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One of the country's pioneering winemakers, Allan Scott, has criticised his Wither Hills counterpart Brent Marris and called on him to resign as chairman of judges at the country's most prestigious wine awards.
Mr Scott spoke out yesterday fearing his own Allan Scott brand and the reputation of all Marlborough wines would be tainted by revelations that a different version of Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2006 was submitted for judging than that found on shop shelves.
"This guy [Mr Marris] is eating into our bloody market share. Whether it was a mistake or otherwise, what he has done is affecting us and I am not very comfortable with that."
Mr Scott, who planted some of the first vines in Marlborough 33 years ago, said he knew of other winemakers in the region who felt the same way but would not speak publicly.
"Everybody is sitting on their hands down here hoping this will go away."
A Weekend Herald inquiry revealed that the Wither Hills wine was denied a five-star rating by Cuisine magazine after judge Michael Cooper tasted a difference between the competition sample and a bottle bought at the supermarket. This was later confirmed by scientific testing.
Wither Hills winemaker and director Mr Marris explained that an early batch called BR315 was made to "best represent" the vintage to come and some of these bottles had mistakenly been sent for judging. He said 2228 cases of BR315 were made out of a total production run of more than 100,000 cases.
Mr Scott said he found Mr Marris' explanations confusing. He had also read Mr Marris saying it was impossible to get consistency over long bottle runs, which was different from making a mistake with an early batch that could be prevented from happening again.
"I think he's confused himself because he's really trying to wriggle his way out of it and has actually wriggled himself in even deeper. That's probably the sad thing."
More than 60,000 cases of the Allan Scott Sauvignon Blanc were produced. Mr Scott said there would be "tolerable differences" in his runs but not different levels of alcohol, sugar and acidity, as the Institute of Environmental Science and Research had found in the two samples of Wither Hills.
A BR315 sample also won a silver medal at the industry's Air New Zealand awards and the board of New Zealand Winegrowers will meet today to discuss whether it is to be withdrawn.
Mr Scott said he believed Wither Hills should be stripped of the medal and should have already given it up themselves.
He said Mr Marris should also resign as chief judge of the Air New Zealand awards.
"He should have immediately taken full responsibility for this and given up the role as chief judge and said, 'Let's hand back the medals and everything else.' If he had any dignity, he should have done that."
Mr Scott said he had nothing to do with an anonymous letter from "Concerned Marlborough Winemakers" sent to Wither Hills that raised a similar question of two blends after its sauvignon blanc won gold in the 2003 Air New Zealand awards, which he believed was likely to have been written by small winemakers.
Mr Scott, who found out about the furore through a text message from a journalist at the internationally renowned Wine Spectator, also criticised New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan for not informing the industry.
Marlborough is the home of sauvignon blanc, the flagship wine of New Zealand's $1 billion-a-year wine industry. In the 2006 vintage, sauvignon blanc grapes from the region accounted for more than 50 per cent of the total national grape crop.
Wine Marlborough, which represents the region's winemakers, would not comment yesterday, referring questions to Mr Gregan.
Two other winemakers, Warwick Foley of Johanneshof Cellars and John Forrest of Forrest Estate, also questioned Mr Marris' role as chief judge on the front page of the Marlborough Express yesterday.
Another group, led by John Stichbury of Jackson's Estate, would not comment directly on the furore, but said they wanted firm rules put in place about what constituted a Marlborough sauvignon blanc to protect the region's "brand".
Mr Scott was sure Marlborough's reputation would survive.
"At the end of the day it is not like there has been 20 gallons of arsenic dropped in the wine. The wine is still bloody good quality. It is just the way it has been handled."
A spokeswoman for Mr Marris said he would not be making any comment until an audit commissioned by New Zealand Winegrowers had been completed.
Tale of two samples and one label
The two different samples of the Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc were tested this week by leading wine critic Bob Campbell - who identified the bottle sent to judges as the odd one out, but still rated them both as excellent.
Mr Campbell gave the sample sent to judges, from batch BR315, 93 points - a gold medal. He said: "[There is] a suggestion of armpit character adding complexity (and an "x-factor" in my view) to citrus and passionfruit flavours."
Mr Campbell gave the sample from shop shelves, from batch BR335, 90 points - a high silver.
He said: "Citrus and passionfruit flavours - pure and focused ... In summary, a very good, perhaps benchmark of Marlborough sauvignon blanc."
Mr Campbell is chief judge at the country's biggest wine awards, the New Zealand International Wine Show, and this week stripped the Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2006 of a gold medal awarded in September because the BR315 sample entered did not conform with the wine mostly in the marketplace. He is one of only 250 Masters of Wine in the world, New Zealand's leading wine educator, an international wine judge and group wine editor of ACP Media magazines.
