Intense isolation, an extremely cool climate and an inability to compromise spell a change of location for two of New Zealand’s most far flung vineyards; Antonio Pasquale’s Hakataramea Valley and Waitaki Valley sites. The vineyards produce outstanding whites and the reds can be good in warm years, but both are economically unviable, so Pasquale is moving wine operations to Northland. It’s a shame to see him move his wines north, but this part of the deep south doesn’t work right now. His dry gewurztraminer, dry pinot gris and zingy riesling are among the best in the South Island, but he has had enough of the unviable expense and isolation. Hakataramea is a good 40 minute drive from the Waitaki Valley, which is hardly on the beaten track itself; it’s the chilly corridor that links Oamaru with North Otago. Both valleys have potential for high quality, small quantity white wine when it’s hand made by a sole operator, but once staff are involved, production quantities need to grow to make a profit. And the expense of that, coupled with marked vintage variation - which wipes out a massive proportion of Pasquale’s crop some years – means he can’t make numbers work. The Italian-born and bred wine producer announced last month he would move his money, time and vineyard investments to Northland where he’s lived since emigrating from northern Italy in 1997. Cool climate winemaking is nothing new to this farmer-turned-wine producer. The north of Italy is characterised by cool climate-loving grapes; pinot grigio, riesling and chardonnay, among a raft of interesting indigenous grapes. But northern Italy’s small towns are within easy proximity to large cities. By contrast, the isolation of Hakataramea and Waitaki are something Pasquale won’t miss. He currently has a one hectare trial vineyard of chardonnay at Russell, from which he plans to release his 2012 chardonnay in about 18 months. He has also planted trial rows of arneis and sangiovese at Russell. Both look promising, but he prefers the red sangiovese grape’s flavours to the white arneis, which he sees as lacking in the acidity department. But it’s early days. As for the deep south, he may keep grapes there to see what happens. He describes the place as a work in progress. The progress being cultural as well as economic. What most perplexes him right now is why everybody is screaming for southern pinot noir when he finds the whites of New Zealand’s south to have the greatest promise. Much as I adore our best southern pinots, I find our southern whites to be even more exciting too, even if they are  somewhat fewer in quantity.  

Shoestring sensation  

2012 Spinyback Chardonnay $17   

Top marks to Waimea winery in Nelson for this luscious, zingy, super fresh chardonnay which totally over delivers on the flavour and, more importantly for many, on the value front too. Excellent value for money, this one. Hook online to find stockists near you: Www.waimeaestates.co.nz  

Treat of the week  

This super tasty chenin blanc is the first from Mt Difficulty and s a natural fit for winemaker Matt Dicey and his family, who originally come from South Africa – where chenin blanc is the most planted grape. Dicey chose chenin for his Central Otago vineyard because it ripens late; a handy advantage in a cool climate. Its fresh tropical taste, low 11.5% alcohol and off-dry style are lovely; not that it tastes sweet – the acidity makes it seem dry. www.mtdifficulty.co.nz  

Reaching for the stars  

This dry gewurztraminer is like bottled deliciousness on speed, thanks to its full body and lingering ginger aromas. www.pasquale.co.nz      

Thanks for the question, Richard. I’m always up for a challenge but I’d rather not be hung, drawn and quartered by our best pinot noir makers, so here are my top 20 pinot noirs (well, actually it’s 21). These are wines to melt your heart rather than break it. But I do understand why the prices give you heart palpitations. In my view, it’s a tad rich charging $100+ a bottle for a wine from such a young winemaking country as ours, but great flavours soften these pricey blows – to some extent. And it’s easy to see why every winemaker’s refrain is ‘but pinot noir is the heartbreak grape!’. The darling red grape we call pinot noir has a thin skin. This makes it an easy target for fungal disease, which is made worse because pinot grows in tight bunches. It’s not a cash cow. It is a challenge to grow. The name pinot noir comes from the French words ‘pine’ and ‘black’; tight clusters of dark grapes. And without further ado, get your tastebuds around a couple of these gorgeous pinots.   

When so many other Pinot Noirs are double the price and then some, it’s a credit both to the wine and to its maker, John Porter, that this soft, floral and yet still full bodied pinot is also top value for money. It’s a beautiful expression of Wairarapa pinot.

Full bodied, full flavoured, black cherry aromas and over two decades of winemaking all make this my pick of Grant Taylor’s new bunch of pinots.   

Biodynamically grown pinots are all the rage but this wine has many strings to its finely tuned bow, thanks to winemaker Mike Weersing, who coaxes savoury tastes into this silky drop. 

 
2010 Bell Hill Pinot Noir $105-$110
Made from a two hectare vineyard in North Canterbury and  fermented at relatively warm temperatures for a seductively good pinot.

2010 Neudorf Vineyards Moutere Pinot Noir $80
This is the pinnacle of Tim and Judy Finn’s Neudorf home vineyard; a complex, multilayered wine.

2010 Dog Point Pinot Noir $40-$45
Ivan Sutherland and James Healy shine new light on Marlborough pinot with this outstanding supple wine.

You’re not alone if you’re gasping at the $80+ price tag, but this full bodied, incredibly concentrated wine won’t disappoint, thanks to its beautifully smooth velvety style,  intense red and black fruit taste and long finish. 

2010 Felton Road Cornish Point Point Noir $65
Cornish Point is my pick of the current Felton Road crop, thanks to its silky smooth style.

2010 Pegasus Bay Prima Donna Pinot Noir $85
This star of the Pegasus Bay stable is a full bodied keeper; stash it in the cellar for half a decade. 

 
2010 Two Paddocks Last Chance Pinot Noir $70
Sam Neill’s Last Chance Pinot Noir eclipses all his others, thanks to depth of flavour, a full body and a lingering finish.

2010 Rippon Tinker’s Field Mature Vine Pinot Noir $95
This is savoury and refined and named after the late Rolfe Mills – ‘Tink’ to friends - who planted grapes at Lake Wanaka 30 years ago.

2009 Aurum Madelaine Pinot Noir $65
Its name is small but its taste is unforgettably good; full bodied, savoury and beautifully complex – like a Central Otago summer in the glass.

2010 Te Mania Reserve Pinot Noir $35
Jon and Cheryl Harrey are the quiet couple behind this exciting Nelson wine which offers massive value and silky X factor.

2011 Escarpment Pinot Noir $45
Right now, this wine is more seductive and less pricey than Larry McKenna’s top pinot. It is downright delicious.

2010 Kusuda Pinot Noir $85
Winemaker Hiroyuki Kusuda’s Martinborough pinot noir combines intensity with a seductively light touch.

2010 Crater Rim Omihi Rise Pinot Noir $60
Cousins Ben and Theo Coles make this staunch North Canterbury pinot with its juicy taste and earthy undertow.

2011 Quartz Reef Bendigo Estate Pinot Noir $85
Austrian winemaker Rudi Bauer brings an interesting savoury taste twist to every multilayered pinot he makes. 

2010 George Town Pinot Noir $44.95
If seamless smoothness is the hallmark of great wine, George Town Vineyard winemaker Ian Dee strikes the right chord. 

 2011 Gibbston Valley Le Maitre Pinot Noir $55
A sensationally juicy pinot from winemaker Chris Keys; this has body, spice, savoury taste and a long finish. It’s named after Central wine pioneer Alan Brady.

And a 21st… 2010 Mount Edward Morrison Vineyard Pinot Noir $65 A consistently good pinot from a vineyard at Lowburn in Central; beautifully weighty and full bodied, this wine rings all the delicious fruity bells and also several of the savoury, spicy whistles too – on its lingering finish. Top pinot.

A reader writes: I try to have 5+ fruit and vegetables a day as recommended by the NZ Nutrition Foundation. I have red or white grapes and they come in a glass. Do they count as part of my 5+ a day? 

If you’re looking for health benefits, you’ve come to the right place. Grapes are full of them. Before they become wine, a large handful equates to one serving of fruit and vegetables, says nutritionist Carolyn Cairncross. But it’s a different story after fermentation.

Once alcohol’s involved, the polyphenols, which carry colour and contain antioxidants, no longer have any fibre. So they’re good for our arteries and hearts but not for the fibre of the 5+. Oh, and when we talk about wine being good for the heart, it’s in moderation; not five plus glasses a day.   

Green apples are great for topping up on antioxidants - and for buttery apple crumbles - but they’re not the first taste I want to in a glass of crisp young riesling. The trouble is, that green flavour is part and parcel of many cool climate white wines and Waipara is not to blame. Winemakers using grapes from any cool wine region – or from a high cropped vineyard - can inadvertently create appley tasting wines. This is accentuated in riesling, which has pretty high levels of malic acid. Add a cold climate into the mix and the acidity is even more pronounced, especially in young wine. Most of the wine that most of us consume is too young to strut its best stuff, so if we just gave riesling another five years in the bottle, we’d drink a rounded, medium bodied, softer wine – even at the dirt cheap level; which is why I recommended Corban’s White Label Johannisberg Riesling as a cellar starter. Don’t drink it young. Keep it half a decade, then try it. Viva la difference. And if you want to understand great wine and great riesling, look past basic wine as the benchmark statement on style because there’s more to the story than what’s on the bottom shelf. Try some of Waipara’s best rieslings: Tongue in Groove, Fiddler’s Green, George’s Road, Pegasus Bay, Main Divide, Greystone and those wonderful wines of Muddy Water – no longer around, sadly. Ironically, many people associate wine with dry flavours but it’s often the off-dry, sweeter styles that rock where riesling is concerned. Treat these wines to a few years under the stairs and try them then. It’s the transformative ability of riesling that makes it so compelling to its devotees.    

Wines of the week   

Shoestring sensation    

2011 E Bodega Enguera e-Tempranillo $14.95

This delicious, nutritious, juicy new organic Spanish red comes from Valencia and is made from tempranillo; a full bodied, smooth red grape that overdelivers so often, it should be a household word. From Moore Wilson, Regional Wines, Thorndon New World and specialist stores.   

Treat of the week   

2011 Catherine’s Block Pinot Noir $32.99

So Beaujolaisesque with light pretty fruit aromas that it’s a surprise to taste the full body in this newcomer from North Canterbury. Mail order from www.finewinedelivery.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

La Gitana En Rama $55   

 If you eat tapas, here’s a great wine to drink with them;  unfined, unfiltered, intensely tangy, bone dry Manzanilla from Sanlucar de Barrameda in southern Spain. Just 300 bottles of this citrusy sherry winged their way from Bodegas Hidalgo to our shores, thanks to Rumble. From Moore Wilson, Regional Wines; Decant in Christchurch or email Mineral: orders@mineralwine.co.nz

There are few things as potent as two wine conferences and a family funeral in one week to lead to overindulgence. It ended in large amounts of chardonnay, fragments of sleep and a sideways step from my usual mantra that moderation is key to survival as a wine writer. But there’s another way to consume in moderation and ditch the worry of calories and alcohol; low alcohol wine. 

It’s so in our faces right now we could easily forget there’s always been a wonderful low alcohol wine with balance, succulence and wow factor called Mosel riesling, but that’s another story. On another related note, obesity epidemics – which are driving calorific obsession – have not originated in traditional wine drinking countries, but in countries where beverages are sugar-based.
The new low alcohol wines hitting shelves are a triumph of marketing, if not always of taste. They are made everywhere from South Africa to Marlborough; containing 5.5% to 9% alcohol rather than the standard 12.5% to 14.5%. The new Kim Crawford First Pick Pinot Gris and sauvignon blanc both contain 9% alcohol and claim four times on their front labels to be ‘lighter’ in alcohol and calories. Kim Crawford chief winemaker Anthony Walkenhorst says they have 25 per cent less alcohol than most wine he makes. They have 58 calories and 9% alcohol per 100 ml serve compared to 105 calories and 12.5% alcohol in a ‘standard’ 100ml glass; a measured defined by the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation.
These ‘lighter’ wines have fewer calories because they’re made from grapes picked earlier than usual; at 18 brix (their sweetness level at harvest) rather than 21 to 23 brix. Alcohol was also removed through a reverse osmosis membrane, which Walkenhorst says “only extracts the alcohol.”
Some marketers would have us believe these types of wines sacrifice nothing in taste by losing alcohol and calories. I disagree. Alcohol has a taste. Because that taste tends to be sweet, alcohol adds viscosity and mouth feel to wine; part of the overall balance. The First Pick sauvignon blanc is light in calories and alcohol but also in taste and body. Given the intense flavour of most Marlborough sauvignon, I can live with that. Not so the pinot gris. This one has virtually no taste or body.
Less is definitely more when it comes to alcohol and calories - unless it’s one of the world’s great high alcohol wines; Amarone, dry sherry, top Portuguese red, among others. We can enjoy the feel-good factor of low alcohol wines but here’s another idea: buy better, drink less, enjoy the flavor; calories, alcohol and all.

Wines of the week   

Shoestring sensation   

2012 Kim Crawford First Pick Sauvignon Blanc $17-18 Think of this new wine as a slim sauvignon blanc; not that it’s for ‘slimmers’ – although that’s one of its makers’ stated intentions – but rather, it’s lighter in style than most 2012 Kiwi savvies; the zingy acidity and full on flavours are de-enhanced,  but it’s fresh, clean and well made for everyday enjoyment. Widely available.  

Treat of the week   

2011 Millton Te Arai Chenin Blanc $28 Stepping things up a notch is James Millton, whose passion for great French wine shines in this lovely chenin blanc from Gisborne’s Te Arai vineyard; 5kms from the sea. It has a low-ish 11.5% alcohol, which marries prettily with its intensely fresh apple aromas and lingering finish. A spectacular white. Specialist stores or www.millton.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2011 Spencer Hill Coastal Ridge Chardonnay, $35 Nelson winemaker Phil Jones makes a mean chardonnay. And I don’t mean he’s sparing us the big bodied, creamy flavours which characterise this most popular of all white wines. On the contrary. This is driven by a tangy taste with savoury, oat meal aromas, ripe peacharine flavours and a long finish. From specialist stores or www.spencerhillwine.com/      

Where do retired winemakers go?
If Alex Corban is any indication, it’s not half bad. He lives in the ‘Pinot’ wing of a Havelock North rest home, amongst a sea of grapevines in the arid Hawke’s Bay landscape. It’s not exactly the vinous version of Quartet – the British movie about retired musicians in a posh rest home full of grand pianos – but it’s a fitting finale for one of this country’s first professional winemakers. The surprising thing is: he rarely drinks wine these days.
“I still enjoy a glass every now and then, but not every day. I’ve spent more time writing about wine than drinking it in the past few years,” says the 88 year old, handing me a manuscript of his life’s pioneering work in New Zealand wine, post World War II. Corban claims he was ‘vacant’ when he left school, so was easily persuaded by his father to study winemaking at Roseworthy Agricultural College in Australia. The aim was to raise the bar in the family winery, which had decades of accumulated winemaking history but no formal education to back it up. So, in 1946, Alex Corban set off for Australia by flying boat from Auckland.
He finished his degree in 1949, recalling the best thing were the  wineries in Australia’s wine HQ, the Barossa Valley. When he came home, Corban arrived to a bunch of disappointing hybrid grapes. The vine destroying louse, phylloxera, had killed grapevines and the government imported hybrid grapes in their place. It was a frustrating time to make wine New Zealand in the late 1940s and he was glad when Muller-Thurgau grapes appeared - a cross rather than a hybrid. Corban was one of the first to use stainless steel tanks, cultivated yeast cultures and refrigeration; all de rigeueur today, but radical in the mid 20 Century. His greatest achievement was being one of the new wave of winemakers who reintroduced Vitis Vinifera grapes to this country; his grandfather, Assid Corban, grew cabernet sauvignon, among other grapes at the turn of last century, but they had died from phylloxera. Alex’ proudest achievement was ‘Riverlea Riesling’; made from Muller but a world apart from the fortified wines of the day. The name Corban rarely appears on bottles today – the brand is owned by Lion – but many Corbans still make wine, cultivate new wine grapes and own vineyards; most notably Alex’ son, Alwyn, who co-owns Ngatarawa Wines in Hawke’s Bay with his cousin, Brian.
Invitations to taste wine, rate it and interview its makers come thick and fast these days but the one to visit Alex Corban – 88 and still on email – raises the bar for us all; to savour every wine moment.   

