Announced at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards held at a gala dinner in Christchurch Saturday 21st and attended by 650 industry members, Johanneshof Cellars of Marlborough was awarded the New Zealand Winegrowers Champion Gewrztraminer Trophy for their Marlborough Gewrztraminer 2009.

Earlier in the evening this small boutique winery had been awarded an Elite Gold Medal for the same wine. The Elite Gold being is a new category introduced for this year's competition.

The Air New Zealand Wine Awards is the country's most prestigious wine competition and this year saw 1,655 wines entered and a record number of 102 Gold Medals awarded.

Chair of Judges Steve Smith (MW) commenting on this year's event said, "This year's competition was characterised by exceptional quality across a wide range of varietals. This was truly a ground-breaking competition with remarkable quality shown right across the board".

Judges described the Johanneshof Trophy winning Gewrztraminer as; 'Lush, silky, opulent and gorgeously perfumed with a lovely sweet mouthfeel and an exceptionally long finish'.

On receiving the Trophy from Stuart Smith, Chairman of New Zealand Winegrowers, Winemaker Edel Everling later commented; "It's a very big compliment for us and reinforces our commitment to traditional winemaking practices"

About Johanneshof Cellars Owned and operated jointly by Edel Everling (a 5th generation winemaker) and Warwick Foley, Johanneshof Cellars is a small European styled artisan winery located on the outskirts of Picton in Marlborough. During their 19 years of producing hand crafted wines they have been the recipients of over 60 industry accolades.

Embracing the principals of cropping at a very low level to enhance fruit quality and flavour, grapes are predominantly harvested by hand. The estate vineyard is close-planted in European tradition and not irrigated. The winery is build multi-leveled to utilise gravity rather than pumping wines. A modern laboratory ensures control of fermentations but is not seen as a substitute to regular organoleptic evaluations of the wines.

Same Day Another Trophy On the very same day Edel was presented with the Champion Gewrztraminer Trophy, fellow winemaker Warwick Foley was presented with the the "Gordon Holmes Cup" Farm Forestry Trophy for another of their passions; a 7.0 hectare European forest they have established over the landscape surrounding their winery. Five and a half thousand Quercus petraea cross robur oak trees and an assortment of other European species including maple, beech, alder, black walnut and ash will over time create an understory of native trees to transform the small valley the winery rests in.