture.

Anna and Jason Flowerday of Marlborough’s certified organic winery, Te Whare Rā, are the inaugural winners.

“Highlighting individual wines and the people behind them allows us to tell a fuller story of New Zealand wine’s journey,” says Wong.

“As our industry matures, it’s vital we recognise not just the wines, but the people and philosophies shaping them.”

Wong says the Flowerdays were recognised because of their “deep connection between vineyard and bottle”, praising their commitment to sustainability while retaining a commitment to striving for excellence.

Rounding out the awards, Simon Sharpe and Lauren Keenan of Marlborough winery A Thousand Gods were awarded the Rising Star of the Year.

Enthusiasts can sample 80 of this year’s award-winning wines and meet the winemakers at a tasting event in Auckland on June 7, with tickets available via The Real Review’s website.

NZ wineries will be further recognised in August, with Viva’s own Top 50 wine awards, judged by Viva Wine Editor Dr Jo Burzynska.

The full 2024 list of winners can be found at viva.co.nz.

See the Real Review’s Top 50 Wineries of New Zealand 2025 below:


1. Felton Road – Bannockburn, Central Otago
2. Destiny Bay – Waiheke Island, Auckland
3. Te Whare Rā Wines – Renwick, Marlborough
4. Framingham – Renwick, Marlborough
5. Dry River Wines – Martinborough, Wairarapa
6. Prophet’s Rock – Bendigo, Central Otago
7. Te Mata Estate – Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay
8. Rippon – Wanaka, Central Otago
9. Ata Rangi – Martinborough, Wairarapa
10. Pyramid Valley Vineyards – Waikari, North Canterbury
11. Craggy Range – Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay
12. Bell Hill – Waikari, North Canterbury
13. Obsidian – Waiheke Island, Auckland
14. Hans Herzog Estate – Rapaura, Marlborough
15. Kusuda Wines – Martinborough, Wairarapa
16. Church Road – Napier, Hawke’s Bay
17. Rockburn Wines – Cromwell, Central Otago
18. Elephant Hill Estate – Te Awanga, Hawke’s Bay
19. Villa Maria – Auckland
20. Smith & Sheth – Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay
21. Cloudy Bay – Blenheim, Marlborough
22. Fromm Winery – Blenheim, Marlborough
23. Bilancia – Hawke’s Bay
24. Neudorf – Upper Moutere, Nelson
25. Gibbston Valley Wines – Gibbston, Central Otago
26. Wild Irishman – Gibbston, Central Otago
27. Siren Wine – Marlborough
28. Corofin – Blenheim, Marlborough
29. Terra Sancta – Bannockburn, Central Otago
30. Blank Canvas – Marlborough
31. A Thousand Gods – Marlborough
32. Tantalus Estate – Waiheke Island, Auckland
33. Mt Difficulty Wines – Bannockburn, Central Otago
34. Puriri Hills – Clevedon, Auckland
35. Greystone Wines – Waipara, North Canterbury
36. Black Estate – North Canterbury
37. Charteris – Central Otago
38. Radburnd Cellars – Hawke’s Bay
39. Doctors Flat – Central Otago
40. Isabel Estate – Marlborough
41. Dog Point Vineyard – Marlborough
42. Batch Winery – Waiheke Island, Auckland
43. Giesen Wine Estate – Marlborough
44. Forager Wine – Marlborough
45. Valli – Central Otago
46. Man O’ War Vineyards – Waiheke Island, Auckland
47. Astrolabe Wines – Marlborough
48. Mudbrick – Waiheke Island, Auckland
49. Clos Henri – Marlborough
50. The Boneline – North Canterbury

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Martinborough pinot noir named among world’s best as judges hail New Zealand vineyards as ‘extraordinary’

Alan Granville Stuff | June 25, 2025

Craggy Range in Martinborough won a Best in Show for its pinot noir.Craggy Range
Craggy Range in Martinborough won a Best in Show for its pinot noir. Craggy Range

A Martinborough vineyard is toasting its success after being awarded a prestigious ‘Best in Show’ honour at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards.

