The Real Review crowns Felton Road NZ Winery of the Year
The Real Review has announced its ranking of the top wineries of New Zealand, with Bannockburn producer Felton Road crowned Winery of the Year New Zealand 2024.
The Real Review is a digital platform with an international expert tasting team that reviews around 10,000 wines per year, with a focus on Australia and New Zealand.
Released annually to highlight excellence in New Zealand wine, The Real Review awards the top New Zealand wineries that consistently produce excellent wine.
This is the seventh year that The Real Review has released its New Zealand list and the results follow an intensive tasting of over 3,500 wines independently ranked by its tasting team, led by critics Bob Campbell MW, Huon Hooke, and including Stephen Wong MW and others.
Felton Road has never ranked lower than sixth place, but 2024 marks the first time it has been in the top position. Felton Road Winemaker Blair Walter said, “We are honoured to be awarded Winery of the Year New Zealand in 2024 by The Real Review. We’re blessed in Bannockburn with our four vineyard sites offering such consistent and distinctly high quality wines. We’ve been farming our vineyards organically and biodynamically for over 20 years now, which brings additional harmony and nuance to the wines.”
Completing the top five ranking of this year’s list are Destiny Bay (#2, Waiheke Island), Church Road (#3, Hawke’s Bay), Ata Rangi (#4, Martinborough) and Craggy Range (#5, Hawke’s Bay).
The representation of the different wine regions in the list and the high proportion of the top wineries with certified organic vineyards is also notable. Within the top 60, 34 wineries in total (56.7%) have some or all of their vineyards certified organic.
There is a growing presence of women in wine too: 35 of the listed wineries have female winemakers at the helm, representing over 21% of the total wineries on the list.
The Real Review is holding a tasting event in Auckland with over 80 of this year’s leading wines. The Top Wineries of New Zealand 2024 Tasting will be held on Saturday 20 July. Felton Road’s Blair Walter and other wineries will pour their wines at the Glasshouse in Morningside. Tickets are $89 and are available to order online from The Real Review.
