World Of Wine Winter 2022

WINTER 2022 NZ$9.95

How to taste

Pinot Noir

CAMERON TAKES YOU ON A MASTERCLASS

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Wines tasted and rated

SIDEWAYS IN NZ

Rex Pickett spills the beans

TOP 10

Wine Films

ISSN 2624-3342

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US WINE STAR ELAINE CHUCKAN BROWN

talks NZ wines in the USA

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Home-grown heroes Natalie Christensen and Paul Pujol I Hawke’s Bay’s red revolution and more...

P E R F E C T BY C H A N C E

The Caley is not just exceptionally crafted wine; it is a symbol of perseverance.

A celebration of possibility. It’s only thanks to decades of serendipitous events that a wine of such quality and prestige exists.

Embrace the Magnificent Unknown

WINTER 2022 CONTENTS

PUBLISHED BY The Intermedia Group NZ Pty Ltd PO Box 109 342 Newmarket, Auckland New Zealand MANAGING DIRECTOR Paul Wootton pwootton@intermedia.com.au GROUP PUBLISHER Craig Hawtin-Butcher craig@intermedia.com.au EDITOR Oliver Styles oliverstyles@gmail.com SALES DIRECTOR Wendy Steele wsteele@intermedianz.co.nz +64 21300473 DIGITAL AND PRINT COORDINATOR Eclypse Lee elee@intermedianz.co.nz ART DIRECTOR Sean Barlow sbarlow@intermedia.com.au

24 04 A Word From The Master

Musings from New Zealand’s only Master Sommelier

08 Winemaker Interview: Natalie Christensen

Yealands’ Chief Winemaker talks Albariño and barrel hall mantras

12 How to Taste Pinot Noir

Cameron Douglas MS takes you through how to taste the world’s trickiest red variety

16 Winemaker Interview: Paul Pujol

Hamilton native, Prophet’s Rock winemaker and self-confessed Pinot chaser, Paul Pujol talks to Cameron Douglas MS

19 Hawke’s Bay’s Red Revolution Known for its big, warm, Bordeaux and Rhône-styled red wines, Hawke’s Bay is undergoing something of a change

24 Rex Pickett

Oliver Styles talks to the man behind the great 2004 wine film Sideways, and asks if its heroes, Miles and Jack, are coming to New Zealand

28 Top 10 Wine Films

We run down the best the silver screen has to offer the oenophile

30 Elaine Chuckan Brown

Cameron talks to North America’s superstar wine educator

40 Tasting Notes

41 Sauvignon Blanc 44 Chardonnay 47 Other Whites 50 Pinot Noir 54 Red Blends 56 Other Reds 58 Syrah/Shiraz

60 Cam’s Best of 2022 (So Far) Front cover credit: Hawke's Bay Wine

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Cameron Douglas, MS: A WORD FROM

th e Master

W

WELCOME TO THE WINTER EDITION OF WORLD OF WINE.

hile I don’t keep a diary note of when we light our indoor fireplace at home, it does seem like it’s earlier this year. Outdoor heaters at restaurants have been on for some weeks already and menus are reflecting the seasonal change, so I guess winter is here.

The good news is that we can travel again and somewhere warm sounds very appealing right now. Now’s the time to plan a trip around our beautiful country, perhaps Australia, or the Pacific Islands? Many places in the northern hemisphere are open too – so just do it.

I completed a trip to the UK in late April to chair the New Zealand panel and judge at the Decanter World Wine Awards, the world’s largest wine competition. I wasn’t sure how I would manage wearing a face mask through two long-haul flights, but it was okay and with all the other passengers in the same situation we just did what we needed to do to get there. If wearing a mask when sharing public transport is all it takes to get around, then life is, well, pretty good.

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Continuing a personal goal of traveling to every wine region in Aotearoa every year is exciting. Chatting with winemakers, tasting wine, keeping up to speed with quality, trends, and wine styles produced is fun, and I am always learning. I mentioned in the last edition that 2021 was a smaller vintage, down over 20 percent for many, with some excellent quality reported. Some of those wines are now available with some excellent drinking aromatics: Chardonnay and rosé in particular.

Most red wines are yet to be released, so I’ll keep you posted.

Vintage 2022 has kept the smiles going for many producers in terms of fruit quality, but there were some weather events that didn’t help either, and a couple of regions couldn’t get their later ripening fruit in on time. Overall, though, the quality is again very high and we should expect some exceptional wines when released.

I’ll be sure to keep you informed with reviews and tasting notes through The Shout magazine, World of Wine summer 2023 and every week at www.camdouglasms.com.

Some interesting stats from the 2022 harvest include a two percent increase on

total vineyard area; white varieties dominate with 33,752 hectares (red varieties at 7,851 hectares). There are 2101 vineyards in NZ; Marlborough remains the largest producing region; and Sauvignon Blanc is still the most significant variety for white grapes and Pinot Noir for red. Our smallest wine region is Waitaki Valley at just 59 hectares. Our wine sector is mostly boutique with over 650 producers making between 1000 and 20,000 cases of wine each year.

Can I please encourage you to buy and support local as often as you can?

Cameron Douglas, MS

THE BEST OF THE BAY

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF EXCEPTIONAL WINEMAKING

Chris Scott, Church Road Chief Winemaker and 4 x Winestate Winemaker Of The Year (2013, 2016, 2020, 2021) has reason to be excited for 2022.

125 years on from when the journey of capturing the riches of New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay region began, Church Road celebrates being one of the founding wineries producing an award-winning portfolio of wines.

What started with commitment to excellence from Church Road’s founders and New Zealand wine pioneer, Tom McDonald, has grown into a legacy of exceptional winemaking that has established Church Road with wine lovers.

Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2020

BEST IN SHOW 97 POINTS

Decanter World Wine Awards 2022 “This outstanding wine has a bright gold colour with faint lime glints. Freshness and richness are beautifully paired in the aromas -- to an extent which is perhaps only possible south of the equator in New Zealand. That gives this wine a memorable classicism, Burgundy-lovers might note. In the mouth, it is concentrated and confident, once again striding down that line between the fresh and the rich to vivacious effect. No hurry to drink: a year or two’s cellar softening will bring great benefits here.”

Decanter World Wine Awards Judges ENJOY RESPONSIBLY.

s p i s Small

NEWS FROM THE NEW ZEALAND WINE INDUSTRY AND HAPPENINGS ON THE HORIZON

LARRY MCKENNA STEPS DOWN FROM ESCARPMENT Veteran winemaker Larry McKenna – a worked for Delegat in Auckland from 1980 to major figure in the development of Pinot Noir in New Zealand and in particular the establishment of Martinborough as one the country’s preeminent areas for Pinot Noir – is stepping down from his role as chief winemaker at Escarpment, the winery he cofounded over 20 years ago.

McKenna’s contribution to the New Zealand wine industry is hard to overstate.

An Australian expat and graduate from the Roseworthy winemaking school at the University of Adelaide in the mid-1970s (in itself, something of a calling card), McKenna

1985. He moved to Martinborough (to take up winemaking for Martinborough Vineyards) in 1986 before establishing his own project, Escarpment, also in Martinborough, in 1998, continuing to forge a reputation for producing stellar Pinot Noir.

McKenna is keen to sidestep the “retirement” word. “I’m not looking for a job,” he said. “I’ve not officially got any plans – I’m certainly not going to start a new project, it’s too late in the day for that kind of thing”.

“I’m 70 years old, I’ve been around long enough to take a step back,” he added.

CLOUDY BAY SAUVIGNON BLANC STARS IN FOOTBALLERS’ WIVES TRIAL A bottle of 2017 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc found itself at the centre of the UK’s high-

profile libel case between footballers’ wives Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy. Dubbed the “Wagatha Christie” trial (after the acronym WAG for the footballers’ “wives and girlfriends” entourage), the case hinges around Rooney using social media to oust Vardy as the one person passing on Rooney’s personal information to the tabloids.

One such Instagram post (to which only Vardy, unknowingly, was privy) claimed the Rooneys had experienced a flooded basement and that a pictured bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc was “needed after today”. Popular UK tabloid The Sun then ran with the (false) story of the flooded basement back in 2019.

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GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES

SET TO DRIVE UP WINE PRICES The war in Ukraine, ongoing issues with international shipping and the increasing cost of raw materials are causing headaches for winemakers worldwide with some producers in Europe predicting costs of an additional 20 to 30 percent per bottle of finished wine. The wine industry here is also being affected and while it is still hard to say just how inconvenienced wineries will be, wine prices look set to go up in the near future.

Creating connections with smaller, family owned growers

Bosio Family Estates Santa Stefano Belbo, Provence of Cuneo, Italy

Facebook.com/4winecentral www.winecentral.co.nz

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09 973 4747

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NATALIE CHRISTENSEN INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW: NATALIE CHRISTENSEN

Awatere Valley Vibes YEALANDS' SUPERSTAR WINEMAKER TALKS TO OLIVER STYLES ABOUT FINDING HER PATH, MAKING WINE IN SPAIN AND MANTRAS IN THE BARREL HALL...

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WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

NATALIE CHRISTENSEN INTERVIEW

T

he problem with talking to Natalie Christensen is that she confounds my cynicism. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing but journalists get trained to poke in the attic, looking for Dorian Gray’s hideous portrait; to find the dead bodies successful people have either created or stepped past; they’re instinctively cynical. And it makes for a juicy story.

Aside from my notes, all I walk away with from my chat with Yealands' Chief Winemaker is a feeble attempt to pin down the shade of her lipstick. Aubergine is the best I can come

up with. But while I can’t open any skeletoncontaining cupboards or dish any dirt, that doesn’t mean Christensen is boring.

She’s quite the opposite. As anyone who knows her knows. Colour seems to feature a lot in her life and her wardrobe (if her Instagram feed is anything to go by) is a technicolour riot. That’s why I’m trying to pin down the lipstick.

But today, her tones are relatively muted.

It’s a Sunday morning at Napier establishment Mister D’s. We’ve both had late Saturday nights and although Christensen is tucking

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NATALIE CHRISTENSEN INTERVIEW

into a solid breakfast, I’m only on the coffee.

Our watier appears none too impressed by my lack of appetite (the restaurant is packed) but I’m also trying to pay attention because there’s a lot to get down.

Firstly, her career path into winemaking is far from straightforward.

Born in Christchurch, she studied music at Victoria (Wellington) and is classically trained on the double bass, having also played with the New Zealand Youth Orchestra. Her Bachelor of Arts in Music morphs into a psychology crossover via music therapy and ends with her taking a Masters of Science in Applied Psychology.

An HR job straight out of university beckoned but it wasn’t for her.

“I had a quarter-life crisis,” she says. “I quit the job and took up bar work in Darwin.

Someone suggested I go to Marlborough, work a harvest and then do my OE (Overseas Experience) in the UK.”

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Christensen with possibly the most spiritual barrels of Pinot Noir Seddon-side.

The harvest was at Saint Clair in 2006 and despite her initial travel plans, she stayed.

“They’d just built a new winery and they offered me a permanent position. I stayed with them for six years and completed my Graduate Diploma in Oenology through EIT [Hawke’s Bay] part-time.”

Having made it to Assistant winemaker at Saint Clair, she moved to Matahiwi's in the Wairarapa to take a Winemaker role there in 2012. Working with Matahiwi’ former long-serving Head Winemaker Jane Cooper was “a great experience […] I grew a heap and learnt loads”. She also credits Cooper with “helping her harden up” but that’s the closest I get to any admission of hard-nosed business skills.

Then, after 18 months in the Wairarapa, came Spain, where in 2013 she worked for US importer Jorge Ordoñez as a winemaker in Rías Baixas, the home of Albariño, adding the sweet wines of Malaga to her stint in 2014.

Spain, and the cool-climate Rías Baixas, taught her a great deal.

“It taught me a lot about the importance of malic acid and keeping an eye on this for picking decisions,” she says. “The coast of the Salnés Valley in Rías Baixas reminds me a lot of the coastal aspect of where Yealands is situated in the Awatere Valley.”

In 2014, as many budding winemakers do, Christensen had also done a vintage at Yealands as Vintage Winemaker before going back to Spain, cramming two harvests across two hemispheres in one year. She took a Yealands Winemaker role the year later, staying on and working her way up the ladder to Chief Winemaker in 2019.

Spain’s influence is still there, though, even in the Awatere.

“We don’t eat lots of Spanish tortillas or octopus – it’s more like a pepper steak pie from the Cosy Corner Café – but we do experience the same coastal influence on our fruit, giving it a mineral, salty edge. We have some Albariño planted now at our vineyard and received our first crop this harvest. It’s very exciting to be working with this variety again.”

That’s not the only influence Christensen is bringing to the wines. A practitioner of Ashram yoga, she’s not only due to spend a 10-day yoga retreat in Golden Bay a week after our chat, she’s also got a mantra playing on repeat in the barrel hall.

“Purity, unity and one-ness,” the mantra goes. “It’s perfect for Pinot Noir,” she adds.

As for future projects? “I’ve never been to Japan,” she tells me. “There’s this thing called ‘forest bathing’ – shirin yoku – I just wanna go and check this out.”

Rather than stoking my journalistic cynicism, I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't try some more positive mantras myself. W

®

www.riedel.com

HOW TO TASTE PINOT NOIR

How to taste

Pinot Noir OUR MASTER SOMMELIER TELLS YOU HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST FICKLE GRAPES.

T

asting wine is a skill anyone can master if they’re willing to learn how their palate works. Indeed, when I got serious about wine I needed to learn how to taste properly before I could start exploring the world of wine, its different grape varieties and wine styles. After attending a wine course and getting the basics down I then knew how to proceed and let the journey begin.

At some point on your own wine journey, you’ll run into Pinot Noir will be there – if you haven’t already. It can be a tricky grape but it certainly lends itself to deeper exploration and discussion. Pinot can be one of those life-changing wines; it can also disappoint – although sometimes this is not the wine’s fault.

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Pinot is fascinating. Its aroma can be both sensual and floral, earthy and mineral, mysterious and complex, it’s easy to think of a place and time with the smell of great Pinot. I remember working a harvest in Burgundy and when you pick grapes you get to know the smell of the vineyard you’re in: the soil; the vines; the air around you. Tasting a wine from that same vineyard instantly took me back to the place where I had been harvesting, from the perfumes to the sense of place. This was an epiphany for me and it’s part of why Pinot Noir can be so evocative.

The structure of any wine, its acid, alcohol, fruit concentration, use of oak and tannins form the foundation, but also provide mouthfeel and carry the voice of place, complexity and finish. These ideas

The right glass can really help Pinot Noir to show off its aromatic complexity

are crucial to fine wine and fine Pinot Noir, although Pinot’s tannins are generally finer, even softer, compared with the likes of Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon.

