For Leveret Estate Winery it was the calm between two cyclones which enabled it to harvest the grapes, which produced its latest gold medal-winning wine.

'We were fortunate to have just enough time between Cyclones Debbie and Cook in April to harvest the grapes from the Kuranui vineyard in Marlborough,” says winemaker Michael Sweetlove.

That wine is the 2017 Falconhead Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, which won a gold medal at both the 2017 New World Wine Awards, (one of the largest and most influential wine shows in New Zealand), and the New Zealand International Wine Show.

Michael says after harvest, the grapes were taken to a contract facility for de-juicing and settling.

'The clear juice was then transported by road tanker to our Katikati winery where it was fermented in stainless steel tanks at around 12°C using a variety of yeast strains, mainly Revelation Thiols.

'Following fermentation, the wine was blended, protein stabilised, cold stabilised and fined and bottled in July 2017.”

The wine is described as displaying 'a complex aroma of tropical fruits, passionfruit, feijoa and a touch of lime. The palate shows ripe tropical fruit flavours balanced by a limey acidity and a lengthy mineral finish”.

Fiona MacDiarmid, sales and marketing director for Leveret Estate Winery, says the win is very exciting.

'We are long-time supporters of this competition because of its unique focus on wines that are affordable and widely available, while judging quality on the same basis as all other major wine competitions.”

The New World Wine Awards are judged by a panel of 16 independent expert wine judges who blind taste and judge each wine using the same internationally-recognised 100-point scale as other wine competitions worldwide.

This means that wines are held to the same standard as at any other wine show. The only difference is that all wines entered must retail for $25 or less a bottle and at least 5000 bottles must be available for sale.

'Winning two gold medals in this highly competitive category (Sauvignon Blanc) is a fantastic result and testament to the quality of wines that we produce at our Katikati winery. The added advantage for Kiwis is that all our Falconhead wines are affordable, so this is a Gold Medal wine priced at less than $20,” says Fiona.

The Falconhead range of wines have been named for the native falcon karearea, one of New Zealand's few birds of prey.

'The falcon is part of our natural sustainability programme as it helps with pest control in our vineyards. We have a resident falcon who often visits the feeding station we've set up as a token of appreciation to this flying celebrity, who also graces our country's $20 bill.”

This Falconhead Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc has also made it into the NWWA Top 50 wines and is available in all New World stores nationwide as well as at the Leveret Estate Cellar Door on State Highway 2 (20 minutes north of Tauranga) which is open seven days a week from 9.30am-5pm.