Ben Tombs: Craggy Range Chief Winemaker on the Pinot Noir taking Best in Show at the Decanter World Wine Awards

New Zealand has taken home the Gold at the Oscars for wines. 

Craggy Range’s Martinborough Pinot Noir took home Best in Show at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards. 

This makes it in the 0.3% of all wines in the world. 

Chief Winemaker at Craggy Range Ben Tombs told Mike Hosking they knew there was something pretty special coming out of the 2024 vintage. 

He says it shows the kind of provenance unique to Martinborough, and winning the award is an incredibly achievement.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So if you're into wine and into awards, then the
ones you want are the Decanta World Wine Awards of
course in Craigie Range and the Martin brou Pin and
Wire has taken home Best in Show. That would put
it in the top zero zero point three percent of
ale wines in the world. Now Ben Times is the
cheap wine maker at Craigie Range and as well, there's
been very good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning Mike, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Not at all and can warmers. Congratulations. Now, without getting
into the weeds too much, I know you make a
number of pen and was Is this your Tamuna Road
pen and noir? And is it your Tamuna Road Arrowha
pen and no War.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
No, this is actually Martinboough Pin and Wi which is
actually an entry level it's our first pin and Whi
to be bottled out of twenty twenty four vintage. So yeah,
it's an incredible achievement.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Does it taste like something that would win when you
sent it off?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, yeah, we knew there was something pretty special coming
out of the twenty twenty four vintage. Yeah, it just
shows this unique kind of provenance to Martinborough. But it's
ultimately just delicious. So yeah, we knew we had something pretty.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Twenty four seemed to be a good vintage around the
whole country. Is that fair or you're not across the
whole country?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, no, No, it was a great vintage throughout New Zealand.
Fortunately we had a pretty dry spell throughout the summer
in autumn, so got like a really long hangtime to
develop lots of concentration. So you had the stunner for
New Zealand, which is I think evidence in those you know,
three hundred and three medals that were awarded to New Zealand.
So yeah, it's a great achievement for the country.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
When you're tasting a peanut, it's somewhere like those awards given.
I mean twenty twenty four. Would you drink a twenty
oh you put it away for a year or two?
Can you taste what are they tasting? What can be
or what it is?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
It's a mixture of both actually, So they do like
to see there's some age worthiness and the longevity in
these wines, but ultimately it has to be delicious on
the day of tasting. And yeah, with this Peno and mine,
like we want that to be approachable and ready to
drink from when it's released, which is now, so from.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Hawk's Bay Company, which is what you are. How much
of your wine's made out of the region, out of
the Bay.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well, actually it's about or less than fifty percent. So
most of our identity is down in Marsborough. Now is
that's where our Sevion blanc comes from? And also so yeah,
it's a huge.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Part of our Martin.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah, yeah, a bit of a pudding difference.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, I don't see, Mark. My problem is I'm a
massive wine fan, bin, but I don't drink white wine
at all.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
And oh, we've got to give you a bottle, Mite.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
No, I don't want a bottle. I'm just thinking that
Martin Brough as a profiles. I mean, so the last
time I drank white wine was I drink of obviously
Marlborough serving you on blanc, and I never like the
Hawk's Bay serving tastes completely different. What does Martin but
taste like in comparison to those two.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, it's actually it's actually a lot cooler than than
Marlborough despite being further north. But it's not as like
obvious as sort of grassy or capsican or sort of
herbal is probably the two. It's actually more like when
it's greener, actually more more greenish citrus, more that sort
of uzu spectrum. So it's really fresh and really salty.

(03:07):
So yeah, it's got thicker skins from more wind there
as well. So yeah, it's quite quite a salivating sevyon
blanc because it's as opposed to something quite.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Obvious good description. People think you're a wine maker, the
Peen and NOI that you've won with. Do you do
you have the product because presumably people are going to
want to put all over the world.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, yeah we do. It's available in most good wine
stores throughout New Zealand and it's actually one that we
do stock in some supermarkets too, so it's available at
the moment just sort of wild stock class.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
I guess, good on you. Well, congratulations, it's the big
one to canter Wine Awards. You if you want something
really special from Craigie range is not an ad. Sophia
is my favorite wine of all time. It was the Quarry,
but then it's Sofia. It is Sofia. Now I will
probably go to my grave with a bottle of Sofia
just saying I do feel better. Actually, I talked about wine.
Lifted myself up a little bit.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
That was good for more from the Mic Casking Breakfast.
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