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One of New Zealand's most popular wines, Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2006, has been denied a prized endorsement because judges were sent a different wine to that on shop shelves.
The Weekend Herald can reveal the wine has lost a five-star rating from Cuisine magazine after scientific testing showed the sample entered in its annual competition was different to that bought at a supermarket.
The competition has explicit rules banning companies providing one wine for judges and another for the market.
Wither Hills and its owner, Lion Nathan, have admitted that the wine blends were different.
The Marlborough winemaker has apologised and said it was "not intentional".
The wine submitted to Cuisine had already won a silver medal at the Air New Zealand Awards, a gold in the Liquorland Top 100 and a gold at the NZ International Wine Show.
It was from a batch called BR315, of which 2228 cases were made.
Total production was more than 100,000 cases - essentially giving consumers a 1 in 50 chance of buying the award-winner.
More than a million bottles of Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc are produced each year.
It sells for up to $21.99 a bottle but can readily be found for $13.99 in supermarkets where it is understood to have outsold its closest rival, Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc, by two bottles to one over the past year.
It is exported to at least a dozen countries, including the United States, Britain and Australia.
The differing wines were discovered after the judging of the annual Cuisine New Zealand sauvignon blanc awards eight weeks ago.
After the tasting, a suspicious judge took the sample away to "blind-taste" it against a shop-bought bottle - and much preferred the competition sample.
The judge's concerns were finally confirmed when the magazine sent the two samples to the ESR for testing.
Documents obtained by the Weekend Herald show a senior ESR scientist determined the two had different levels of alcohol, sugar and acidity.
It is understood the scientist verbally described them as "completely different wines".
The wine was judged as worthy of a Cuisine five-star rating and was to be named in its top 10 sauvignon blancs out of a field of 207 in its upcoming January issue.
Wither Hills winemaker and director Brent Marris told the magazine a separate early batch was made before the total blend of the wine was bottled for mass consumption.
Mr Marris said there was no attempt to mislead. The early batch was made to "best represent" the vintage to come and was used to fill early orders.
He said some of the early batch was also sold in the winery, and some of those bottles had mistakenly been sent to the competition.
Mr Marris wrote: "It is most unfortunate and for this I certainly apologise."
Fairfax Magazines, owner of Cuisine, then took up the matter with Mr Marris, Lion Nathan's Australia-based chief executive Rob Murray and New Zealand Winegrowers.
Fairfax Magazines general manager Lynley Belton said the wine was eliminated from the competition and Cuisine was unlikely to accept Wither Hills product in other tastings until it could ensure the samples were the same as those made available to the public.
Wither Hills winemaker and director Marris told the Weekend Herald that while there was a "technical difference" in the wines there was a "flavour consistency".
"From a flavour profile point of view, I would challenge any consumer to pick the difference."
Mr Marris said he would not be withdrawing any references to awards "because the [BR315] wine was in the market place and is in the market place".
He had not told the Air New Zealand and Liquorland competitions - of which he is chief judge - that he had entered the BR315.
There was no difference in the quality of the two wines, and a sample from the later batch had won a gold medal in Canada.
"Irrespective of the bottling, what we are giving the consumer is a consistent style."
Mr Marris said he did not have a problem with the Cuisine action because it was a "specific, technical breach of their rules".
The Marris family sold Wither Hills to Lion Nathan for $52 million in 2002.
The 2000 Sauvignon Blanc was one of the most celebrated New Zealand wines ever. It won 10 trophies and nine gold medals, and 240,000 bottles were produced.
Mr Marris has been in the wine industry for 25 years and is one of New Zealand's top judges. He is chief judge of the industry's own Air New Zealand Wine Awards and of the Liquorland Top 100.
New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan said he was not concerned for the reputation of the industry.
"At the end of the day, the wines are different," Mr Gregan said. "We have checked the records and there is no doubt the two wines are different. And that is not what good winemaking practice requires - end of story."
He said Winegrowers had commissioned an audit of Wither Hills which had confirmed its explanation. Wither Hills had undertaken that it would not happen again.
He said investigations were continuing into the silver medal awarded to the early batch of the wine at the Winegrowers' Air New Zealand Wine Awards early last month.
The competition stipulates that wines are "reasonably available for purchase by consumers".
The New Zealand International Wine Show said it would not be withdrawing the gold medal despite having a similar regulation that the entry must be identical to that in the market.
Organiser Kingsley Wood said it might have technically complied if it was on the market at the time.
The Liquorland Top 100 also awarded the BR315 sample wine a gold medal and organiser Belinda Jackson said it too required that the wine entered must be on the market, "and I am totally satisfied that the wine entered in my show was available on the market".