It’s also a rather fickle grape to grow and ripen needing lots of attention in the vineyard. It is a variety that can echo its surrounds from soil and minerals, flowers and plants as well as berry-fruit flavours and dried herbs. Tasting Pinot Noir requires some extra focus, here’s how I approach it.

Your nose is a much more powerful tool than you might think so maximise it in every way possible starting with the right glass. A glass with a large bowl, tapering inwards at the rim, and ideally with a long stem for a decent swirl. The thinness of glass and shape of the rim are important to delivery of the wine onto

HOW TO TASTE PINOT NOIR

Pinot Noir is all about the vineyard

the palate. The size of the bowl is important for swirling and breaking a large surface area of wine to release then trap as much scent as possible.

Make sure you’re not trying to taste Pinot on the back of a coffee or highly flavoured foods, rinse your palate using mineral water (tap water can carry too many disruptive flavours, such as chlorine). You only need around 70mL to taste a wine so the process from here is about revealing the package of scents and trying to gather in the texture and complexity. You can’t taste and assess Pinot on just one smell and one taste.

Swirl the wine a few times, then get your nose right into the glass. Give it a long, slow, gentle sniff – eyes open – exhale through your nose and relax. Do the same again, but this time eyes closed and sniff longer to be sure you fill your lungs then exhale through your nose and relax. One more sniff, only this time, before you do, place the palm of your hand over the top of the glass and swirl the wine again. Then immediately you remove your hand your nose goes back into the bowl with another moderate sniff – eyes closed. All this swirling and sniffing will take just one or two minutes tops; the whole point of this approach is to wake up your senses and then open them acutely to subtlety, complexities, techniques of

fermentation and resting on lees, and the story a Pinot Noir is trying to tell you.

The delivery of Pinot Noir onto the palate is important to its assessment, so be sure to let the wine touch the tip of your tongue as you take the first sip – this helps you decide how fruity, acidic and intense it is all at once. Also, the right glass lets the wine cascade across your palate evenly. Be sure to hold the wine for a few seconds before you engage any rinsing technique. Pinot is a wine that wants to tell you its story and, if you swish it around your mouth too much, the storyline is disrupted and you may lose the thread of information.

Describing a Pinot Noir might take some time if it’s a complex example, yet the taste and textures usually reflect your recognition of flowers and light red berry fruits from cherries to raspberries, strawberries then plums.

The fruits can be your impressions of freshly harvested, dried, cooked or preserved. A fine savoury quality from dried herbs to the taste of chalky textured soils - clay or stone, a lick of limestone, chalk or just minerals is a typical attribute of Pinot. The use of oak is critical to depth and complexity, texture and length on the palate; this is where a winemaker’s vision of what the wine will be like after 2, 5, 10 or 20 years in bottle might be so it’s understandable

that oak flavours and textures might be stronger when a Pinot is younger. Baking or kitchen spices from clove and vanilla to nutmeg, cinnamon and five spice may become part of your vocabulary for describing Pinot that has a noticeable oak influence.

Tannins and acidity are important to your assessment of Pinot. I like to use words that make sense to most people such as needle point or nails, sandpaper or emery board, dusty, chalky or even coarse silk tannins – all trying convey the texture you feel on your tongue. Acidity can both supplement and counterbalance texture, structure and fruit; it’s also there to help the wine age, carry flavour and enhance texture, so in younger Pinot acidity should be more noticeable, but it should not be hard or drying.

The finish and length of great Pinot Noir holds the key to your satisfaction and assessment; if you keep wanting to invade your senses with the scents, flavours and textures of a Pinot Noir, you’re probably holding a glass of fine wine.

Be sure to take your time with Pinot Noir, it wants you to, it’s like reading a great book where every word has to be read carefully to understand the storyline and character nuances. W

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happens in barrel – oft en for r tion ed a t and en m r wh e f ite c i t c w la

s ine

M alo

NODDING TERMS

s m r Te Nodding

OFF THE BACK OF OUR PINOT NOIR COACHING TIPS, HERE ARE FIVE TASTING TERMS EXPLAINED.

B

ouquet vs. Aroma. The term bouquet is used to encapsulate the package of scents encountered when smelling a wine for the first time. Examples can be as simple as “fruity” or “earthy”, even “complex” or “simple”.

Aroma, however, is best used when going into more detail about the wine’s individual smells within the bouquet. For example, if you’re tasting a 2022 Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough you might say “citrusy” as part of the bouquet, but then go on to clarify with aromas of lemon, pith and pink grapefruit.

Complexity is determined, potentially even measured, by the collection of aromas, flavours and textures present in a wine. The more you notice or are enticed by these attributes, the more complexity a wine has.

Keep in mind that complexity can be present in a young wine and be lost when it is too old. Or, it can gain complexity as it gets older.

Also, it’s worth bearing in mind that the grape variety or style of wine, the country of origin, its reputation and/or its cost is no indication of complexity. True complexity comes down to site, vineyard management, condition of fruit and optimal ripeness at harvest along with the skillset of a winemaker – and, in some cases, careful cellaring on your part!

Malolactic Fermentation, often shortened to “malo” or “MLF” is the natural, bacterial conversion of malic acid (often present in a very young wine) into lactic acid. MLF

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conversion happens in nearly all red wines and in some white wines, and can happen naturally or be induced by the winemaker.

A white wine might go through partial or full malolactic fermentation to deliver a softer mouthfeel, sometimes creamy or buttery impression on the palate. If you’re experiencing a white wine, say Chardonnay, that has undergone a 100 percent MLF, you might be able to use extra lactic-derived words such as milky, yoghurt, cream and butter.

Some winemakers prefer the sharper acidity and green apple notes sometimes associated with no or minimal MLF. Oxidized is an important term to know and use when you find yourself questioning a wine’s condition. All wines ultimately oxidise, so if you’re assessing a young wine and start using descriptors such as bruised apple or a lack of fresh fruit aromas or flavours then the wine is possibly oxidised and this is a fault.

The best way to test this for yourself is sample (or just sniff) a bottle you’ve had open for several days. Ignoring any vinegary whiffs (this is a separate fault), such a wine should smell both oxidised and the flavours should have lost all their vibrancy. Noting vibrancy is important because some wines (such as Sherries and some Jura white wines) are made oxidatively and have some of the aromatic signatures oxidised wines (nutty and bruised apple notes). However, in condition, such wines will still show great vibrancy on the palate. Even a small amount of oxidation on a

regular wine can be positive. There is a sweet spot in the lifecycle of a wine where the effects of oxygen add to a wine's complexity. This means oxidation can be positive in a wine as well, but for how long is determined by you, the taster. Negative oxidation can be caused by poor storage conditions, a weakened closure or simply time.

Phenolic is a great term to use in tasting and assessing wine. Phenols are a large family of compounds found in a variety of forms in grapes and wine. Phenols occur naturally in the stalks, skins, pulp and seeds of grapes and depending on their intensity of use can contribute colour, mouthfeel and flavour.

Tannin is a well-known phenol compound and if you like oak or wood flavours, you are likely more tolerant of phenolics. Some phenols can add positive bitterness or, if you perceive too much bitterness, they are negative. You might then say for example a wine is too phenolic, even bitter, or too phenolic with too much oak and wood tannins. Very dark red wines or wines that have been aged in a lot of new oak or a long ageing period in oak can contain a high degree of phenolics. Some drinkers like this and others not. Some grape varieties have higher natural phenolics and are expected in the finished wine (Viognier and Gewürztraminer are two such varieties). The bottom line: phenolics are necessary in wine for texture or mouthfeel – too many and a wine is out of balance. W

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‘Brut’ force comes through in the end

G

rower Champagne is all the rage at the moment, although waiting for it to get here has been a bit like waiting for a bus – but three have just pulled up.

While everyone knows their prestige Champagne houses and labels, from Cristal to Dom Pérignon to Bollinger, the harder to find gems of the “Grower Champagne” category

has really kicked off across the globe. While these champagnes – crafted by artisan smallscale winegrowers, hence the name “Grower Champagne” – are all too rare on our shores, three new names have recently landed here in New Zealand. These are Champagne Charles Hubert, Vauversin, and Roger Manceaux. For Charles Hubert and Vauversin, this is their first time on NZ shores.

CHARLES HUBERT Charles Hubert Champagnes are the result of exceptional terroir, family tradition and modernity. Their vines are grown in the famed Grand Cru village of Ambonnay - a stone’s throw from bigger players producing wellknown cuvées with four-figure price tags.

In the 1930s, the current Charles Hubert’s grandfather produced Champagne in his cellar and disgorged on the fly to a small group of local fans. Today, Charles Hubert brings formal training in oenology and viticulture, with experience in a winemaking consultancy, to his family operation. The combination of family know-how, formal training and exceptional terroir produces exceptional Champagnes.

VAUVERSIN Vauversin is situated in the Grand Cru village of Oger and produces delicious, organically certified Champagne. Vauversin was the first company in Oger to be certified organic (in 2014). Their vines are meticulously cared for year-round. They practice biodiversity by planting cereals, flowers and various tree species between their vines and they use mineral preparations, herbal teas and essential oils to protect their vineyard from climatic stresses. Vauversin has a rich family history in winemaking and have been growing Chardonnay grapes exclusively since their beginnings - in 1640. Up until 1928, they also grafted their own vines. Vauversin’s flagship Champagne ‘Ordage’ is made by a perpetual reserve system where a portion of wine from each new harvest is added to a single reserve blend containing wines from previous harvests. Around 1,000 bottles of the new blend is drawn off each year providing us with a fascinating liquid history. Vauversin has a total current production of just 18,000 bottles per annum from their boutique threehectare vineyard. We are beyond privileged to share their beautiful Champagnes with you.

ROGER MANCEAUX Roger Manceaux’s father was a cooper and his grandfather a cellar master. When Roger was a boy, he was told that if he did well in his school exams he could choose a bicycle or a plot of vines as a reward. Thankfully, he did well … and he chose the vines. The story goes that after his first year’s harvest he was able to buy himself his own bicycle with the proceeds.

Roger began producing Champagne in his own name in the late 50s and early 60s. Today Champagne Roger Manceaux owns around 13 hectares across nearly 80 plots. Their vines are situated in different Premier and Grand Cru villages, allowing Roger Manceaux to offer a range that reflects the different attributes of the various terroirs. Some of Roger Manceaux’s vines are 45 years old, giving great depth of flavour.

ORDER DIRECT: www.champagnecru.co.nz champagnecrunz@gmail.com +64 21 434 919

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CHASING PINOT

g n i s a Ch Pinot

PAUL PUJOL IS SOMETHING OF A WINEMAKER’S WINEMAKER IN NEW ZEALAND. CAMERON SITS DOWN WITH A SELF-CONFESSED CHASER OF PINOT NOIR.

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I

always thought Paul was a Southland born lad – he seems so connected to the land – but I was wrong: he was born in Hamilton – “the mighty Tron” as he likes to call it. His mum is from Hamilton too and his dad from France.

“My dad’s probably the first person in history to immigrate from Salon-de-Provence to Hamilton,” he says.

I had to ask how someone would choose the Tron as a destination. Turns out his dad was a skilled boiler maker and while on leave from the French company he worked for,

came to Auckland, met Paul’s mum and just a few weeks later they were together in France.

A little over a year later, and just before Paul was born, they came back to NZ. With his dad’s work the family moved around a bit and Paul’s formative education was mainly in Whangarei. After high school, the classic Kiwi OE to the UK was calling, but working in English pubs pulling beers didn’t appeal to Paul so he decided to trip around France for a year, picking up the language along the way.

Upon his return to NZ Paul went to

CHASING PINOT

Paul Pujol takes a break from the Pinot chase at Prophet's Rock

university with the idea that a degree in international management might get him back to France. That plan didn’t work so well so he swapped to outdoor education and medical exercise prescription in the hope that it would keep his passion for skiing and white-water kayaking alive and in paid work.

Paul recalls that wine appreciation was part of Uni’ life and remembers the natural exposure to wine culture while in France.

“I slowly developed an interest in drinking decent wine," says Paul.

As the stars were beginning to align for his

future career, Paul’s interest in cool climate viticulture was brewing in the background, later confirmed with a university fieldtrip to Marlborough. “If you’re chasing Pinot Noir, and I was, Lincoln was the best university to attend," says Paul.

With a degree in hand, Paul completed a post-graduate diploma in viticulture and oenology at Lincoln University in Canterbury.

His first appointment was with Seresin Wines in Marlborough: “they were doing some exciting things in the vineyard as well as wild ferments in the winery, were focused on fine

wine with a strong Pinot Noir program”.

This was in 2000 and after vintage, like many new winemakers, Paul decided it would be a good idea to attempt four more vintages in 12 months so hatched a plan to make it all happen. Seresin was first, then wineries in the Languedoc Rousillon (second), Sancerre (third) and Alsace (fourth). His plan to make the fifth in the Hunter Valley on the way home didn’t happen.

“As luck would have it, Maison Kuentz-Bas (Alsace) were looking for a winemaker and subsequently offered me the job. I became

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CHASING PINOT

the first non-family winemaker at Kuentz-Bas since the company started in 1795.”

Paul’s wife joined him in Alsace and three and a half years later he and family had decided to work their way home to Aotearoa.

A winemaking role at Lemelson Vineyards in Oregon became a two-vintage diversion along the way, but they finally all arrived home in 2005. Two family members were born during this winemaking journey – a daughter, born in Alsace, and a son, born in Oregon.

Now home and determined to stay in wine production, Paul learned of a winemaker role at a new wine company called Prophet’s Rock in Otago (named after a goldminer from the 1800s) and after meeting with the owners visited the vineyard in Bendigo (Paul is smiling at this point), “I knew immediately this was a special place”.

Prophet’s Rock is an elevated site, frost-free with clay and chalk soils. Paul has been the winemaker there since 2006, crafting Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, a Vin de Paille sweet wine and Pinot Noir. There are several different expressions of Pinot Noir from the Home Vineyard and Rocky Point sites, a Retrospect late release expression and new to

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the portfolio is a Pinot named Olearia, a wine from a soil specific section of the vineyard.

One other wine that has a wonderful back story is the Cuvée Aux Antipodes, a Pinot Noir made not by Paul, but by François Millet. Millet is a very well-known and respected winemaker from Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé in Burgundy.

When Jean-Luc Pepin, also from Comte Georges de Vogüé, visited NZ for the Pinot Celebration in 2009 he happened to try some of Paul’s wines, was very complementary and invited Paul to visit his vineyards and winery if he was ever in France. Sure enough, Paul was able to work vintage that year in Burgundy which is where he met and worked with Millet. Paul recalled digging out a tank of skins from one of the more famous parcels of fruit (Les Amoureuses): “it was like standing in a tank full of flowers, very intoxicating – those scents will stay with me forever”.