Wines of the week   

Shoestring sensation   

2012 Ngatarawa Stables Chardonnay $15

Talk about a bargain. Winemakers Alwyn Corban and Peter Gough have a region of ripe chardonnay grapes at their disposal to make this full bodied white with its spicy oak aromas and creamy flavours. It’s the zingy finish which lingers after each mouthful that draws me back for another glass, or two. Buy from www.ngatarawa.co.nz   

Treat of the week   

2010 Escarpment Riesling $25   

Martinborough winemaker Larry McKenna is better known for pioneering pinot noir than making whizz-bang whites, but his whites are pretty tasty, as this tangy riesling shows. It’s light bodied but more than makes up for that with zingy freshness and zesty citrus tastes in every mouthful. Buy from www.escarpment.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2011 Escarpment Pinot Gris $29   

Everything you hear about pinot gris is true; it’s now our third most planted white grape in New Zealand after sauvignon blanc and chardonnay and is riding the global ‘on-trend’ wave but is often one dimensional – unless winemakers work to add interest, as Larry McKenna does. He fermented this wine in oak to add subtle bells and whistles of spicy, savoury, oaty flavours. The result is a super tasty, refreshing white. Buy from www.escarpment.co.nz    

With his stocky build, broad smile and casual vibe, Markus Huber looks more like a footballer than a winemaker, so it was a surprise when he turned his back on a promising professional sporting passion to make wine in 2000.
The 34 year old has since won a long string of white wine awards. He  has made wine in Australia and South Africa and notched up ‘best white wine producer’ in 2006 at the London International Wine & Spirit Competition. Huber was here in January this year to speak at the Nelson Aromatic Symposium about his forte - Gruner Veltliner; Austria’s most widely produced indigenous white wine.
Gruner is German for ‘green’ and good gruner often tastes that way. The gruner grape ripens later than chardonnay and earlier than riesling, so it seems like a natural fit for New Zealand’s relatively cool climate and a growing handful of Kiwi winemakers are trying it out for size. Of the 250 million litres of gruner veltliner made in Austria each year, about a fifth is exported and much of it is organically grown. But unlike Austria’s agricultural industry – 20 per cent of which is organic – the country’s grape growers struggle with organics because of high rainfall and fungal challenges. Gruner is already over sensitive to grow, thanks to having low to no tolerance for downy and powdery mildews and being easily affected by chlorosis, which stops plants manufacturing carbohydrates through photosynthesis. Surprisingly, gruner has a thick skin. Literally. This makes it resistant to botrytis; aka noble rot, which penetrates grape skins to make treacle-like sweet wines but is no good if you want to create dry ones. Gruner ticks other dry wine boxes too. It lends itself to being a dry wine, thanks to its crisp acidity and refreshingly dry flavours; as opposed to that other relative newcomer, pinot gris, which is so often not dry and therefore annoyingly difficult to drink with food because it clashes.
If you have yet to try a good gruner, check out an Austrian one first. Then look at the local wines and decide where they fit in the global picture. Like most wine in New Zealand today, our local gruner veltliners taste clean and fresh but beware of the Emperor’s new clothes phenomena. We have an excitingly open minded and experimental wine industry in this country; unhampered by restrictive legislation but, like our albarino and even our pinot gris, New Zealand gruner veltliner is a succulent and tasty work in progress.   

Wines of the week 

2011 Stoneleigh Marlborough Chardonnay $12.99 to $24.99
It’s hard to pinpoint the exact price of this wine, thanks to massive price slashing but the great taste, vibrantly fresh style and long citrus finish can’t be beaten at just $12.99. Even when it costs more, this wine deliciously over delivers. Widely available.   

2009 Sepp Moser Reserve Gebling $30.50

Gruner Veltliner may not look like the easiest wine name in the world to pronounce but it slides down smoothly when it’s as good as this full bodied, bone dry, fresh, lemony white from Austria. If you love white wine, this one offers a glimpse of the global wine landscape in the glass. From specialist stores or online from www.sceniccellars.co.nz Reaching for the stars

2011 Framingham F-Series Old Vine Riesling $40
Made from 30 year old vines grown in Renwick on a stony old riverbed, this wine was aged on its lees (yeast cells after fermentation) for 10 months; about 25% of the grapes were kept in old oak barrels, which subtly deaccentuates riesling’s usually high acidity, adding richness and flesh to its super model bone structure. From Framingham Wines, email: info@framingham.co.nz or phone (03) 572 8884.

Dear Joelle, 

As a fledgling wine drinker, I came across a stunning cinsault in South Africa. The first bottle I bought - wish I could remember the name - I loved so much that my husband later bought every bottle in the store. Is cinsault as good as I remember? Can you suggest a good reasonably priced one?Jo, Wellington   

Cinsault can be stunning. And it’s no surprise you enjoyed it in South Africa, where it was the country’s most planted grape until the mid 1960s when cabernet sauvignon started to rule the vineyard roost. Cinsault has been known for centuries in the south of France and is rumoured to have been around even longer in southern Italy, where the Greeks planted it. It’s hard to find cinsault here because it’s usually blended with other grapes. The best way to replicate the experience is to try a grenache or Spanish garnacha, like Rojo; $11 to $14 from Moore Wilson and wine stores. And check out the French wines of the week, below.  

If you’re a chardonnay drinker, it’ll be an easy stretch to move onto reds because chardonnay is the red wine drinker’s white wine. Because it’s full bodied, chardonnay has more in common with most reds than with other whites. If you drink light bodied wines like sauvignon blanc, riesling or pinot gris, try light bodied reds. Pinot noir is our most planted red grape in this country and it rarely presents a tannic challenge on a par with shiraz, cabernet sauvignon or merlot, so it’s a good place to start. Wine is all about finding the size that fits you best. That’s the beauty of wine. It’s never ending in variety. It can be made from any one of at least 2000 different grape varieties, it can be made from late picked grapes, dried grapes or early harvested grapes. It can be wild yeast fermented, hot fermented, cool fermented; aged or unaged and zingy in style or soft as a you know what. Check out the pinot below and let me know how you go. 

   

If you’ve ever enjoyed a cinsault, you’ll love good grenache – it’s the wine equivalent of a soft velvet cushion and Miles Davis: comforting, smooth and warm. Grenache can also be high in alcohol – accounting for that ‘warmth’ – but thanks to being happily wed here with shiraz and carignan grapes, it’s  beautifully soft, smooth, plush and fruity, finishing dry. This one’s from a high altitude biodynamic French vineyard. From www.wineimporter.co.nz/ (less 10% for case buys).  

Another sensational red from the south of France, this wine has a richness and firm backbone thanks to the having some of the much underrated carignan grape in it. From www.wineimporter.co.nz/ or email: paul@wineimporter.co.nz 

If you love silky smooth red wines – and who doesn’t? – try this beauty from winemaker Lars Jensen of Richmond Plains winery in Nelson, whose focus is not only on making good wine but wine that’s good for the planet. This is certified organic, made from hand picked grapes which were fermented with wild yeasts at relatively warm temperatures for a bottle of smooth deliciousness. From specialist stores or mail order, email: lars@richmondplains.co.nz

You don’t have to go far to hear rave reviews of big name pinot noirs in New Zealand, especially this month as the makers of 112 of them converge on Wellington’s waterfront for Pinot Noir 2013 – New Zealand’s biggest wine gig. The three yearly event kicks off on Monday 28 January and is open to anyone and everyone interested in, enamoured with and working with (or not) pinot noir. While many of the winemakers who attend come from wineries whose names we already know, it’s easy to forget that there are 591 other wineries in New Zealand today; many of them making at least two different pinots apiece. So, how do wine lovers hook into the emerging wines making an interesting splash in the country’s pinot pond today? Lawyer-turned-winemaker, John Porter and a tasting at the Martinborough Wine Centre late last year both highlighted a bunch of surprising new chart toppers from the Wairarapa – the region which originally put pinot into top red wine spot in this country. Porter celebrated 20 years of winemaking in the Wairarapa last year and juggles a job as lawyer in Wellington with a farm of Belted Galway cows, sheep and pheasants - he’s always had a thing for pheasants, having hunted them for years and always had one on his wine label. He added the winemaking string to his bow after planting his vineyard in Martinborough in 1992; he completed the winemaking and viticulture diploma (now a degree) at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Hawke’s Bay in the mid 1990s along with many others, including myself. Not all of us were there to make wine but we were all serious to learn how it was made. Like others enrolled, Porter had to weave his hand-written assignments and week-long in-house sessions around work and family life. There wasn’t much time left over for study, but the course planted the seeds which have helped grow his deceptively pale looking pinot noirs into wines which I regard as being among the Wairarapa’s very best. The proof is in the bottle. Another couple who are weaving their winemaking and retailing work around their family life are Amanda Ritchie and Simon Groves; owners of the Martinborough Wine Centre. Last year, the couple held their first series of Consumer’s Choice Tastings; a chance to try a few of the underdogs of the Wairarapa wine scene – or at least the lesser known labels. Talk about revealing. My favourites included pinot noirs from Hamden Estate, Hudson Estate, Margrain River’s Edge, Archer McRae and Wycroft Pinot Noir from Laurie Bryant’s Northern Wairarapa vineyard.   

2010 The Cover Drive Cabernet $19-$22 

 

Australian winemaker Jim Barry is best known for his strapping big red, The Armagh – at the top of Australia’s red wine nobility tree – but The Cover Drive also offers an X-factor, thanks to being juicy in taste, full bodied and great value. Every sip lingers. Widely available.  

All the bells and whistles - vibrant fruit appeal, smoothness and affordability - made this my top pinot at a   Martinborough Wine Centre’s tasting last year. Hamden Estate owners David and Jo Iggulden planted grapes in 2003 and their label is evocative but their trump card was employing winemaker Strat Canning to make this luscious red. From www.martinboroughwinecentre.co.nz or hamdenestate.co.nz  

Reaching for the stars  

2011 Porter’s Estate Pinot Noir $45 John Porter’s pinot passion shines in this silky smooth wine, which forges a new path for New Zealand pinot noir, thanks to hot ferments - which accentuate its floral aromas. I adore this style for its soft, velvety mouthfeel and lingering finish. From specialist wine stores or www.Porters.pinot.co.nz 

It’s not just the name that rocks; this pinot noir was one of my top new Central Otago pinots in September this year. Its silky style is a stand out bargain from an eight hectare vineyard in Alexandra; planted in 2003 by five farming families who make this one sensationally silky pinot. www.grasshopperrock.co.nz/   

If this isn’t a devil you know, then it’s time to get acquainted with one of Central’s best value reds, which made top grade in my blind tastings, thanks to its zingy red fruit and smooth appeal.    

A star in a lighter style, this debut from Serendipity Wines has mellowed in the three months since it was first made by Central winemaker Carol Bunn and is the baby of Wal O’Neill and his viticultural graduate partner, Jo Lewis. O’Neill bought their vineyard land on impulse in 2003 before meeting Jo; believing it was intended ‘for great things’. So far, so great; red cherry aromas and whiffs of charred cedar vie for your attention in every sip.   

Mud House winery makes some of Central Otago’s best value pinot noirs, like this with its whiff of red cherries, cranberries and medium body. www.mudhouse.co.nz   

Merlot leads the way in this wine with cabernet franc in a star supporting role; showing spicy, muscular power, thanks to winemakers Grant Edmonds and Nigel Davies - a bargain at $15 from Regional Wines in Wellington.      

It’s 8.45am and as rain pounds against the windows outside, there’s a darker coloured splash in my glass - pinot noir. It’s the first wine of the day and it tastes great. 

There’s no need to call AA just yet; I’m doing my job, which today involves sniffs, swirls, sips - and spitting too - of pinot noir and shiraz at the biggest wine competition in the country; the eighth New Zealand International Wine Show, held earlier this month. 

The show was the brainchild of wine retailer, wholesaler, competition convenor and wine lover, Kingsley Wood, who owns and runs First Glass Wines in Takapuna, Auckland, but Wood has been in the wine trade in Dunedin and Christchurch for decades too, making him one of the country’s most in-touch wine retailers; he knows what Kiwis enjoy drinking and he sells stacks of it.

For the most part, that happens without reference to wine competitions and medal stickers on bottles – his loyal customers have been fans for many moons now – but Wood knows the importance of wine shows too. And so, while this country’s Air New Zealand Wine Awards is the most important competition for local wineries, the NZ International Wine Show is the most diverse because it benchmarks Kiwi wines against their international counterparts. This year there were 2122 wines from 13 different countries at the competition, including 1380 wines from New Zealand, 584 from Australia, 40 from France, 46 from Italy, 38 from Spain and even Brazil and India made an appearance with their wines. Thankfully, the 26 senior judges and their associates shared the tasting task, awarding 224 gold medals; 23 to pinot noirs; mostly from Central Otago and Marlborough.

The winners are announced at a dinner tonight (Saturday 29 September) in Auckland, while another bunch of pinot fanatics will celebrate at another dinner tonight in Central Otago. It’s the 25 anniversary of the first commercial pinot noir made there and is a fitting lead in to the next pinot noir event in January 2013 - Pinot Noir New Zealand 2013. It’s held every three years, always in the capital and is open to everyone who enjoys pinot noir – whether you’re new to it, make it, sell it or simply just want to know more about it. Registrations are open and the three day conference promises to be fun as well as educational. For those of us who ‘have’ to go, it’s a tough job, but you know what they say.    

2011 Five Flax Riesling $15 It’s almost a falsity writing $15 because it’s so often so much cheaper than its recommended retail price, making this light bodied but intensely lime zesty riesling a great bargain. If you’ve started that budget wine cellar, here’s another wine to add to it. Otherwise, lightly chill and enjoy. Widely available; everywhere.   

A fabulous wine from Italy’s north east, this red has all the sensuous softness of a great merlot with a deliciously savoury taste too; every sip lingers, so it’s worth beating a track to a specialist store or hook into it online at: www.touchofitaly.co.nz   

If you haven’t heard of the small Wairarapa wine producer, Lansdowne Estate, it’s time to try this gorgeous full bodied, silky soft pinot made by winemaker Karl Johner; originally from Germany (another country making top pinot noir). Lansdowne Estate is owned by Derek Hagar, who has won plenty of medals for his wines in the UK and is now selling them at Wine Loft in Wellington; find out more at:  www.thewineloft.co.nz

It may not have the dramatic mountainous backdrop of Central Otago but North Canterbury has higher peaks when it comes to value for money X-factor white wines, as the team at Pegasus Bay Winery show us year after year with their exceptional rieslings. From $17 to $38 and from bone dry to sweet – with everything in between - theirs are mouth wateringly delicious. Pegasus Bay is the best known winery in North Canterbury but it’s not the only exceptional winery there. 

It’s a mystery why North Canterbury winemakers don’t flaunt what they’ve got because their wines are outstandingly good, with few exceptions. The region is better known as Waipara, which does not capture all the wineries and vineyards being planted and set up beyond Waipara’s geographical boundaries in other parts of North Canterbury. It is the fourth biggest wine region in the country based on grapevines growing there; a figure derived from annual surveys by New Zealand Winegrowers; the body to which all registered winemakers in this country pay a levy. 

While it’s big in numerical terms, North Canterbury is making its mark in quality too. It’s home to at least four of my top 20 New Zealand wine producers: Pyramid Valley, Pegasus Bay Winery, Bellbird Spring and George’s Road. If I tasted more wines from Bell Hill, Greystone and Mountford wineries, they might well join the others and the now defunct Muddy Water Fine Wines did produce exceptional wine. 

