There are currently eight different wine competitions held in New Zealand; each has a valuable contribution to make, but the results most eagerly awaited each year are those from the Air New Zealand Wine Awards.

The competition, now nearly 30 years old and considered to be the official competition of the New Zealand wine industry, is owned and organised by New Zealand Winegrowers, the national organisation of the country's grape growers and winemakers. The competition is open only to New Zealand wines, from all ten wine regions. Each year, more than 1500 wines are entered, although wineries do so at their own discretion.

The wines are judged in separate varietal categories on the 20-mark system: three points for appearance, seven for bouquet/aroma and ten points for flavour, texture, balance, etc. With elite golds earning 19-20 points, gold medals are awarded to wines of outstanding quality that attain between 18.5 and 18.9 points; wines of excellent quality and a fine example in their class reaching between 17 and 18.4 points earn silver medals, and wines well above average and gaining between 16 and 16.9 points achieve bronze medal status.

Three years ago, Pure Medals were introduced to acknowledge not only the superior quality of a wine, but also to indicate that the wine was sustainably grown and produced. In 2007 elite gold medals were also introduced, awarded to medallists that achieve 19 marks or higher. The wines with the highest mark in a category are awarded the trophy for the best wine in that class.