Greystone Named 2018 Winery Of the Year

New Zealand wine critic Raymond Chan has named us his 2018 ‘Winery of the Year’.

With almost 40 years’ experience in the wine industry, Raymond Chan’s ‘Winery of the Year’ award is recognised as one of New Zealand’s most prestigious titles.

“The ‘Winery of the Year’ was instituted in 2011, as my way of recognising the wine producer that submitted the best wines for ‘Feature Review’ through the year.  The previous winners have included Neudorf Vineyards, Pegasus Bay, Te Whare Ra, Escarpment Vineyard, Valli Vineyards and Vidal Estate,” said Raymond Chan.

Raymond adds, “Greystone Wines has always figured among the contenders for this award from the very start due to the exceptional nature of the wines across their whole range, and this has continued every year with increasing quality and sophistication.”

Earlier in the year our winemaker, Dom Maxwell, was also named New Zealand’s 2018 ‘Winemaker of the Year’ by leading wine publication, Gourmet Traveller Wine – affirming again Greystone’s leading position within the New Zealand wine industry.

“We are all completely blown away by the news. It’s amazing to have our winery recognised at this level and to be able to share this award with the team is very special,” said Dom.

Raymond said it was not just the quality of the wines that set Greystone apart, but their ground-breaking viticulture and winemaking.

“This year their [Greystone’s] innovative approach to vineyard work and winemaking has brought them to the fore, thus making them my choice.”

“The vineyard fermentation of the Pinot Noir is particularly fascinating. Dom Maxwell conducted a presentation on indigenous yeast vineyard fermentation at the 2017 Pinot Noir conference in Wellington. The audience were spell-bound by the work Greystone had conducted with this, and the results to date. There is no doubt the wine captures more of the nature or terroir of the site.”

In 2018, we released 500 bottles of our first ever Vineyard Ferment Pinot Noir using this world-first winemaking technique, which sold out in just 8 weeks.

Greystone’s recent awards include:

  • New Zealand Winery of the Year (Raymond Chan)
  • New Zealand Winemaker of the Year (Gourmet Traveller WINE)
  • “Best Chardonnay in New Zealand” (Decanter Magazine)
  • Gold Medal for Greystone 2016 Sauvignon Blanc (Global Sauvignon Blanc Masters 2017)
  • Greystone 2016 Pinot Gris ranked 3rd most exciting Pinot Gris in the world in their annual “75 Best Buys of 2017” (Decanter Magazine)

Raymond’s full published article can be found here: http://bit.ly/2zI92dz