News
Nearly 100 wines have been awarded gold medals at the 2025 Marlborough Wine Show, sponsored by QuayConnect.
Ninety-one golds were awarded - the highest number since records began in 2012, following a stellar 2024 vintage and stunning weather conditions leading into the 2025 harvest.
Chief Judge Stu Marfell said the 2024 season had been a hard act to follow, and that this year’s entries included Pinot Noir and Chardonnay entries of that vintage.
Fifteen judges will taste 622 wines entered into the 2025 Marlborough Wine Show, sponsored by QuayConnect, this week.
Chief Judge Stu Marfell will be joined by a further 12 local judges, as well as out of region guest judges Sam Kim and Toni Paterson MW, in assessing the wines over three days starting Wednesday.
“We’re extremely pleased to have both of these talented and knowledgeable wine experts on the panel this year, Sam as a returning guest judge, and Toni for the first time,” he says.
Tickets for the next Marlborough Wine & Food Festival on Saturday 14 February 2026 are now available, as New Zealand’s original wine and food festival gears up for its 39th year.
Festival event manager Loren Coffey is delighted to announce Troy Kingi and Kaylee Bell will be headlining the day’s live music offerings.
Congratulations to Ruby McManaway from Yealands, Marlborough, who is the 2025 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Young Winemaker of the Year. Congratulations also to Anna Kelland from Constellation Brands, who is the 2025 Young Viticulturist of the Year.
The winners were announced at the New Zealand Wine 2025 Celebration Dinner held at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre on Thursday, 28 August.
The Young Winemaker national finals were held on 26 August at Lincoln University, and the Young Viticulturist national finals were held at Greystone, Waipara, the following day.
Congratulations to Ruby McManaway from Yealands, who was announced as the 2025 Tonnellerie de Mercurey Marlborough Young Winemaker of the Year following the competition held on 16 July at Marlborough Research Centre and Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology campus in Blenheim.
Whitehaven Wines has established a partnership with Selmes Garden Trust which will see individuals with disabilities engaged to help propagate seeds collected by Whitehaven.
Selmes have announced the closure of its native garden centre retail operations, but have shifted to a native plant production model.
Seeds are eco-sourced from neighbouring properties, to ensure survival and retention of local characteristics, and Selmes staff propagate the seeds.
The plants are then replanted at The Springs property, near to where the seeds were originally sourced.
10,000 natives have already been planted, the next planting will start next week (w/c 14 July).
This is part of a major regeneration of a 760ha property in Marlborough’s upper Wairau Valley.
Winepress
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