Chairman of judges Jim Harré said, when judging, the panel looked at whether there were any faults in the wine, whether it has typicity of the varietal and the balance of the wine which moves it from being a good wine to a great wine.
He said the way he explains it to judges is that a bronze medal wine is one which you would take to a barbeque and have a glass of with friends, a silver medal is one which you would take to a barbeque to drink the bottle with your closest friends and a wine that would be too precious and good to take to a barbeque is a gold medal.
In Hawke's Bay, nine wines were placed in the top 50 with three winning gold medals.
In the chardonnay category Clearview Estate Beachhead Chardonnay and Leveret Estate Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2019 scored 95 points.
The Church Road Hawke's Bay Chardonnay 2019 scored 96 points and was crowned the champion Chardonnay of the competition.
In judging chardonnay, the wines are reflective of the region they are from. Hawke's Bay chardonnays are expected to have stone fruit components such as nectarines or peaches Harré said.
What was champion worthy of this wine were the concentrated peach and nectarine aromas and the creamy rich texture, he said.
In the bubbles category, the Morton Estate Brut scored 95 points.
The Vidal Reserve Hawke's Bay Pinot Gris 2019 scored 96 points to win the champion pinot gris.
Harré said the "pretty spectacular pinos gris" was an example of a wine with flavours of concentrated fresh pear balanced by really bright acidity.
In judging a pinot gris, the wine should reflect the warmth of growing conditions but also not lose the acidity that the wine needs to have that balance it.
The red blends category also had a Hawke's Bay champion in The Hunting Lodge Expressions Merlot Malbec 2019 which scored 96 points. The Church Road Hawke's Bay Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 is also in the top 50, scoring 95 points.
Harré said as malbec grapes were originally grown in Bordeaux then planted in Argentina, there is a challenge in physiological ripeness in New Zealand growing conditions.
"The best way to explain that is if you buy a tomato in the middle of winter from a supermarket that's been grown in a glasshouse in Australia, it's going to be ripe but it doesn't taste of that really ripe flavour of something you pull out at the end of summer out of your garden.
"That's the difference between physiological ripeness and sugar ripeness. To get that level of ripeness in NZ is often quite difficult.
"To blend it with merlot and have that really ripe flavours coming through in the malbec is just an amazing, amazing wine
He said the champion wine has the dark red fruit flavours of merlot and the spice of malbec, it is also creamy, has superb tannins and the oak is "totally integrated into it".
"It's actually going back to the old-fashioned style of Bordeaux but with the most amazing, modern twist on it."
In the shiraz and syrah category the Paritua Stone Paddock Syrah 2018 and the Villa Maria Cellar Selection Hawke's Bay Syrah 2019 both scored 95 points.
Hawke's Bay wineries Alpha Domus and Squawking Magpie also won gold medals for a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.
Other winners in the awards are from Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, Otago, Wellington/Wairarapa, Gisborne, Italy, Australia and Argentina.
