Minister of Primary Industries David Carter says judging the ‘Glammies’ has to be one of the toughest tasks around.
“Luckily it’s also one of the tastiest,” he says.
“The high standard achieved proves once again the supreme quality of lamb produced by our farmers. It’s also great to see that this year’s competition attracted a record number of entries.”
Don Morrison of Gore with Growbulk lamb was named 2012 Beef + Lamb New Zealand Golden Lamb Awards Grand Champion, taking home a cheque for $2000, the Glammies Grand Champion Trophy and a magnum of Mt Difficulty Pinot Noir. The winners of each class received $500 and a bottle of Mt Difficulty Pinot Noir, and each finalist won a plaque.
Countdown South Island was awarded the Champion Meat Retailer trophy and Alliance Mataura was named the winning meat processor.
The 2012 Golden Lamb Awards, sponsored by Pfizer Animal Genetics, attracted a record 150 entries which all underwent testing at Carne Technologies.
Factors such as tenderness, colour and succulence were tested to determine the top 20 finalists.
Caption: Prime Minister John Key, right, was one of the judges in the 2012 Beef + Lamb New Zealand Golden Lamb Awards in Wanaka last month. He was joined by, from left, chef Graham Hawkes, Beef + Lamb ambassador Ben Batterbury and BMX champ Sarah Walker
