Winemakers mastering the art of Chardonnay (NZ)

If my memory serves me correctly Auckland’s Royal Easter Show is the second of our major wine competitions in the past few months to name a Chardonnay as the champion wine of show. Back in November at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards Villa Maria’s 2010 Single Vineyard Keltern Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay got the nod. Last weekend, when the Royal Easter Show results were announced, it was a lesser-known Brightwater Vineyards 2009 Lord Rutherford Barrique Chardonnay that took the honours. They are results that say as much about the quality of Chardonnay in relation to other wines that we produce as they do about the taste and the judgment of those who shun Chardonnay in favour of wines that are seen as more fashionable and therefore more drinkable than the prince of whites, writes Warren Barton in The Southland Times.