Region's vineyards help NZ to record awards

Two Martinborough vineyards have won coveted transtasman wine awards and helped prove Kiwi winemakers are a match for their Australian counterparts.
New Zealand wineries won a record six out of 12 categories in the Winestate magazine Wine of the Year Awards, with Margrain Vineyards 2007 La Michelle winning the sparkling section and Craggy Range Te Muna Road Vineyard winning the pinot noir section with their 2008 Te Muna Road Vineyard pinot noir.
The awards are the largest blind tasting of the kind and have been described by Winestate publisher Peter Simic as the Bledisloe Cup of Australasian winemaking.
"New Zealand may have been catapulted to world attention with its outstanding sauvignon blancs, but this competition demonstrates its winemakers are capable of producing world-class wines across a range of varietals," Mr Simic said.
Kiwi vineyards took out the major trophies for the best sparkling, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, merlot and, for the first time, the best sweet white.
In many categories, New Zealand wineries filled all top five positions.
The winners were selected after a blind taste-off of the best 10,000 Australasian wines sampled by Winestate's expert judging panel over the past 12 months.
While it was a great result for the New Zealand wine industry overall, it was a triumph for Marlborough's largest family-owned producer Saint Clair Family Estate.
The overall Wine of the Year went to the 2007 Lake Breeze Cabernet Sauvignon from Langhorne Creek in South Australia. This is the 14th year of the awards.