Many of these wineries are either so small or so understaffed that they are focussed just on running their operations, which makes it appear that they are hiding their lights under a bushel - or in a garden shed, as the case happens to be for winemaker Guy Porter, who has built a humble shed-like winery in Waipara, in which he makes one of New Zealand’s most innovative white wines. Home Block White is what’s known as a field blend; pinot gris, riesling, muscat ottonel and gewurztraminer are all picked at the same time, fermented together and bottled as one wine. It’s modeled on renegade French winemaker Marcel Deiss’  wines, which command a cult following and prices a tad higher than Porter’s $30 a bottle Home Block White. 

There are plenty more strings to Porter’s wine bow; the full bodied Pruner’s Reward Sauvignon Blanc is a wine style which shows sauvignon in a deliciously different light. Speaking of which, the wines this week are all from Waipara and each distinctively different. jthomson@xtra.co.nz  

Wines of the week   

The shoestring sensation   2010 Corbans Homestead Riesling $13 Is this the best value white wine in New Zealand today? I’m making it my bargain white of this year and last. Named after the late Lebanese immigrant entrepreneur and wine pioneer, A A Corban (who deserves to be remembered for his winemaking), this vibrantly fresh, intensely lime-lemon-crisp apple dry white is a stellar wine and ages beautifully. Keep three or four bottles for five years and then enjoy them. Widely available.   

Treat of the week   

2011 George’s Road Waipara Pinot Noir $29.50 This is the best New Zealand pinot noir I’ve had in a long time. Winemaker Kirk Bray aged it in old oak, which enhances flavour integration rather than overlaying delicate fruit flavours with wood. His preference is to make wines which express the grapes rather than creating big bold reds. I’d love to taste more local wines like this. From specialist stores or mail order: kirk@georgesroadwines.co.nz    

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Bellbird Spring Home Block White $30 First made in 2008, this is what French winemaker Marcel Deiss calls a vin de terroir – a wine of place. And since pinot gris gains more acidity when grown in relatively cool places, most of this white rests on it, with added complexity from riesling, muscat ottonel and gewürztraminer. It’s vibrant, fruit-driven and succulent. From specialist wine stores or Manifesto Wine Company, email: paul@manifestowinecompany.co.nz

The Swiss Alps encircle three quarters of Piemonte and act like a giant air conditioner, says UK-based Italian wine importer and Master of Wine Michael Palij, who is tasting wine with me. The faint chill in the air confirms it. Forever doused in snow, the alps wrap themselves around the hills, permanently cooling the climate so that early morning fog (‘nebbia’ in Italian) is common – and the likely origin of the late ripening nebbiolo grape’s name. Nebbiolo is the king of Piemonte’s grapes; the pinot noir of Italy, for want of a better description – yet so much more tannic and potentially longer lived that it is in a category all of its own. In the communal statutes of La Morra in 1431 nebbiolo was so highly prized that anyone who cut down a vine was heavily fined. Recidivists had their hands amputated and were sometimes hung.

Truth be told, it’s difficult right now to find nebbiolo in New Zealand in any of its varied forms – barolo, barbaresco or the lesser known versions from other areas - let alone other Piemontese wines. Besides the plentiful Asti and Moscato d’Asti, there is a smidgeon of locally-produced ‘arneis’ in New Zealand, but actual wine from Piemonte is thin on the ground here.

On my wish list are nebbiolo, barbera, freisa and the barely heard of timorasso from Colli Tortonese; a small region wedged between Gavi and Oltrepo Pavese in south east Piemonte. In this forgotten corner of the wine world, winemaker Walter Massa has revived the almost extinct timorasso grape from just 1.5 hectares in the 1980s to about 50 hectares today. He sees it as his chance to shine the light on a precious vinous treasure that was almost lost forever. Since making his first timorasso in 1987, he has discovered why this obscure white grape was once reverred for making Gavi; a wine now dominated by the relatively bland cortese grape. By contrast, timorasso ages exceptionally well, as Massa’s 1998 Vigneti Massa Costa Del Vento shows; every sip like an old Alsacien white wine. There is none here – yet. Here’s hoping that will change soon. Its story is one of mouth watering diversity; something Italy has in spades – as do the New Zealand wines in this week’s column. Next week, back home to answer another conundrum: where have all the buttery chardonnays gone? Joelle Thomson flew to Italy with Cathay Pacific.   

Wines of the week   

2010 Main Divide Riesling $19-20

Winemakers Matt Donaldson and Lynnette Hudson make more Main Divide Riesling now than five years ago, Donaldson says, but they’re also growing its quality – and it shows. This year’s is made entirely from North Canterbury grapes and it’s zesty flavours make it the best ever New Zealand riesling, for me, under $20. Drink with pistachios. www.maindivide.com

Treat of the week   

2009 Terredora Greco di Tufo $30 Italy’s Campania region may seem the least likely place to find a dry, full bodied, chardonnay-esque white with fruity flavours, so welcome to a new take on a very old favourite. Greco di Tufo was first introduced to Irpinia, east of Naples, by the Greeks in about 800 BC. Today, family-owned Terredora winery is leading its revival. Drink with fresh panfried gurnard and lemon. From Scenic Cellars, www.sceniccellars.co.nz     

Reaching for the stars   

2010 Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Syrah, $32 If I say ‘best ever’ again you’ll think I’m on happy pills, but this Craggy Range syrah has found a special spot in my wine glass, thanks to its relatively low 25% new oak. Hints of licorice, black plums and cloves mingle happily, dancing a tune that puts Hawke’s Bay syrah’s best foot forward. Drink with rare roast beef or aubergine parmagiana. www.craggyrange.co

Decades of learning the foibles of Marlborough’s changeable seasons, not to mention where to grow the best chardonnay grapes, have translated into this bright new white with its core of fresh acidity, rich savoury flavours and lingering finish making it almost impossible to put a glass of it down. This is the best ever DP Chardonnay for me. From specialist stores or Dog Point, phone (03) 572 8294, email. info@dogpoint.co.nz 

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Coppola Diamond Collection Zinfandel $39 to $40 We literally are reaching for the stars when opening a bottle of Francis Ford Coppola’s Diamond Collection ‘zin’; a Californian specialty rarely seen on these shores and which ticks all the right boxes here: dense body, rich inky colour, bright wild berry flavours and, best of all, 13.5% alcohol; positively low for a ‘zin’. From Dhall & Nash, 0800 369 463 or www.dnfinewine.com

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed parties getting more grandiose, cars getting bigger and red wines getting oakier by the millisecond? Gone are the days when fraudsters celebrated birthdays in private or hen parties were an afternoon tea with a plate of cupcakes and pretty presents; so dull, so yesterday. And four wheel drives as big as builder’s utes? What petrol crisis, we might ask? It’s exactly the same in the wine world. Big has always been seen as better, but the tide is turning against over oaked wines and will continue to, if the new chair of judges for the Air New Zealand Wine Awards, Michael Brajkovich, has his way. The West Auckland Master of Wine plans to limit the number of wines judges taste in a single session in a direct attempt to lower the oak bombs that win awards. When people’s palates are tired, it’s the bigger wine styles that glow in long line-ups, which he aims to change. As for wooden barrels, they were originally used to ship and store wine because they were water tight; not because they impart a desirable taste. Since oak is one of the strongest of hard woods, it has a natural advantage over more porous woods but its taste became popular relatively recently - neglect in the wine industry post-World War II meant that vast amounts of old barrels needed to be replaced at once rather than gradually. Suddenly, the taste of new oak appeared in wine and people liked it. They didn’t necessarily understand that coconut aromas (aka ‘lactones’) are more noticeable in Spanish and Australian wines because more of the tighter grained American oak - which is higher in lactones – is used there. Other oils and flavours imparted from oak include terpenes, volatile phenols, phenolic aldehydes and tannins; none of which I want to taste in  the wine I drink. It takes courage to step away from the oak obsession that has determined the taste of most reds made around the world. So it’s good news to taste a slow but steady swing away from over oaky reds. The 2010 Mud House Central Otago Pinot Noir; featured on these pages last month was a great example of a new wave red with barely a smidgeon of oak. Some winemakers are using no oak at all and even aging reds in stainless steel to allow the wine to shine rather than the wood. jthomson@xtra.co.nz www.joellethomson.com    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2010 Woop Woop Shiraz $17-18 With a name like this, a shiraz can only come from one place and Australia over delivers big time in this lusciously soft but intense black, fruit driven red. Widely available or find stockists by email: bho@federalgeo.co.nz   

Treat of the week   

2004 Rosso Rovitello Sicilia $45-50 What a fantastic red. The country that brings us high fashion bling and sexy southern Italian zing, earthy truffles and exotic artichokes gives us this incredibly fleshy seven year old red, made with grapes from the fiery slopes of Mt Etna. The  virtually unknown nerello mascalese grape here bears more than a passing resemblance to a velvety old burgundy. Believe it or not, but get in quick from Andrew and Debra Hedley’s Oh So Pretty Wines, email: Andrew@framingham.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2010 Escarpment Kupe Pinot Noir $85 Martinborough winemaker Larry McKenna has been dubbed the Prince of Pinot Noir in this country for what seems like forever but is actually about 12 years – a long time in Kiwi wine history. His latest bunch of pinot noirs prove he knows how to coax fantastically silky reds from pinot. Of his five new Escarpment pinots - Kupe, Kiwa, Pahi, Te Rehua and Escarpment – this is tops, for me. Iron fist, velvet glove; you know the drill; not cheap but like liquid silk with dark cherry and savoury flavours. From specialist stores or www.escarpment.co.nz

Ours is not to riesling why    

Astrophysics and riesling don’t usually mix but Central Otago winemaker Max Marriott has been passionate about both since high school. As a youngster growing up in Brisbane, Australia, he loved smelling wine rather than drinking it and, as his father had an extensive collection, there was always plenty on the dinner table. It was as a young adult that the riesling bug bit to him and, by then, he had left astrophysics behind. His dad said an aeronautical engineering degree would more useful, so off he went to university. The engineering was ditched for professional photography, which led to a place so breath takingly beautiful he knew he wanted to settle and make his favourite wine there. “The first time I saw Central Otago, I wanted to live there - its beauty still sends a chill up my spine - so I moved to New Zealand to do a degree in winemaking at Lincoln University to have a valid reason to move there.” And now he has and does. In Central, he works as a grape grower by day and as New Zealand’s only winemaker dedicated solely to riesling by moonlight. “I couldn’t believe no one was devoted only to riesling in such a riesling-friendly place; the cool climate equals the high acidity in riesling which is what gives it the edge over all other wines,” says Marriott; fresh from his first pilgrimage to riesling headquarters; Germany. The purpose of going to Riesling HQ was to work a vintage there. It was so successful that it’s added fuel to Marriott’s already passionate fire for planting a German-style precipitously steep vineyard somewhere in Central. Anywhere there’s a gorge with a steep bank will do and Central has plenty, but he’s remaining tight lipped about exactly where. His day job as a viticulturist in Bendigo gives him an insight into the vineyards from which he buys riesling grapes to make his Auburn wines. The first vintage was 2009. Last year he made four different Central Otago rieslings from Bendigo, Bannockburn, Lowburn and Alexandra. When showing them to riesling devotees at a Scenic Cellars dinner in Taupo, in February, there was as much variability in people’s favourites as there is in the wines. Such is Riesling. Maligned for being ‘sweet’, riesling makes many of the world’s long lived dry wines and, yes, some of the great sweet wines. More importantly, for winemakers in the south of New Zealand, it’s a grape with such hardy wood on its vines that it thrives in cold climates. Why has nobody else begun a Riesling-only southern winery? Why indeed? Watch these rieslings: www. Auburnwines.com  jthomson@xtra.co.nz  

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2010 Durbanville Hills Bastion Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz $11-$12 Talk about a bargain; this South African red is a knock out full bodied wine; verging on black fruit flavours with an intense body, taste and length. From supermarkets or email: anabelle@distell.com.sg   

This week’s treat   

2011 Auburn Alexandra Riesling $28-$30 This refreshingly low 9.5% alcohol wine is the driest of the latest Auburn bunch (with 15 grams of residual sugar per litre) and it has an absolute X-factor silky texture, a surprisingly long finish and delicious bright flavours. From Wineseeker in Victoria Street; Regional Wines or Centre City Wines. Or contact Natalie at Dhall & Nash Fine Wines, phone (04) 801 8902 , 021 855 745, email: natalie@dnfinewine.com    

Reaching for the stars   

2010 J J Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese $62   Liquid beauty from Germany; this is named after the ‘sundial of Wehlen’; a village along the meandering Mosel River, where the Prum family have lived since 1156. This is one of the great rieslings of the world and the 2010 vintage is a goodie; honeyed but fresh, bright and intense. From Decant Wine, Christchurch, phone (03) 343 1945, email: decant@decantwine.co.nz 

Forget traditional French cuisine, I’m working my way through rustic Italian recipes from the blue River Café Cookbook; published in 1995, prior to the yellow, green, multi-coloured and ‘classic’ River Café cookbooks. All were inspired after their authors, Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, lived in the country the ancient Greeks referred to as ‘the land of the vine’ – ‘Oenotria’ - Italy. With a trip to Vinitaly looming at the end of this month, I decided to delve into the food from my favourite country. I’m finding it refreshingly vegetable- and herb-based, so it’s not only healthier (and less salty) than much butter-based ‘fine food’ from France, but it’s cheaper to make and has a natural affinity with Italian wine. Even at low prices, Italian wine works disarmingly well with the pungent flavours of garlic, fresh rosemary and tomatos into which anchovies and parmesan have been melted. In the bowl, one particular dish just looks like penne with any old tomato sauce. In the mouth, it’s complex, savoury and meaty. Not that there is any actual meat; just a slow, intentionally long cooking process. My 12 year old now adores the taste anchovies and hasn’t a clue what they look like. She finds even the small sips of Italian wines she’s allowed to try to be too tannic and acidic, but that’s what makes them work so well with this food – for those of us with less innocent palates. Wine has to be pretty robust to stand up to the acid of tomatoes, the savoury anchovies in the sauce and the sharpness of parmesan. So what types of wines work with such strong flavours? Visiting vinous expert Valentino Sciotti, a founder of Farnese Vini, a winery in Abruzzo, suggested three when we met one morning: aglianico, primitivo and montepulciano. Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is so well known that its name is better understood than the region it comes from. Abruzzo is home to two 3000-metre high mountains; Gran Sasso (‘great rock’) and Maiella. Here the grapes are grown in the steepest parts of the valley where high altitude enhances their ability to retain high acid, thanks to a slow but not too hot ripening season. It’s almost identical in viticultural terms to the slow cooking process that produces wonderfully amalgamated flavours. Then there is aglianico; the great red of southern Italy’s Campania and Basilicata regions. Like montepulciano, it is grown at high altitude; so high that it is often harvested in the snow. On the other side of the Italian boot is the enormous region of Puglia; hot, dry and home to the primitivo grape. Montepulciano and primitivo spectacularly over deliver; $17-ish will buy a great one but often they’re on special for $8. These wines shine with Penne con pomodoro e acciughe (penne with tomatoes and anchoves – which you can’t actually see). The aglianico is on another level altogether; a great wine. All these wines bring to mind the very essence of Italian culture; drinking wine with food rather than without. Now that’s my idea of fine dining.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   2010 Farnese Montepulciano $17-$20 This tastes like a wine worth twice the price. Dark, full bodied, structured and with plump fruit flavours. From specialist wine stores or A Touch of Italy, phone (09) 273 3701 or www.Eatily.co.nz  

Treat of the week   

Akarua Brut $33-$34

This is an outstanding bubbly debut from winemaker Matt Connell and viticulturist Dr Tony Jordan who have joined forces to make Central Otago bubbly. Like France’s Champagne region, Central has a high temperature difference between day and night – key to growing quality grapes in a cool climate, as fellow winemaker Rudi Bauer has proven time and again from the word 'go' with his fantastic Quartz Reef bubbles. From Glengarry’s and specialist wine stores or email Akarua: Kathryn@akarua.com, phone (03) 445 4292.   

