Wines from Craggy Range, Trinity Hill, Church Road, Villa Maria and Sacred Hill across three vintages were presented to influential chateau proprietors, representatives and oenologists of Bordeaux as well as press and media.

Guests included Christian Seely of Pichon Longueville, Jean Claude Berrouet, winemaker of Chateau Petrus and Jane Anson of Decanter.com.

These wines, crafted by the inspiration of Bordeaux, are from a young fledgling part of New Zealand, the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District," says Smith.

"They represent some of the very best of the wine style that are produced in our country. They make no aspiration to be ‘Bordeaux like’, as these wines are ours. They make no statement of a comparison. They simply speak of our place and our people and this is why we invited the Bordelaise to that have experience.”

The response from the Winemakers of Bordeaux was enthusiastic. Lilian Barton of Chateau Leoville Barton said: “We loved the tasting of this new region from New Zealand. It was interesting to note that the terroir is also important and that vintages are very distinct too.

“I found that the 2007s are fresh and well balanced. We had a great time and look forward to our next bottle of Gimblett Gravels wine.”

Jean Claude Berrouet of Chateau Petrus noted the wines were “from New Zealand where men of character enhance an original nature by producing wines with unexpected complexity and subtlety.

“They do not create wines that compete with ours but rather produce wines which are ambassadors, expressing the classic basics taught in college, namely harmony and balance, and which do not fall into the trap that excess is so as to give the illusion of quality.

"Basically, they are the image of their rugby – they defend the real values of life. The quality of the wine was commented on by many including Nathalie Schyler of Chateau Kirwan who said: “A magnificent tasting. Remarkable 2007s; great balance, finesse, great harmony and complexity.”

Smith was understandably delighted with the response of the Bordelaise to this historic tasting. For those of us on the other side of the world, much of our fine wine inspiration comes from the great wines of France and their producers. "Many of us have visited these great producers and all who have ambitions to make fine wine have crafted their inspiration from those visits.