I can now see why Paul’s turn of phrase ‘chasing Pinot’ is so important and meaningful. In discovering that Millet and Paul had a lot in common from winemaking and transparency of site into the wine,

cooperage and barrel selections, Paul decided to invite François’s son Julien to NZ to do vintage. During a visit to NZ to see his son François also tried Paul’s wines and like Pepin before him was very complementary of Paul’s work. Somewhat cheekily Paul invited Millet to make some wine from the Prophet’s Rock site and to Paul’s delight François said yes. After walking the site, tasting through back vintages and receiving tank samples from various parcels sent to him in Burgundy, François chose a section of the vineyard to make his wine. This is how the Cuvée Aux Antipodes wine was born, with the first vintage in 2015. François has returned to NZ many times to make his cuvée at Prophet’s Rock.

Pujol’s stewardship of the land to wine at Prophet’s Rock is set to continue: “I still feel the connection to this place and find it hard to imagine losing that link and to these wines”. I can see why this will be true of Paul, his understanding of soil and site, aspect and the voice of place and time from a vineyard crafted into a bottle of wine is ingrained in him. W https://www.prophetsrock.co.nz/

HAWKE’S BAY’S RED REVOLUTION

Hawke’s Bay’s Red

on i t u ol Rev NO-ONE'S ABOUT TO REPLACE MERLOT WITH PINOT NOIR ON THE GIMBLETT GRAVELS, BUT OLIVER STYLES FINDS A CONVERGENCE OF NEW BLOOD, A NEW WINE-DRINKING DEMOGRAPHIC AND NEWER VINEYARD SITES IN NEW ZEALAND'S PRIME WARM-CLIMATE REGION IS PUSHING DEVELOPMENT IN LESS TRADITIONAL DIRECTIONS.

F

or decades the heartland of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, the warm East Coast region is witnessing something of a re-alignment.

Partly it’s because, after a while, people want something different. Ever the preserve of Bordeaux blends and robust (yet linear) Syrah, Hawke’s Bay has built much of its reputation on its warm climate: ideal for ripe, structured red wines – the kind of thing that goes well with a steak that sags off the edge of a plate.

Except everyone knows that story now.

People aren't necessarily bored, it’s simply that (in New Zealand at least) it doesn’t need reiterating.

Which is a good thing. But it’s also why people like myself and Rod Easthope (former Craggy Range winemaker now with his own brand) get invited to Stephen Wong MW’s Wellington-based Wine Sentience to talk to consumers and trade about Hawke’s Bay’s lighter red wines. Because that, too, is a thing.

Hawke’s Bay has always done so-called cooler climate red varieties: Pinot Noir, Gamay – even Cabernet Franc which can be grown and made as a single-variety in crunchy Loire (rather than blended Bordeaux) style. All have a long history in Hawke’s Bay.

Indeed, according to Te Mata Estate’s Chief Executive Nick Buck, Pinot Noir figured in Te Mata’s first plantings in the 1890s.

Nonetheless, Hawke’s Bay, like much of the country, is a relative newcomer to wine and even plantings in the late Twentieth Century could be as much hopeful as they were studied. And while it was clear to many growers and winemakers that some sites were simply not cut out for the likes of Pinot Noir, export demand for New Zealand Pinot Noir of any stripe could maintain their production. Such was the case for Vidal’s Keltern Vineyard Pinot Noir (at the much cooler western end of the warm Bridge Pā region) which gave its last crop in 2015 before being replanted to aromatic whites.

That’s not to say that export demand is a negative influence. Indeed, while a lot of Hawke’s Bay lighter red wines are consumed domestically (partly as a result of volume restrictions on production – not much of it is made compared to the bigger reds), many export markets are also attracted to them, perhaps because a lighter red wine fits better

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HAWKE’S BAY’S RED REVOLUTION

The vineyard terraces at Crownthorpe, inland from Hawke's Bay's warmer sites. It's still dry out here, but its cooler too – perfect to supply the international demand for aromatic white wines and Pinot Noir, it also provides avenues for winemakers to move into less traditional wines and styles.

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HAWKE’S BAY’S RED REVOLUTION

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HAWKE’S BAY’S RED REVOLUTION

with, for instance, a UK consumer’s vision of New Zealand than a Bordeaux blend which, by the time it reaches a foreign market, is going to have to compete with examples from France, Spain, Argentina, California, South African Australia and the like.

“It was a long progression to gain acceptance of what was previously an unknown wine style within this country,” said Buck of Te Mata’s Gamay. “Much of the early success actually came offshore, but gradually our New Zealand customers came to appreciate the wine as well.”

Te Mata is a good example not only of a producer that covers both classic, Bordeauxblended reds and Syrahs (with Coleraine, Awatea and Bullnose) but also Gamay and now high-end Pinot Noir with Alma.

Added to which, its overall production is an illustration of how the region’s satellite vineyard areas are developing.

Te Mata has the large Woodthorpe vineyard, up the Tutaekuri River, northwest and inland from the warmer, if not hotter, sites of the Gimblett Gravels and Bridge Pā (where the winery also has vineyard holdings).

Woodthorpe is where much of the Gamay and Pinot Noir is planted.

Similarly, plantings further up the Ngaruroro River, roughly due west of Bridge Pā, in the Mangatahi and Crownthorpe subregions, have seen not only the development of aromatic whites and Chardonnay in these (again) cooler areas, but also cooler red varieties. Sileni has grown Pinot Noir in Mangatahi for years while Ian and Linda Quinn, who established Two Terraces vineyard in 2015, now grow and supply Gamay to the likes of Easthope, Organised Chaos and Amoise.

These are just a few of the smaller, up-andcoming labels being produced in the region.

Others include Decibel, doing lots of work

with Malbec, and Three Fates with Cabernet Franc. Others, such as Tony Pritchard at De La Terre, have been making the likes of Montepulciano and Tannat for years.

For Canadian expat winemaker Amy Farnsworth of Amoise, working with the grapes like Gamay and Cabernet Franc was the goal from the start, conscious that in going with more mainstream varieties she’d be

“competing with everyone else”. She also loves working with so-called "alternative" varieties.

“Cabernet Franc is so juicy, it’s so lovely and vibrant,” she says. “I’m so happy to be working with it.”

Furthermore, her wines reflect the wines she drinks herself. “On a regular basis I’m always reaching for Cabernet Franc or drinking Beaujolais – I find lots of inspiration from these wines.”

It’s this focus on the part of a seemingly ever-growing number of smaller winemakers that is helping to shift things (albeit with very baby steps) in the regional industry.

While Ian and Linda Quinn at Two Terraces

predominantly produce the more ubiquitous Chardonnay, they openly state they their initial plantings also occurred with winemaker input.

“As a result of interest from winemakers that we really wanted to work with, we are going to plant around 1.2 hectares of Gamay Noir,” they said back in 2016. “It is going through a quiet resurgence internationally [...] and there are already a couple of examples (soon to be added to!) being made in New Zealand.”

This is where Hawke’s Bay’s alternative red wines currently stand. They’re not making massive inroads as far as volume is concerned but they do sit in the middle of a number of converging currents in the international, national and local wine scene.

Firstly, as evidenced by Te Mata, their appeal has existed for decades. “Our customers love [Gamay’s] upfront fruit appeal, its immediacy and its easily accessible charm,” says Buck. But, more than loyal customers, wine consumption trends have been changing.

As Farnsworth and the Quinns point out, there is more interest in these varieties now.

Partly it’s fashion, partly it’s generational. The Quinns supply their Gamay to people considered relatively young (in wine industry terms) – often evidenced by the size of production. Many of these alternative variety wine producers are small volume, relatively boutique, often minimalintervention winemakers.

Added to this, the exploration of these varieties has occurred with the discovery, expansion and/or adaptation of winegrowers in satellite regions outside of the core areas around the Gimblett Gravels and Bridge Pā.

These wines aren’t about to take over the reputation Hawke’s Bay has for the likes of its Chardonnay or its Syrah but they are, ironically perhaps, a sign that the region is both maturing, getting a feel for what is possible, and embracing its youthful side. W

Frost-fighting with water in inland Hawke’s Bay (all images courtesy of Hawke’s Bay Wine)

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AVAILABLE NOW

REX PICKETT INTERVIEW

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REX PICKETT INTERVIEW

Rex

Pickett

REX PICKETT IS SYNONYMOUS WITH THE BREAKOUT 2004 WINE FILM, SIDEWAYS. HE'S IN NEW ZEALAND, LOOKING TO BRING HIS (IN)FAMOUS PROTAGONISTS, MILES AND JACK, ON A ROADTRIP THROUGH AOTEAROA. OLIVER STYLES TALKS TO THE SCREENWRITER, NOVELIST AND WINELOVER.

“W

henever I tell people about this idea of Jack and Miles in a campervan, people just start laughing – that’s gold,” says Sideways author Rex Pickett. He’s right. Anyone who’s seen the 2004 film Sideways knows the thought of a nervous, uptight, and sometimes maudlin Miles and his blithe, narcissistic womaniser buddy Jack sharing the New Zealand tourist’s mode of transport par excellence, is ripe for comedy.

Pickett’s in New Zealand to write the latest instalment of the Sideways series and when I talk to him, he’s hanging out (or more exactly, propped up in a large bed in Central Otago) taking Zoom calls from inquisitive Kiwi wine writers.

He’s immediately upfront that, in writing in the first person as Miles, his Sideways novels are autobiographical (so far, all three Sideways books have the hallmarks of thinly-veiled memoirs). So much so that, as he admits: “my ex-wife, when she read the draft of Sideways, she told me to burn it.”

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REX PICKETT INTERVIEW

Pickett, snapped back home in California

But Pickett isn’t Miles. There’s something in Pickett’s self-confidence that you feel Miles would love to have. He’s a man who (on the face of it, at least) is happy in his own skin, who has come to terms with himself. For one, he takes my call sprawled (clothed, I should add) on his vast double bed, his head propped forward by a pillow on the headboard and his laptop presumably resting on his stomach.

Pickett’s a joy to interview and, were it not for the 40-minute time limit on my free Zoom account, you feel he was someone with whom you could have spent all morning chatting. He’s not reticent about his possible book ideas, either.

He’s already formulating his ideas for the book but he tells me he needs to find a base and establish a writing routine. That’s yet to happen. When I talk to him, he’s a few weeks off flying back up to Auckland to hire a campervan and drive down the length of the country. Either way, we’re likely to be going on a road trip again.

“I might start the novel in Central Otago,” he tells me, “and take the trip in reverse: go to Auckland.”

Through New Zealand’s numerous wine regions, obviously. Ever since the Miles and Jack stomped their way through Santa Barbara wine country, tasting Pinot Noir and famously “not drinking any fucking Merlot” (in the words of Miles), Pickett has been taking the

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pair on roadtrips. His follow-up book to Sideways – Vertical – saw Miles and Jack drive up the California coast to Oregon. Another road trip followed in the less imaginatively titled Sideways 3 Chile, with Miles winding his way through the wine regions of the South American country researching an article. More of the same in New Zealand.

“All of my stuff is road movies,” he says.

“Going back to Hollywood to Deadwood [referencing one of his first films, made in 1989, which he wrote and directed].” Here, Pickett goes back to his childhood and name-drops one of his favourite films: Wim Wender’s Kings of the Road – “the greatest road movie ever made”. It looks like New Zealand will be no different.

“I might get Jack to come and rescue Miles,” he says. “The way the two islands are, it looks like there’s always a journey. Jack and Miles can bond in a campervan, explore that male friendship, and it’ll probably end in California. If they take the road trip in July, in one flight [back to Los Angeles or San Francisco], you’ve jumped two seasons.”

You can almost see the imagination working, from wintry, port-harvest Central Otago [when I spoke to him, Pickett was staying at Prophet’s Rock], through the South and North Island, to Auckland and onto late summer California.

“It’ll probably finish in California in the harvest,” he adds.

I ask him about the likelihood of this book becoming a movie.

“I write novels to become movies,” he admits, although his most recent work – the hefty, almost 700-page novel The Archivist – is a screenplay-turned-novel. Should Sideways 4 New Zealand appear (hopefully under a better title), however, the chances of a film adaptation are as good as you’ll get from the mouth of a Hollywood insider.

“He [Sideways director Alexander Payne] still talks about it – he’s just wrapped a film with Paul [Giamatti – who plays Miles in Sideways],” he tells me. “But this is Hollywood – nobody likes to commit. But then it’s very hard to get original material green-lit these days.”

So what of Sideways New Zealand? Will Pickett do to Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc what he did to Merlot twenty years ago?

What’s Miles’ take on Sauvignon Blanc?

I think Pickett’s had that question come up before.

“Well, Merlot earned that reputation. I don’t have a stake in taking down Sauvignon Blanc,” he says. “Although I was shocked that 67% of wine produced here is Sauvignon [...] but I’ve got no interest in defaming an industry.”

So, should the book come to fruition, which wineries will be featured? “That will happen at my discretion.” W

s k c i p s ’ on C amer DRINK THEM NOW!

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MIXED CHARDONNAY

A cracking selection, covering the Astrolabe 2020, the Lawson's Dry Hills Reserve 2021, The King’s Bastard 2020 (all from Marlborough) alongside Mount Brown’s Grand Reserve 2020 from North Canterbury, Nelson’s Seifried Estate 2020 and Martinborough’s Nga Waka 2020. All wines scored between 92 and 95 points from Cameron Douglas MS in this issue.

SCAN HERE FOR MORE INFO

MIXED PINOT NOIR

Five New Zealand beauties from across the country come together with a French island! Running from south to north, the selection covers Central Otago (Loveblock 2021), North Canterbury (Tiki Single Vineyard 2020), Marlborough (The King’s Wrath 2020 and Leefield Station 2020) and the Wairarapa (Matahiwi Estate Holly 2020). Topped off with a Corsican Ile de Beauté Reserve 2020 Pinot Noir from Barton & Guestier. All rated 90 points and over by Cameron Douglas MS.

MIXED TASTING CASE

It’s always good to cover your bases, whether entertaining or just dining in at home. Here, we’ve got the ideal mixed case from aromatic white Framingham Sauvignon Blanc 2021 and Loveblock Gewürztraminer 2021 to the gorgeous Lawson's Dry Hills Reserve Chardonnay 2021. We’ve got you covered for reds to, from Pinot Noir (Tiki Single Vineyard 2020) to a sumptuous Côtes du Rhône from Paul Jaboulet Ainé (the Parallèle 45 red) to the blockbuster Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels 2020 Syrah from our very own Hawke's Bay.

IN ADDITION TO THE CASES ABOVE, YOU CAN PURCHASE OTHER WINES REVIEWED IN THIS ISSUE OF WORLD OF WINE DIRECT FROM WINE CENTRAL. VISIT WWW.WINECENTRAL.CO.NZ

SCAN HERE FOR MORE INFO

TOP 10 WINE FILMS

TOP

10

WINE FILMS OLIVER STYLES RUNS THROUGH HIS TOP TEN WINE FILMS...