Reaching for the stars   

2005 Piano del Cerro Riserva Aglianico Del Vulture $38-$45 Aglianico is often called ‘the nebbiolo of the south’, thanks to its  impressive dark as night colour, full body, soft curvaceous tannins and staunch structure. Every sip lingers. From specialist wine stores or A Touch of Italy, phone (09) 273 3701 or www.Eatily.co.nz

If you’ve ever dined out with a fussy eater who was overcome with shyness when it came to complaining about bad food, you’ll know how I felt last month when nobody wanted to ‘fess up to being served corked wine. Whatever the reason – fear of insulting the host or, worse, the person who brought the wine – a table of outspoken winemakers, winery owners and even a restaurateur, were dumbstruck when faced with a corked wine. Nobody wanted to say it was undrinkable.

As the wine worsened, I let the person who had brought it know. He apologised and opened another bottle, which was even worse. The third and last bottle of the same wine that he had brought was lovely, but talk about bad luck. Two out of three bottles corked and yet it was not his fault. Cork is a natural product - the bark of the Quercus suber oak tree – so its production is limited. And since global wine production has risen, the quality of cork has declined. A funny coincidence, that. Whatever the reason – allegedly unscrupulous cork harvesting or simply a limited supply - cork taint is a fact of life for wine drinkers.

Even here in New Zealand where we are fortunate enough to have 97 per cent of all our wines sealed with screwcaps, the remaining three per cent of wines might be undrinkable due to cork taint. All wines sealed with cork are at risk of cork taint and random oxidation. Admittedly, we see far less cork taint in New Zealand today than ever before but, as those two 2005 Central Otago pinot noirs (referred to above) proved, cork taint still thrives under bad cork. We only have ourselves to blame. Mother Nature delivered an amazing piece of tree bark to humans, which was a great wine seal hundreds of years ago before screwcaps existed. Why persist with it as a wine closure now? As part of the ongoing conundrum winemakers face on wine closures, a winery this month sent me two bottles of 2007 pinot noir to judge closure trials; one under screwcap, the other under ‘Diam’ brand cork. The marketing man for the winery who sent them says most restaurateurs prefer screwcaps but some insist on having wine under cork. More fool them. Having tasted both wines over three days, and shown them to others in the wine trade, the better wine from the first whiff to the last sip was the screwcapped one. The difference was not subtle.

The wine sealed with a screwcap was bright, perky and fruit driven while the cork sealed wine was noticeably duller, its flavours fading to a drying finish. When top wine is available under screwcap, choose that closure – or take your chances on the outcome. Case closed.   

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2010 Mud House Central Otago Pinot Noir $20 Believe it or not, $20 is a bargain for pinot noir; this won an elite gold medal at the 2011 Air New Zealand Wine Awards and is so smooth and silky because the winemakers used just a smidgeon of oak – 10% - rather than the whopping amounts in so many reds today. This is a brave step in the right direction for New Zealand pinot noir. Bravo www.mudhouse.co.nz    

Treat of the week   

2007 Surveyor Thomson Central Otago Pinot Noir $42-$45 Made from grapes grown on a 14 hectare vineyard in Lowburn, this wine is made with about a third of the grapes being whole bunch pressed, which enhances fruit flavours and adds the impression of power. From Maison Vauron (www.mvauron.co.nz) in Auckland, phone (09) 529 0157 and good wine stores. www.surveyorthomson.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard Pipeclay Terrace Pinot Noir $89-$90 One of my star wines at this year’s pinot noir conference in Central Otago last month, thanks to an outstanding vineyard in Bannockburn and the quietly confident winemaking of Matt Dicey, who has harnessed this wine’s gorgeous red fruit expression in a full bodied, powerful pinot noir. www.mtdifficulty.co.nz

When it comes to favourites, everybody’s got one but nobody wants to say what theirs is - “Variety is what I love about wine,” is the conventional response from anybody with a serious interest in the stuff who’s asked ‘what’s your favourite? It’s not just the wine, either. It’s the regions it comes from. Naturally there are some extremely beautiful regions where wine is made around the world, but who wants to owns up to a favourite? 

Is Central Otago more jaw droppingly beautiful than South Africa’s rugged vineyard backdrop of mountains, whose long arms reach into the ocean? Does the quaint little vineyard at Okupu Bay on Great Barrier Island make one’s heart sing more than the vines stretching towards the coast at Cloudy Bay in Marlborough? 

 Do the precipitously shingly vineyards lining the meandering Mosel River in Germany really rival the steep slopes of France’s northern  Rhone Valley? And does the upper Douro River in Portugal really smell of almond blossom in spring or was it just the spoilt brat wine writer in me enjoying Europe’s most western country? 

Then there’s Italy. Its Cyprus tree-lined driveways, mountainous vineyards and  Roman ruins jostling for space with grapevines might look unreal, were it not for the naturalness of the landscape. This summer – if you could call this a ‘summer’ – I have put a stake in the ground. 

 Central Otago rocks. Its stony beauty not only forms the most dramatic backdrop to any wine region I have yet been to (early camping holiday nostalgia plays a part, I admit), but its higher altitude vineyards make the rocky landscape more prominent these days, thanks to relative newcomers Misha and Andy Wilkinson (57 hectares of vines on slopes so steep they almost rival Germany's shingly riesling vineyards). Steve Davies’ newish Doctors Flat vineyard and Coal Pit in the Gibbston Valley are other timely examples of relatively new, relatively higher altitude vineyards in the region. Yes, there have always been vineyards at high altitude in Central, but the number is growing – and so is the quality of wine. This year’s Central Otago Pinot Celebration in Queenstown last month showed nearly 200 passionate pinotphiles from around the world retrospective snapshots of ‘older’ pinot noirs alongside young wines. Both will be pouring onto the pages of this column over the next few months. If you’re looking for wines to rock your world, check out Central Otago’s. They may not make ‘recession buster’ status in my wines of the week but they will make your tastebuds happy. And the word ‘favourite’ might even spring to mind. jthomson@xtra.co.nz www.joellethomson.com    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2010 San Marzano Primitivo Puglia $18-20 A single sip of this southern Italian red brings to mind the phrase ‘black as night’, thanks to its deep colour, thick tannins and rich fruitiness. It is made from the primitivo grape; originally from Puglia, Italy, and also known as zinfandel in California. From Regional Wines, specialist wine stores or A Touch of Italy, phone (09) 273 3701, www.touchofitaly.co.nz  

This week’s treat   

2009 Ellero Pisa Terrace Vineyard Pinot Noir $38 The word ‘value’ takes on a whole new meaning with pinot noir; great ones never come at a rock bottom price. John Montero and Roberta Manell are old hands at working with tricky grapes; growers-turned winemakers they have made great gewurztraminer for years and now this beautifully fresh, fruity, drink-me-now pinot noir. www.ellerowine.com    

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Chard Farm Tiger Pinot Noir $69 If there is a more iconic vineyard in Central Otago, I have yet to see it; Chard Farm is not only one of the first to be planted (first vintage 1989); it’s one of the best reasons to drive over the Crown Range and gaze down (best to stop the car) on the vibrant green vines below. This wine is named after the late ‘Tiger’ Thomson (no relation), who worked at the cellar door and had a manner as elegant as this wine’s  vibrant fruit and full body. www.chardfarm.co.nz

Quintin Quider never imagined he would trade in a career as a deep sea diver for a job in a land locked wine region but when he ruptured his eardrums diving, something had to give. And since the land locked region in question is Central Otago, the jaw dropping beauty makes up for its lack of coastline, says Quider, who opens his winery restaurant this month at Kawarau. Quider knew he’d made the right new career choice when his 2006 Wild Earth Pinot Noir won the Trophy for Best Red Wine and Champion Pinot Noir at the International Wine Challenge in London a couple of years back, but, oddly enough, the first bottle of ‘Central’ wine he ever tried failed to impress him. When it later proved not to be a ‘Central Otago wine’ at all, but rather a brand made with grapes grown in Marlborough, he began to taste and fall for wines from the world’s most southern wine region. (No slight on Marlborough wine intended; it was a cheap basic wine.) That was in the early 1990s. His journey into wine enjoyment came prior to that and was a tad more auspicious when a friend shared a bottle of 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild with him in 1985. At the time Quider thought his mate was “nuts to spend US$40 on a bottle of wine”; until he took a sip and instantly became a wine fanatic himself. Skip forward to the early 2000s when Quider ditched the diving career and founded Wild Earth Wines in Central, producing his first bottle in 2004. Like most wineries in Central, Wild Earth is small but its focus is on high quality; so much so that Quider has taken the unusual step this year of not releasing his latest riesling. From now on, Wild Earth Riesling will come out a couple of years’ after it’s been made because that’s when it tastes best. Exactly how long has yet to be decided. What Wild Earth wine fans can enjoy right now is the new restaurant at the Gold Mining Centre in the Kawarau Gorge. The food will be matched to Wild Earth wines and it will come as no surprise to fans of Central Otago pinot noir that the Wild Earth vineyard is at the end of Felton Road in Bannockburn,; a stone’s throw from Felton Road and Mt Difficulty wineries. Speaking of which, as you read these words, the top of Mt Difficulty Wines is being converted to a ‘green roof’, in keeping with the area’s steady move towards biodynamic and organic practices. * Wild Earth Restaurant and Tasting Room is at the Goldfields Mining Centre, Kawarau Gorge, Central Otago, phone (03) 445 4841. www.wildearthwines.co.nz   jthomson@xtra.co.nz  

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2011 Brancott Estate Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc $25-26 Apologies tendered to those looking for a very low priced bargain this week – I usually deliver – but this brand spanking new Marlborough sauvignon blanc comes to us from the country’s largest wine producer, Pernod Ricard, and is an enticing mid-summer drop with fresh green apples flavours,  vibrant acidity and a succulent finish.   

Treat of the week   

2011 Tigermoth Riesling $33   

This year's Central Otago Pinot Noir Celebration in Queenstown was also a chance for lovers of top white wines to enjoy the pristine pure flavours of southern riesling, such as this seductively drinkable, bright fresh white. Winemaker Malcolm Rees-Francis from Rockburn Wines has created this beautifully balanced white with fresh acidity and intense lime, apple and floral aromas. From Glengarry’s or direct from www.rockburn.co.nz  

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Wild Earth Pinot Noir $38-42 Two different ‘clones’ – naturally occurring genetic variations, in the case of wine (to date) – are used by Quintin Quider to make this wildly rich, fruity expression of Central Otago pinot noir. Its depth of flavour, richness of taste and clean, silky finish remind me of a top Burgundy ‘village’ red. No wonder the 2006 Wild Earth Pinot Noir won ‘best’ at the IWC in London. www.wildearthwines.co.nz

 

This month marks a new beginning and a quick ending for New Zealand wine drinkers but it’s the ending that has stopped me in my tracks; Rumble’s Wine Merchant in Waring Taylor Street, Wellington, is closing its doors.

Is this the end of specialist wine stores as we know them?

Or simply that Peter Rumble’s lease expires at the end of February and he doesn’t want to relocate after 28 years? Either way, it’s a shame.

Rumbles fell into the wine and spirit trade by accident, literally. That is, he had one. An industrial accident at work when he was younger meant he needed to find ‘lighter duties’. And so, as a novice drinker of alcoholic beverages, he applied for a job in a wine shop, expecting to be asked a bunch of questions to which he would have few replies. Instead, his simple counting skills scored him the role; the manager had endured so many hassles with people screwing up the till that he just wanted someone who could count. That was 38 years ago, 28 of which have been spent running his basement store in the heart of the capital’s CBD.

Rumble’s has been the place to buy some of the quirkiest bottles of wine on the planet. Crémant de Limoux was one. This southern French fizz is widely regarded as being the world’s very first sparkling wine, initially made in the 16th century and sold at Rumble’s today. For the best part of the past three decades, this Cremant has sat on his shop shelves alongside an extensive range of sherries from Jerez, Spain (the only place ‘sherry’ can be made); which sits alongside modern Italian reds, top Spanish wines, new wave southern French quaffers and all the usual suspects: top rieslings, burgundies, Bordeaux’s and their like. Where will we buy such wonderful wines now?

It’s not really over, Rumbles says. He will continue importing wines and do some wine retail consultancy but there’s a house to re-roof, a kitchen to build and a garden that needs shocked into life. I know many who will miss Rumble and his innovative store, so let’s raise a glass to the man who opened many New Zealanders’ eyes – and, more importantly, their palates – to the world of wine.

The new beginning I spoke about is the Wild Earth Winery restaurant and tasting room in Central Otago, which will feature here next week. See you then.

 

 

Wines of the week

 

Recession buster

 

2008 Goat-Roti Syrah Viognier $22-23

If the goats really do roam from the tower they call home at Fairview Estate Winery in South Africa, then they don’t know what side their bread is buttered on. This wine takes its name from goats at the estate – whose cheese is famed, but that’s another story – and it also homage to the northern Rhone’s top syrahs, without the price tag to match. Full bodied, intense and instantly likeably fruity, this wine is a bargain for lovers of big reds. Mail order from Scenic Cellars, Taupo: www.sceniccellars.co.nz

 

Treat of the week

 

2009 Wild Earth Riesling $25-27

It’s hard to imagine a better match for crispy squid with peanut,  cucumber, coriander and chilli than this wonderfully fresh southern riesling, which was served to me at the great little Queenstown hole in the wall ‘Solera Vino’ restaurant last month. The Central Otago wine on everyone’s lips is usually pinot noir, but don’t ignore the deep south’s most promising bright white highlight – riesling - when  wines like this one walk such a wonderful tightrope of fresh acidity and a hint of sweetness for beautiful balance. Email: quintin@wildearthwines.co.nz or www.wildearthwines.co.nz

 

Reaching for the stars

 

2010 Hawkshead Bannockburn Pinot Noir $48

Made by Bannockburn based winemaker Steve Davies, this beautifully silky pinot noir has cherry flavours, top winemaking and a good vintage written all over it. Like many Central Otago reds from 2010, this one has more body and depth than previous vintages. If this isn’t a contender for a pinot noir wine cellar, I don’t know what is. Then again, it tastes rather lovely right now. Email: info@hawksheadwine.com or www.hawksheadwine.com

Like food, fashion and music, wine is so varied that it can be an instant turn on, an instant turn-off or instantly just downright weird. Burn Cottage Pinot Noir is all of those things and then some. Its debut outing at an inner city Auckland restaurant was a year ago but, thanks to being stranded on Great Barrier Island due to unseasonal storms and cancelled ferries, I missed its launch. 

While stranded friends and I scoured near empty shelves at the Barrier’s few general stores, while wondering about the Armed Defender’s Squad wandering around the island (news is hard to get in isolated settlements with no radio or cell phone coverage), a small party of wine lovers tasted the new pinot noir while learning about the green snake and the beautiful lily fairytale. 

The fairytale was written in 1795 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the artwork represents the ‘ideal human being’. Apart from sounding like good fodder for a Tui billboard, the ideal human being artwork graces the front label of Burn Cottage Pinot Noir. 

