Award winners in the 2010 New World Wine Awards won’t be announced until September.

More than a thousand wines have been judged in Wellington, supplied by 160 vineyards, and more than 50 of the vineyards which entered are new to the competition.

The New World Wine Awards programme stipulates that affordability and availability of the wines are key criteria for entry. Wines entered in the competition must retail for below $25 per bottle, and there must be at least 500 cases of each wine available for sale. 

“This competition has an important place among all the various wine awards because it is so strongly consumer-focused,” says Jim Harré, chair of the 2010 New World Wine Awards judging panel.

”With so many wineries entering the awards for the first time it really indicates winemakers recognise the value of the awards and want their wines judged against their peers.”

An independent panel of 12 winemakers, commentators and judges will blind-tasted each wine over the course of two days. This year, Dr Rowald Hepp, a winemaker from Germany and director of Schlos Vollrads, one of the oldest vineyards in the world, came to New Zealand for the first time to judge at the awards.

“The calibre of the judging panel for this competition is simply outstanding and consumers can have confidence that each medal winning wine is judged according to the same internationally-recognised points system as other leading wine awards,” says Jim Harré.

The judges awarded gold, silver and bronze medals, spread among the best red, white and bubbles wines. The top 50 wines from the full array of medal-winners will be showcased online and in a New World Wine Awards booklet.

“There is a growing trend of people opting to buy their wine in supermarkets and this competition takes the guess work out of choosing a great wine at a great price. Last year, over 196,000 bottles of the top 50 wines were sold through New World supermarkets across the country in the first six weeks after the winning wines were announced, reflecting the value consumers place on the awards,” says Mr. Harré

The award winners will be announced to the public on Monday September 20, 2010.