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SOMM (2012) If you enjoy wild aroma descriptors with your wines including (memorably) the smell of freshlyopened tennis ball canisters along with the freshman intensity of the po-faced US sommelier scene, this one's for you. All the trials and tribulations of a group of wannabe Master Sommeliers presented like a bootcamp training video that at times feels like the first half of Full Metal Jacket crossed with Gosford Park. A bit like The Apprentice with wine.

9

THE WING OR THE THIGH (1976) Louis de Funès is France’s favourite actor. Well-known throughout Europe and beyond, he is almost unknown in the English-speaking world. This comedy film features de Funès playing the head of a prestigious restaurant review publication (unashamedly based on the Michelin Guide) who ends up in a cultural fight with a massproduced food entrepreneur. The comedy often descends to slapstick and it doesn’t always work (the son’s sideline as a circus clown feels uncomfortably contrived) but there are some great moments – the blind “tasting” (by sight alone) of a 1953 Château Léoville Las Cases is a classic.

8

A GOOD YEAR (2006) Ludicrous, relentlessly unconvincing, shmaltzy, often lazy, clichéd, and very much predating the #metoo movement, A Good Year often hits some bum notes.

Even though Ridley Scott is a safe pair of

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hands as a director, it sometimes feels that he was thinking of the money when he made the film as much as Russell Crowe’s often impossible-to-love character Maximilian.

And yet...who’s not a sucker for a banker’s redemption in Provence, surrounded by vines, dilapidated houses, quaint village squares and the relentless sound of crickets? Writer Peter Mayle very much traded off the anglophone’s romantic associations of France – and there’s a reason it was successful.

7

WINE COUNTRY (2019) “Is the password still PenisGrigio72?”

Tina Fey’s character Tammy asks in a Napa Valley bar – a line that almost encapsulates the attitude to wine in Amy Poehler’s Wine Country, in which six middle aged friends spend a long birthday weekend

in Napa Valley. Sometimes cringey, sometimes awkward, sometimes hilarious (the “no wrong answers” tasting scene is very well done), winos can find added entertainment spotting the locations and the parade of wine labels that get a cameo.

6

SOMM 3 (2018) A companion piece to Bottle Shock and starring central protagonist and loveable rogue Steven Spurrier (in real life) alongside one of the world’s top wine critics, Jancis Robinson MW, and (now disgraced) US top sommelier Fred Dames. Narrated by Wine Folly’s Madeleine Puckett with a host of impressive tasters and commentators, you can forgive the sometimes overly dramatic presentation (and Dames’ presence) in favour of a lot of wine tasting and a lot of stories.

TOP 10 WINE FILMS

two middle-aged California misfits into Santa Barbara wine country and having one expound at length on Pinot Noir. It’s a breakup movie in which protagonist Miles (fantastically portrayed by Paul Giamatti) begins to rebuild his world one cellar door at a time. Single-handedly responsible for a decline in Merlot’s popularity in the US (“I’m not drinking any F***ing Merlot” is one of Miles’ more memorable lines), it also showcased the “thin skinned” beauty of Pinot Noir and proved it is okay to drink a redemptive Saint-Emilion Grand Cru from a polystyrene cup in a fast food joint.

2

BACK TO BURGUNDY (2017) The prodigal son returns – to the family domaine in Burgundy. After a decade travelling, and setting up a winery in Australia, Jean comes back to join his brother and sister in Burgundy, setting out together following the death of their father.

Warm, sentimental, heartbreaking and funny, it nonetheless remains so far the best representation of harvest work (both in the vines and in the cellar) in a big-screen setting.

Lavishly shot, it also features a real-life vigneron: in this case the Meursault-based Jean-Marc Roulot (who, as well as making critically lauded wines from the Côte de Beaune has a side-hustle as an actor). It also unflinchingly explores the issues so many winemaking families face around succession – which is as much dealing with neighbours as it is dealing with family.

1 5

MONDOVINO (2004) Probably more of a wine insider’s film than viewing for all the family, Mondovino is also a test of even the most ardent wine-lover’s staying power, clocking in at just shy of three hours long. Nonetheless, its importance and impact is hard to overstate, as it brought all manner of issues to the fore, from the globalisation of taste and the power of wealth and class systems to issues around inheritance, authenticity and talent. In many ways the film set the scene for wine’s counter-culture and the natural wine movement to flourish.

4

BOTTLE SHOCK (2008) Steven Spurrier hated the way he was portrayed by Alan Rickman in this film but it still makes for some fantastic cinema. Spurrier is the clichéd Brit abroad –

this time trying to navigate the burgeoning California wine scene. There are some memorable moments (although the film never convincingly shakes the notion that to make great wine, you have to be born into it) and, of course, some fantastic acting by Rickman.

All of which makes this a highly watchable film that, importantly, crosses the gap between wine nerd-dom and popular appeal.

It’s also easy to forget that, fifty years ago, what was considered fine wine mainly just stayed within the borders of France, let alone beyond Europe. This is a portrayal of one of the pivotal moments in wine history.

3

SIDEWAYS (2004) Sideways is special in that it proved you can make a film about people that is also about wine, successfully dropping

UNCORKED (2020) Uncorked tells the story of Elijah, a young man trying to wrestle his love of wine – and pursuit of the Master Sommelier qualification – with his father’s expectations of his taking over their father-to-son Memphis BBQ joint. This Netflix film would be top of this list for dialogue alone (“Is that like a pirate?” his father asks after Elijah admits to wanting to become a sommelier) and it combines a number of classic wine film tropes: family expectations, moments of enjoyment (Barolo and dominoes in a hotel room), spins on wine chat (Riesling is the equivalent to Drake, Pinot Gris is Kayne and Chardonnay is Jay-Z) and wine-as-travel. Its one flaw is that it suffers from the same defect as Somm: it has a tendency to sap the joy and the love from wine through its portrayal of wine study. Study has a near-universal habit of doing that and being able to memorise the 13 wine regions of Germany does not help you appreciate German wine to any greater degree.

But it's beautifully shot and the dialogue is relentlessly sharp. Fantastically acted, it’s poignant, funny, hopeful and heart-warming.

Well worth 140 minutes of your time (ideally alongside some brisket and a glass of Barolo).

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ELAINE CHUKAN BROWN

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ELAINE CHUKAN BROWN

Brown Elaine Chukan

A TOUR DE FORCE IN THE AMERICAN WINE SCENE, ELAINE CHUKAN BROWN IS A SPEAKER, TASTER AND WRITER, COVERING ALL ASPECTS OF THE WINE INDUSTRY (AND OFTEN BEYOND). SHE'S ALSO A HUGE FAN OF NEW ZEALAND AND ITS WINES. CAM SITS DOWN FOR A GLASS WITH THE INSPIRATIONAL WINE EDUCATOR.

H

and on heart Elaine Brown is one of the most eloquent, inspirational and gifted speakers I know. She speaks honestly, with passion and conviction; has educated me and many others about wine and connecting wine with and to people. Listening to Elaine’s speech at Pinot Noir NZ 2017 – a three-day event for wine producers, writers and fans of Pinot to meet, taste and discuss Pinot – was inspirational, educational and honest.

Pinot Noir NZ 2017 my wife, Janet, myself and Elaine have become friends, catching up as often as possible – thank goodness for email. But when travel allows, a face-to-face in the USA is always organised.

The opportunity to weave Elaine’s perspective on New Zealand’s wine sector and introduce her to you at the same time is an honour. We got together on a Zoom mid-April to talk about New Zealand wine and how well we are doing on the global wine stage.

Elaine Chukan Brown is a writer, speaker, and educator specialising in wine, personal empowerment, and social justice.

She is the executive editor for USA wine at JancisRobinson.com. Prior to her career in wine, Elaine served as a Charles A Eastman Fellow at Dartmouth College and is also a Tomlinson Fellow at McGill University, where she completed doctoral work in philosophy.

Elaine is Aleut-Inupiat, an Alaska Native.

Elaine travels and works for wine with her home base in California.

I asked Elaine what makes New Zealand come up in conversation in the first place – what are we known for really?

Is Sauvignon Blanc still the leading variety for New Zealand wine in the USA?

“Absolutely it is, consumers may not necessarily know regions or that it might be Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, but they do know its New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.”

What about Pinot Noir?

“Once you start talking to the more serious wine drinker then they know there’s Pinot Noir from New Zealand.

Many of them love it.”

What about Chardonnay then, is there any traction in the market for this variety?

Elaine at the Pinot Noir 2017 Conference in Wellington, New Zealand (credit: NZ Winegrowers)

“This is a variety that is a lot further down the list. New Zealand does make great Chardonnay and it keeps getting better and better, but a lot of people are less driven to seek out Chardonnay from other regions. The curious trade do want to know more than that though.

Interestingly, they get excited about NZ Syrah and Riesling; they know you grow Cabernet, but don’t necessarily know more than that.”

“A big driver is that New Zealand is a very special, beautiful place – even people who don’t really know much more than New Zealand exists know that it’s a beautiful place to be. There’s an imagined purity; people are really curious about Māori culture; and there’s a perception that New Zealand has this implicit spirituality."

“New Zealand makes beautiful examples of these wines and they definitely have a future, but we have to do more to make people aware of them. Sparkling especially garners similar interest to Riesling but only very invested trade are aware of sparkling wine from New Zealand.”

When it comes to wine, what is the current reputation of New Zealand wine from a consumer’s perspective, are we known for this?

“Generally speaking, the average consumer absolutely knows New Zealand makes good wine, reliable and delicious.”

So, what about styles such as sparkling or sweet wine, are they just a dream for us for the US market?

You are the only person I know that creates tasting notes through art as well as in a written form, how did you develop the tasting notes as art? (see picture)

“When I first started in the wine sector I noticed that the way in which professionals or the trade

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ELAINE CHUKAN BROWN

One of Elaine's illustrated tasting notes

talked about wine was quite different from, say, the conversations I was having with friends who liked wine. I had this experience with two friends who asked me to pick a wine because they had decided I would know it was good, so I picked a wine – a German Sekt (sparkling Riesling) – a very aromatic version. My friends loved it and when I said it smelled like jasmine they were all big-eyed, smelled it again, and said ‘you’re right’. It hadn’t occurred to me that they didn’t think about what they were smelling – they just liked it. Then one of them said ‘I wish you were always with me when I drink wine, it always makes so much more sense’.”

Elaine went on to explain, “when we have visual cues the information can go in fast, like photographs or drawings or film, visual cues are instant, not like the traditional form of written tasting notes. I started drawing tasting notes for a friend's wine bar and this just caught on. Another friend confided in me and said that it’s so great to know what a wine actually tastes like before I buy it”. Elaine has also produced many wine-art pieces that now hanging in people’s homes.

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I asked Elaine if she thought regional styles were apparent in our Pinot Noir?

“There’s absolutely regionality for Pinot Noir; broadly speaking there’s also a New Zealand character for Pinot, but I also think that in different parts of the wine world, wine has signatures of acidity – you can identify these and use them as a marker to help identify a place. Acidity in New Zealand wine is high toned and elevated, but with a diffusing lens on it, it softens around the edges.”

Elaine also mentioned that wine producers in New Zealand are “really settling into their own, there’s a greater confidence or clarity in ‘what does this place give me’, that’s really exciting to me. I remember attending a red wine seminar in NZ, we were tasting through certain wines and I could see that they were a reflection of where they were from, while some other attendees there were just comparing the wines to other places in the world. I was witnessing a pivotal moment for New Zealand – this region keeps coming into itself and it’s just going to get clearer”.

I asked Elaine about the trend into low or zero alcohol wines, was there a similar trend in the US?

“There are some large-scale producers in the US who use reverse-osmosis to de-alcoholise wine, I haven’t yet tasted any I felt were successful. There’s a small-scale producer here that has partially fermented verjus to three percent alcohol, it’s a nice wine for brunch."

Elaine's travel schedule for the rest of the year is busy: leading tastings and seminars in Canada, Washington DC, Copenhagen, Paris and Texas. She recently completed a Zoom-in tasting and seminar in Japan from her home.

Just as we finished our chat she popped into the conversation that she’d just finished tasting over 90 hybrid wines from all over the USA. There is much to learn from Elaine and if you have the opportunity in the future to attend a seminar or tasting led by her, I encourage you to do so. If you’d like to read more about Elaine and listen to her speech from Pinot 17, please visit https:// wakawakawinereviews.com/2017/03/08/ future-communication-pinot-noir-nz/ W

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HOW APPELLATIONS WORK

You say Indication, I say

on i t a ll e App CALL THEM WHAT YOU LIKE: APPELLATIONS, INDICATIONS, DENOMINATIONS, ANBAUGEBIETE, AVAS, IGTS, PDOS, AOCS, PGIS – HOW EXACTLY DO THEY WORK?

G

eographical Indications (to use the broad term to describe why your wine has “Central Otago” on the label – or “Chablis”, “Rioja”, “Chianti”, “Barossa” and so on) have been in the news recently. It was the UK wine industry’s adoption of the sparkling (literally and figuratively) new PDO for the Sussex wine region that did it. Effectively codifying sparkling and still wine production within the county boundaries of East and West Sussex, all sorts of commentators were triggered.

Was it necessary? Was it another step in the UKs march towards global recognition for its wines? Was it pomposity? What about the producers in neighbouring Kent?

But what are geographical indications like PDOs (Protected Designation of Origin - a term borrowed from the European Union to cover all manner of national appellations and the like) and how are they implemented?

PDOs or Geographical Indications are relatively straightforward. They take the political or administrative boundary of an area or a region and effectively trademark it – it becomes, in the words of the New Zealand government, a “collectively owned intellectual

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WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

property right”. In other words, you can’t put Wairarapa on your wine label if less than 85 percent of the wine is from the Wairarapa region. In most PDOs, the fruit must be entirely from that region.

In the majority of cases, the boundaries already exist while others, such as the United States’ AVAs (American Viticultural Areas), are drawn across regional maps by someone with a ruler, a Sharpie and a bit of nous.

In New Zealand (and for most nonEuropean countries), these PDOs are policed on a national level. They are relatively straightforward. The protection of geographical indications is, however, most developed in the EU and here, things are a little different.

While it is indeed the state (more or less in line with EU law) that upholds PDO laws, their working documents, which outline all the production specifications for that PDO, are aimed at the regional level. These stipulations are known by different names: Cahier des Charges in France; Disciplinare di Produzione in Italy; or Pliego de Condiciones in Spain.