The link? Well, Burn Cottage adheres to biodynamic practices; the extreme end of organics. And since biodynamics were founded by the late Rudolph Steiner, who was inspired by Goethe’s fairytale, the artwork pays homage to him. So far, so surreal. It’s the wine in the bottle that intrigues me, though, and last year I tasted it a fortnight after its launch. Back then it was a big red which seemed to be a bit of a closed shop in flavour. The just launched 2010 Burn Cottage Pinot Noir is streets ahead. It’s not a fruity Central Otago pinot noir but more of a friendly stranger with a down to earth taste and good cellaring potential. Burn Cottage is owned by North Americans Marquis and Diane Sauvage, who holidayed in New Zealand in 2001, fell in love with the landscape in Central Otago, bought a slice of it and later planted grapes, returned home to Chicago, had children and decided to start a winery here while living over there. As you do, when you can. In other news this week, the Central Otago Winemakers’ Association has announced its support for French winemakers in the Cote d’Or in Burgundy, France, who have applied to have their region recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site. Watch this space.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2009 Don David Tannat Reserve $18 

Looking for budget bottle that tastes like it’s worth double the price? Check out this full bodied, black as night ‘red’ from Argentina, made from the tannat grape – originally from France and named because it is extremely tannic. It’s a gutsy red that grows well in hot climates such as Argentina, the south of France and, odd as it may sound, Uruguay, where tannat is the most planted grape. This is a lovely chunky red wine; a real bargain buy. www.winesale.co.nz   

Treat of the week   

 2010 Crimson Pinot Noir $35 or $18 for a half bottle 

 There’s more than a little feel good factor in this lovely young Martinborough red, proceeds of which go some way towards the conservation trust, Project Crimson, whose job it is to see pohutukawa and rata flourish throughout New Zealand. It’s the silky mouthfeel I adore in this fresh, fruity pinot with its red fruit flavours of cherries, plums and currants. And the half bottle for $18 offers a great entry point for those who want to dip their toes in pinot’s ‘waters’, so to speak. From specialist stores or Ata Rangi Wines, phone (06) 306 9523, www.atarangi.co.nz  

Reaching for the stars   

 2010 Burn Cottage Pinot Noir $55 

 This is one of Central Otago’s newest and smallest production pinot noirs; just 500 cases were made this year and last when the wine made its initial debut. It’s a gutsy young pinot from its powerfully full body, dark fruit flavours – black cherries and black plums – to its rich whiff of spice. My only gripe is the price. This is a good wine but $55 is steep for one so new. Still, with production being miniscule and quality high, there is no shortage of takers for Burn Cottage Pinot Noir. Production is set to double to 1000 cases from the 2011 vintage onwards. Buy from www.burncottage.com where you can join the mailing list to receive an allocation.

Tired of life in the city? Christine Kernohan was when she bought a small vineyard in the back blocks of Carterton, in 1996. The balmy summer evenings, renovated Victorian homestead and the quiet little lake it overlooked all promised what seemed like a slower pace of life to Christine and her husband, David, but today they admit they got more than they bargained for when they bought Gladstone Vineyard 16 years ago. The wine industry was buoyant at the time and the growing reputation of high quality Wairarapa wine was as much a calling card to the area as moving out of the city. But just as the place is inesteemably more beautiful than they imagined, the work is hugely more demanding. It was one thing to have a science degree, as Christine did. It was  quite another to apply that science to winemaking. Her background was in the business area of science so there was little cross over to winemaking, as she swiftly discovered. Fortunately, perseverance and local winemakers such as Chris Archer are part of Gladstone Vineyard’s winning formula today. The winery is, without doubt, the most consistent high quality producer in the northern Wairarapa, thanks to top winemaking and a consistent desire to turn out good flavours. Today Kernohan applies herself to all other aspects of the indoor-outdoor nature of a winery; tending the vines, marketing and selling the stuff – which involves a fair bit of travel – and it all adds up to what she describes as an extremely full day’s work. The Kernohan’s big news – aside from having one of the most relaxed little romantic enclaves in the Wairarapa in which to spend a summer afternoon – is that they are going organic. Specifically, they are working with BioAg. This Australian company has been working with New Zealand businesses for the past four years, helping wineries such as Gladstone Vineyard to change the way their grapes are grown – reducing and eliminating pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilisers. Thanks to these brave steps, the Kernohans are raising the quality of their wines. For a start, cropping levels naturally dropped once they began to lower the inputs they used on the vines. And since lower yields equal fewer grapes, the resulting taste is more intense across all their wines. Vine health is key to high quality wine and to the good life in the country, even if it is 10 times busier than the Kernohans ever imagined.   

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2010 Goats do Roam $16   South African Charles Back made goat’s cheese long before he got into wine, but his bottled wares have been causing a stir for their witty names and fantastic flavours since he began winemaking in 1999. This wine is modelled on France’s great value Cotes-du-Rhone; made from traditional Rhone grapes syrah, cinsault, mourvedre, grenache and carignan – with South Africa’s pinotage thrown in for its berry flavours. It’s available from Scenic Cellars in Taupo; which operates a massive mail order delivery company throughout New Zealand. Fairview Estate winery also makes the Goatfather (sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon); Goat Rotie (syrah and viognier) and several other dependably good value and interesting tasting wines. Email: Ian@sceniccellars.co.nz or www.sceniccellars.co.nz   

Treat of the week   

12,000 Miles Sauvignon Blanc $19 

 This northern Wairarapa white puts the ‘F’ in fresh and succeeds as a lighter than usual sauvignon blanc for those times when a bright vibrant white is wanted for freshness as much as fruity flavours. From specialist wine stores or www.gladstonevineyard.co.nz, phone (06) 379 8563.   

Reaching for the stars   

12,000 Miles Pinot Noir $25 

 The ’12,000 Miles’ wine brand is named after the distance between  the Kernohans’ original home in Glasgow, Scotland, and their new one here in New Zealand. This is a lovely soft, light, fruity pinot noir made with a portion of whole bunch maceration, which adds a soft explosion of fruit flavours; like the summer red pudding equivalent in a wine. From specialist wine stores or www.gladstonevineyard.co.nz, phone (06) 379 8563.

A joke doing the email rounds this month highlighted the difference between an Italian corporation with two cows and a German corporation with two cows. According to the anecdote, the Italians have two cows, don’t know where they are and decide to have lunch. The Germans, on the other hand, have two cows, decide to re-engineer them so that they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves. It’s frighteningly similar to what the Germans did to their grapevines last century. In one fell swoop they destroyed the reputation of their finest wine – riesling - while simultaneously crossing and hybridising it with insipid wannabes, creating the dreaded muller-thurgau, the bland bacchus grape; kerner, scheurebe and others which have never made the headlines. Even rieslaner – a cross between sylvaner and riesling – is simple since it tastes more of light sylvaner than sensually delicious riesling. And it’s one of the better ideas the Germans came up with as they worked riesling close to an early grave. The one thing all their mid 20 Century wine experimentations had in common was using riesling to up the quality of less interesting grapes – via a cross here, a hybrid there or simple an unpalatable tasting blend. Regardless of the ‘yuk’ quality of many blends, crosses and hybrids, riesling is interesting because of its highly desirable  attributes: freshness, intensity, balanced acidity (to create a pleasant sensation in the mouth) and, above all else, the ability to age; often for decades. While it’s not going to win any prizes as the most popular kid on the wine block right now, riesling is making a comeback of an unprecedented scale within wine circles, with riesling-dedicated events and great wines increasingly available. The best place to buy great riesling is from top specialist wine stores like Regional Wines & Spirits in Wellington, Chris Carrad’s Wine Circle in Huapai, West Auckland; Decant Vintners & Epicures in Christchurch and Maison Vauron in Auckland. Decant has not only survived the earthquakes but business is thriving, thanks to swerving the devastation of the big EQs. Look for names like J J Prum, Muller-Catoir and ask for guidance on the style of wine you like because if riesling does anything well, it puts the ‘v’ in versatile – bone dry, off dry, medium to sweet and unctuously sticky at the extreme end. And you don’t have to set foot in store; order wine from Decant online or via email: www.decantwine.co.nz For a more French take, Maison Vauron in Auckland offers a nationwide service of outstanding wines from the driest wine region in France: Alsace. Rieslings worth exploring from here include Deiss, Boxler and Albert Mann but, again, the store owner-operators, Jean-Christophe Poizat and Scott Gray can match your tastes to a great experience, which bears no correlation to old fashioned cask wine which might have had a smidgeon of riesling in it. The same expertise goes for Regional Wines & Spirits and for Wine Circle. Google them and taste for yourself. If you’re still searching for a New Year’s Resolution, how about this one: update your riesling tastebuds.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2011 Tohu Single Vineyard Riesling $20

Here’s a great example of a white which benefits hugely from decanting. I tried it and found the fresh lemon grass, ginger and lime flavours all opened up after sitting in a decanter for two hours. It’s refreshingly intense but bone dry; almost a rarity in this country and this wine carries it well, sporting lovely lusciousness and balance. I only wish it was the front label – rather than the back – which carries the ‘dry’ description. www.tohuwines.co.nz   

This week’s treat   

2010 Mount Riley Marlborough Pinot Noir $25

The Buchanan family winery in Marlborough produces wines which improve every year, thanks to winemaker Matt Murphy, who has coaxed a medium bodied Marlborough red into this bottle; it has impressive structure and length. www.mountriley.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2010 Tohu Single Vineyard Pinot Noir $28

This is a lovely red made with grapes grown on vineyards perched along the fragmented terraces of the Awatere Valley in Marlborough. It’s medium bodied with red cherry and redcurrant flavours, which linger on the finish. www.tohuwines.co.nz

The Dominion Post, Your Weekend, 31 December 2011 

What does your crystal ball say about the next 12 months? 

Anyone who wished for a plentiful supply of dirt cheap wine – and I might be accused of such wishes, at one time - now needs to add the rider ‘as long comes in more than three flavours’, if they want to drink more widely than wines beginning with ‘pinot’ and ‘sauvignon’. Don’t get me wrong. I like a bargain as much as I love a great glass of Burgundy, Amarone or Barolo that doesn’t set me back half a week’s wages, but variety brings you know what to our lives and right now it’s slim pickings in wine retail. Luckily, there is plenty of variety at wine events during the first month of 2012.

Anyone can study these qualifications. The indepth understanding and structured tasting techniques offer an insight into wine that’s hard to attain simply by reading encyclopedias before nodding off into dreamland about the minutia of the Saar, Alsace or Campania.

The Dominion Post, Your Weekend, 17 December 2011 

Call him an incurable romantic but the late Master of Wine Kit Stevens knew how to repay a small favour with a big one – and make a girl feel very special - when he filled my hotel room in central London with top shelf champagne. Jetlagged and weary after a whirlwind tour of cork forests in southern Portugal, I arrived late one night to a small hotel on a back street of Belgravia, struggled with the door key and readied myself for a long sleep, only to discover posh bubbles on literally every surface inside the room. It was a shame Kit was away at the time as he would have explained nuances in those wines that I may not have seen. Sadly, he has since died. Discovered by a workman at the bottom of his stairs, he is thought to have broken his neck after slipping in early August (the 3, to be exact), 2004. It was a sad day for all who knew him - personally and professionally - not least for champagne makers because he had a rare talent of being able to identify any bubbly in front of him with its identity concealed. Stevens’ blind tasting talent was partly due to the rigorous training he went through to become one of the first 33 people in the world to become a Master of Wine, in 1972. He also was one of the first to champion New Zealand wines, particularly our sparkling ones. He was part of the stuffy British wine establishment but he knew there was life beyond port, claret and sherry. While it’s nearly a decade ago since he took the trouble to repay a single bottle of bubbles I had delivered to his hotel room on a trip to Wellington, his sweet nature, exceptional palate and bung eye – lost, due to a champagne cork exploding in it  –always spring to mind whenever I hear the cork pop on bubbly. The moral of the tale is that the way to a woman’s or a man’s heart is through a great bottle of bubbly or, if the budget and creativity allow it, through an entire roomful. And these days the bubbly doesn’t have to come from Champagne, France, to have the x-factor, as New Zealand bubbles (Deutz, Pelorus, Quartz Reef), South African bubbles (Pongracz is a stunner) and even the once underrated Prosecco from northern Italy demonstrate. Prosecco has been rising in quality so steadily over the past decade that, in 2009, the Conegliano Valdobbiadene region in which it is made was raised from DOC to DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (“controlled designation of origin guaranteed”); the highest quality guarantee in Italy. jthomson@xtra.co.nz    

Wines of the week

Recession buster   

Botter Prosecco $19 to $30

The region of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene is one of only two places in the world where the Italian bubbly, Prosecco, can legally be produced; in north east Italy’s region of Friuli, which borders Austria and Slovenia. And like all good Prosecco, this one borders on low(ish) in alcohol, with just 11% abv. Flavours are of zingy fresh lemons, which linger on the finish. From specialist wine stores, good supermarkets or  Prodotti d’Italia, phone (09) 276 7140 or www.pdi.co.nz     

This week’s treat   

2007 Quartz Reef Methode Traditionelle $40 Talk about a fusion wine: made by Austrian born Rudi Bauer, initially in collaboration with Champagne Chauvet from France, this is possibly the world’s most southern bubbly being from Central Otago. It is incredibly consistent in quality and has crisp high acids balanced beautifully with sweet citrus aromas. It’s my favourite Kiwi bubbly. www.quartzreef.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

Champagne Gardet Brut Premier Cru $59.99

The Dominion Post, Your Weekend, 10 December 2011 

Five top new sauvignon blancs   

A tent full of sauvignon blanc is sensory overload at the best of times, let alone when it’s followed by a tent of tannic young pinot noirs, but at least there was a cup of tea and home-made baking waiting after tastings at Wine Marlborough this year. It’s a far cry from the old Marlborough Wine and Food Festival, which once attracted 18,000 people, ran out of glasses and food but not sun to singe the binge drinkers before they poured back onto buses and then the Interisland Ferry to head home.

Dare I mention, I was once a regular attendee at the old festival, as a young wine writer? Today, Wine Marlborough hosts a mini festival late in the year and another, much classier festival in February. At both events, corks are rare, food is plentiful and sunburn is avoided like the plague it really is. But it’s not only the boozy atmosphere that has evolved. Marlborough sauvignon blanc has moved from only being zingy fruit bomb explosions into diverse white wines; light, full bodied, crisp or mouth filling.

The Dominion Post, Your Weekend, 3 December 2011 

What is it about former Olympic rowers, ex-pat Australians and Swiss people that gives them an edge in winemaking? 

When he and his wife Therese first bought land in Marlborough in 1994 and planted vines there in 1996, they commuted between their winery in Nestenbach, Switzerland, and Marlborough. Eventually, in the late 1990s, they sold up and moved out to keep their Marlborough grapevines company, but Herzog says from the start he never wanted anything to do with sauvignon blanc. Besides wondering what he could add to the vastly expanding pool of gobsmackingly tutti fruity Kiwi ‘savvies’, he saw other potential in Marlborough. He makes an outstanding red from the Italian montepulciano grape, grown in Marlborough, and his viogniers and chardonnays are redefining full bodied Marlborough whites. But now, due to popular demand from Australian wine writers and restaurateurs, he crafts small quantities of a very different sauvignon blanc. It’s aged for a year on its lees, which are those dead yeast cells left over once wine has finished fermenting.

The same goes for Sutherland and Healy’s Dog Point Section 94 Sauvignon Blanc, and even more so for their 2009 Dog Point Pinot Noir; one of the best reds from this country’s biggest wine region. If you had longer, these notes would wax something or other about how sensational Hatsch Kalberer’s 2009 Fromm La Strada Pinot Noir and how delicious Judd’s latest 2009 Greywacke Pinot Noir are, but don’t take my word for it. Make for your nearest specialist wine store to taste the best of Marlborough’s perfectionist winemakers’ wares.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2009 Benchmark Grant Burge Shiraz $14.99 Here’s a refreshing Australian red; a shiraz I can actually drink more than one glass of, thanks to its savoury flavours, and thanks to wine lover Matt Deller; fine wine specialist at the Fine Wine Delivery Company in Auckland, who has secured an allocation of this top value red for Kiwi drinkers (in Australia, it’s a restaurant-only wine). www.finewinedelivery.co.nz    

Treat of the week   

2010 Framingham Marlborough Select Riesling $26 The first sip of this riesling very quickly seems to lead to an empty bottle (shared between two riesling lovers, of course), thanks to Marlborough winemaker Andrew Hedley, whose studious attention to the top rieslings of the world pays dividends in this intensely tasty, light bodied, refreshing white. Flavours of limes, apples and a lovely low 8% alcohol all say ‘drink me’. www.framinghamwines.co.nz    

Reaching for the stars   

2010 The Elder Pinot Noir Martinborough $56 Yes I have moaned about high priced new pinot noirs but there are always exceptions and here’s one I highly recommend. This is the first Elder pinot noir and it’s a full red made from grapes grown at the southern end of Te Muna Valley, Martinborough, at the confluence of the Huangarua and Ruakokopatuna rivers. Viticulturist Nigel Elder says the wine will only be made in years he and its other three shareholder-creators deem good enough to produce a top drop. Its full body, spicy flavours and lovely balance make it worth the splurge. Email info@theelderpinot.o.nz or www.theelderpinot.co.nz

Having tasted all six of Grant Taylor’s Valli Pinot Noirs since he began production in 2003, I see the same steady improvement.

