Georges Michel - Awarded Silver (Best in Class) at Intl Wine & Spirit Competition, London 2009

Published: 24/11/2009

The International Wine and Spirit Competition aims to promote the quality and excellence of the world's best wines, spirits and liqueurs. Founded in 1969, it is regarded as the premier competition of its kind in the world.

All wines, spirits and liqueurs submitted are blind tasted in groups divided by variety, region and vintage as necessary. Awards are made on a points system and sponsored trophies are presented in selected categories. Technical analysis is carried out on Gold, Gold (Best in Class), Silver (Best in Class) award winning wines, spirits and liqueurs to ensure that all products are technically sound and will be of the same high quality when they reach the consumer as they were when our judging panels originally tasted them.

The reason for the blurb on this competition is that a new release from Georges Michel in Marlborough, NZ has received a very good review through this competition. The Legend Pinot Noir 2007 (about to arrive in Melbourne) has been awarded Silver (Best in Class).

Here is what the judges said:

The colour is deep ruby verging to garnet; full, mature nosecombining cedary oak, fruit compote and Mediterraneanherbs, heady and warm. Relatively light texture and delicatestructure but big on flavours and refinement, with a softcentre; berry fruit and dried mushrooms continue through tothe finish which has a gentle bite of acidity.

The good news is that the wine is about to arrive in Melbourne. The bad news is that there is not much available. This should encourage a few of you to explore two other Pinot Noir products from the winery, their Golden Mile Pinot Noir 2007 (very affordable at RRP$32.00) and their Reserve Pinot Noir 2006 (mainly found on restaurant wine lists).

Congratulations to the winemaker Swan Michel and the team at Georges Michel winery for this achievement.