By and large, they follow the same general outline and while we might be able to look up

how to read a French or an Italian wine label on the internet and get a general sense of what to expect, the nitty-gritty of what goes on behind a title like Chablis or Clos de Vougeot, is left to the Cahier des Charges.

While most people get about by saying white Burgundy is basically Chardonnay (with perhaps some Aligoté thrown in), the Cahiers are clear-cut. The general statement is true: most white Burgundy is Chardonnay – for most appellations it is stipulated as such. But a Bourgogne blanc can be Chardonnay and/ or Pinot Blanc and can have up to 30 percent Pinot Gris. Even Burgundy’s ubiquitous red variety, Pinot Noir, does not necessarily reign alone. The Musigny Grand Cru appellation allows up to 15 percent Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris in its red wines.

If you’re not already enjoying the pedantry, look away now.

The French Cahier des Charges (and its EU equivalents) follow broadly the same format. Each one is divided into three chapters: (1) viticulture and production; (2) labeling; and (3) salient points (and their auditing/control). For our purposes, the first chapter is the most important.

HOW APPELLATIONS WORK

Sections 1 and 2 of chapter one cover the name of the appellation and any subheadings or appended titles. For instance, Burgundy is not a pyramid – an oft-used simplification of Burgundian appellations employed in wine schools – with grand crus at the top, premier crus in the middle and the village wines (say, Gevrey-Chambertin) at the base. Each grand cru vineyard (e.g. Le Chambertin) is an appellation of its own (and has its own Cahier des Charges). A premier cru (e.g. Clos Saint-Jacques) is a possible subheading within the wider Gevrey-Chambertin appellation. Confused? That’s why people use the pyramid analogy.

Section 3 covers the allowed types of wines and their colours. This is relatively straightforward (Champagne, for instance, must be sparkling and white or rosé). It goes without saying that anything outside of these stated parameters does not qualify your wine for the title. A still white wine or sparkling deep red wine cannot call itself Champagne.

Section 4 defines the area and zoning of not only the vineyard in question, but also the immediate neighbouring area. The latter can be important as while the grapes must only come from the vineyard in question, if your winery is not in the immediate neighbourhood (and this can vary widely from region to region), it will lose the right to use that vineyard title.

Section 5 covers the permitted grapes

(sometimes broken down into principal and accessory varieties) as well as their proportions within the vineyard. In Vougeot, for instance, whites can be made from Chardonnay or Pinot Blanc while reds are principally Pinot Noir but up to 15 percent can be made up of Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and/or Pinot Gris.

Section 6 covers vineyard management.

This can get very granular, covering plantation density, permitted pruning and training systems (down to maximum buds per vine) and the latest point at which pruning can take place, maximum vine and post heights, maximum yield, maximum proportion of missing vines and general presentation. Other aspects such as cultural practices (e.g. methods of weeding, pruning precautions, etc.) can also be outlined as well as whether or not irrigation is permitted.

Section 7 covers harvest and transport.

This is relatively straightforward but does give the minimum sugar levels (and potential alcohol levels) of the grapes at harvest.

Section 8 covers maximum yields (no small matter as pressing a white wine too hard could result in declassification) and outlines when young vines are permitted their first harvest under that appellation title.

Section 9 covers production and winemaking. This section can vary widely in size and focus depending on the region (Champagne, for instance, goes into great detail about press size and conformity). By and

large, though, this covers blending proportions and banned equipment as well as malolactic fermentation, residual sugar, volatile acidity, enrichment/chaptalisation, tank capacity and ageing requirements. The section also covers whether or not (and if so, when) wines can be transported from location to location (i.e. for bottling or blending) and when said wines can be released onto the market.

Section 10 then goes into the geographic, cultural and historical makeup of the appellation.

Section 11 covers any legislation currently in force and its current application and cutoff date. For instance, it might highlight that while plantation density is required to be x, this does not apply to vines planted prior to a certain date.

Finally, section 12 covers labeling. For instance the words Bordeaux or Médoc cannot be more than two thirds the size of Pauillac on the label of a wine bearing the latter appellation.

And that’s what your average European PDO covers. It's also, to a degree, the model the new Sussex PDO has followed, and the evident constraints have left some scratching their heads. Are such protections/strictures necessary? Even in Europe, where global warming has pushed the likes of Bordeaux to allow new, more drought-resistant grape varieties on an experimental basis, the debate continues. W

One of the many grand entrances to the hallowed Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru vineyard: where the photographer is standing is in basic, Bourgogne rouge territory – cross the road, walk through the gate, and you’re in a grand cru vineyard.

WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Six of the best wine and dine experiences in

Hawke’s Bay

HAWKE’S BAY IS NEW ZEALAND’S FOOD AND WINE COUNTRY.

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W

ith a mild Mediterranean climate, varied terrôir and producers aplenty, it should come as no surprise that wine and dine experiences abound.

As the oldest and second-largest wine growing region, abound in Hawke's Bay has a dedicated domestic and international following. And while known for its fullbodied, Bordeaux-style reds, Hawke’s Bay also produces world-class Chardonnay and aromatic white wines.

However, wine is far from the only thing that grows here. The region also produces an abundance of fresh product, leading New Zealand’s cultivation of olives, squash,

apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums, figs and more.

It is the combination of the food and wine that attracts exceptional producers and artisans, winemakers and chefs to the district, as they seek quality, champion provenance, and make the most of the seasonal bounty in their own backyard. The result is a true sense of place with every meal and each glass of wine.

And in the land of the long lunch, a wine or two among the vines or at an award-winning urban eatery, is not simply a recommendation, it is a rite of passage.

But with so many options to choose from, what suits you best? Here’s a little taster to get you started.

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Craggy Range Cellar Door offers a sophisticated wine tasting experience.

Craggy Range, Hawke's Bay Crragy Range Restaurant is award winning.

CRAGGY RANGE, HAVELOCK NORTH Impossible to go wrong with Australasia’s

leading winery, Craggy Range always delivers an incredible winery dining experience. There is little better than enjoying a glass of Craggy Range’s finest wine while looking up at the spectacular Te Mata Peak.

Visit the Cellar Door for a tasting of their family or prestige wines; be in awe of the sheer brilliance of the Sophia Barrell Room; or head straight to the two-hatted Craggy Range Restaurant, where Head Chef Casey McDonald’s emphasis on quality, local produce ensures you are eating the very best that Hawke’s Bay Food and Wine Country has to offer.

Recently listed 11th in the world by World’s Best Vineyard awards, Craggy Range was also named Winery Restaurant of the Year and awarded two hats in the 2022 Cuisine Good Food Awards.

WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

37

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

CENTRAL FIRE STATION, NAPIER Central Fire Station Bistro co-owner and

executive chef Sam Clark (formerly of Clooney in Auckland) is on a culinary mission to create simple food using the freshest, locally grown produce.

His bistro style restaurant launched in late 2019, and it is here that he showcases the very best Hawke’s Bay produce, 90% of which is organic, and wine.

Dining at the two-hatted restaurant is an exceptional experience. Clark carefully selects and then elevates his ingredients, while the wine list showcases entirely Hawke’s Bay wines, pairing well-known favourites alongside boutique wineries you’re sure to full in love with.

Housed in a lovingly renovated, Art Deco fire station building, this stunning modern bistro makes the most of the historic features, including the bell tower and giant archways for fire engines.

Central Fire Station Bistro serves up Hawke's Bay on a plate.

CHURCH ROAD WINERY, NAPIER Whether enjoying a wine and platter on the

expansive lawn, devouring a three-course lunch in the restaurant, or discovering the winery’s incredible history on an immersive tour experience, Church Road Winery is a must-visit for oenophiles.

At Church Road, the region’s wine story is at the fore, particularly during their premium, two-hour TOM Experience. Here you can discover Church Road’s iconic TOM range with an intimate wine tasting within the winery’s underground museum.

Be expertly guided through current and back vintage TOM wines as you explore the philosophy and character of their flagship range, all while enjoying selectively matched savoury bites.

The winery’s winemaking philosophy, combining traditional influences with innovative flair, is seen throughout their cellar door and restaurant experience too, where visitors are deftly guided through wine tastings and dining experiences.

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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

CLEARVIEW ESTATE WINERY,

TE AWANGA, HASTINGS Situated on the Te Awanga coast, Clearview Estate is one of New Zealand’s iconic coastal wineries, and a firm favourite of families thanks to its relaxed atmosphere and funky playground.

Showcasing the full range of Clearview Estate wines, the restaurant specialises in brunch, lunch and seasonal tasting platters, and is the perfect place for a relaxed afternoon in the sun.

Their á la carte menu reflects Hawke’s Bay’s diverse and productive region. Dishes are simply prepared using the finest seafood, dairy, meat and seasonal produce, and combined with olives, avocados, citrus and herbs from the onsite gardens.

The fully fenced playground is a hit with kids, while adults relish the vineyard views and coastal surrounds.

Clearview Estate is known for its wine, food and stunning coastal location.

ASKERNE WINERY, HAVELOCK NORTH, HASTINGS At Askerne Winery, they do things a little differently . . . and it really is working wonders. Committed to producing elegant, fine wines, the unique location of the vineyard allows it to produce an extensive range of award-winning wines from aromatic whites to full bodied Bordeaux blends and Syrah.

However, Askerne are possibly best known for their dessert wines, which is a good thing, as dessert is an allday affair here! Launched late last year, Askerne’s dessert tasting experience lets you sample a selection of the winery’s award-winning dessert wines alongside delicious bite-sized desserts.

If you’re not a sweet tooth, the winery also does buildyou-own picnics that visitors can put together themselves before choosing the best picnic spot among the vines.

MISSION ESTATE, NAPIER The oldest winery in New Zealand provides a

stunning location for the Mission Restaurant.

Offering elegant, classic surroundings, magnificent views, delicious cuisine and wines combined with the stunning vineyard location, Mission Restaurant is a destination venue.

Nestled in the Taradale hills, diners at the Mission Estate Restaurant enjoy sweeping views of Napier city and the coast beyond. Beautiful by day and spectacular by night, the outdoor dining terrace is drenched in summer sun while the indoor restaurant spaces have been cleverly designed to provide intimate dining. With only the freshest local produce used, and Mission Estate wines readily available, this is a classic Hawke’s Bay dining experience. W

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39

g n i t Tas s Note

BY CAMERON DOUGLAS, MASTER SOMMELIER

Page 41 Sauvignon Blanc Page 44 Chardonnay Page 47 Other whites Page 50 Pinot Noir Page 54 Red blends Page 56 Other reds Page 58 Syrah / Shiraz Page 60 Cameron’s Best of 2022 (so far) WINE POINTS SYSTEM

All Cameron’s wine and beverage reviews in World of Wine are based on this 100-point scale.

95 – 100 Classic: a great wine (5 Star) 90 – 94 Outstanding: a wine of superior character and style (4.5 – 5 Star) 85 – 89 Very Good: a wine with special qualities (3.5 – 4 Star) 80 – 84 Good: a solid, well-made wine (3 Star) 50 – 74: Not recommended

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TASTING NOTES SAUVIGNON BLANC

on n g i v Sau Blanc

T

he backbone of the New Zealand wine sector is Sauvignon Blanc. The demand for this commodity is increasing, especially internationally, and while this is excellent for the reputation of New Zealand wine, it does come with several challenges. Not the least of which is maintaining quality, expectation of style(s) and pricing.

Sauvignon Blanc is relatively easy to ripen in most regions around Aotearoa and its signature herbaceous, citrus and tropical fruit aromas along with piercing acidity are recognisable with most examples. At volume, however, this can begin to dilute flavours and complexity, so one of the challenges for the industry will be to maintain quality as demand (and volume) increases. There is also an increasing demand for vegan-friendly, organic, and biodynamic examples.

Both 2020 and 2021 have been excellent years for Sauvignon Blanc and tasting through a number of new-release 2022s, you should easily find quality wines at various price points. If there are any sub-$20 2020s left in your wine cellar, my suggestion is to drink up. Nearly all the early-release 2022 wines I have tasted punch above their weight (some well above) in terms of concentration, purity, balance and complexity.

Sauvignon Blanc is evolving too. I notice more texture, mouthfeel and layering from lees contact, skin-contact for some; use of older barrels of varying sizes for ferment, ageing or both for others.

Unsurprisingly, Marlborough remains the largest regional producer of Sauvignon Blanc with over 295,000 tonnes crushed, followed by Hawke's Bay with over 12,422 tonnes.

Then, in decreasing order: Nelson, Gisborne, North Canterbury and the Wairarapa. W

WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

41

TASTING NOTES SAUVIGNON BLANC

1

Craft Series ‘Pride & Glory’ Sauvignon Blanc 2016, Marlborough

2

1

Complex and alluring bouquet with aromas of grapefruit and white peach, apple and sage with lees and compelling barrel-ferment and raw cashew-nut complexities. Delicious on the palate – still developing and synergising, so some cellar time ahead if you like although it still offers immediate drinkability. Ideal drinking from 2022 through 2028.

95 Points RRP $65.00 marisco.co.nz

2

Loveblock TEE No Added Sulphur Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough

Complex and detailed, youthful and vibrant. Flavours of grapefruit and fine lees, yellow apple and gooseberry, peach and a stony mineral notes. Silky textures on the palate with acidity and youthful energy offering contrast and style.

Salivating, with a core of fruit, a light saline quality adds to the complexity. Balanced, refreshing and well made. Best drinking from 2022 through 2026.

94 Points RRP $29.99 loveblockwine.com

3

The King’s Series A Sticky End Noble Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough

A very noble bouquet with scents of honey and poached stone fruits, pineapple and pear. Very creamy and silky on the palate with flavours that reflect the bouquet plus a tropical fruit and fresh herb quality reflecting the variety.

Sweet, with contrasting acidity and a core of fruit flavours.

Delicious and creamy with best drinking from day of purchase through 2027+.

94 Points RRP $31.99 marisco.co.nz

3

4

4

The Ned Noble Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough

A striking package of aromas from apple tart to apricot nectar then brown sugar, sweet gooseberry and baked pineapple. Some light, dried herb qualities reflect the variety and add complexity. Very sweet but decadent and luscious with contrasting acidity and flavours of sweet apples and apricots, tropical fruits and a whisper of dried herbs. Lengthy and delicious with best drinking from day of purchase through 2027+.

94 Points RRP $25.99 marisco.co.nz

5

Emma Marris Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough

Plush, ripe, fruity and varietal. Aromas and flavours of lemon, green mango, fresh basil and fruit spice. Vibrant, crisp, salivating and fruity with a saline and fresh, ripe, acid line. Fruit flavours reflect the bouquet and there’s a fine lees-like complexity. Well made and ready to drink from day of purchase and through to end of summer 2024.

