A Katikati wine maker has struck gold with its Hawke's Bay Chardonnay.

Leveret Estate received a gold medal in this year's New World Wine Awards.

The winning wine uses grapes grown in Hawke's Bay, but is bottled at Leveret Estate's cellar door and winery in Katikati.

'Leveret Estate is a humble winery that prides itself on teamwork and collaboration,” says a spokesperson for the NWWA.

'The NWWA were the first outing for the 2019 Chardonnay, a frequent awards contender.”

Judges described the wine as the drop to get if you're looking for that last minute dinner party wine, the one where you need to impress, cover all the bases of acceptable flavours and complete the illusion that you're in control of your life.

'Pale yellow with white peach and balanced vanilla oak, the palate is creamy with ripe stone fruit and a striking tension between the fruit, acidity and tannins, creating a seductive harmony. Great length and a fabulous food match.”

Chair of judges Jim Harré says insights from the 18th annual New World Wine Awards show the movement towards sparkling wine in New Zealand, which has been bubbling away over recent years, is now really taking off.

The highly-regarded competition has a unique consumer focus – all entries must retail for under $25 and have enough bottles available to meet the demands of thirsty shoppers in New World stores nationwide.

The Top 50 wines are determined by an independent panel of experts who ‘blind' taste the entries to international wine show standards.

'Entries to the sparkling class were up more than 30 per cent this year to well over 100 wines, a good indicator of growing consumer demand and winemakers' eagerness to have their wines recognised,” says Harré.

'And they delivered – 2020 was a stunning year for overall quality, but the judges were delighted over the range and excellence in the sparkling class in particular.”

This year an independent panel of 18 experts, chaired by Harré, assembled across four regional hubs in Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough and Central Otago to judge more than 1200 wines entered from around New Zealand and overseas.

'The entries were tasted and re-tasted through a blind judging process. This means the judges assess only the wine in the glass on the day and are never aware of brands.

'Medals were awarded using the same 100-point scale as other wine shows and a final round of tasting determined the 50 best wines.

'The result is a highly sought-after list that helps remove the guesswork and stress from choosing a great bottle of wine, and opens up the opportunity to try something new, with confidence.”

The full list of winners is available here.