There’s less than one degree of separation between this wine and another from an old hand at Central pinot noir; Steve Davies. Not that Davies is ‘old’ – oops - but he is one of the region’s most experienced pinot practitioners and he has just released his new Doctor’s Flat Pinot Noir. Made from a three-hectare vineyard he bought and planted in 2002, the wine’s name comes from an 1890 map of the Bannockburn Mining District showing the Deep Lead & Doctors Flat Mining Co, which held a claim on the site. (There was no apostrophe in Doctors Flat Mining Co's original papers. which Davies has copies of.)

He moved to Central in 1998 from making wine in the Napa Valley. Since then, he has made Akarua and Carrick Wines pinot noirs; now he is farming his own organic vineyard; a solitary, hands-on job, which is paying dividends in the wine quality, both for him and for those he grows grapes for – such as Taylor, who makes his award winning Valli Bannockburn Pinot Noir with some of Davies’ grapes. Collaboration is alive and well in the world’s most southern winemaking region – or is that now Patagonia?

Central Otago Pinot Noir Celebration, January 2012 - registrations open

And speaking of celebrating, from 26 to 28 January 2012, lovers of Pinot Noir will wing their way to the 2012 Central Otago Pinot Noir Celebration to taste, talk and celebrate New Zealand’s most successful red wine to date. Find out more and register for the 2012 Central Otago Pinot Noir Celebration – it’s open to everyone – by contacting Jen Parr, at Olssen’s Winery, phone (021) 254 7772 or winery@olssens.co.nz or www.pinotcelebration.co.nz    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2009 Cent'Are Nero d'Avola Sicilia $22 Here's a wine that shows Sicily is home turf to one of the world’s great unknown red grapes - the venerable nero d'Avola, which finds a silky smooth expression in this black cherry, spicy, full bodied red; its makers at Duca di Castelmonte (owned by Marsala wine giant, Pellegrino) marry subtle oak with ripe black grapey flavours. It’s an absolute bargain for a top tasting red. From specialist wine stores or direct from A Touch of Italy, phone (09) 273 3701 or www. www.touchofitaly.co.nz  

This week’s treat   2009 Doctor’s Flat Pinot Noir $44

This newcomer is from highly experienced Central Otago winemaker Steve Davies and the 2009 is a full bodied, earthy style which has more in common with many Martinborough pinot noirs than the juicy fruit hallmarks of the south. I like this evolution towards spice, dark plum flavours and medium acids, which balance the wine beautifully. From specialist stores or email steve.d@xtra.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Valli Bannockburn Vineyard Pinot Noir $65 Visiting Central Otago to drink Grant Taylor’s Valli Pinot Noirs may not be in the same league as living there and making the stuff, but it’s hard to think of a more beautiful location in which to drink this gold medal winning red – the best yet from Valli. Winemaker Grant Taylor is also turning his hand to gewürztraminer from 30 year old vines at Black Ridge this year: a difficult variety to sell but he made it in California years ago, loves the variety when it’s well made and is looking forward to seeing what he can unlock from these old vines. www.valliwine.com

The Bay’s biggest strength is its diversity. A top pinot noir and two sensational sauvignon blancs showed the Bay has cool areas – where these grapes usually thrive – as well as warmer areas where chardonnay positively glows. For the third year running the champion wine of the show was the Villa Maria Single Vineyard Keltern Chardonnay, this year the 2010 vintage. The choice of chardonnay as champion wine proves what some of us have quietly been saying for years: Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s greatest chardonnay region. This doesn’t mean Nelson, Marlborough, Martinborough, Gisborne and Central Otago can’t or don’t produce top chardonnays. They do. There are simply a greater number of outstanding chardonnays from Hawke’s Bay every year. And the consistency in style from low priced to top shelf Bay chardonnays is enough to bring even those who think they are over  chardonnay right back into the fold. Then there were the reds. They were impressively teeth-staining, but not as palate numbing as judges expected, thanks to the region’s winemakers moving away from the hefty oak which characterised their reds in the past. It’s not happening quickly but slow and steady wins the race. And when it comes to syrah, the relatively small amount made is inverse to the supremely high quality of the wines. Hawke’s Bay latest merlots are outstanding.

The Dominion Post - Your Weekend - 12 November 2011 

What's in a name? Plenty if it flouts EU wine law...

If Friulian bubbles aren’t on the Christmas drinks shopping list, they should be, given the surge in popularity of this easy to drink, easy to afford northern Italian fizz, made from the prosecco grape. Just don’t be lulled into thinking that the New Zealand lookalike - Toi Toi Prosecco - is the Real McCoy. 

Even if it was, wine made from it would have to be called ‘Glera’ – an ancient name, which has now been revived, for the grape formerly known as Prosecco - to comply with European wine law, which stipulated from 1 August 2009 that Prosecco qualifies as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) wine. 

 Bonner says he questioned the use of the name but was told it was being done in Australia, where prosecco is popular. At least one other winery I know of in Australia shows the same blatant disregard of EU wine law and uses the name prosecco, but why not just call it sparkling wine and say it was inspired by Italy’s lovely, light, fruity prosecco?
Both Bonner and Joyce insist they have no intention of being discourteous towards the Italians; merely of emulating a wine style they both admire. Toi Toi ‘Prosecco’ does taste similar to a light Italian Prosecco, but since it’s not prosecco and is actually a blend of three other grapes, it really shouldn’t bear that name. 

The Doctor is Dr John Forrest, who adores riesling in all its different guises, including at this refreshingly low 8.5% alcohol level. Delicious  drinking in late afternoon sunshine and a wine that puts Marlborough’s best foot forward as a white wine region. Widely available.    

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Seresin Leah Marlborough Pinot Noir $38 Smooth, silky, Burgundian-like in its tannin structure… well, that’s enough on the tasting note of this subtly impressive Marlborough pinot noir, which is a real step up for Seresin and for Marlborough. From specialist wine stores or www.seresin.co.nz  

I always knew there was something special about wine. Much as I would like to believe wine gives me fantasies, it is difficult to imagine that miniscule traces of the active ingredient in ‘fantasy’, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), or its precursor gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), are enough to do the trick. Research in the UK showed the concentration of GHB ranged from 4.1mg per litre to 21.4 mg per litre of wine, with the greatest concentration found in reds. Contrast that with the 500mg to 3000 mg doses in recreational drugs and what do we have? Two words sprang to my mind: moral panic. But National Addiction Centre director Doug Sellman said the ‘revelations’ call for more research. Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said "there'd be a measure of outrage" if wine was found to be illegal. He has a point, even if we all knew that already. Most people enjoy wine at home, in moderation, in a glass rather than out of a bottle inside a paper bag on a park bench. And what possible effect can 4.1 to 21.4mg of GHB per litre of wine have on our health, given that those who drink wine regularly usually consume, say, 300mls at most in one sitting, which  shrinks the already negligible amounts of GHB or GBL to almost nil. Sucking on a cherry stone can kill humans because cherry pips and seeds produce prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide). The stems and leaves of tomatoes contain glycoalkaloid, which causes extreme nervousness and stomach upsets, if eaten. So do the green bits in potatoes. I don’t suck cherry stones, eat tomato leaves or intentionally cook green spuds, but on the many occasions I’ve eaten spray-free tomatoes straight out of my garden – after touching their leaves – I haven’t developed a nervous condition or a stomach upset. Remember what grandma said about moderation in all things? Wine relaxes us without pouring a high dose of alcohol swiftly into the bloodstream, as spirits do. It transports those who drink it to another time and place by sheer dent of being made in so many diverse countries and for thousands of years, as Italy’s wine heritage shows us. GHB in wine? Where’s a satirist when we need one? Wine writer calling Tom Scott.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2011 Shingle Peak Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc $15-22 Marlborough sauvignon blancs are pouring onto shop shelves swifter than you can open a screwcap these days but this luscious version stands out from the crowd. Not only is it deliciously affordable, it has lovely medium body and impressive length of tropical flavour at the end of each sip. Widely available.   

This week’s treat   

2009 Wild Irishman Macushla Pinot Noir $48 Mention the name Alan Brady and both my home town of Dunedin and the world’s most southern red wine success – pinot noir – both spring to mind. Last month Brady released three new Pinot Noirs under his ‘Wild Irishman’ label; Macushla is my favourite of the trio. Its name means ‘my pulse’; a term of endearment in Gaelic. This medium bodied, bright cherryish red is a blend of his other two 2009 Pinot Noirs; aged for an extra four months in oak. Just one barrel was made so it’s a rarity; like its maker. From specialist wine stores or contact: Alan Brady, winemaker, Wild Irishman Wines, phone (03) 442 4044, email: alan.brady@xtra.co.nz or www.wildirishmanwines.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2007 Sartori Amarone Della Valpolicella $75 Northern Italy’s amarone is one of the world’s rare dry red wines made from dried grapes, which accounts for the intense,  rich, meaty flavours in this wine. This one is unfiltered after winemaking, meaning all its flavours are intact. It’s full bodied and tastes wonderful after a couple of hours in a decanter or jug. From Dhall & Nash Fine Wines, phone 0800 369 463.

The Dominion Post - Your Weekend - 29 October 2011 

A little latitude   

With his Triumph Herald, a group of friends and a growing love of riesling, Jamie Marfell spent his teenage petrol allowance and spare time driving around Marlborough’s wineries in the 1980s, learning about the liquid he would make one day. A fourth generation Marlbornian, Marfell was the son of a sheep farmer who thought grapes were the worst thing to happen to Marlborough since… well, probably since the town’s infamous floods, which occurred regularly until the 1960s when protection was finally built to prevent water wreckage in Blenheim. While Marfell could see his old man’s point of view – “Dad was right for three or four years; these guys were planting things upside down and using watering cans, but eventually they started making some lovely muller-thurgau and cabernet sauvignon” – he went to winemaking school anyway. Three years after graduating from Lincoln University; in 2002, he started making Stoneleigh wines. This year he has launched the new Stoneleigh Latitude riesling, pinot gris, chardonnay and pinot noir. Marfell is experimenting with these wines. Instead of adding yeasts, he waits for yeasts in the atmosphere to pick up on the fact there are some tasty grapes in the vicinity waiting to be converted from sugar to alcohol. It’s a risky venture. It takes longer than the controlled addition of yeasts and sometimes it needs a bit of a helping hand, but it usually results in more interesting wines. The grapes in the Latitude wines come from a warmer than usual part of Marlborough, thanks to stones in the vineyard, which retain heat even when the sun has descended for the evening. As for the wines, they taste pretty new right now. Marfell’s and my favourite of the new Latitude range is the chardonnay. It’s big without being buttery, crisp without tasting of a grapefruit and fresh without being overly acidic; top value at $26.99. In other news from the biggest wine company in this country, the new Brancott Estate Visitor Centre has opened its doors on ‘Rob’s Knob’; the hill above the first vineyard ever planted in Marlborough. The centre includes a tasting room and restaurant, was designed by Fearon Hay Architects and has panoramic views over a sea of vines stretching in every direction. On a clear day, it’s possible to see Cape Palliser with a wine in one hand and a slice of prosciutto in the other. Not bad for a region whose locals never believed grapes would take off in their secluded sunny corner of the South Island.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2010 Brown Brothers Tarrango Victoria $15.99 Most wine drinkers know of Brown Brothers but few have heard of ‘tarrango’; a cross between the Portuguese touriga grape and the sultana table grape. It was developed in Australia in 1965 and takes its name from the soft, sweet reds Australians drank prior to then, which were often known as ‘tarragona’ and were an alternative to heavy port styled wines. I like the strawberry taste and very light body of this red, which is 12.5% alcohol and a fun daytime wine. Widely available.   

This week’s treat   

2009 Stoneleigh Latitude Chardonnay $26.99 This is a red wine drinker’s chardonnay with its full body, delicious silky mouthfeel and great length of flavour at the end of each sip. Made with grapes grown on Marlborough’s ‘golden mile’ – a relatively warm area in Rapaura – it’s easy to see why winemaker Jamie Marfell wanted to create a top notch white, using wild yeasts rather than walking the usual predictable path. Widely available.   

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Church Road Reserve Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Merlot $37 Fresh from judging at the 2011 Hawke’s Bay A&P Mercedes-Benz Wine Awards, I am super impressed with the reds of this region, which are mostly unrecognisable from even a decade ago, as wines like this ripe, bold, powerful and delicious red show. Widely available. If you have willpower and want to start a cellar, this is a keeper – as well as tasting good right now.

The azure blue seas, the snorkelling along prolifically populated coral reefs, the impossibly white sand… the chance to train non-drinking, Muslim wine staff – well, some of them were - in wine all presented a challenge worth taking on. So it was disconcerting to arrive to a tropical thunder storm which lasted three days; each one increasing in humidity, making red wines even less appealing than usual in 30 degree heat. Fortunately, lightning and rain gave way to brilliant sunshine as a group of Italians embarked on a luxuriously fitted out wooden boat and climbed to the top floor to sprawl on soft cushions while we drifted about the South Indian Ocean looking for dolphins while tasting (and, yes, drinking) Ata Rangi Crimson Pinot Noir, the fantastically good South African 2006 Raats Chenin Blanc, a German riesling - 2006 St Urbanshof Mosel Riesling - and a 2009 Argiolas Vermentino from Sardinia; an island off the west coast of Italy.

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2005 Canaletto Nero d’Avola Merlot Sicilia $19 to $21

Speaking of forgotten treasures, this Sicilian red is a bargain for a six year old, nicely evolved, velvet smooth red vino. It’s a blend of the indigenous Sicilian grape, Nero d’Avola, with the better known merlot, which adds softness to the spice and heart of the wine. Available from Rumbles Wines in Wellington and some specialist wine stores or contact Rupert Kurghan at Prodotti d’Italia, phone (09) 267 7140.   

