Wine Marlborough has announced the dates for its annual wine competition and it opens entries to the 2020 Marlborough Wine Show on Monday 31 August.

The show is the largest regional wine competition in the country and is to be sponsored by QuayConnect this year.

The show will highlight Marlborough wines made from Sauvignon Blanc,  Pinot Noir, Rosé, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer. This year’s focus will also be on the diversity of wines made in different microclimates around the Marlborough region and two new awards have been launched.

The new awards are Coterie Provenance Award for the best single vineyard current release wine and The Marlborough Museum Legacy Award. The legacy award will go to the company with the highest scores for three vintages of the same variety over a decade.

“We are proud of how the industry reacted to the Covid-19 pandemic and we now are keen to celebrate the wines that resulted from that period. We are prepared to operate and deliver the wine judging competition safely under Alert Level 2 guidelines should they still exist at that time,” says competition director, Marcus Pickens.

Marlborough winemaker Ben Glover will lead the team of judges as chief judge and the guest judge this year is New Zealand Master of Wine, Emma Jenkins.

Entries to The Marlborough Wine Show close on Friday 18 September. Judging begins on October 14 at the Marlborough Convention Centre. Trophies are announced on 30 October.