The longest-running wine judging
competition in New Zealand,
the Royal Easter Show Wine Awards, enters its 57th year of judging
this weekend at the Greenlane Showgrounds in Auckland.
Conducted under the auspices of the Auckland A&P Association and the
continued directorship of Terry Dunleavy MBE, this wine show has great consumer
relevance as it allows wines from the previous vintage good time to show their
potential. Many white varietals will be
fully mature and the serious white wines will be emerging. Many of the top reds from the 2008 vintage
will have settled down after their barrel maturation, and will be starting to
drink well now. The wines are judged
before the show days held at Easter to enable the judges, many of whom are
winemakers, to offer their expert sensory services before the all-important
vintage begins.
This year’s show continues the
innovative approach to the make-up of the judging personnel and panels. Kate Radburnd, winemaker of C.J. Pask takes
over from Bob Campbell MW as Chairman of Judges. Veteran judge Mike de Garis, of Australia is
the Deputy Chairman. The Royal Easter
Show is proving to be where many new and younger judges are introduced to the
show system and there is an exciting mix of experienced and up-and-coming
names. From Wellington, Geoff Kelly is a senior judge,
Raymond Chan the Reserve judge and associate’s mentor, and Sue Davies is an
associate judge.
Regional Wines will be conducting
tastings of the top performing wines on Saturday
10 April. An instore tasting of gold medal winners will be held from
11.00 am to 4.00 pm. It will be free to
attend. Click here for details. A masterclass with as many of the trophy winners as can be obtained will be conducted in the upstairs
tasting room from 1.00 pm to 3.00 pm.
The cost to attend the masterclass will be $35.00 pp and bookings will
be required. Click here for more.