Morton Estate is one of New Zealand's top producers of wine, but is an independent, privately owned company that is fiercely committed to wine making as an art, not just as a business. It is also a geographically eclectic company. While its head office is located in Auckland, it grows most of its grapes in the Hawke's Bay and Gisborne regions of the North Island, and Marlborough in the South Island. It also runs a distinctive Cape Dutch-style winery, restaurant and cellar door at Katikati, just North of Tauranga, where the company had it origins growing Kiwi fruit. Morton Estate has a good reputation for consistency, quality and value. Its best wines are its black label range, including a very good Chardonnay. Morton Estate's Private Reserve 2002 Chardonnay recently won the John Marris Trophy for Best Non-Australian Wine at the Sydney International Wine Show and the Trophy for Best Fuller Bodied Dry White Table Wine at the International Wine Challenge in London. Morton Estate white label chardonnay is one of the best value for money wines on the New Zealand market. Morton Estate operates a cellar door and restaurant, at its winery located in the Bay of Blenty, which is open 7 days a week from 9.30 am to 5pm and for dinners Thursday to Saturday. Morton Estate Wines are widely available throughout New Zealand and exported to the United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia parts of Asia and the Pacific.