New Zealand Wines, Vigneron and Rising Star of the Year finalists revealed
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The Real Review Top Wineries of New Zealand 2025 sees the introduction of seven new awards to join the current Winery of the Year Award.
Our deliberations started in February and after much rigorous discussion, tough decisions and even some re-tasting of wine, we arrived at consensus on the three finalists for each category.
These are Vigneron of the Year, Rising Star of the Year and five Wine of the Year awards, one each for sparkling wine, white wine, rosé, red wine and a combined category for sweet and fortified wines. As with previous Top Wineries seasons, we pulled together around 2,000 reviews to guide the discussions.
Rising Star of the Year New Zealand finalists
A hotly contested category which was created to recognise both newer producers and those who have greatly improved their wines in recent years, these names may not be widely known but their wines give much cause for excitement.
- Jordan Hogg of Atípico in the Wairau, Marlborough: a personal project which Jordan works on when he’s not busy being the winemaker for Rock Ferry Wines, Jordan walks the fine line of New Wave wine in a region with a strong identity, pushing the envelope of what Marlborough wine tasted like with carefully judged post-modern winemaking and creative blending.