Mystery Creek Wines won five medals for its chardonnays and a ground breaking syrah rose at the 2006 New Zealand International Wine Competition.

The 2005 reserve chardonnay was awarded a silver medal while the 2005 Waikato and 2006 Gisborne Blue Label chardonnays, the 2005 split label chardonnay and the 2006 Waikato syrah rose all won bronzes.

The Waikato winery, which overlooks the National Fieldays site, has 4ha of vines and buys in grapes from Gisborne and other Waikato vineyards on a contract basis.

There was a record 2150 entries in the competition which was started last year by Auckland wine retailer and former Liquorland Top 100 organiser Kingsley Wood, along with chief judge Bob Campbell MW.

Mystery Creek Wines founder and managing director Garry Major said the company had steered clear of competitions recently as it entered a second stage of development but with an increasing range and a new winery almost completed he believed the time was right to stand up and be judged.

“The reserve chardonnay was fermented in mainly new oak barrels and is a beautifully integrated wine,” he said.

He was thrilled with the result because hundreds of chardonnays were entered with very few winning gold. Mystery Creek was in good company with the high profile Mission, Esk Valley, Selaks Founders and St Clair Omaka Reserves also winning silver.

Major was particularly pleased that the syrah rose won a bronze. “It is a new direction for the company and it gives us a lovely, easy drinking summer wine.”