Wineries celebrate awards in London

John Peet, viticulturalist at Elephant Hill Winery, Te Awanga, with a bottle of the award-winning 2013 Merlot Malbec. Photo / Duncan Brown

Four Hawke's Bay wineries are celebrating in the wake of the 2015 International Wine Challenge staged in London with Te Awanga's Elephant Hill picking up a major accolade with the Trophy for Best New Zealand Red Wine.

Its 2013 Merlot-Malbec got the nod from the judges, beating out 200 other reds entered from New Zealand.

The win is the latest in an already impressive list of accolades for the blend, including scoring 94/100 points and five stars from Bob Campbell MW, winning gold medals at the 2015 Easter Show Wine Awards and China Wine and Spirits Awards, and earning five stars from Sam Kim at Wine Orbit and 4.5 stars from Australasian wine magazine, Winestate.

Elephant Hill proprietor Roger Weiss said he was proud of the winery's achievement in snapping up the trophy for best New Zealand red.

"This is a very good win for us and we are thrilled that our wine has been awarded such a high honour by a global wine competition as prestigious as the International Wine Challenge," he said.

The win added to the Champion Wine of Show at the Spiegelau International competition for its 2013 Syrah.

"It is a clear indication to me that the hard work is paying off and also very gratifying seeing as though our more premium 2013 Reserve and Icon wines are still to be released later this year," Mr Weiss said.

There was also success at the International Wine Challenge for Mission Estate which picked up a regional trophy for its Jewelstone Syrah as well as the New Zealand Syrah Trophy for best varietal.

Vidals Legacy Chardonnay was awarded a regional trophy as best Hawke's Bay chardonnay while Craggy Range picked up a regional award for its pinot noir.

Now in its 32nd year, the International Wine Challenge (IWC) is accepted as the world's finest and most meticulously judged wine competition.

The rigorous judging process involves each medal-winning wine being tasted on three separate occasions by a minimum of 10 judges.

Co-chairman of the IWC, Charles Metcalfe: "We do our best to find the top wines out of the thousands of wines that are entered and these wines are the best of the best from a more diverse range of countries than ever before."

There has also been success for Osawa Wines which has vineyards at Maraekakaho.

Their Prestige Collection Methode Traditionalle NV picked up a silver medal at the Decanter Magazine Wine Awards as well as a bronze for the Prestige Collection Chardonnay 2013.