Craggy Range 2024 Martinborough Pinot Noir has been awarded Best in Show at one of the world’s top wine shows – the Decanter World Wine Awards. It’s the latest local winery to win international acclaim for its Pinot Noir. By the numbers:
the Te Muna vineyard Pinot Noir was awarded “an exceptional” 97 points as its winning score; it was one of just 50 wines to be so awarded at the event; the Decanter World Wine Awards attracted 16,000 entries from across the globe;
Craggy Range was the only New Zealand producer to win a Best in Show award at the event; of the six New Zealand Pinot Noirs to make the DWWA Top 50 since 2018, three have come from Martinborough.
Craggy Range winery noted that the accolade “is a powerful endorsement of this small, yet increasingly influential (wine-making) region.” It added the 2024 vintage was “particularly exceptional in Martinborough, underscoring the region’s rising status on the international stage as a benchmark for world-class Pinot Noir.”
Decanter wine show judges described Craggy Range’s Martinborough Pinot Noir as “…an uncompromisingly dark wine that plays to New Zealand’s strengths in terms of purity and vivacity of fruit: raspberry, cherry and plum come streaming from the glass, and the fine meshing of fruit and oak in this wine adds to its lustre and appeal.” Said chief winemaker Ben Tombs: “We are incredibly proud to see Martinborough recognised among the world’s best. This award is a true testament to the passion and hard work of our vineyard and winery teams.” Craggy Range is a family-owned winery founded in 1998. The family established a 1,000-year trust, ensuring the winery will remain in family control. It grows, makes and markets Craggy Range wines from vineyards in Hawke’s Bay and Martinborough.