93 Points RRP $21.99 blackmarket.co.nz

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5

TASTING NOTES SAUVIGNON BLANC

6

Framingham Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough

Classic and pungent bouquet with aromas of fresh green herbs and grapefruit, green apple and green gooseberry flesh. On the palate the wine speaks in the same loud voice with more tropical fruit flavours and lemon. The herbaceous quality remains potent, as does the apple and gooseberry, with acidity and freshness carrying all. Delicious and new with great drinking from 2022 through 2025.

93 Points RRP $24.99 framingham.co.nz

6 8

7

7

Leefield Station Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough

Floral and pure-fruited bouquet with scents of pear, sweet lemon, fresh green herbs and a salty mineral complexity.

Crisp, herbaceous and fruity with a vibrant, almost silky, texture contrasted by a sweet acid line and simmering flavours of fresh orchard fruits. Balanced, well made and ready to drink upon purchase and through 2024.

93 Points RRP $21.99 marisco.co.nz

8

Loveblock Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough

Flavours of fresh citrus, dried herbs, hay and basil, with a fine lees layer highlighting minerality, citrus and peach.

There’s also a white blossom note, then scents of apple and tropical fruits. A satin texture with contrasting acidity, smooth lengthy finish and a delicious, fresh appeal. Well made and ready to drink from 2022 through 2025.

93 Points RRP $26.99 loveblockwine.com

9

The King's Favour Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough

A flourish of ripe citrus, Cape gooseberry, fresh herbs and tropical fruit flavours of mango and fruit punch.

Salivating, crisp and fruity on the palate, reflecting the fruit flavours suggested by the bouquet. Balanced, well made and ready. Best drinking from purchase and through end of summer 2024.

93 Points RRP $21.99 marisco.co.nz

10

Saint Clair Origin Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough

A classic bouquet and palate with aromas and flavours of white peach, fresh green herbs, apple, bell-pepper, pineapple and wet stone minerality. There’s a layer of lees and a touch of fruit spice layering-in a whisper of complexity to an already lovely expression. Crisp, salivating, refreshing and just dry. Great drinking from day of purchase through 2024.

92 Points RRP $19.99 saintclair.co.nz

9 10

WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

43

TASTING NOTES CHARDONAY

y a onn d r a h C

W

hat has long been regarded as the “classic” buttery, creamy, oaky, not-so-dry and highish alcohol version of Chardonnay remains a very popular expression. One key reason why this remains is because it’s a version that has inherent attributes wine drinkers love, with aromas and flavours of baking spices, ripe stone fruits, a sense of sweetness and a creamy texture that our palate welcomes easily.

Chardonnay is changing too, and expressions from individual producers are as varied as the soils, vineyard conditions and interpretations of style across Aotearoa. With an average vine age of twenty-five years for many Aotearoa producers, the quality, concentration and potential (in conjunction with excellent harvest conditions) offers winemakers more scope to craft a style and expression that can find many followers – me included.

While oak and chardonnay are great friends, the demand for new barrel flavours has lessened recently in favour of complexity and mouthfeel, also making food matches easier to find too. The use of alternative fermentation vessels such as amphorae or concrete eggs, as well as little to no oak at all, adds another dimension to a wine that many wine drinkers love to taste and discuss.

The opportunity for producers to release different expressions of chardonnay reflecting the voice of vineyard and region is gathering momentum as wine drinkers, wine critics and connoisseurs of the variety seek more expressive examples. This also means that your go-to person for wine advice should be ready with a sound knowledge of producers and styles. Next time you have the opportunity to attend a Chardonnay tasting event, say yes.

The styles detailed in this section will also help you explore Chardonnay in your own time. W

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TASTING NOTES CHARDONAY

1

Astrolabe The Farm Chardonnay 2020, Marlborough

1

5

Greywacke Chardonnay 2019, Marlborough

2

A totally captivating bouquet laced with aromas of baked stone fruits and wood spices. There’s a mineral quality that sits just beneath scents of apple and white peach, baking spices and a fine flinty quality. On the palate: a wine of texture and complexity, some battonage toastiness and a long weighty, finish. Complex and youthful, textured and dry – a wine that will continue to age and develop, drinking best from 2023 through 2030+.

95 Points RRP $45.00 greywacke.com

A very alluring bouquet with layers of white-fleshed fruits, sweet citrus and a flinty mineral quality, fragrant spices, flowers and leesy complexity.

Absolutely fantastic on the palate with delicious, seamless and complex flavours. Mouthwatering acidity and fine wood tannins deliver a fine mouthfeel with a core of fruit and flavour. The mineral quality adds complexity and length. Oak is judiciously used adding just enough complexity and structure. An excellent example, good to drink from today, but will be better from 2023 through 2030+.

96 Points RRP $80.00 astrolabewines.co.nz

2

Askerne Reserve Chardonnay 2021, Hawke's Bay

Complex and new with aromas of white stone fruits and grapefruit alongside a light gun-flint quality.

Layers of complexity come from use of oak as well as fine lees adding a mineral and stony-earth quality.

Weighty on the palate with a full and richly flavoured taste package. Oak and spice weave between a core of fruits from citrus to peach to apple and pear. Fine fruit tannins and acidity offer foundation and contrast.

A delicious, satin-textured wine ready from late 2022 through 2028+.

95 Points RRP $34.90 askernewines.co.nz

6

Lawson's Dry Hills Reserve Chardonnay 2021, Marlborough

3

4

5

7

3

Mount Brown Estates Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2020, North Canterbury

Astrolabe Chardonnay 2020, Marlborough

A complex, sophisticated, pure, ripe and very enticing bouquet. Aromas and flavours of apple and grapefruit, white peach and white apricot. There’s a natural fruit spice quality, sea breeze scent and youthful impact from the intensity and use of oak.

Delicious, weighty, engaging and fresh on the palate.

A near full-bodied texture, some fine tannins and plenty of acidity for structure and breadth. A long finish, complex and delicious, it will cellar and age well for two to three years. Best drinking from mid2023 through 2030+ 95 Points RRP $32.00 astrolabewines.co.nz

7 6

Fantastic bouquet with aromas of gunmetal and leesy spice, roasted nut, roasted stone fruits and baking spices. Complex, youthful and very inviting. On the palate: full-bodied, youthful, fresh, complex and full of flavour and texture.

Fruit and wood flavours reflect the bouquet, accentuated with chalky tannins, medium-plus acidity and toasty nut complexity. Well-made and ready to drink from 2022 through 2029.

95 Points RRP $30.00 mountbrown.co.nz

8

Q Wine Chardonnay 2021, Waitaki Valley

4

Fresh, fragrant and complex. Delightfully pure fruit with lifted fragrances of white flesh fruits, a core of minerality, and floral notes. Perfectly placed use of barrel influences for complexity and style. Satin mouthfeel with a core of mineral and fruit flavours from pear to apple, white and yellow peach to grapefruit. Very fine tannins and a backbone of acidity. Complex and very long. A delight. Ready to drink from 2022 through 2028.

95 Points RRP $50.00 qwine.co.nz

Blank Canvas Reed Vineyard Chardonnay 2020, Marlborough

Excellent, with immediately captivating aromas of stone fruits and sweet citrus, a leesy savoury spice, and stony, flinty complexity. The oak adds layers of spice and some wood smoke. The bouquet is complex, layered and enticing. On the palate, plenty of weight, richness, power and finesse with layers of texture and a core of fruit reflecting fresh and baked stone fruits, grapefruit, baked apple and baking spices of French oak. Well made and ready to drink from 2022 through 2028.

95 Points RRP $45.00 blankcanvaswines.com

Fabulous bouquet with complexity and power; a core of barrel spices, raw cashew nut, roasted yellow-fleshed stone fruits, stony earth and natural, seductive charm. A youthful wine with a mix of fresh and roasted stone fruits, new and aged wood flavours, tannin and acid texture, then grapefruits and spice. Full-bodied with a youthful energy and a salivating mouthfeel. A delicious wine that needs cellar time to develop and settle in. Best drinking from late 2023 through 2029+.

95 Points RRP $28.00 lawsonsdryhills.co.nz

8

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45

TASTING NOTES CHARDONAY

9

13

The King’s Bastard Chardonnay 2020, Marlborough

Seifried Winemakers Collection Barrique Fermented Chardonnay 2020, Nelson

9

A bold youthful bouquet with aromas of elderflower then white fleshed stone fruits, citrus, roasted nut and brown spices.

Complex, youthful and inviting. Equally fresh and vibrant on the palate, there's tension and poise, a lovely core of fruit then layers of fruit and wood tannins, acidity and silky cream textured intensity. Best drinking from late 2022 through 2028+.

95 Points RRP $35.00 seifried.co.nz

Aromas of toasty, roasted peach and vanilla, Brazil nut and Rose Apple with a hint of butterscotch and toasty barrel spices. Fullbodied, weighty and creamy in texture on the palate. Flavours of yellow fleshed stone fruits, grapefruit, nut, baking spice and stone. Balanced, well made and ready. Chardonnay fans will warm to this wine quickly – I did. Best drinking from 2021 through 2025+.

93 Points RRP $28.99 marisco.co.nz

10

14

10

Barton & Guestier Chablis `Saint Louis' 2020

De La Terre Reserve Chardonnay 2017, Hawke's Bay

Youthful, vibrant and fresh with enticing complexity. Aromas of ripe nectarine and grapefruit then sweet new-barrel scents of raw sugar and sweet tobacco. Full-bodied, fruity, varietal and complex on the palate with Brazil nut and peach flavours. There’s a clayey mineral quality and flavours of citrus, baked apple and wood spices. Some fine tannins and a mediumplus acid line. Quite delicious and still drinking young so plenty of development time ahead.

Best drinking from 2023 through 2029+.

94 Points RRP $42.99 dnfinewine.co.nz

11

11

12

15

Seifried Estate Chardonnay 2020, Nelson

Pure, fresh, varietal, ripe and enticing bouquet showcasing aromas of white peach and vanilla, red apple and a light-toasted barrel quality with some lees complexity. Flavours on the palate include grapefruit and apple, peach and baking spices. A satin texture with contrasting acid line – a lovely balanced example ready for drinking from day of purchase through 2026.

92 Points RRP $20.00 seifried.co.nz

Moutere Hills Chardonnay 2020, Nelson

Complex and youthful, varietal and enticing with scents of fresh peach and quince, red apple and citrus custard, vanilla and wood smoke. Flavours follow through to the palate seamlessly with contrasting acidity, Brazil nut and burnt butter, vanilla and leesy baking spice with a fullerbodied mouthfeel. Well made, lengthy and dry.

A distinctive expression with some fine tannins.

Best drinking from 2022 through 2028+.

94 Points RRP $35.00 mouterehills.co.nz

12

Nga Waka Chardonnay 2020, Martinborough

Attractive bouquet of flowers and minerals with some oyster shell ntoes and ripe stone fruits.

There's a layer of oak with a raw cashew nut butter scent. Finesse and charm. Youthful, fresh and delicious on the palate - dry with flavours of citrus and tree fruits, a core of minerality, a touch of gun flint and some new barrel. Great acid line leading to long, salivating finish. Best drinking from now through 2028+.

94 Points RRP $30.00 ngawaka.co.nz

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WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

Bright, fresh, mineral and crisp with aromas and flavours of apple and grapefruit, lemon and pith with some peach and white flowers. A classic, oyster shell mineral quality emerges as the wine warms in the glass. Crisp and dry with no oak and a salivating acidity. Balanced and well made with a ready-to-drink window from 2022 through 2025.

92 Points RRP $46.99 eurovintage.co.nz

13

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TASTING NOTES OTHER WHITES

s e t i h W r e O th O

ther whites (Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Semillon, Gewürztraminer, new to the market white varieties) Aromatic and semi-aromatic grape varieties can produce wines with power and finesse; seductive scents that can remind you of flowers, perfumes, fleshy juicy fruits and exotic, spicy flavours. These wines can be bone-dry through to exceedingly sweet. That means it’s a little harder to match customers to the right wine – but never impossible.

The term “aromatic” refers to a specific category of white grape varieties that contain an extra set of naturally occurring compounds called terpenes. Terpenes can enhance, even amplify, the spice, fruit and floral attributes in an aromatic wine.

Gewürztraminer, Muscat and Torrontes are among the most intense and exotic of the aromatic varieties with flavours ranging from tropical fruits to roses and spices.

My sister in-law does not like Riesling, for example, and refuses to buy or try it, mostly because she thinks all Rieslings are sweet. This is not true – some of the best Rieslings in Aotearoa are dry.

One of the most popular of the semi-aromatic varieties is Pinot Gris, in part because it is nearly always available by the glass in restaurants for you to try (with the drier styles sometimes better with food). The off-dry to medium styles are well suited to dishes with creamy textures such as oily fish or pasta with soft proteins. A quick check of a few wine retailers online had between thirty-five and fifty-seven Pinot Gris for sale, and several dozen available with prices ranging from $6.99 to over $60 a bottle.

Gewürztraminer is the most intense and exotic of the aromatic varieties with flavours of tropical fruits, roses and spices. Descriptors such as lavender, talcum powder, pineapple, white pepper and even apple strudel have been used to describe the wine.

Chenin Blanc is one of the great white grapes of the world. It has long been linked to the white wines of the Loire Valley in France and lovers of Vouvray or Savennières will attest to its brilliance. The taste of Chenin Blanc can vary according to growing conditions and vintage, but Chenin will nearly always display an apple character – quite often baked apple. Other flavours may include quince, honey dew melon, a waxy and wet-chalk minerality, chamomile and even a light cheese-rind.

If you feel adventurous, try a white blend from the Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane varieties grown in Georgia (Europe) with aromas and flavours of fresh citrus and pear, white peach and exotic white spices. Or the Kisi variety, also from Georgia, with flavours of apples and apricots, wild flower and honeysuckle and a natural, leesy quality. W

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47

TASTING NOTES OTHER WHITES

1

Domain Road Vineyard The Water Race Dry Riesling 2020, Central Otago

Pure, ripe and complex bouquet with aromas of fresh apples and lemons; blossoms and a deep core of mineral scents from stone to schist. Complex, pure and ripe on the palate with fresh, white-fleshed tree fruits and citrus flavours merging with mineral and floral highlights. Very lengthy on the finish with persistent flavours and mouth-watering textures. Best drinking from 2022 through 2032+.

96 Points RRP $27.00 domainroad.co.nz

3

1

2

4

Marc Brédif Vouvray 2020, Loire Valley

Ripe, fruity and delicately complex with scents of fresh red apple and quince. There’s a classic, wet wool quality and light chalky soil layer with white flower and honeysuckle folding in more complexity and plenty of charm. A silky texture with a core of apple and white fleshed fruits, a touch of citrus. Just dry, complex, charming and delicious. Best drinking from 2025 through 2030+.

