Summerhouse Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2016 named in Top 50 wines at 2019 New World Wine Awards

Media release

Summerhouse Wines Hawke’s Bay Merlot is set to be at the top of shopping lists after the wine was today announced as a Gold medal winner at the 2019 New World Wine Awards, earning a place in the competition’s prestigious Top 50 wines.

The wine was recognised out of more than 1,274 entries submitted by 176 wineries from New Zealand and overseas. It will now be available in New World stores nationwide for the next five weeks.

Brendan Neylon, Summerhouse Wines company owner says “the accolade is a great achievement for the team and an exciting development for the brand. This wine was the first Merlot released for Summerhouse. It was an extremely warm summer, with record grower degree days, it captures summer in a bottle. With dark plum fruit aromas, hints of dark cocoa, smooth and silky it is the perfect barbeque companion.”

For us, this win offers us a great opportunity to showcase our smart new Summerhouse packaging and to get it in front of New World shoppers across the country. Each year New World provides plenty of excitement for shoppers as they discover new and exciting wines or have their favourites endorsed by the judges.

On a mission to connect its customers with the best quality affordable wines, the New World Wine Awards is all about top quality wines at great prices. New World rewards the Top 50 Gold medal winners with nationwide distribution and promotional support through 135 stores, where the winning wines are eagerly anticipated by consumers each year.

Now in its 17^th year, New World Wine Awards were judged by a panel of 17 independent wine experts, headed by returning Chair of Judges Jim Harré. Every entry was blind tasted, with only varietal, vintage and country of origin noted. Entries were evaluated using the same 100-point scale as other wine competitions worldwide, which benchmarks entries against what a perfect wine should be like.

Availability and affordability are key entry criteria – entries must retail for $25 or less, and there must be at least 4,000 bottles (or 2,000 for emerging varietals) available for sale through New World stores across the country.

Summerhouse Pinot Gris 2019 has also just been awarded Gold at the New Zealand International Wine Show and the Summerhouse Sauvignon Blanc 2019 was awarded Silver at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London.

ENDS

Notes:

The Summerhouse Wine Company is poised to shake up the New Zealand wine scene with its award-winning range of premium wines. Owned by the Neylon and Wiffin families, they bring a heritage of hard-graft and integrity forged in the primary industries of Marlborough, New Zealand. Since turning their hands to wine 20 years ago, this strong legacy, along with a focus on investment, has pushed Summerhouse to develop wines that celebrate and share the best of our New Zealand lifestyle.

At the Summerhouse we collectively create, break boundaries and enjoy the moment. Proudly made in Marlborough since 2005, we create distinctive wines for good company and great memories – because it’s always summer somewhere.

Summerhouse Wines are Distributed by Vintners

For trade enquiries please contact Ric Little at Vintners, email ric@vintners.co.nz.

Media contact for Summerhouse Wines

Nicola Norton

+64 21 522 353, nicola@scvw.co.nzs

https://summerhouse.co.nz/