New Zealand’s most consumer-focused wine competition is back, offering wineries an unparalleled opportunity to get their top drops in front of wine-loving shoppers in New World stores nationwide. Celebrating its 21st year, the New World Wine Awards are well-recognised within the industry for pairing the rigour of an international-standard wine show with a retail platform that sees the top wines enjoy a measurable lift in sales as a direct result of winning medals.
Any winery with wines fitting the entry criteria can enter this show. You don’t need to be an existing supplier to New World or Foodstuffs to enter the competition for under $25 wines!
With the goal to find the very best wines that are also affordable and accessible for shoppers, the awards have a unique focus on wines that retail for $25 or less. The Top 50 Gold medal-winning wines will be rewarded with distribution through 140+ New World stores across the country and receive comprehensive publicity support both in-store and out. This means extensive brand exposure through in-store displays with eye-catching point of sale to help customers readily find and purchase these fantastic wines. The Top 50 wines, all under $25, will then continue to be actively promoted through the high-volume Christmas period, which immediately follows the dedicated five-week awards display.
The minimum volume requirement for popular varietals is 4,000 bottles to enable a wide spread of styles and producers to enter. To open the opportunity for niche varietal producers and encourage consumer trial of lesser known varieties the minimum volume requirement for emerging varietals is 1,800 bottles, and we have specific classes to give these wines additional focus.
Zero alcohol wines are encouraged to enter as we aim to find the best examples to satisfy our customer’s quest for delicious alternatives. Overseas wines are very welcome into the competition – overseas wines selected for the Top 50 must have the minimum volume requirement landed, out of port and available for dispatch by Friday 1 September.
New Zealand wines retailing over $25 are very welcome into the competition. While they are not eligible for the Top 50, they’ll receive the full evaluation by the judging panel and you’ll be sent the judges score, along with the judges’ summary notes and a report showing how the wine fared within the class.
We’re delighted to have Sam Kim and Jen Parr as Co-Chairs and returning judges Helen Morrison (Booster Wine Group), Jannine Rickards (Huntress Wines and Urlar Vineyards), John-Paul Henderson (Salty Pidgin), Kate Bennett (te Pā Family Vineyards), Laura Hutchinson (Consultant), Natalie Christensen (Yealands Wine Group), Paul Harré (Consultant) and Sam Smail (Sea Level Wines). We’re also pleased to welcome back several highly experienced judges from previous years’ panels, including James Rowan (Westbrook Wines), Jane Cooper (Alexia Wines) and Oliver Masters (Misha’s Vineyard). Jo Gear will be the competition’s Chief Steward, ensuring the show is run to the highest industry standards.
We encourage you to enter! It makes great commercial sense to enter this consumer-focussed wine show with an expert judging panel that makes excellent value, top quality medal-winning wines readily available to a wide variety of customers.
Entries closed 23 June 2023.
All enquiries are welcome and can be directed to the Competition Director:
Nadia Narot, Foodstuffs NZ
[email protected]
More information:
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Classes |
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Dates and deadlines |
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Frequently asked questions |
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Terms and conditions |