Hawke's Bay's Sileni Estates has picked up the top prize for pinot noir at the 34th Sydney International Wine Competition, beating off wines from regions across New Zealand and Australia more well known for the variety.
Sileni's The Plateau pinot noir 2013 was crowned the best of the class in the food-orientated competition which was judged by a panel of 14 international and Australian judges, with the final selection of wines judged alongside appropriate food dishes to ensure that the results reflected the way most consumers drink wine - with food.
"Judging the wines that made it to the final rounds with food made a significant difference to the award-winning wines because they are not just judged for technical correctness, that was done in the first phase, they are judged again for their harmony and balance, key to their ability to complement appropriate food dishes," competition convenor Warren Mason said.
Sileni chief winemaker Grant Edmonds said he was "elated" that a wine from Hawke's Bay, which had never been celebrated for pinot nior, had come out on top.
He said the wine had been made from fruit grown in cooler sub-regions, being a blend of grapes from a "plateau" of river terrace gravels at a higher, cooler altitude, and a coastal vineyard which has clay-based soils and cooled by sea breezes.
