WORDS FROM
our winners
Our top wine was crafted by Hugh Crichton of Vidal Estate. “For me this wine encapsulates its origins, that of the Waihopai Valley, where long, slow ripening, combined with low yields, has added richness and depth but not at the expense of freshness and definition,” he says. “Aging on lees has added further weight, texture and nice background complexity, an approach that works well with chardonnay. Maybe the lees are the secret sauce!” The wine is 85 per cent from the Waihopai Valley with the balance from the central Wairau Valley.
Plus three of our First XI wines were made by the rockstar team of Rebecca ‘Becs’ Wiffen and Marcus Wright, who also craft Lawson’s Dry Hills, The
Sisters and Blind River wines. “From the growers to the viticultural team to the winemaking team, our combined knowledge and experience contribute to making outstanding wines even in the most challenging of vintages,” says Becs. Having three wines in the top 10 is “pretty awesome” adds Marcus. “The really cool thing is it shows our ability to create a diverse range of wine.”