95 Points RRP $36.00 deladoucette.fr

2

Astrolabe The Farm Dry Riesling 2020, Marlborough

Immediately enticing bouquet of lime and lemon, white flowers and whitefleshed peach. On the palate, just dry with a whisper of sweetness which is hardly noticeable with the core of citrus and stone fruit ntoes, acidity and flint-like mineral flavours. Very crisp and refreshing with a salivating, saline effect leading to a dry finish.

Delicious and drinkable from today with ideal drinking from 2024 through 2040.

95 Points RRP $30.00 astrolabewines.co.nz

5

Askerne Late Harvest Semillon 2019, Hawke's Bay

6

4

3

Astrolabe Wrekin Chenin Blanc 2020, Marlborough

Aromas of apples and pears, wet wool, minerals and a lifted, fragrant floral quality. Youthful, fine and pure.

On the palate: intense, youthful, crisp and just dry. Flavours mirror the bouquet with baked apple and pear and a plush silky texture with a backbone of acidity. A mineral layer adds complexity and depth to an already impressive-tasting wine. Delicious, drinkable today and through 2040+.

95 Points RRP $32.00 astrolabewines.co.nz

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5

Fantastic bouquet, floral and sweet, rich in fruit scents and sticky sweet candy then yellow and white blossoms. Sweet and luscious, waxy and textured, honeyed fruits with peach and grapefruit, mushroom and spice, brown sugar and golden syrup. Contrasting acidity salivates the palate and brings balance to a lush and intensely flavoured wine.

Excellent drinking from day of purchase through 2027+.

94 Points RRP $24.90 askernewines.co.nz

6

Askerne Reserve Gewurztraminer 2021, Hawke's Bay

Complex and exotic, varietal and seductive, nicely complex and fruity.

A silky-cream with flavours of white pepper spice and orchard fruits.

Peach and apple, some tropical fruit flavours and a clayey mineral quality.

Lush and fresh flavours paint the palate with contrasting acidity, weight and texture. A delicious wine ready to drink from 2022 through 2028.

94 Points RRP $29.90 askernewines.co.nz

TASTING NOTES OTHER WHITES

7

Askerne Semillon 2020, Hawke's Bay

A lovely, fragrant bouquet filled with scents of lemon and white peach, sweet hay and a waxy lemon, wet wool and floral charm. A coarse silk texture with plenty of acidity is contrasted by the core of fruits and waxy mouthfeel. Some honeysuckle moments and a fine layer of lees spice builds complexity and length.

Dry and long on the finish, a delicious expression perfect as an aperitif or for seafood and vegetarian dishes. Best drinking from now through 2032+.

94 Points RRP $22.90 askernewines.co.nz

7

9

8

8

Pegasus Bay Riesling 2020, North Canterbury

Fresh white peach and fleshy green apple scents, white rose and honeysuckle. As the wine opens up in glass the scents of mineral and a whisper of beeswax begin to emerge. Delicious on the palate, new textured and with a touch of residual sweetness - silky smooth. Acidity and minerality work together as does the fruit flavours and gentle sweetness.

Ripe, new and delicipus with great drinking from 2022 through 2030.

94 Points RRP $30.00 pegasusbay.com

Loveblock Gewürztraminer 2021, Marlborough

Fragrant, floral, spicy and seductive scents with aromas of baked apple and white peach, dried herb and white peppercorn. Silky texture on the palate followed by flavours of white-fleshed orchard fruits, some tropical notes and dried herbs. A youthful freshness with a lively acid line and bright, fleshy texture.

Balanced and well made with a lengthy finish. Delicious and ready from day of purchase through 2026+.

93 Points RRP $26.99 loveblockwine.com

11

Teliani Valley Tsinandali Mtavruli Dry White Wine 2020, Georgia

10 12

9

Teliani Valley Glekhuri Kisi Qvevri 2019, Georgia

Made with the Kisi variety and fermented in Qvevri (amphorae), this wine showcases aromas and flavours of apples and apricots, wildflower and honeysuckle, there’s a core of minerality and personality with complexity, charm and mystery. Dry on the palate with flavours of apple and minerals standing out, then wild flowers and apricot kernel. A natural leesy quality and definitive chalky texture along with plenty of acidity make for a delicious and different beverage best with food Great drinking from now through 2030+.

94 Points RRP $31.99 https://www.euroliquor.co.nz/winewhite-dry-kisi-qvevri-teliani-valley13-750ml

10

11

Aromas and flavours of fresh citrus and pear, white peach and exotic white spices. Some apple and pith and a floral note bring in complexity.

Very youthful with a firm texture and plenty of acidity which highlights some mineral qualities. Refreshing, salty, salivating and well made. With food to accompany it, this is a wine you should try. Best drinking from 2022 through 2028+.

93 Points RRP $23.99 https://www.euroliquor.co.nz/ wine-white-dry-tsinandali-mtavruli12-750ml

12

Teliani Valley Kakhuri No.8 Amber Dry Wine 2020, Georgia

Most definitely amber in appearance.

Very bright, with a captivating bouquet of ripe and exotic fruits, floral notes and familiar aromas of peach nectar and ripe red apple, sultana, incense and soft, five-spice qualities. Taut and dry on the palate with a chalk-like grip and acidity to match. Flavours of the bouquet return, albeit hidden a little behind the youthful power and texture. A totally interesting wine best served with food or cheese. Well made, enticing, and drinking from now though 2030.

92 Points RRP $23.99 https://www.euroliquor.co.nz/winewhite-dry-kakhuri-8-teliani-valley125-750ml

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49

TASTING NOTES PINOT NOIR

t o n i P Noir W

hy is Pinot Noir so popular? The answer, in part, comes from exemplar wines that seduce you on the first sniff. They can capture a sense of place, a notion of power (or force if you prefer); a drive of the bouquet; precision on the palate; the shape, form and polish – even ripeness – of the tannins; and an acid line that carries flavour, mouthfeel and complexity.

Pinot Noir’s popularity becomes a little clearer when you find that one wine that does this to you. But finding these special examples is where the fun part of the Pinot journey is. Tasting and discussing the nuances and story behind a particular Pinot is what attracts many to the variety and often holds them as a loyal follower.

Pinot Noir is a challenging grape to grow – many winemakers and viticulturists would politely say “fickle”. It is completely dependent upon season, weather conditions at flowering, and harvest windows. Then, how a winemaker manages the fruit once it arrives at the winery is where the real skill comes in: how much colour and flavour is extracted from the fruit; where the texture highlights descend on the palate; and so on.

The judicious use of oak forest and cooper can make all the difference when flavours of wood should not overpower the fruit. Finesse and elegance come from an understanding of how and when a wine will find its sweet spot on the palate through gentle winemaking and bottle-age. A winemaker with a heavy hand can over produce Pinot, losing its sense of identity in favour of flavour and too much wood work.

The nuances of flowers and fruit; messages of soil or mineral notes; sweetness, smoke and spice of oak can all give a Pinot Noir elegance with finesse, charm and complexity.

Too much of any single attribute and a wine can lose its sense of identity. I am simplifying matters a little, but if you consider all the impacts from weather, soil and farming to winemaking at volume, the story of Pinot Noir can be a wonderful sensory journey.

All that said, Pinot is a medium weighted wine with light red fruit flavours, fine needlepoint tannins, not too much acid or oak, and a lot of personality. W

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TASTING NOTES PINOT NOIR

1

thyme qualities. The core fruit flavours mirror the bouquet. Fabulous texture and length. Best drinking from 2023 through 2033+.

96 Points RRP $75.00 valliwine.com

Valli Bendigo Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020, Central Otago

Complex and pure with more than just a varietal bouquet. Layers of scents with sense of place and time, then aromas of crushed cherry and preserved roses, raspberry and a soft, savoury thyme note. Seamless on the palate with a youthful core and structure from fine, needlepoint tannins and acid line. Plush velvet mouthfeel with contrasting plum, cherry and a touch of blueberry fruit. Oak flavours and tannins are layered throughout the wine teasing the senses, salivating and adding just a touch of sweetness with light, smoky baking spices.

Fantastic wine with best drinking from 2023 through 2030+.

98 Points RRP $75.00 valliwine.com

1

2

5

Valli Gibbston Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020, Central Otago

2

Clos Marguerite Pinot Noir 2019, Marlborough

Fantastic bouquet and palate with very seductive aromas of winter roses and sweet barrel spices, red berry fruits, plum and an abundance of silty mineral layers. Complex and youthful. Refined and elegant, distinctive and luscious on the palate. Polished tannins and acidity form the foundation for red berry fruits and roses to weave their charm. A lovely example offering excellent drinking from 2022 through 2030+.

96 Points RRP $56.00 closmarguerite.co.nz

3

4

3

4

Valli Bannockburn Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020, Central Otago

Ripe, varietal, red berry fruit scents with dark cherry and raspberry contrasting fine, savoury qualities showcasing wild thyme and schist.

Complex and youthful with sweet baking spice scents from barrel and a silky, smoky quality.

Delicious on the palate with an abundance of polished tannins and a backbone of acidity echoing the wild and rocky countryside and

6

Valli Waitaki Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020, Central Otago

Seductive, complex and enticing aromas of rose and cherry, autumn leaves, dried herbs and a mix of red apple skin and tart raspberry flesh. The core of this is the minerality with a fine chalky stone quality. Oak scents are calm yet distinctive. Delicious on the palate with a fine-textured mouthfeel capturing the fruit and mineral qualities from the bouquet. Perfectly balanced with the structure displaying the fruit, earth and oak qualities with precision. Charming, complex and lengthy with best drinking from 2023 through 2030.

96 Points RRP $85.00 valliwine.com

Greywacke Pinot Noir 2020, Marlborough

There’s no mistaking the varietal charm, the red berry fruit aroma and pinosity. Complex and youthful bouquet. Delicious on the palate with a core of red fruit flavours, there’s a savoury seam accentuating some dried herb qualities and sweeter, toasty oak spice layers. Complexity layers in through an abundance of polished tannins and a youthful acid line. The acidity pulls everything together adding its own texture and freshness to a very lengthy finish. A fantastic wine, best cellared for another one or two years with best drinking from 2024 through 2034+.

96 Points RRP $49.00 greywacke.com

Complex and seductive bouquet with scents of fallen leaves and dried wild herbs, roses and cherries. Mineral, spiced with oak and a savoury note. Even better on the palate with texture and barrel spices, a gentle savoury herbs, some vanilla and dusty clove spices and a leesy, nutty quality. Complex and lengthy.

Chalky-textured tannins and medium-plus acidity set the foundation while layers of red berries and wild flowers layer in breadth and depth. Delicious, complex and ready to enjoy from 2023 through 2030+.

96 Points RRP $75.00 valliwine.com

5

7

Dicey Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2020, Central Otago

6

7

Floral scents with notes of rose, dark cherry and heirloom raspberry. A fine, savoury, dried herb line with thyme and sage. The core of fruit drives the bouquet. Quite intense and fresh on the palate with fruit flavours that mirror the bouquet.

A savoury seam engages the palate too, along with firm tannins and acidity that layer-in texture and structure. The finish is savoury and mineral with barrel spices adding complexity without disrupting the story of Pinot Noir. Best drinking from late 2022 through 2030+.

95 Points RRP $40.00 dicey.nz

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TASTING NOTES PINOT NOIR

8

12

Mondillo Pinot Noir 2019, Central Otago

Loveblock Pinot Noir 2021, Central Otago

Fabulous colour and bouquet; varietal, youthful, packed with pinosity, showcasing aromas of black cherry and blackcurrant; sweet, fresh, farmers’ market raspberries and dark roses; new barrel smoke and spices. Complex, very youthful and delicious on the palate with primary fruit flavours that reflect the bouquet, firm tannins and abundant acidity. A wine that simply needs time in your cellar to relax, integrate and develop. Best drinking through 2030+. Outstanding.

95 Points RRP $48.00 mondillo.com

8

A very pretty bouquet with refined varietal lift and complexity. Aromas of dark roses and autumn leaves, fresh red berries and fine, sweetbarrel complexities. A scent of mineral and soft stony soils adds depth and curiosity. Delicious, dry, fresh and luscious on the palate. Flavours of red berries, plum and strawberry return with contrasting fine tannins and medium-plus acid line. A lovely example for enjoyment from late 2023 through 2027+.

94 Points RRP $36.99 loveblockwine.com

9

9

13

Astrolabe Pinot Noir 2020, Marlborough

Youthful, complex, savoury spice, plum and dark cherry. Layers of fruit and oak with scents from the synergies between the two. Youthful, intense, fresh, varietal and fruity on the palate.

Dry with a coarse silk texture, medium-plus tannins and plenty of acidity for foundation and structure. There’s a core of complexity and savory spices leading to a lengthy dry finish. Flavours continue with dark cherry and vanilla, dark rose and baking spice. Youthful and delicious with best drinking from 2025 through 2034.

94 Points RRP $35.00 astrolabewines.co.nz

Matahiwi Estate Holly Pinot Noir 2020, Wairarapa

10

11

10

14

Domain Road Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020, Central Otago

Complex, ripe and very new. Vibrant aromas and textures including fresh and tart raspberry, fresh plums and a fine, savoury mineral frame.

Delicious but very youthful on the palate with an abundance of tannins and a backbone of acidity with a core of ripe, red berry fruit. New oak flavours and textures, a fine savoury complexity and a clay stone mineral quality. A wine for the cellar or with well-matched food, best drinking from 2024 through 2030+.

94 Points RRP $42.00 domainroad.co.nz

11

Hawkshead Pinot Noir 2021, Central Otago

Youthful, vibrant, fresh and varietal with aromas of dark cherry and raspberry; layers of wood spices and smoky qualities with mineral earth and clay scents. Excellent on the palate with dark berry flavours, firm tannins, a backbone of acidity and a complex, detailed finish. Youthful, salivating, fresh, dry and complex. Best drinking from 2024 through 2030+.

94 Points RRP $50.00 dnfinewine.co.nz

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WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

A complex and youthful bouquet led by aromas of soil; cinnamon, vanilla and a whisper of cedar from the oak; and red berry fruits. Dark plum and red cherry on the palate with some raspberry and Keriberry. Tannins are abundant with a chalk and dusty chalk quality while acidity adds crunch and freshness. There’s a nice, old world feel about this wine but it comes back to its Wairarapa home with each new sip. Well made but needs some cellar time. Best drinking from 2023 through 2033+.

94 Points RRP $41.99 matahiwi.co.nz

Nga Waka Pinot Noir 2020, Martinborough

12

13

14

Primary, fruity, varietal, gently savoury and enticing bouquet. Signature aromas of dark red berry fruits of cherry and spicy plum while a fine savoury seam adds complexity and depth.

There’s a youthful energy and sweetness of oak with a touch of wood smoke. Delicious on the palate. Dry, with an abundance of fine tannins adding a smooth texture with acidity giving enhancement and contrast. Well made, still developing, but delicious. Best drinking from late 2022 through 2028+.

