Framingham Wines Claims Legacy Award

The Marlborough Museum was thrilled to present Framingham Wines with the Legacy Award at the 2021 Marlborough Wine Show, sponsored by QuayConnect. 

The Marlborough Museum Legacy Award honours wines with pedigree and is awarded to the wine producer with the highest scores from three vintages within a ten-year period.

Framingham took the title for its Select Riesling, 2019, 2016 and 2011 vintages.

Framingham Wines Winemaker Andrew Brown says their entire team was stoked to receive the legacy award for 2021.

“This is of special significance for a number of reasons,” he says.

The wine style was introduced to the company portfolio by former winemaker Andrew Hedley, drawing on inspiration from German Spatlese styles back in 2003.

“The fruit is all hand-harvested off now 41-year-old organically managed vines and when picked, it is literally a ‘selection’ of the ripest fruit at that point,” Andrew Brown says.

“The style hasn’t changed radically over that time and of all of our Rieslings, the ‘Select’ probably shows our site the most vividly.”

Continuity has been the key element in making the Select Riesling from year to year, with a number of people playing their part along the way in both the winemaking and viticulture teams, he adds.

“We all have a soft spot for this wine and it is awesome for it to be recognised with the award. We’re stoked.”

2021 saw the highest number of entries into the Marlborough Museum Legacy Award in the competition’s history, with 24 entries judged by Ben Glover, Sophie Parker-Thomson MW and Stephen Wong MW.

Award sponsor, Marlborough Museum director Steve Austin says the award is special to the museum, and is part of ensuring the museum is relevant to Marlborough.

“We love this award … Our Wine Exhibition has been enjoyed by around 120,000 visitors and is still the best Wine Exhibition in Australasia,” he says.

“Our history of the wine industry is important, and it relates to our people, economy, environment, technology and social change.”

The Legacy Award, Steve says, is a platform for top judges to measure the development of Marlborough’s best wines as they have been maturing.

“History, like wine, is made every day, and when it comes to recording excellence in Marlborough, we want to record it for posterity,” Steve says.