The 2013 Syrah has been selected to appear at the WINE Explorers' Grand Annual Tasting 2016. It is one of only 2 New Zealand wines and 35 wines selected from around the world.

Jewelstone Syrah The WINE Explorers project is a four-year project to make an inventory of all wine producing countries. Now in its third year WINE Explorers have travelled to 92 countries, visiting 250 wine-growning regions, surveying 1500 vineyards and tasting over 15,000 wines.

Founder of WINE Explorers Jean-Baptiste, said it was his "desire to travel around the globe to highlight the richness of the world's vineyards, to reveal unknown and very original great growths, hidden treasures from far away winegrowing regions."

"Hawke's Bay has impressed us with the quality of its Syrah, like the very precise cuvée 'Jewelstone Syrah 2013′ from Mission Estate."

The idea behind the tasting is not to judge the wines, but to assess the potential of each of the selected wine regions and discuss the notion of terroir.

Mission Estate CEO, Peter Holley described the event at "poignant" given it was French Missionaries who established the Mission in 1851.

"I'm sure these men never considered that their pioneering efforts would ultimately lead to a wine bearing the name Mission being showcased at such a grand event in Paris some 165 years later," he said.

Waiheke Island's Te Motu 1999 Bordeaux blend joined the 2013 Mission Jewelstone Syrah at the WINE Explorers' Grand Annual Tasting.

The Mission Jewelstone 2013 Syrah success follows the oldest wine club in the world, The Wine Society, selecting the Mission Estate 2014 Syrah among its top 40 wines of the year.

Every year The Wine Society conducts a series of blind tastings of their wine range from all round the world and this year, they tasted 784 wines.

The annual ‘Wine Championship' seeks to to determine the best wines of the year, which are in turn promoted to their members.

Proceeds from the sale of Mission Wine help support the religious and charitable works of the Society of Mary in New Zealand.

Sources:

• hawkesbay.co.nz
• thewinesociety.com

Listed as the number three wine destination in the world, ‘The Bay' is the only New Zealand wine region mentioned by the publication.

The region is also praised for the range and variety of restaurants and scenic spots.

"This bucolic region excels at classic Bordeaux varieties, while syrah is angling to become the areas's flagship wine. Beyond the bottle, however, the landscape, food and people are, as the country's marketing slogan campaign says, 100 per cent pure New Zealand," wrote Lauren Mowery.

As well as Mission Estate, the publication mentioned Craggy Range, Elephant Hill, Te Mata Estate and Clearview as wineries to visit.

Wine Enthusiast is a New York publication describing itself as "a prominent multichannel marketer of a growing line of products that satisfy, inform, enrich, entertain and inspire".

A 30 year old business, Wine Enthusiast company claims to be the number one source for information, education, events and travel.

Mission Estate is New Zealand's oldest established winery. Established by the French Marist Fathers and Brothers in 1851 it grew grapes for sacramental purposes, but also for table wine.

Today, surpluses from the sale of Mission Wine are spent in New Zealand and contribute to the charitable works and purpose of the Society of Mary in New Zealand.

Source:

• Wine Enthusiast

The dispute began when the council used the Public Works Act to take 1.5 hectares from the winery to realign a road.

The council and Marist Holdings (Greenmeadows) fought a protracted battle over the valuation of the land.

A Land Valuation Tribunal ruling four years ago went Marist Holdings' way, with the value of compensation assessed at $306,000, almost double the council's original offer in 2006.

The council took the matter to the High Court, which, in 2012 ruled that the matter should be reheard.

The court advised both parties to engage new valuers.

The council and the winery owners met in July and agreed to settle the matter out of court.

The council's legal costs since 2006 have been $135,929, exclusive of GST.

Continue reading

It is a deal which winery staff believe will put as big a sparkle on the faces of the first 50 people to hit the online "buy" button on December 9 as there are sparkes in the bottles of their latest bubble creation - Mission Fete . Continue reading

The Concert will feature Ronan Keating, Melanie C from the Spice Girls, Sharon Corr, Billy Ocean and Leo Sayer.

However branding Irish musicians Ronan Keating and Sharon Corr as Brits has upset Hawke's Bay's Irish community.

Joe Kelly, of Taradale, said it was a sensitive issue.

"Men lost their lives trying to be Irish and remove the yoke of British imperialism and now they are not recognised," he said.

So the concert has now been renamed the "British and Irish Invasion." Continue reading

The lineup for the Mission Concernt was announced at a media conference last Tuesday. Continue reading

Barry Gibb of Bee Gees fame will rock the Hawke's Bay venue with support from Carole King.

The annual round of rumours as to who this year's artist may have been also included Paul Simon, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen.

The concert, which attracts up to 25,000 people to Napier's Mission Estate winery, will be held on Saturday, February 23.

Tickets cost between $118 and $368 and can be purchased on the Mission Concert website or from Ticketek.

The concert has been held annually since 1993, and has featured Dionne Warwick, Ray Charles, Kenny Rodgers, Shirley Bassey, Julio Iglesias, The Beach Boys, The Doobie Brothers, The Hollies and Lulu, Engelbert Humperdinck, Sir Cliff Richard, John Farnham, B52s, Rod Stewart (twice), Tom Jones, Eric Clapton, the legends of Motown and Sting.

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The vineyard has 73ha planted with mostly sauvignon blanc, pinot noir and pinot gris.

Cape Campbell Wines was put into liquidation almost two years ago. Cable Station was put up for tender in October 2010 by the receivers of the Cape Campbell Wines and has sat on the market till now.

Mission Estate chief executive Peter Holley said the company bought the vineyard to make sure it was getting fruit from the country's best wine growing regions.

It would help the winery - which this year celebrated 160 years' operation - move into new export markets, he said.

The former owners of Cape Campbell, Murray and Daphne Brown, who are long-time grape-growers, will continue to manage the vieyards.

Mission Estate was established in Hawke's Bay in 1851 by French Catholic missionaries, who belonged to the Society of Mary, an order of Catholic priests and brothers.

Vines were planted to produce both sacramental and table wine. The first record of a commercial sale dates back to 1870 when a parcel of mostly dry reds were sold.

Today Mission Estate is is operated by Marist Holdings (Greenmeadows) Ltd, which is owned by the Society of Mary

Source

• The Press
• Image: Harcourts