by Bob Campbell
The judging panel on New Zealand´s Cuisine magazine were not surprised to learn that they´d awarded Wither Hills 2006 Sauvignon Blanc a top rating of five-stars. The wine had already earned gold medals at two other local competitions. But after an anonymous tip from another producer in Marlborough they discovered that the wine submitted was different to a sample of wine under the same label purchased from a local store.
Although sensory evaluation by three wine experts suggested that the difference was slight, chemical analysis revealed slight differences in alcohol, sugar and acidity levels. The experts couldn´t agree on a preference.
Wither Hills´ director and chief winemaker, Brent Marris, stated that there were two batches of 2006 Sauvignon Blanc. The first, batch BR315, was only 2,228 cases while the second, batch BR381, totalled well over 100,000 cases. Review samples were mistakenly taken from the batch BR315 rather than the larger production batch according to Marris.
Wither Hills entered the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc in three wine competitions and a Cuisine review over a three month period. In every case samples from the smaller batch BR315 were submitted. The wine earned one silver, two gold medals and a five-star rating, that was subsequently withdrawn.
In an open letter on Wither Hills´ website Marris wrote: In an attempt to sensationalise an angle that isn´t supported by independently verified facts, it has been implied that Wither Hills produces a small batch blend specifically for wine shows. Wither Hills has never and will never create small batch blends for the express purpose of entering wine shows.
Marris goes on to say, Unfortunately, because of the timing of the initial bottling run from the 2006 vintage, the wine was not of identical composition to the subsequent bottling run. Cuisine has had to withdraw the wine from its review. WhileI´m incredibly disappointed, I respect the decision.
I would like to assure you of two very important things.
-There was absolutely no intention by me to deliberately present a wine to the Cuisine judges of a different quality to the wine you can buy off the shelf yourself. An independent audit of my winemaking process found no wrong-doing on my part and total consistency with world best-practice.
Cuisine´s own three judges were divided on the relative quality of the wine supplied for testing and wine bought from a retail outlet. One judge was unable to detect any difference; one preferred the testing wine; one preferred the wine bought from the retail outlet. There is no perceptible difference in quality between the two bottlings.
The incident earned headlines in the NZ Herald, New Zealand s largest newspaper, and promises to have damaging consequences for a high-flying and, until now at least, greatly respected wine brand.
Ironically, Marris is the chairman of judges at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards, the country´s leading wine show. Wither Hills 2006 Sauvignon Blanc earned a silver medal at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards in November this year.
