Reviews & Accolades
Trophies & Major Tastings
SOMMELIER WINE AWARDS
Silver Latitude 41 Pinot Gris
TEXSOM WINE AWARDS
Silver Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir
SOMMELIER WINE AWARDS
Top Varietal Classic Latitude 41 Sauvignon Blanc
BEST CHARDONNAY OF SHOW
International Chardonnay Challenge (twice)
BEST CHARDONNAY OF SHOW
Liquorland Top 100
FIVE STARS
Winestate Magazine
BEST BUY SELECTION
Cuisine Magazine
BEST CHARDONNAY OF SHOW
Bragato Wine Show
BEST CHARDONNAY
Cuisine Wine Annual
BEST VALUE SAUVIGNON BLANC
Cuisine Magazine
TOP TEN CHARDONNAY’S
Cuisine Magazine
CHAMPION WHITE WINE
Hong Kong Wine Competition
CHAMPION FULLER BODIED WHITE WINE
Sydney International Wine Competition
TOP FIFTY WINES OF THE YEAR
Bon Appetit Magazine, USA
CHAMPION CHARDONNAY
Bragato Wine Competition
TOP TEN SAUVIGNON BLANC’S
Cuisine Magazine
BEST OF NATION
San Francisco Wine Competition
CHAMPION CHARDONNAY WORLDWIDE MISSION HILL TROPHY
International Wine & Spirits Competition London
CHAMPION CHARDONNAY
Royal Easter Show
RESERVE WINE OF SHOW
Air New Zealand Wine Awards
CHAMPION CHARDONNAY
Air New Zealand Wine Awards
CHAMPION WHITE WINE OF SHOW
Liquorland Top 100
Gold & Silver Medals
Gold
Sommelier Wine Awards UK 2015
San Francisco Int. Wine Comp. 2015 (2)
San Francisco Int. Wine Comp. 2013
Finger Lakes Int. Wine Comp. 2013
New World Wine Awards 2012
Stopped entering competitions for ten years
International Chardonnay Challenge 2002
Air New Zealand Wine Awards 2002
Royal Easter Show 2003
Liquorland Top 100 2002
Sydney International Wine Competition 2002
Royal Easter Show 2001
Sydney International Wine Competition 2001
International Chardonnay Challenge 2000
Bragato Wine Competition 2000
Australia National Wine Show 1999
Sydney International Wine Competition 1998
Liquorland Top 100 1997
Bragato Wine Competition 1997
San Francisco Wine Competition 1997
Royal Easter Show 1997
Air New Zealand Wine Awards 1996
Liquorland Top 100 1996
Royal Easter Show 1996
Liquorland Top 100 1995
Silver
Sommelier Wine Awards UK 2016
Texsom Wine Awards 2016 (2)
New Zealand International Wine Show 2012
Royal Ester Show 2012
Stopped entering competitions for ten years
Liquorland Top 100 2003
Royal Easter Show 2003
Air New Zealand Wine Awards 2002
Liquorland Top 100 (2) 2002
Japan International Wine Challenge (2), Tokyo, 2002
International Wine Challenge, London, 2002
Royal Easter Show (7) 2002
Bragato Wine Competition (4) 2001
Liquorland Top 100 (3) 2001
Royal Hobart Wine Show 2000
Air New Zealand Wine Awards 2000
International Chardonnay Challenge 2000
Liquorland Top 100 Show 2000
Royal Easter Show 2000
International Wine Challenge, London, 2000
National Wine Show, Orange County, USA, 2000
Liquorland Top 100 1999
Intervin Wine Show, New York, 1999
Air New Zealand Wine Awards (2) 1998
Intervin Wine Show, New York, 1998
Spencer Hill Wines
Closures
Wine bottle closures can cause a lot of debate from consumers to winemakers. We have always been innovative and experimented with new closures as they came on the market. With Diam and Zork we have sourced these closures from overseas until they became available in...
Kosher Wines – A Very Interesting Commitment
We started producing Kosher wines in 2004. Phil had known about them for many years and had been following the trends. During the previous ten years there had been a movement by some Kosher wine producers into the fine wine market. Prior to that Kosher wines had been...
Buds & Small Batch Winemaking
The Grapevine Cutting – Helping the Retired and Disabled. You never quite know how an idea came about, especially one that you have been using for over 20 years. The idea of adding a vine cutting to each bottle of Spencer Hill and Latitude 41 was the easy part. The...
The Point of Difference in our Wines
New Zealand makes some of the finest examples of cool climate wines in the world. The industry has boomed the past 20 years ….but things have changed. When we started our winery the industry was dominated by smaller family wineries. Today it is dominated by large...
Spencer Hill Chardonnay and Fume Top 100 wines of 2015
Both Spencer Hill Chardonnay and Fume Blanc have been selected as great examples of what can be produced from Upper Moutere grapes. To have gathered two spots in the Metro Magazine Top 100 wines of 2015 shows that our long term commitment to making these styles is...
Latitude 41 Nelson Chardonnay Viva Magazine Best Value
Latitude 41 2014 Nelson Chardonnay has been selected as the only Best Value Chardonnay in the Viva Top 50 wines of 2015. This is the second time in three years one of Spencer Hill’s wines has been selected in this same category.
Latitude 41 Sauvignon Blanc Gold Medal
Spencer Hill’s Latitude 41 2014 Nelson Sauvignon Blanc has won Gold at the prestigious Sommelier Wine Awards in London. Comments by the judges: “Great typicity alongside a welcoming easy-drinking persona won Spencer Hill Gold. ‘Fatter style, a little restrained but...
Viva Magazine – Jo Burzynska’s rose picks
Spencer Hill Nelson Blanc de Pinot Noir 2014 Spencer Hill has gone out to make a serious rosé, sourcing grapes from its prime pinot noir vineyard and using the quality skin contact method. The resulting wine is a vivid, deep pink that is full bodied with ripe red...
2011 Spencer Hill Coastal Ridge Chardonnay
Reaching for the stars 2011 Spencer Hill Coastal Ridge Chardonnay, $35 Nelson winemaker Phil Jones makes a mean chardonnay. And I don’t mean he’s sparing us the big bodied, creamy flavours which characterise this most popular of all white wines. On the contrary. This...
Spencer Hill Nelson Chardonnay 2010
Lots of palate appeal from the stone fruit and oak flavours enhanced by the still youthful acidity. Balanced with medium plus length. A very drinkable example 4 stars Cameron Douglas MW
Goose Bay Blanc de Pinot Noir 2013
($25): A lovely, fun, refreshing, slightly off dry rosé wine that is uncomplicated but not simplistic and nicely balanced, with soft but present acidity, sweet ripe strawberry, raspberry and subtle watermelon notes, and some lovely, vibrant aromatics of berries,...
Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc
88-90 Points “COLOR-light golden; NOSE-great nose, really aromatic, little fruit (boysenberry) & cat pee; TASTE-very good, not too grapefruity, nice acidity & balance, like a $20 Sancerre” GV-89/90 Wine Library- Gary Vaynerchuk
Latitude 41 Sauvignon Blanc
Labelled as coming from ‘South Island’ fruit, this is in fact a blend from Spencer Hills’ Nelson vineyards. Part of the juice was fermented and aged for two months on ‘high spice and vanilla French oak.’ The nose does display a little of that spiciness in the...
Goose Bay Sauvignon Blanc
88-90 Points “COLOR-light golden; NOSE-great nose, really aromatic, little fruit (boysenberry) & cat pee; TASTE-very good, not too grapefruity, nice acidity & balance, like a $20 Sancerre” GV-89/90 – Wine Library – Gary Vaynerchuk