Mondillo scores again!

Central Otago vineyard Mondillo is racking up wins as the last few bottles of its previous vintage are served at the very best tables and the newly released vintage finds early favour.

The last of the sold out 2009 Mondillo Riesling is being served with the entrée at the exclusive $1000 a head, Sir Richard Branson hosted charity dinner in Auckland tomorrow night (20 October). Those wanting to sample the much awarded 2009 Pinot Noir will need to board an international business class flight with Air New Zealand or scour the cellars of a few top end restaurants in Queenstown and Auckland.

While the 2009 vintages are no longer widely available, there’s good news for fans of the diminutive Bendigo vineyard. The latest Mondillo vintages (2010 Central Otago Pinot Noir and 2011 Central Otago Riesling) are also attracting all the right attention. The 2010 Pinot Noir been awarded Five Stars by Cuisine magazine in the latest Pinot Noir tasting and has been named in Winestate Magazine as among the Top Five Pinot Noirs of Australia & New Zealand. The wine has also been awarded five stars from two influential wine websites - TizWine New Zealand and Raymond Chan Wine Reviews and scored a Silver Medal at the NZ International Wine Show.

The 2011 Riesling too is achieving acclaim, scoring a Gold Medal in the International Aromatic Wine Competition 2011, a nomination in NZ/Australia Winestate Magazine Wine of the Year, and a Pure Silver Medal from the Romeo Bragato Wine Awards 2011. The Riesling was also awarded 5 stars and glowing review from Raymond Chan Wine Reviews.

Both wines are showing promise and drinking beautifully with the 2010 Pinot being poured at the Taste at the Cloud experience on Auckland’s waterfront for the duration of the rugby championship. For inclusion in the exclusive Taste at the Cloud range of wines, all New Zealand wineries were invited to submit samples for consideration. Over 350 wines were tasted blind by 6 qualified judges / winemakers and over 70 wines, those awarded the highest scores across each variety and region, were selected. From this group, a small selection was sent to the chefs preparing for the Branson dinner for inclusion and the Mondillo Riesling was selected by the chef preparing the entrée.

“This is a fantastic start for the current vintages,” says viticulturist Domenic Mondillo. “We’re pleased that our eighth vintage looks to do just as well as each of those that have gone before.”

Mondillo has added a special edition to this year’s vintage. Conditions in the 2011 harvest were prefect for the production of a late harvest style Riesling and a limited, 180 case vintage was made.

“‘Nina’ is a tribute to my late mother Giovanina,” says Mondillo. “It’s a beautiful, light straw coloured wine that is indulgent and luscious. We wanted to make the wine because the 2011 harvest provided all the quintessential elements of a wonderful late harvest style wine.”

Celebrating the wine’s rarity, Ally Mondillo – a graphic designer of 20 years experience in a previous career, has developed an elegant, pyramid shaped box for the limited edition ‘Nina’. The vineyard’s first late harvest wine, ‘Nina’ has been well received picking up Silver Medals at the NZ International Wine Show 2011 and the International Aromatic Wine Competition 2011. The gift boxed ‘Nina’ is only available direct from www.mondillo.com and at a handful of fine wine shops around New Zealand.