KEY POINTS:
Leaders of the New Zealand wine industry knew two months ago that Wither Hills winemaker Brent Marris had entered a different wine for competition to the one sold in shops.
But they did not check what he had entered in their own prestigious awards until this week.
The
furore around the Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2006 continued yesterday, as Wither Hills returned its medals and Mr Marris resigned as chief judge of the industry's own Air New Zealand awards.
A Weekend Herald inquiry revealed the wine lost a five-star rating from Cuisine magazine after scientific testing showed the sample entered in its annual competition was different to that bought at a supermarket. It also established that wine from the same batch BR315 was sent to the New Zealand Wine Show, the Liquorland Top 100 and the Air New Zealand awards.
The wine was subsequently stripped of the gold from the New Zealand Wine Show.
Mr Marris will now return the Liquorland gold and a silver won at the Air New Zealand awards.
Winegrowers chairman Stuart Smith said he and chief executive Philip Gregan knew of the discrepancy with the Cuisine sample in October.
He said they only confirmed a BR315 was sent to the Air New Zealand awards when they checked where all of the Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2006 bottles were sent during an audit that began on Monday and reported back yesterday.
Mr Smith said this audit had wider terms of reference than an initial audit that took place following the discrepancies found by Cuisine.
He said the wine was not subjected to an audit at the awards because it won a silver. They only checked gold and trophy winners and a random selection.
"We can't check every wine or we'd be running two wine competitions."
Mr Smith said they accepted Mr Marris' explanation that he had made an error - "a very serious error".
The board had accepted Mr Marris' resignation, said Mr Smith.
"A comparison in sporting terms would be like being the captain of the All Blacks and he's handed his resignation in. That's a very big step for Brent."
Mr Marris said the week had been tough on him. He added: "I've been hard done by by the media, and hard done by by some of my counterparts. But that's the industry we're in. You definitely know who your friends are.
"What this is all about is about one wine writer who was on a crusade to try and prove rumours he's heard were true. And just look at the fallout."
Wine critic Michael Cooper - who blew the whistle on the different sample given to Cuisine - said he was satisfied with the outcome.
- Additional reporting by NZPA
* Clarification
The original version of this report could have been taken to suggest Cuisine wine critic Michael Cooper lost his job at the magazine because he blew the whistle on the Wither Hills saga.
As previously reported, Mr Cooper had already decided to leave Cuisine to join Winestate magazine for other reasons.
Subsequent to his speaking out on the Wither Hills issue the owners of Cuisine suggested in an email that his residual work for Cuisine might terminate early so readers would not be confused to see his name in Cuisine after it was known publicly that he had departed.