Isabel Estate Marlborough Chardonnay 2016 has been named Champion Wine of Show at the 2017 Air New Zealand Wine Awards, the first time in 23 years that a Marlborough Chardonnay has won a Champion Wine of Show trophy.
Commenting on the success, Chief Winemaker, Jeremy McKenzie said: “This is the pinnacle of success for Isabel Estate and something we are enormously proud of. Achieving recognition amongst such a large pool of New Zealand competitors truly shows the quality of our wines. I would like to pay special mention to our small and dedicated team who are instrumental in this success. It’s a small, humble, hands-on crew with a lot of fight.
“We have recognised for some time now how strong a site Isabel Estate is for Chardonnay and over the past three years we have been quietly perfecting it. The Isabel Estate Marlborough Chardonnay 2016 exhibits the power and vibrancy that are the hallmarks of world class Chardonnay and is a wine of outstanding quality and character.
“We are thrilled that it has won top honours in a competition of this calibre. This is testament to the quality of fruit that we are able to grow from a single vineyard site and demonstrates our philosophy of respecting the soil where the grapes grow and allowing the unique characters of each vineyard and variety to be expressed in the final wine.
“Isabel Estate has now been well and truly positioned at the top of Marlborough’s wineries.”
Isabel Estate Marlborough Chardonnay 2016 was one of 1,300 wines entered in the competition and according to Chair of Judges Warren Gibson the wine was a very classy example of the Chardonnay in this year’s competition.
“The Isabel Estate Marlborough Chardonnay 2016 won by a big margin and was ‘world class’ and ‘well made’. The wine got through to the trophy judging stage and it was a clear winner by some distance. It’s packed with flavour but still maintains a remarkable lightness on its feet.”