Bay of Plenty winery wins gold, twice

Leveret Estate Winery operates out of the former Morton Estate building on SH2 near Katikati. Photo/file

A Bay of Plenty wine has won gold in two New Zealand awards.

Leveret Estate Winery has been awarded a gold medal for its 2017 Falconhead Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at both the 2107 New World Wine Awards and the New Zealand International Wine Show.

Leveret Estate Winery operates from the former Morton Estate building on State Highway 2 near Katikati.

Sales and marketing director Fiona MacDiarmid said: "Winning two gold medals in this highly competitive category (Sauvignon Blanc) is a fantastic result and testament to the quality of wines that we produce at our Katikati winery".

"The added advantage for Kiwis is that all our Falconhead wines are affordable, so this is a gold medal wine priced at less than $20," Ms Fiona MacDiarmid said.

The awards are judged by a panel of 16 independent expert wine judges that blind taste and judge each wine using the same internationally recognised 100-point scale as other wine competitions worldwide.

This means wines are held to the same standard as at any other wine show. The only difference is that all wines entered must retail for $25 or less a bottle and at least 5000 bottles must be available for sale.

The wine has also made it into the New World Wine Awards Top 50.

The award-winning wine can be tasted at the Leveret Estate Cellar Door (open Mon - Sun, 9.30am - 5.00pm).