A wine tasting held recently (19th Feb) in London by some of the world’s best palates and wine critics has seen the Sacred Hill Helmsman rated in the top five.

Hosting the panel were international renowned wine personalities Jancis Robinson, Michael Schuster and Neal Martin. Alongside them were well known wine critics James Lawther, Oz Clarke and a number of other extremely influential writers and wine buyers.

Six wines from the Gimblett Gravels wine district in the Hawke’s Bay, including the Sacred Hill Helmsman, were double blind tasted alongside six wines from the Bordeaux region in France. All details about the wines, apart from the provenance of the wines, were hidden from the participants.

The results saw the Sacred Hill Helmsman ranked as 4th. This wine is made from predominantly cabernet sauvignon grapes which are solely sourced from company owned vineyards located in the Gimblett Gravels area.

According to Sacred Hill’s Chief Winemaker Tony Bish this is a stunning result for Sacred Hill and the Gimblett Gravels Association.

“To make the Top 6 in such a prestigious tasting with the extraordinary 2005 Bordeaux from arguably the regions’ best producers is a fantastic result. I have tremendous belief in the unique attributes of the Gimblett Gravels, as year after year we see wines of intensity, power, and finesse emerge from these bony soils. In particular the Cabernet and Merlot blends along with Syrah seem to shine, consistently producing world class wines. We look forward to a very bright future with these wines as the recognition for their quality and value escalates,” says Bish.

We just caught up with Todd Graydon, the second guy on board 42 Below along side Geoff Ross way back in the early days. We heard about everything from getting their first sales taking around their see through suitcase, to rocking around 92 countries to build over a $100 million business from New Zealand. Here’s 42Below in 90 seconds, Todd you’re an inspiration!