NEWS & BLOG
DECANTER WORLD WINE AWARDS 2023
INTERNATIONAL WINE CHALLENGE 2023
WAIPARA WEST WINE AWARDS 2022
Our award winning wines continue their success in the recent 2022 International Wine Competitions
INTERNATIONAL WINE & SPIRIT COMPETITION 2021
2012 RIESLING – SILVER AWARD
TASTING NOTES
‘Ripe, tropical fruit aromas emerge beside petrol typicity before grilled peaches, cooked lemons, cream, and a hint of lanolin develop on the palate. Beautifully balanced and luscious, pass the cheese!’
2013 RIESLING – SILVER AWARD
TASTING NOTES
‘Delicately spiced and silkily textured, layers of baked peaches, caramel, yoghurt and honey seduce the palate while grilled nuts evolve in the background and orange peel lingers into the close.’
2021 DECANTER WORLD WINE AWARDS
We only entered 3 wines, so we only won 3 medals.
2021 VINTAGE REPORT
Great quality, but not a lot of wine.
This was our most frost affected vintage since we started in 1989, but the wines are potentially amazing.
Read the full report below.
2021 VINTAGE REPORT
INTERNATIONAL WINE CHALLENGE 2021
We entered three wines into the competition – we won three medals.
INTERNATIONAL WINE CHALLENGE 2020
2017 TWO TERRACE PINOT NOIR – GOLD AWARD
TASTING NOTES
‘There’s a hint of coffee on the nose which shows lots of cherry fruit. The palate is elegant with fine tannins.’
INTERNATIONAL WINE CHALLENGE 2020
2015 RAM PADDOCK RED – SILVER AWARD
TASTING NOTES
‘This is a supple, digestible red with sweet black cherries and fine herbs on the palate. Leafy and expressive.’
2018 PINOT NOIR – SILVER AWARD
TASTING NOTES
‘Expressive with lots of fine cherry and plumb fruit flavours, with rounded and textural tones.’
INTERNATIONAL WINE CHALLENGE 2020
2018 CABERNET FRANC – BRONZE AWARD
TASTING NOTES
‘Summer pudding in a glass, crunchy redcurrant fruit on the palate – hint of spice to finish.’
INTERNATIONAL WINE & SPIRIT COMPETITION 2020
TASTING NOTES
“Toasty oak and ripe golden apple on the nose with struck match, flint and smokiness. The palate is crisp and broad with good acidity.”
2020 DECANTER WORLD WINE AWARDS
We only entered three wines into the 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards, so we only won three medals.
WILLIE TREW – HEAD WINEMAKER
Waipara West is pleased to announce the appointment of Willie Trew as Head Winemaker. After graduating from Lincoln University with a degree in Viticulture & Oenology, Willie worked at Greystone Wine in North Canterbury, interspersed with various overseas work experiences and then for the last 5 years at Man O’War on Waiheke Island.
2020 VINTAGE REPORT
The 2020 vintage will be remembered at Waipara West as the one that nearly did not happen. We picked for a week under a cloud of uncertainty as Covid-19 swept through the country, one thing was clear, compromising wine quality to get the crop picked in a hurry was not an option. Read the full report below.