Craggy Range’s 2024 pinot noir was the only wine from New Zealand to get the top honour.

More than 200 judges tasted thousands of wines from 57 countries and only the top 50 get a Best in Show award. That amounts to just 0.3% of all wines tasted.

Craggy Range chief winemaker Ben Tombs called it a “fantastic” achievement.

“It is the most influential wine awards in the world,” he told Stuff Travel.

“It’s an awesome accolade to have. It goes towards our ambition … to stand along the great wine estates of the world. So it gives you a lot of confidence.”

The judges hailed the pinot noir as “an uncompromisingly dark wine that plays to New Zealand’s strengths in terms of purity and vivacity of fruit: raspberry, cherry and plum come streaming from the glass, and the fine meshing of fruit and oak in this wine adds to its lustre and appeal”.

Craggy Range chief winemaker Ben Tombs called it a “fantastic” achievement.Craggy Range
Craggy Range chief winemaker Ben Tombs called it a “fantastic” achievement.
Craggy Range

“In the mouth, the wine is both long and broad but not in any way clumsy, and the fruit flavours (raspberry to the fore again) are hypnotic.“

Tombs said the 2024 vintage in Martinborough is “really strong and unique”: “It was quite a warm and dry summer period, and you had these really small berries that gave heaps of concentration.”

He added the vintage was “pretty iconic” and “it just translated all the way through to wine … into the glass”.

Tombs said the award is a big boost for the area.

“It’s special for Martinborough as well. We’re a tiny little region. It’s only 500 hectares of actual pinot noir that’s planted, which is minuscule in the scheme of it.

“So to have that award for Martinborough is incredible.”

Globally, New Zealand finished 11th with a total of 303 medals when all the Best in Show, platinum, gold, silver and bronze awards are handed out by Decanter. France, Italy and Spain were the top three countries.

But where Aotearoa comes into its own is when the results were broken down by the number of medals earned relative to a country’s vineyard area and wine production volume.

It’s similar to the Olympics when a country’s medal tally is rated by population rather than the total number of podium places.

Decanter’s two key indicators are:

  • Medals per 1000 hectares of vineyard (kha) – showcasing quality output relative to land.
  • Medals per million hectolitres of wine (mhl) – indicating how much of a country’s production reaches an award-winning standard.

Here, New Zealand finished second in the world, with 2.94 medals/kha and 84.2 medals/mhl.

Judges wrote: “Despite its modest size, the country achieved 303 medals from just 3.6 million hectolitres of wine – an extraordinary concentration of quality.”

Greece finished top of this metric.

As for who will win next year, Tombs is expecting something special from both Craggy Range vineyards in Martinborough and Hawke’s Bay.

“2025 is shaping up to be quite, quite different, but really strong again. It’s a different flavour profile. It was actually quite overcast throughout summer, so we’ve actually got some really more savoury pinot this year.

“But in Hawke’s Bay, chardonnay is a standout.”

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Committee Musings Nov’25

Continued thanks

It continues to be helpful to have everyone help with the tables and chairs at meetings and taking the same down at the end, thanks. Also, taking your table’s spittoons/water jugs/cracker plates back to the kitchen.

Wines secured

We have secured 5 trophy wines and 2 double gold wines for our NZIWS Awards presentation timetabled for April next year.

Survey results to come

Thanks everyone for going online to respond to our survey. Unfortunately, you busted it, but not before we had gathered some great intel. We will try and report back on the survey in a future newsletter.