Weekly treat   2008 Moncellier Pinot Noir $34.99   

Talk about a career of extremes. Bill Spence, now the sole owner of Moncellier Wines, pioneered Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand, in the 1980s, with his brother, Ross Spence. Today he continues to make Sauvignon Blanc (from Awatere, Marlborough) and has added Pinot Noir to his arsenal; this Central Otago version treated to a ‘wild’ ferment to build flavour, with just 25% new oak used to create a dry fruity red. From specialist wine stores or contact Bill Spence, phone (021) 968 332 or email: bill@moncellierwines.co.nz  

Reaching for the stars   

2005 Charles Gardet Prestige Charles Rose de Saignee $99.99 If a special occasion is looming or $100 is burning a hole you know where, check out this beautifully full bodied top-shelf bubbly from Champagne, France. It has just arrived in New Zealand for the first time and is made from Pinots Noir and Meunier. It is relatively dry with 8 grams ‘dosage’ (that’s the sweetness level, per litre of wine). Mail order from Fine Wine Delivery Company, Auckland, phone (09) 377 2300 or www.finewinedelivery.co.nz  

If you’re ready to quip ‘of course not; the cheaper, the better’, how might you reply if dirt cheap wine was only going to be around for another five years and then all wine would triple in price? It’s not as far fetched as it sounds. The super low price of wine in supermarkets right now is unsustainable for the medium and long term success of wineries, both here and around the world. It’s a convenient way to shift surplus, which the world is full of right now, but it’s not sustainable beyond that. Auckland wine importer Rupert Kurghan is among those who are  disturbed by the constant pressure to find wines cheap enough to be discounted in price at least half the time. It’s pretty safe to say it’s not supermarkets taking the hit when a $16 wine is on special for $8.99 and if it’s at full retail price this week, just wait seven days to buy your favourite drop because you know it’ll be discounted. Since it’s easy on the pocket, most wine drinkers don’t give the matter a second thought. It is a problem for those who make good wine. If a winemaker or a wine importer wants to make money – rather than facilitate the exchange of cash – the supermarket is the last place to do it. I think this is a shame. Supermarkets have enormous potential to sell a diverse range of quality wine at different prices. With the notable exception of the internet, which appears to be walking down the same sad discounted path, supermarkets could be the most inventive wine retailers in this country. So, what is the answer? My suggestion is to make it a rule as a wine drinker to only go as low as $10 to $12 on a bottle of wine. Anything less is unsustainable for its producers and is merely a matter of money changing hands. On a cheerier note, the 16 Italian Film Festival in New Zealand is in full swing right now and a six-pack of outstanding value vinos will only set you back $79, if you shop online at Prodotti d’Italia. The wines are part of a pre-festival special of quirky Italian drops, ranging from nero d’Avola from Sicily to Chianti from Tuscany. There’s even an Italian pinot grigrio; drier in style than pinot gris but just as soft, simple and accessible. And last but not least, congratulations to Sir George Fistonich, founder and managing director of Villa Maria Wines, who was  awarded the International Wine Challenge’s Lifetime Achievement Award in London last month.  The judging panel, chaired by Masters of Wine Tim Atkin, Sam Harrop and Derek Smedley, as well as Oz Clarke and Charles Metcalfe, say they chose to honour Sir George with this accolade, which is bestowed annually on one senior industry leader for significant contributions to the wine industry internationally.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

Piccini Sicilia IGT $12-14 Sicily is full of treasures, most of them housed in museums and reconstructed monuments; this outstanding light young “rosso” (red) is a spicy little everyday drop made from the nero d’Avola grape. Direct from Prodotti d’Italia online at www.pdi.co.nz or phone (09) 276 7140 for stockists near you.   

Treat of the week   

2010 Greywacke Riesling $26 Readers looking for riesling guidance would do well to splurge on this medium or ‘off-dry’ wine, which is flavour packed and has only the merest hint of sweetness, with its tastes of limes, oranges and cloves. www.greywacke.com   

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Te Awa Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Merlot $36 When so many young New Zealand reds are simple fruit bombs, along comes this exceptionally stylish, spicy, meaty blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot from Te Awa’s winemaker Ant Mackenzie in the Bay. It’s lively, rich and multilayered in taste, with blackcurrant and blackberry flavours. Www.teawa.com

The Dominion Post - Your Weekend - 8 October 2011 

Poor quality or simply misunderstood? 

They were sent to me by wine importer, Rupert Kurghan, who has given up entering competitions. It’s time we all broadened our wine horizons; consumers and wine show judges alike. 

 Wood says this year there were three gold medals, nine silvers and 12 bronzes awarded to Italian reds; a total of 24 medals out of 34 entries. Last year there were five golds and the wines appeared more spectacular, so perhaps the current vintage is not of the same quality.  And so to a couple of Italian vinos worth spending expanding those horizons for. Beginning at the heel of the Italian boot, Salice Salento is an Italian ‘DOC’ region (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) where the negroamaro (‘bitter black’) grape rules. The 2007 Terriero Salento, $15 to $17, is typical of reds from Salice Salento in that it can be hard to get to grips with at first but, once past its initial earthy whiff, its dense dark fruit flavours shine. This week’s ‘recession buster’ is a top example of montepulciano from Abruzzi, in central Italy; the fifth largest wine region in that country. It’s an excellent example of the heights of flavour winemakers can attain at very low prices for Montepulciano D'Abruzzos. Importer Rupert Kurghan says it has been rather disheartening entering Italian wines into competitions in this country because they rarely score higher than bronze medal status, at best. Given their popularity with consumers and a small handful of wine writers, he has given up both entering the wines in competitions and being concerned about it. Which is understandable, but also a shame, given that Kingsley Wood, founder of the New Zealand International Wine Competition, intentionally created an ‘international’ wine show to champion precisely these types of wines. If you are in any doubt about the ability of the world’s most diverse, fascinating and historically important wine country to make top drops at affordable prices, try this week’s ‘recession buster’ from Italy and report back to me with your rating: bronze, silver or gold. Perhaps it will inspire Kurghan to enter them in Wood’s competition next time round. jthomson@xtra.co.nz    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2008 DeCanal Montepulciano D'Abruzzo $12-$14 This three year old montepulciano has been aged for a year in oak but doesn’t have any of the hard, woody edges often associated with low priced gutsy reds; instead it’s big, soft and spicy. From specialist wine stores or Prodotti d’Italia, phone (09) 276 7140 or www.pdi.co.nz   

This week’s treat   

2009 Te Mania Nelson Pinot Noir $22-$23 This family owned winery was established in 1990 by Jon and Cheryl Harrey on the coastline of Tasman Bay near Nelson. It’s a juicy, generously flavoursome pinot noir, with its delicate floral aromas, spicy sweet cherry aromas and accessible price. www.temaniawines.co.nz  

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Framingham Marlb Classic Riesling $24-$25 Beautiful crisp expression of riesling in all its lime, green apple and freshly styled glory. This is a lively, balanced white, which lingers on the palate, thanks to talented winemaker Andrew Hedley. www.framingham.co.nz

Like the stocky, outgoing, five footsomething winemaker, Wolf Blass, my heavyset taxi driver in Sydney last month was an Australian immigrant who likes his wines “very heavy and very dry”. These men not only resemble the wines they like to drink, they obviously chose the right country to emigrate to since red wines don’t get much heavier or drier than they do in Australia. As one who prefers light bodied, intensely flavoured wines like riesling, barolo and pinot noir, it came as a surprise to find myself impressed by 35years of Wolf Blass Black Label; a wine Blass once famously described as a drink to make strong women weak and weak men strong. The first vintage was 1973, which won the Jimmy Watson Trophy; an Australian award given to the producer of the best one to two year old dry red wine at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show each year. It has since won the trophy twice again; in 1975 and 1976. Speaking at the 35 anniversary of his eponymous Black Label wine held in Sydney last month, Blass attributed the success of Black Label to his striving for consistency when he first arrived in Australia in the 1950s and worked at Kaiser Stuhl, then founded his own winery in the Barossa Valley. Unlike most Barossa Valley red wines, though, the Black Label has a backbone cabernet sauvignon rather than shiraz. While Blass relentlessly aimed to create a red which tasted similar from year to year, he ducked and dived from one wine region to another, sourcing differing quantities of grapes from regions each year to create a uniform taste. Even the grape varieties changed each year. Cabernet sauvignon has always led the blend, with different proportions of shiraz, merlot and malbec making regular appearances. In a country awash with shiraz, Wolf Blass Black Label offers a muscular, broad shouldered alternative: an Australian red that’s as dry as a bone and made mostly from cabernet sauvignon. 

The 1978 Wolf Blass Black Label, made of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Shiraz, held its own alongside wines 20+ years younger, revealing layers of flavour over the three hours I was lucky enough to swirl, sniff and sip its ancient, black olive-like charms. Blass was right. Black Label does make strong women go weak.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2009 Forrest Riesling $15-19

This is a step forward for winemaker John Forrest, who would like to get riesling back into the glasses of New Zealanders who enjoy lively, light whites with luscious, intense flavours; this lemony tasting version has a refreshing dry finish. www.forrest.co.nz     

Treat of the week

2009 Rockburn Three Barrels Sauvignon Blanc $35 Winemaker Malcolm Rees-Francis made just 60 cases of this spicy, full bodied, mouthfilling sauvignon blanc; blending grapes from Parkburn and Gibbston Valley to create what is a relatively small production run of an outstanding, surprisingly big southern white. From Glengarry’s and specialist wine stores. www.rockburn.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2007 Wolf Blass Black Label $140

This is the 35 Black Label to be created; this time round being a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, supported by 22% Shiraz and 8% Malbec. As always, it’s massive in colour, structure and taste; the acids are youthful and it’s almost too early to assess, suffice to say this impressive red will age well for at least a decade. www.wolfblass.com.au  

The Dominion Post - Your Weekend - 24 September 2011 

Master of Wine Michael Brajkovich had his work cut out for him when he was handed the winemaking reigns from his father, Mate, who passed away in 1992, and this year he has made what I regard as KumeuRiver’s best chardonnays yet. Technically, the wines were made in 2009, but they have just been released onto wine store shelves now and they are outstanding. They are also made against the odds. West Auckland’s humid, often wet weather is the antithesis of what most grapevines thrive in and Kumeuexudes little of the charm of a romantic wine region and more of the industry of small town New Zealand. And yet, as the new 2009 chardonnays from KumeuRiver show, this unlikely area is home to one of the best wineries in New Zealand. 

It was not a blind tasting, nor was any sleight of hand where wines were tasted in an order designed to highlight their good or bad points, although it must have been rather tempting to do so, given the variability between bottles sealed with corks. Both Brajkovich brothers wanted to share two of their favourite whites; wines to which they aspire to match in quality. If only the burgundies had both been able to live up to such flattery. 

So was the 2007 Meursault Coche Dury from France, for that matter. When the French do something well, it is outstanding, so why on earth are they holding back on using the most logical closures for their top white wines? Neither Brajkovich brother proferred an answer, instead humbly explaining that they had enjoyed a great bottle of the Leflaive a week prior: it was fresh, linear, focussed – everything, in other words, that it should be and that their wines are.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster

2009 KumeuRiver Village Chardonnay $18

Chardonnay will decline by 1.9% in New Zealand over the next year, but thankfully not at the West Auckland vineyards from which this light, citrusy, creamy textured dry white is made. From specialist wine stores and inventively stocked supermarket wine aisles or www.kumeuriverwines.co.nz   

Treat of the week   

2009 Vega Real Ribera del Duero $29.95 

The Dominion Post - Your Weekend - 17 September 2011 

To call Chris Carrad an adventurous retailer is a wild understatement. As one of the rare few wine store owners who imports wine into New Zealand today, Carrad champions Californian reds with prices nudging $200 a bottle, and encourages customers to drink North American pinot noirs, rieslings and chardonnays. 

This wine propelled California onto the world wine stage in 1976 and onto movie screens worldwide over three decades later when the film Bottle Shock came out in 2009. 

While we’re on the subject of North American wines, 15 of them compete next week at the Nelson First XV Wine Competition; a tri-nation tasting where 15 aromatic wines from the US, Italy and Nelson will compete for ‘best’ in a blind tasting. Each country will enter five rieslings, five pinot gris and five gewürztraminers; New Zealand’s being exclusively from Nelson. 

2011 Old Coach Road Riesling $15-20 Luscious, crisp, intensely concentrated with the taste of lemons, limes and fresh green apples, this Nelson riesling is one of the current stars of the South Island’s most northern wine region. And it’s widely available at Countdown and New World supermarkets. For more information, contact, Anna Seifried, phone (03) 544 5599 or anna@seifried.co.nz     

This week’s treat   

2007 Stag’s Leap SLV Cabernet Sauvignon $199 This big bodied Californinan red first shot to fame in 1976 when it scored top wine at a French tasting, propelling its maker, Warren Winiarski to cult winemaker status. This wine is made with grapes grown entirely in the Stag’s Leap District of Napa Valley; it’s densely fruity, tasting delicious with grilled mushrooms served with a drizzle of olive oil and a sliver of Parmagiano Reggiano. From Wine Circle, phone (09) 412 2258 or www.winecircle.co.nz

The first of these conundrums is generally easier to cope with than the second. As you can imagine, it is extremely rare for me to over-indulge, but the after-effects from the odd night when I have over-consumed are not pretty. With that thought in mind, New Zealand wine colleagues Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron have launched this year’s version of their low alcohol sauvignon blanc, Bella. 

What the front label doesn’t tell us is that Bella is slightly sweet, with 4.8 grams per litre of residual sugar (‘rs’). Since five grams per litre of ‘rs’ is the level at which most people can detect sweetness, it’s worth looking at the effect this has on wine. When a winemaker stops a wine from fermenting to dryness, there is more glucose and fructose but less alcohol; if the grapes were fully ripe. In Bella’s case, the grapes were picked as a slightly lower than usual sugar level (19.1 brix, in wine terms), so the potential alcohol was only about 10% rather than the usual 12% to 13%. By stopping fermentation before total dryness, there is lower alcohol and a hint of sweetness, which adds body, by the way. If calories are a big concern, there is a solution. Although alcohol is sometimes lumped in with carbohydrates, our bodies treat the two rather differently;  metabolising calories from alcohol before processing calories from the food we eat. So, serve a smaller plate of pasta at dinner and enjoy the wine. That’s what happens in my ideal world.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buste

2011 Bella Invivo Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough $21-22   This girly sounding Marlborough sauvignon blanc is a triumph of clever packaging with the laguid looking scrawl on its see-through bottle alerting us to its lower than average alcohol and calorific content, which is why it’s selling like hot you know what’s in the UK for over NZ$30. Bella tastes light, fresh and vaguely fruity with her clean, herbal flavours a great match with seafood. Widely available or contact Invivo Wines, phone (021) 852 068. www.invivowines.com   

Weekly treat   

2008 Glasnevin Limited Release Riesling $33   This low alcohol (9.5%) North Canterbury riesling is modelled on a German ‘auslese’; fermentation was intentionally stopped short of dryness to retain luscious red apple, peach and pineapple flavours in a honeyed texture, thanks to winemaker Barry John. It’s is easy to see how it won a trophy and gold medal at this year’s inaugural Speigelau International Wine Competition. From specialist stores or email: glasnevinwines@xtra.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Black Estate Omihi Pinot Noir $41 This is also from North Canterbury and at two years old, it’s still youthful with vibrant red cherry flavours, muscular shoulders and a zingy finish. From specialist stores or Black Estate, phone (03) 310 6930, email: Penelope@blackestate.co.nz

The real worth of any product, he says, is what people will pay; not what its makers want us to pay. He’s right. If only a handful of people will pay $70 for a syrah they have never heard of – one example he mentions - then its makers will be reduced to charging less or have to stop making such a pricey wine for a small market in the middle of a recession. Thankfully, most wines sell for a lot less than $70. Of the endless stream of sauvignon blancs at supermarkets for $8.99 right now (when their recommended price is between $14.99 and $24.99), I think it’s a different story. I could be wrong but when a bottle costs between $4 to $6 to produce and is sold for $8.99, there is very little profit for its makers and, in my mind, there is very little doubt that supermarkets are using wine as a loss leader. This means they sell it at a loss – or close to it - to lead people back to buy other items. I couldn’t help thinking this as I scanned the bland wall of white wine while waiting in line at New World Metro on Willis Street last month. As the queue wound its way to the counter, every grocery item on the shelves changed – except the wine, which was the same brand all the way along. It made the Meadow Fresh milk in my basket look positively exotic. On such a cold night, where on earth, I wondered, was the red wine? I departed the queue in search of something more flavoursome than the same old sauvignon, sweet shiraz and pricey pinot noirs in front of me. I finally found four interesting bottles, all cheaper than the aforementioned; all from Italy and all requiring magnum loads of perseverance to track down: they were tucked on the bottom shelf of a stand facing the street. In other words: where nobody would usually bother to look. I know of at least three other wine importers who have bent over backwards in a fashion worthy of a good yogi to get their wines into supermarkets; only to be told “these unusual wines just don’t sell”. The reason, in my humble opinion, is not that New Zealanders are unwilling to pay $10 for lovely full bodied ‘grillo’ (dry white from Sicily) or $12 for a nero d’avola or chianti. The problem is these wines are impossible to find unless you’ve dropped something on the floor and happen to glance at the bottom shelf while you’re picking it up. I have never heard of Angelo Nero d’Avola before but as I’m a fan of ‘nero d’avola’, I spent $12 and an hour later, three of us devoured its savoury deliciousness. The next day I hot footed it back and bought the last bottle to share with a family member, who has now tracked it down at New World in Waikanae. It’s worth every cent. jthomson@xtra.co.nz    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2009 Angelo Nero d’Avola Sicilia $12   This spicy, fruity Sicilian red treasure is worth hunting for at New World supermarkets or you can try to rouse the importers, Toop & Johnston in Wellington. I’ve had no luck getting hold of them yet, but will keep trying. Phone (04) 472 6884.    

