Northland winery celebrating five gold medals at major international comps

The Landing Wines’ winemaker Ben Byrne is celebrating after five of the Landing’s wines won gold medals at major international competitions

Northland winery The Landing Wine is celebrating after winning five international gold medals for five wines at two of the world’s major wine competitions.

The Landing, which is based on Rangihoua Rd, Kerikeri, in the Bay of Islands, took out the awards at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London and the Sommeliers Choice Awards.

The Landing 2021 Chardonnay was awarded a Gold medal at the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards in London in June.

Only four gold medals were awarded to New Zealand Chardonnay this year, making this a significant achievement for the small Northland label, director Peter Jones said.

The wine previously won a Double Gold medal at the New Zealand International Wine Show in 2023, and Gold at the 5th annual Sommeliers Choice Awards in 2023.

The Landing Wines’ 13ha vineyard in the Bay of Islands has won five gold medals at two of the world’s biggest international wine awards

This year, at the 6th annual Sommeliers Choice Awards held in San Francisco, four wines from The Landing – including The Landing 2022 Chardonnay - took home Gold medals.

The Gold medal winners included The Boathouse 2023 Rose, The Landing 2022 Chardonnay, The Landing 2021 Syrah and The Landing 2023 Pinot Gris.

Jones said the goal of the Sommeliers Choice Awards is simple: to provide on-premise buyers and sommeliers (professional wine steward) a valuable benchmark for understanding which wines would make a compelling addition to a wine list.

“We are extremely pleased that our wines performed so highly at these two competitions.

“Northland continues to cement its place on the wine map, within New Zealand and internationally.”

The Landing Wine’s five gold medal winning wines

The Landing Wine is a single-estate boutique label based in the Bay of Islands, in 2007. The 13ha vineyard produces more than 10 varieties of grapes and is particularly known for its Chardonnay and Syrah wines. Winemaker Ben Byrne uses a low-intervention approach to craft wines that are complex and intense with clear minerality.

Now in its 21st year, Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) is the world’s largest and most influential wine competition. This year, over 18,000 wines from 57 countries were entered into the competition, Wines were tasted by 243 specialist judges from 33 countries, including 20 Master Sommeliers and 61 Masters of Wine.

The Sommeliers Choice Awards looks to identify wines that would make a compelling addition to any wine list. The aim of the awards is to provide independent and honest reviews for brands looking to enter the US on-premise wine market. The event is organised by the Beverage Trade Network, a leading online platform dedicated to connecting the global beverage industry.