Mission's Winery Restaurant wins outstanding award

Mission’s restaurant is Hawkes Bay’s best; winning the 2016 Outstanding Winery Restaurant accolade at the 2016 Hawkes Bay Hospitality Awards.

Other finalists in the winery restaurant category were Clearview Estate, Elephant Hill and Craggy Range.

Monday night, the Restaurant Association of New Zealand presented the awards in front of a sell-out crowd of over 300 hospitality staff at the MTG Century Theatre in Napier.

Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois acknowledged the depth of talented hospitality professionals in the region. Continuing, she also notes the 2016 competition received a record number of votes across 13 categories.

Jewelstone Syrah one of only 35 selected from around the world

Mission’s 2013 Jewelstone continues to put New Zealand wine on the international map.

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

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.”

“I’m sure these men (French missionaries) 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.”
Peter Holley CEO 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.

Young Winemaker of the Year

Also successful is Alex Roper, assistant to Mission Estate’s Paul Mooney who was recently named 2016 Hawkes Bay Young Winemaker of the Year.

Paul Mooney is very pleased for his protégée, calling the achievement a “great success for Alex and the Mission.”

Alex Roper now goes through the national final.

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

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