Cheers to 21 golds and a cheeky little Tri Nations win

Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

There may be a few sour grapes after New Zealand wiped the floor with Australia and South Africa in the Tri Nations Wine Challenge in Sydney.

New Zealand wines won eight trophies, 11 double gold medals and 10 gold medals, and was named top overall country at the annual event.

Australia has dominated throughout the contest's seven-year history.

New Zealand was particularly praised for its shiraz, or syrah, wines. It also cleaned up in the white wine, sparkling, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, merlot, Bordeaux blends and dessert wine categories.

"The quality of New Zealand wines entered this year really demonstrates the ongoing evolution of wine quality in New Zealand," said competition judge and New Zealand Master of Wine Bob Campbell.

"The results reflect the continuing strength of New Zealand sauvignon blanc in spite of a challenging 2008 vintage, and the quality of our pinot noir, syrah and merlot.

"The excellent red wine vintage experienced in Hawkes Bay and Central Otago in 2007 are also evident in this year's results."

Wines entered in the Tri Nations Wine Challenge were picked by a selector from each country as one of their top wines for each class.

Wineries were invited to send samples to be blind tasted by judges from New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.

Meanwhile, a survey showed that New Zealanders rate homegrown wine higher than imported varieties.

A Liquorland Top 100 survey found 91 per cent of 1700 survey respondents said they would choose wine produced here rather than wine made overseas. However, they were less fussy about what region they preferred their vino to come from. In total, 37.4 per cent didn't mind as long as it tasted good.

"New Zealand is known internationally for producing top-quality wine of all varieties and many of our local wines are sought after by wine lovers and restaurateurs across the globe," said survey director Belinda Jackson.

Sauvignon blanc is the most popular, with 87.1 per cent of New Zealanders saying they had tried it, and 86.8 per cent tipping back chardonnay.

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AAP