The NZ Organic Wine Awards are a young award, and with new, comes questions! Below are some of the common questions, and answers.

How are the awards judged?
The Awards are blind tasted by a large, varied consumer based judging panel. The panel varies from year to year, with around 5 constant judges and 5-8 guest judges, picked using a criterion to reflect our target market.  All judges are 100% independent and have no business interest in any competing vineyard. All judging is voluntary. This varies greatly from the traditional wine award judging model, especially as our panel features no winemakers. We are not advocating that this method is ‘better’, although it does leave our independence beyond question.

Why don’t you use professional judges?

Simply put, we want our judges to reflect the people who actually buy and drink organic wine. Our aim is to grow the market for organic wine in New Zealand, and the most effective way to do that is by engaging mainstream wine consumers and understanding what resonates with them.

For the first four years of the awards, we used professional judges and directly compared those results with our consumer based panels. The outcomes were largely consistent, with only minor variations. Professional judges offer exceptional expertise and play an important role in many wine shows, and there are already excellent awards built around that model.

Our decision to use a community based judging panel is intentional. It provides a clear point of difference, ensures independence, and delivers results that are meaningful both to consumers and to the wineries choosing to take part.

We don’t enter wine shows, why should we enter this?
 Nearly 60% of our entries come from wineries that tell us the NZ Organic Wine Awards are the only wine awards they choose to enter. Common reasons include the view that organic wines are often disadvantaged by traditional judging criteria, limited production volumes, concerns about meeting supply expectations if a medal is awarded, the cost of entry, or a general discomfort with conventional wine show structures and processes.

The NZ Organic Wine Awards exist specifically to support and promote the organic wine sector in New Zealand, while helping consumers make confident, informed choices often when purchasing organic wine for the first time. Many participating wineries report increased sales or access to new distribution channels as a direct result of the awards.

With no entry fee beyond samples and postage, the awards offer a genuinely low risk way to participate while contributing to the credibility and visibility of the organic wine category as a whole.

How are wines awarded?  Wines are assessed by our judging panel and given a point score. To ensure balance, the highest and lowest scores are removed and the remaining scores are averaged.

To support this process, we have developed a completely bespoke judging app, designed specifically for the way the NZ Organic Wine Awards are run. No other wine awards use this system.

The app enables non professional, consumer based judges to score wines against a set of established wine assessment data points, while quietly handling the complexity in the background. It adjusts for individual scoring behaviour, normalises results across the panel, and identifies meaningful patterns and trends between judges and wines.

Final results from this process are used to determine whether a wine is awarded a medal, with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals allocated strictly according to defined points thresholds, where applicable.

What is the cost of entry? The NZ Organic Wine Awards (Under Echoes Aotearoa) act as a not for profit award. We do not ask for an ‘entry’ or ‘admin’ fee, and do not charge for medal artwork, or stickers (see below). All admin staff, and judges are like minded individuals who donate their time to the awards on a voluntary basis.

What if one of our wines wins a medal? 
If your wine is awarded a medal, you will receive an email confirming the result and outlining how the award may be used.

You are welcome to reference the achievement in your marketing using wording such as
Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal – 2026 NZ Organic Wine Awards, or
Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal – 2026 Aotearoa Organic Wine Awards.

We recognise and respect Aotearoa as the Māori name for New Zealand, and many wineries choose to use it proudly in their branding. At the same time, we understand that in some international markets the name New Zealand is more immediately recognised. For this reason, wineries are free to choose the wording that best suits their audience and export markets.

 

You will also receive digital, print ready artwork for use across labels, point of sale, and online channels. If you prefer physical stickers, we can arrange access to a group buy with a New Zealand based printer. Stickers are supplied at cost price, with no markup or administration fee charged by the NZ Organic Wine Awards.

Our vineyards are in conversion, can I still enter? Yes, providing that 100% of the grapes used are from a vineyard certified as ‘In-Conversion’ or ‘Re-conversion’ with one of the certification agencies.

How do I enter? Please use the on-line entry form – Click Here

When are entries due? See the entry form for details of this years closing dates. However we urge wineries to enter well in advance, postal issues and delays are not unheard of. 

Why are there so many data points on your entry form? Because we are building more than a medal table.

The information we collect during the entry process and throughout judging allows us to identify meaningful trends across organic wine production, styles, pricing, consumer preferences, and performance in the glass. These insights help us better understand what is driving growth in organic wine sales in New Zealand and where opportunities exist for the sector as a whole.

All additional data fields are optional, and any insights generated are shared back with participating wineries. Our aim is to create value for entrants, not extract it.

At present, no other organisation in New Zealand is collecting this breadth of data across such a wide range of organic wineries. Over time, this dataset is becoming one of the most comprehensive views of the organic wine landscape in the country — designed to support better decisions, stronger storytelling, and a more resilient organic wine market.

I have more questions? Please use the contact page, and we will get back to you as soon as possible!