This week’s treat   

2010 Coney Riesling $20   Martinborough’s Coney Winery is best known for its café, but it’s the rieslings I’ve fallen for, which range from bone dry to medium/off-dry; this is like biting into a crisp ‘Jazz’ apple: fresh and crisp with a hint of tropical fruit sweetness. Buy from Coney Wines, phone (06) 306 8345 or www.coneywines.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2010 Churton Marlborough Viognier $37   This is Marlborough winemaker Sam Weaver’s first viognier (‘vee-on-ee-ay’) and it has the body of chardonnay but the aromatic appeal of a gewurz’, chenin or even riesling; peachy and rich but bone dry. From specialist wine stores or email: sam.weaver@churton-wines.co.nz

The Dominion Post - Your Weekend, 20 August 2011 

Take four bottles from the world’s southernmost wine region, two Central Otago winemakers and one limping wine writer who has dropped a bottle of riesling on her toe and what do you have? Aside from the clumsy wine writer (stone cold sober at the time of injury, for those wondering), what you have is a couple trying to sell more wine. Crawford and Catherine Brown are under no illusion they are household names but their Bannock Brae Estate wines taste good enough to warrant a wider airing than the down south. 

So far, so typical of the slow growth small businesses go through. Wind the clock forward another five years and times are now so tough in wine that the Browns sold a smidgeon of their land in late 2010. They now have to buy back some of the grapes they planted but as the late Hunter S Thompson said: when the going gets weird, the weird turn professional. And with that thought in mind, the Browns are on a mission to make their wines better known. 

The Dominion Post - Your Weekend, 13 August 2011 

If your surname was ‘Corban’, your partner had worked at a Bordeaux winery and you wanted a change of pace after life in Paris with a young family, what would you do? For Jeremy Corban the answer was obvious: come home, buy land and work with his retired winemaking father, Alec Corban, to plant grapes in Martinborough. And while Corban now works in a day job in Wellington, his partner Katherine Jacobs tends their 10 acres of vines at Te Muna, 9kms west of Martinborough. This gives them the best of both worlds: a steady income and the chance to build a business they are passionate about. And since they chose Te Muna over Martinborough, they get to be neighbours with pinot noir maestro Larry McKenna, whose presence and proximity is an added bonus. They also get Te Muna’s challenges: more elevated land than Martinborough with its slightly cooler, significantly windier climate. They made their first Big Sky Pinot Noir in 2006, which was chosen as “best pinot noir of the year” at a blind tasting at Scenic Cellars, in Taupo the following year. Not that it’s shot to fame since. The quantities are too tiny for that, but what I like – aside from its delicious taste and full body – is its price and its makers’ philosophy: to grow their quantity in tandem with market demand. Another new Martinborough wine is causing both a demand and a slight furore amongst wine lovers right now. “Ritzling” is, I think, a deliciously accessible new take on the much misunderstood riesling theme, even if it is packaged in 250ml screwtopped bottles with painted peony roses and the words “Ritzling – Bottled Happiness” on the front label. Is this a naked attempt to turn wine into RTD-sized look-alikes?

If the wine industry is to survive, innovation such as this is needed. Like it or not, wine drinkers vote with their wallets.

The previous three years were a constant riot of urbane Wellington tastings attended by journalists of both genders with frank discussion had by all. By contrast, the Auckland wine writing scene felt like stepping back into the world of six o’clock closing. It was an unpalatable blend of old fashioned sexism, old fashioned male bonding and old fashioned hearing aids; one of which regularly screeched so loudly it could be heard by all in attendance, while its owner frequently asked which wine was the chardonnay and which was the sauvignon blanc. On the odd occasion a wine writer spoke to me at a tasting back then, he was usually referring to something I wore or asking if I had any children. One took literally two years to acknowledge me while another admired my hair at every tasting, as though he was meeting me for the first time, while still another constantly tried to pick me up.

Not least because these days the men who attend wine tastings are a tad younger than that lot. And of course I’m a tad older, but I like male company, so a women-only wine tasting begs the question: aren’t we past all that women-only-room thing now. I really thought we were. Winemaker Jules Taylor, one of a trio of female winemakers at the inaugural WIW (Women in Wine) event diplomatically suggested the segregation enables some women to feel more confident about asking questions, sharing their thoughts about wine and participating in the intimidating sniffing, swirling, aerating-wine-while-sipping routine. Maybe so, but how do men who are new to wine get past all the palava? I suggest less scrutiny about how much air the person next to you breathes in while tasting wine and more openness to everyone’s thoughts. 

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2009 Jacob’s Creek Reserve Chardonnay $21-22 If the name leads you to the off switch, think again because this is a new reserve chardonnay made with grapes grown in the relatively cool Adelaide Hills. Its flavours are fresh, floral and tempered with vibrant acids. Forget blousy big Aussie chardonnay; this wine shines with elegance.   

Treat of the week   

2010 Toi Toi Hawke’s Bay Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon $34-35 This broad shouldered red is not for wimps; made entirely from cabernet sauvignon, it’s full bodied, heady and its grapes were grown on the banks of the Ngaruroro River at Mangatahi in upper Hastings. No doubt the hand harvesting helped ease the grapes through their transition from a tough vintage into a beautifully smooth red. www.toitoiwines.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   

2002 Pol Roger Pink $117 Who said pink’s for girls? The Pol Roger Champagne house only makes pink bubbles as a vintage champagne (this is 2002) rather than blending grapes from several years into a less expressive wine. And don’t be deceived by the colour; half of this vibrant, full bodied bubbly is made from pinot noir, which was lightly pressed to keep the juice neutral in colour while allowing its tannic grip to add muscle and depth; the balance is chardonnay and a smidgeon (15%) of still pinot noir wine to add the bright ruby colour. 

2009 Pencarrow Martinborough Pinot Noir $23 Winemaker Allan Johnston has always been a dab hand at making Martinborough white wines sing in the glass and from the late 1990s onwards, he turned his experience to pinot noir; this top value ‘second tier’ wine over delivers on soft, silky flavours for the price. www.palliser.co.nz   

This week’s treat   2008 Big Sky Te Muna Road Martinborough Pinot Noir $30-40 Katherine Jacobs and Jeremy Corban are the viticulturists and winemakers behind this new Martinborough wine, which is made with grapes grown at Te Muna – 9kms west of the township. He’s one of the Corban wine family – a son of the now-retired Alex Corban – she is his partner and the dedicated grape grower responsible for the well honed intensity of flavour in this savoury pinot noir. www.bigskywines.co.nz   

Reaching for the stars   2008 Wolf Blass Grey Label Langhorne Creek Cabernet $49.99 It’s not often I recommend $50 Australian reds as delivering recogniseably good value for money but this lovely lithe textured red really does have beautifully structured berry fruit flavours, a smooth texture and a long, impressive finish. www.wolfblass.com.au

The Dominion Post - Your Weekend, 23 July 2011 

Sweet talk   

What is a sweet wine? And how does it differ from a medium or a bone dry wine? Human beings often think they can taste sweet flavours when aromatic, fruity and even spicy tastes are noticeable, but smells and tastes can be deceptive, especially in white wines. And many wines can seem sweet when they are made from grapes like pinot gris, muscat, riesling and even chardonnay, all of which can have such fruity flavours that they appear sweet, even when bone dry. Sweetness in wine is technically called residual sugar (RS) and comes from natural grape sugars which have not been fermented  (mostly glucose and fructose) to total dryness. Even bone dry reds and whites usually contain 1 or 2 grams per litre of residual sugar but at this level, it is virtually impossible to tasteany sweetness. A regular reader of this column writes to ask for help in tracking down a New Zealand riesling which is actually dry because she has been disappointed to find wines labelled "off dry", which she thinks taste “far too sweet”. Jenny Boshier and her husband first fell for dry rieslings when living in Australia for the past decade, so it’s hardly surprising they now find most New Zealand rieslings a touch too sweet for their tastebuds. Anyone who has fallen for the fresh and flinty charms of Australia’s bone dry rieslings from Grossett and their floral counterparts from Watervale wineries, such as Kilkanoon or Ollsens, could easily taste nothing but sweet lemon drops in Kiwi rieslings. The contrasts are staggering. New Zealand riesling is never going to taste like its Australian counterparts, but it doesn’t mean we can’t make dry riesling here. It’s just a tad challenging. New Zealand’s relatively cool, extremely maritime and highly variable climate delivers grapes with far higher acidity than Australian winemakers ever see, which means balance needs to be achieved, often by virtue of leaving a little residual sugar in the wine. The alternative is to create bone dry Rieslings with such searingly high acidity that nobody would want to drink them. The trick Kiwi riesling loving winemakers are discovering is which years the grapes best suit being bone dry versus off-dry. The good news for Jenny is that some of the world’s fussiest wine drinking palates – winemakers and wine writers from Germany and France – now rank New Zealand riesling alongside the best from Germany, France and Austria; the three most highly regarded riesling producing countries on Earth. Dr Ernst Loosen, a soil scientist and riesling fanatic from the Mosel River in Germany says: “Mount Edward Riesling is so good it could be J J Prum". Which is like saying that a new Indie rock band is nudging The Rolling Stones in their heyday or that a stylish old Jaguar has the same efficiency as a brand new one – or something like that. Am I getting through?
I agree New Zealand riesling erred on the side of too sweet in the past, but times are changing. Open minds and mouths will find the best New Zealand rieslings today are a varied bunch from definitively sweet to bone dry, though rarely with the awkward angularity that used to put people off ‘dry New Zealand riesling’. As for that list of dry New Zealand Rieslings, start with these: Carrick Dry Riesling, Muddy Water Dry Riesling, Pegasus Bay Bel Canto, Waipara Springs Dry Riesling, Framingham Dry Riesling, Felton Road Dry Riesling, Discovery Point Dry Riesling, Mount Edward Dry Riesling and if you are adventurous enough, ask the nearest specialist wine store for a dry French, Austrian or German riesling and find out where all the riesling fuss began. Tell me what you think: jthomson@xtra.co.nz    

Wines of the week  

Recession buster   

2010 Mission Estate Riesling $16-$17 Mission Estate winemaker Paul Mooney makes small quantities of this luscious off-dry riesling, which just won a gold medal at this year’s Sommelier Wine Awards in London. It’s lime, lemon zest aromas lead into a deliciously succulent wine. Available from the winery: www.missionestate.co.nz   

This week’s treat

2009 Brown Brothers Tempranillo Victoria $18-20 Darker in colour and taste than last year’s version of this Australian take on the Spainish tempranillo grape theme. This is a top value, soft and spicy everyday red and widely available. www.brownbrothers.com.au   

Reaching for the stars   

2008 Mount Edward Riesling $25
Winemaker Duncan Forsythe describes this dry Central Otago riesling as a ‘kabinett’ style, in German/riesling/wine lingo, which means it’s a fresh, bright, focussed young riesling with intense zesty cut-through (also known as ‘refreshing acidity’) balanced by a lovely delicate fresh apple taste. Stunning value, available at specialist wine stores or direct from the winery. www.mountedward.co.nz

The Dominion Post - Your Weekend, 9 July 2011 

The sin tax   

How much should a bottle of wine cost? While most wine drinkers won’t feel it in their own pockets, the price of every bottle of wine sold in this country has just risen by 9 cents. Not that you would know it, unless you followed the 1 of July increase on excise tax; which was referred to as “the sin tax” early last century when prohibition was looming and alcohol was widely regarded as the root of all evil. Fortunately, most wine drinkers do not makewine, which means we manage to personally swerve the price rise of 9 cents a bottle, but I pity New Zealand winemakers right now. Their profits are at an all time low, due to the double negative of a global wine surplus and supermarkets nailing prices down so low that wine acts as a loss leader – or close to it - to get repeat business. Right now, I think wine drinkers in this country should count  their lucky stars they haven’t had the astronomical price rise of 9 cents a bottle passed onto them in the way some beer drinkers have. A large hand-written notice chalked up on the blackboard of Galbraith’s Brewing Company in Mt Eden, Auckland, proved the point last month, warning customers that: “A price increase will come into effect July 1 in accordance with the 4.5% government-imposed rise in beer excise.” The difference is based on alcohol content, so spirits incur an even higher excise tax. I can understand the need by small breweries to pass on this extra cost, just as I can see why winemakers need to, so why aren’t they? Of a dozen winemakers I posed the question to last month, all prefaced their almost word for word answers with a deep sigh: “We will just absorb the extra cost, as usual”. Historically, winemakers never had to pay excise because it ceased to exist early last century. Until 1985 there was a sales tax on wine, which was incorporated into the cost of each bottle. Then, in 1985, Roger Douglas introduced excise tax to every litre of wine produced in this country, which winemakers now have to pay. Excise is pegged to the Consumer Price Index and in the past 10 years, excise tax has risen by 67 cents on every litre of wine made. So, while winemakers are paying the government 67 cents more for every litre of wine they make, we are paying less than ever as the price of wine drops. Not only is winemaking getting more expensive, there’s even a tax on the tax because once GST is added to excise, that 9 cents is closer to 10 and a half cents per bottle. The question is whether alcohol should be taxed so heavily in the first place. I think wine and well-made beer are vastly different to mass produced and high alcohol spirits because good quality wine and beer always go better with food than on their own, making them a healthier way to consume alcohol. The excise tax situation will persist as long as New Zealanders put up with being labelled ‘sinners’ simply because they like a glass of beer or a glass of wine, says wine industry elder statesman Terry Dunleavy; the first chief executive of the Wine Institute of NZ), founding editor of NZ Winegrower magazine and the man largely responsible for getting wine into supermarkets. Some suggested the day would come when he would regret getting wine into supermarkets because these powerful retail chains would nail wine prices to the floor, do  irreparable damage to wine quality and the profits of those who make it. While he was pleased to have made wine widely available and easily affordable via supermarkets, one chilly afternoon last month, Dunleavy said that, thanks to the global wine surplus, the lowering of prices on supermarket wines and, now, another rise in excise, that day has finally arrived.    

Wines of the week   

Recession buster   

2010 Jacob’s Creek Reserve Riesling $20-21 The new reserve Jacob’s Creek wines launched in May this year includes this low priced, high quality riesling, which seems to burst with fresh lime flavours and a just off-dry style. This is excellent value for money, but I noticed it tastes better the day after it’s opened; alternatively, decant prior to drinking into a jug, decanter or wide-mouthed bottle; great use for that old milk bottle you have lurking in the cupboard.   

This week’s treat   

2009 Greywacke Pinot Noir $46-47   Kevin Judd’s name shot to fame when he made Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc; now he has branched out on his own with Greywacke Wines. This pinot noir is made with grapes he buys from vineyards in Marlborough’s southern valleys. It’s impressively silky smooth and fruity with a full body. www.greywacke.com   

Reaching for the stars   

2009 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir $65 One summer’s day in 1980, Clive Paton drove to Martinborough with his young daughter to visit a potential vineyard. He loved it, bought it and aimed to make a Pinot Noir from it, which would wine drinkers all over the world. This 2009 wine is the latest in a long line-up of reds which have done just that, with their silky smooth luscious cherry tart flavours. www.atarangi.co.nz