Looking ahead

  • December – Christmas Dinner, Le Cloche –there will be the normal welcoming glass of bubbly on arrival to start off the festivities. An order form for the meal, plus payment will be sent out separately.
  • January 2026 – Reminder: Currently there is no function planned for this January, but your committee is currently considering a specific idea for 2027. That said, if you have an idea that we also might consider, please talk to a committee member.
  • February 2026 – Askerne Wines

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February tasting – Askerne Wines w/John Loughlin, Co-Founder and Director

Askerne Hawkes Bay
267 Te Mata Mangateretere Rd, Havelock North
Presenter – John Loughlin, Co-Founder and Director
Wednesday 11th February 8 pm start
Door Price: to be advised later

Askerne Estate winery commenced in April 1993 when wine lovers John and  Kathryn Loughlin purchased the original 11.6 hectares site in Te Mata  Mangateretere Road. John and Kathryn had studied winemaking and viticulture in the previous years with Kathryn, as the more diligent student, achieving the higher grades.

They called the property Askerne, being the olde English name of Kathryn’s birthplace, Askern in Yorkshire, England.

Sauvignon Blanc vines were planted in late 1993, Semillon and Riesling in 1994, Chardonnay in 1995 and Gewürztraminer in 1996. The first wines were made at the Waimarama Estate Winery (then owned by Dr John Loughlin, John’s father) in 1996.

In February 1997, the Askerne cellar door was opened to the public, and it also sold Waimarama Estate’s red wines, including the then famous Waimarama Dessert Cabernet.

The 1997 vintage produced very fine wines from Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay which confirmed the potential of the site. Askerne commenced exporting with wines from the 1997 vintage. It was a complete surprise to us when our Sauvignon Blanc won an award in The Netherlands as the best match with a cigar. It was not something we thought of in making the wine, nor have subsequently aspired to.

In 1998 Dr John Loughlin sold Waimarama Estate Winery and from the 1999 vintage, Askerne’s wines were made on site. The cellar door building was expanded to accommodate winemaking activities. The first red wine grapes were planted. Also, in 1999 the first Botrytis Semillon wine was made, and the first componentry was created for the Noble Noir wine which was first released in 2013.

In the significantly frost-affected 2001 the first red grapes were harvested, and a Cabernet Merlot Franc blend and Dessert Cabernet were made. Both these red wine styles were encouraging examples of the desired styles. A Chardonnay from the 2001 vintage won Askerne’s first gold medal.

In 2004 a new purpose-built winery was completed, only hours before it was used for vintage. The 2005 vintage saw the first multi-awarded wine with our Gewürztraminer winning double golds. The 2006 vintage saw the first trophy which was taken by our Noble Semillon. The 2007 vintage saw Askerne produce a Gewürztraminer that won 5 gold medals and a trophy.

Large vintages in 2008, 2009 and 2010 coincided with the global financial crisis and a downturn in business as customers changed and downsized and the market moved to cheaper price points. Export channels also dried up for Askerne. They launched their first white and gold label Rouge and Blanc blends as lower tier responses and sold them directly to consumers. Most of the fruit from the 2011 and 2012 vintages were sold as we sought to rebalance inventories with demand.

In 2014 Askerne commenced an exporting relationship in China with Beijing Touch World International Trading Company.

The 2018 vintage proved to be a great one and saw the launch of two of the planned new wine styles being a Sauvignon Blanc / Sauvignon Gris / Semillon blend and the first of the Icon series of wines in “The Archer” Chardonnay.

Cairn Coghill
Cairn Coghill

2018 also saw the 25th anniversary of the Askerne venture and was a time to think about the past and present The 2019 vintage was another excellent one which saw a second Icon wine produced in a Syrah called “Tere” which speaks of our site on Te Mata Mangateretere Road, adjoining the Tuki Tuki River.

The 2020 vintage was spectacular in terms of climate and quality. It was also unusual in terms of vintage operations which coincided with the covid-19 global pandemic, but Askerne was able to operate as an essential business.

From the 2020 vintage we added a new product to our range, being the first Sérieux rosé which was made from a blend of Carménère and Mourvèdre.

In January 2021 Cairn Coghill joined the Askerne team as winemaker.

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