94 Points RRP $40.00 ngawaka.co.nz

TASTING NOTES PINOT NOIR

15

19

Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir 2020, North Canterbury

The King’s Wrath Pinot Noir 2020, Marlborough

Youthful, varietal, smoky and intense with aromas of dark berries and baking spices with a stony clay soil quality and fresh blackcurrant flowers.

Delicious, salivating and saline on the palate with a core of fruit flavours that reflect the bouquet.

Earthy and oaky with baking spices and dark soil flavours, firm tannins and contrasting acid line. A wine that needs time to settle and integrate, but will be fantastic when ready. Best drinking from 2024 through 2034+.

94 Points RRP $55.00 pegasusbay.com

15

There's no mistaking the pinosity and pizazz of this wine with core aromas and flavours of cherries, red apple and plum. A layer of fruit, spice and mild oak qualities along with a stony soil note bring together a wine of freshnes and balance, pinosity and charm. Tannins are fine-tomoderate and acidity adds crunch and freshness.

Balanced and well made and ready to drink from late 2022 through 2026+.

93 Points RRP $28.99 marisco.co.nz

16

20

Tiki Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020, North Canterbury

16

Tiki WJM Pinot Noir 2017, Waipara

Complex, intense, pure, varietal, mineralladen and distinctive bouquet. Aromas and flavours of dark red berries with cherry, baked raspberry, dried cranberry and dark red plum.

There’s plenty of baking spice layers and toasty wood complexity. Firm and dry with moderate tannins, medium-plus acid line and a core of pinosity. Still primary and developing, but tasting quite perfect today. A lengthy, complex finish.

Best drinking from 2022 through 2028+.

94 Points RRP $35.00 tikiwine.com

17

18

21

Barton & Guestier Reserve Pinot Noir Ile de Beauté IGP 2020

17

Delta Estate Hatters Hill Pinot Noir 2021, Marlborough

Ripe, youthful, intense and varietal with core aromas of black raspberry and crushed cherry.

There’s an earthy quality with a stony, gravel scents then lees and some wood spices along with wood smoke and plenty of energy. Equally youthful and intense on the palate with flavours of fresh berries and plum, wood spices and varietal fruit. The needle-point tannins and youthful acid line are contrasted by the core fruit flavours and palate textures. A wine that will develop well in your cellar with best drinking from 2024 through 2029+.

93 Points RRP $35.00 deltawines.co.nz

A lovely varietal bouquet with elegance and purity, varietal lift and a sense of place. Aromas and flavours of red cherry and dark strawberry, some smoky, toasty barrel qualities and a dry stone mineral suggestion. An abundance of fine needlepoint tannins, a core of fruit, medium-plus acid line and lengthy, persistent finish. A well made wine ready to drink or cellar for another 1-2 years.

93 Points RRP $24.99 tikiwine.com

Lifted, ripe, fruity and varietal bouquet with aromas of fresh cherry, dark red apple skin, fine brown baking spices and wood layers – moderately complex and floral. Fine, fresh, fruity and dry on the palate with a fine layer of tannin, refreshing acid line and a balanced, even finish.

Fruit flavours mirror the bouquet and are at the core of this expression. Well made and ready to drink upon purchase through 2024.

90 Points RRP $16.99 eurovintage.co.nz

19

20

21

18

Leefield Station Pinot Noir 2020, Marlborough

Aromas of dark cherry and red apple skin, redcurrant and sweet raspberry. There's a fine mineral quality and layers of rose and softlyspoken barrel spices. Fresh, youthful and precise bouquet. Delicious on the palate with vibrant, berry fruit flavours, salivating acidity, fine tannins and mild wood flavours with a touch of vanilla and clove. Balanced, refreshing and well made.

Ready to drink from late 2022 through 2027.

93 Points RRP $27.99 marisco.co.nz

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TASTING NOTES RED BLENDS

Red s d n e Bl

(BORDEAUX-STYLE RED BLENDS, RHÔNE BLENDS, CABERNET - SHIRAZ)

W

hen working the floor in a restaurant, sommeliers and floor staff need to engage their customers in a brief discussion about wine to help them make the right decision. I am sometimes asked about “big red” wines and to make a recommendation. What a big red or red blend actually is is often based on an individuals’ liking for attributes in wine that strike their palate with flavour, texture and weight – ticking all the boxes of style and texture.

One of the more classic red blends is the style made famous in Bordeaux and referred to as the “Bordeaux Blend”. These are wines based around the combination of varieties such as the Cabernets (Franc and Sauvignon), often with Merlot and/or Malbec. This style is interpreted around the world where growing conditions allow for the same varieties and wine styles to be produced.

Another well-known red blend is that from the southern Rhône in France. This is usually dominated by Grenache with Syrah and Mourvèdre. The classic red Chôteauneuf-du-Pape (there’s a white version too) can have up to 13 different varieties in the blend.

Fruit concentration in red wine originates from combinations of ripeness and amount of time spent on skins during winemaking processes. Warmer climate fruit tends to have a riper and often slightly sweeter flavour than those from cooler climates. The former can also add weight and body to a wine – often more alcohol as well. If alcohol is a little higher because of riper fruit, a winemaker can decide to use more wood or oak which, in turn, can add more weight. The spice and toasty aromas and flavours from the use of oak can also add complexity which does not add weight as such but can add to the texture of wine which in turn can be perceived as more weight.

Red blends using the Cabernets and Merlot, Syrah/Shiraz, Malbec and Petit Verdot varieties are weighty or big reds because of the combinations or blends of varieties and the winemaker’s decisions around skin contact, oak, potential alcohol and volume of tannins in the finished wine. W

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TASTING NOTES RED BLENDS

1

Church Road Grand Reserve Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2019, Hawke's Bay

1

Ripe, fruity, complex and packed with aromas and flavours of baked plums and blackberry pie, violets and oak spices, toasty wood and dry stony earth notes. Delicious on the palate with a juicy core of blackberry and plum-fruit flavours, firm tannins, a backbone of acidity, satin texture and toasty wood notes. A lovely wine with immediate appeal, great food pairing qualities, and a lengthy finish. Best drinking from 2022 through 2032.

95 Points RRP $39.99 church-road.com

3

2

2

Yalumba The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2016, Barossa

A lovely package of complexity and fruit with layers of oak and personality. Complex and developing. Blackberries and dark plum with toasty barrel, clove and five-spice, a whisper of mint, tobacco and bottle age on the palate. The tannins are beginning to round off, as is the acid line, but both still form a sound foundation. Complex and dry, fruity and full-bodied – a lovely wine with length and complexity. Will be great with food, including cheese. Best drinking from 2022 through 2032+.

95 Points RRP $56.00 yalumba.com

3

Askerne Dr John Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc Merlot 2020, Hawke's Bay

Youthful, complex, varietal, fruity and distinctive with aromas of blackberry and olive, dark roasted plum and tobacco, toasty barrel with dark baking spice layers, violet and a dry clay/mineral quality. Firm, youthful textures on the palate with an abundance of tannins and acidity forming a strong foundation. Fruit flavours and sweet toasty barrel offer contrast and core. Dark berries and plum, some chocolate notes and violets, tobacco and mineral qualities build with each new taste. Well made, youthful and offering great drinking from 2024 through 2030+.

94 Points RRP $49.90 askernewines.co.nz

4

4

Paul Jaboulet Aîné Parallèle 45 2019, Côtes du Rhône

Youthful, complex, intriguing and new. Complex and earthy with aromas of field mushroom and baked meats, barrel spices, wood smoke, anise and a core of dark red berry scents. Berry flavours with contrasting youthful tannins on the palate and acidity for structure and power. Some peppery, saline and roasted nut flavours layer-in complexity with notes of violet and aged meats reflecting the grapes, site and old-world style charms this wine and producer reveal so well.

An excellent food wine with best drinking from 2024 through 2030+.

94 Points RRP $26.00 dnfinewine.co.nz

5

5

Barton & Guestier Bordeaux `Cuvée Rambaud’ 2019

Aromas of dark red berries and dusty brown earth, a touch of violets, and light baking spices from toasty wood. Medium-plus palate weight with some red berry and plum flavours, a touch of spiced chocolate and earthy tones that reflect the bouquet. Blackberry and some blackcurrant flavours with fine tannins and medium-plus acidity. Balanced and well made. Ready to drink from 2022 through 2026.

92 Points RRP $27.99 eurovintage.co.nz

WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

55

TASTING NOTES OTHER REDS

r e th O Reds

OTHER REDS (MERLOT, MALBEC, CABERNET FRANC, PETIT VERDOT, GAMAY, TAWNY PORT)

M

erlot in a blended red wine is often the lead player in the silky softness, the cushion and the mid-palate balance. Merlot also has a great relationship with oak, American or French. On its own, Merlot can taste of baked and fresh Doris plum, dark berries and there’s a delicious, mid-palate fleshy quality with smooth, easy tannins coming well before oak sweetness, oak tannins and vanilla favours show.

Malbec, on the other hand, is a lot bolder and more expressive with bigger tannins and equalled by a rich core of fruit and oak. It is rare to find a Malbec with no oak, but not impossible such as the Fromm Natural Malbec 2020. Malbec flavours include black raspberry, black cherry, blackberry and often a dark chocolate suggestion. It is not afraid of oak. Malbec is often used for Rosé or in full-bodied red blends. The variety originated around Cahors in southwestern France.

There are other varieties such as Blaufränkisch and Saperavi that can be excellent alternatives to the Merlots and Malbecs that we might be well used to.

Sangiovese too is delicious on its own and examples from its heartland in and around Chianti Classico can help frame what the modern expression are built on.

Finding a 100-percent Petit Verdot is rare, but it can also be the dominant variety in a red blend. You may also find Petit Verdot in a rosé.

Gamay is a fabulous variety to discover if you’re keen on a red wine that is served slightly cool (at cellar temperature) and even cooler in the summer months. Gamay can be that bridging wine between a rosé and Pinot Noir.

Tawny is most often used to describe a style of Port based on its colour after aging in oak. Tawnies are fortified red wines (brandy is added to the fermenting grape must), and are the driest of the port styles, and can be enjoyed cool as an aperitif and are great with cheeses and some less sweet desserts. W

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TASTING NOTES OTHER REDS

1

Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels The Gimblett 2020, Hawke's Bay

1

A powerful bouquet with ripe varietal aromas, then layers of oak and mineral, earthy qualities.

Blackberry and iron, dark cherry flesh, plum and black olive; wood smoke and dark spices from toasty barrels. Equally powerful on the palate with flavours of dark-skinned berry fruit, clove and dusty vanilla spice. An abundance of firm tannins from fruit and wood combine with a backbone of acidity forming a strong foundation.

Excellent weight, concentration, length and mouthfeel – delicious! Best from 2024 through 2034+.

95 Points RRP $39.99 trinityhill.com

5

Sottano Reserva Malbec 2020, Mendoza

Very enticing bouquet of dark red berry fruits, boysenberry, plum and some dark baking spices from the oak. Varietal and fresh. Classic on the palate with a core of red berry fruit flavours, contrasting acid line and taut, youthful mouthfeel. Tannins set the foundation, are in abundance, and need plenty of protein to tame.

Acidity and tannins are salivating, ripe and fresh contrasted by the fruit. There’s a note of chocolate and granitic earthy qualities. Dry and ready to drink from 2023 through 2029+.

93 Points RRP $32.00 sanzglobal.co.nz

2

6

Pirramimma Petit Verdot 2018, McLaren Vale

2

Sottano Reserva de Famillia Malbec 2019, Mendoza

Opaque and rich in colour. Equally powerful bouquet with aromas of dark chocolate and black plums, boysenberry and some sweet brown sugar from the oak, along with dark spices, clove and toast. Full-bodied with an intense core of fruit, flavours of roasted plums and dark berries, barrel spices and fruit sweetness. Firm tannins and medium-plus acidity pull all the flavours together and lead to a lengthy, intense finish.

Drink from 2022 through 2028+.

94 Points RRP $40.00 sanzglobal.co.nz

4

3

7

Barton & Guestier Beaujolais Villages `Grand Bouquet’ 2020

Light red fruits and floral scents with cherry and fruit spice, red apple and clay then boysenberry, rose and granite. Crisp and dry on the palate with fine, chalky tannins and medium-plus acidity. No oak detected on the palate - instead a fine lees quality suggesting toasty spice similar to wood along with a whisper of dried herb.

Balanced, well made and ready to drink. Best from 2022 through 2025.

91 Points RRP $24.99 eurovintage.co.nz

3

Aotea by the Seifried Family Cabernet Franc 2019, Nelson

An enticing and striking varietal bouquet of dark red berry fruits; a broody, savoury complexity; olive and bell-pepper scents; new French oak and toasty baking spice notes. Delicious on the palate, but quite youthful still with tautness from the tannins and acidity. A core of red fruit flavours that reflect the bouquet and additional savoury, earthy qualities with a mix of violets, olive, tobacco and berries. Still developing so cellar time is recommended. Best drinking from late 2023 through 2029.

93 Points RRP $39.00 seifried.co.nz

Dark and spicy bouquet with aromas of blackberry and soy, roasted plum and toasty barrel with clove and burnt nut qualities. Dry, with decent weight and intensity; flavours of dark berries with sweet earth and a touch of soy and leather. An abundance of tannins, but quite smooth-textured as well. Medium acidity, fleshy, salivating, balanced and well made. Best drinking from 2022 through 2028.

92 Points RRP $33.00. sanzglobal.co.nz

5

6

7

4

Pirramimma Aged Tawny (Non-Vintage), McLaren Vale

A classic Tawny expression with a mix of dried berries, balsamic notes, dates and dried figs.

Silky smooth and light, creamy textures with an intense sweetness and fruit flavour that reflect the bouquet. Fine tannins, low acid line, balanced, well made and ready. Drink at your leisure.

93 Points RRP $40.00 sanzglobal.co.nz

WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

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TASTING NOTES SYRAH/SHIRAZ

z a r i h S / h Syra

B

y the end of 2021, the vineyard producing area of Aotearoa was 40,323 hectares. Syrah represented just 434 hectares of this, just one percent of the total. Not very much at all compared to Pinot Noir or Merlot but actually more than the plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and enough to suggest that the variety has quite a few fans – including me – and that winemakers are producing some fantastic examples.

A Hawke’s Bay Syrah received a Best in Show gong at the world’s largest wine competition this year: the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards.

Grown throughout New Zealand, from Northland to Central Otago, Syrah’s proclivity to adapt to myriad soil types and a range of climates suggests there is a great future for the variety. All we need is more people buying and drinking it.

The genetic mapping of grape varieties places Syrah’s first home firmly in France.

Also known as Shiraz in Australia and South Africa, it is grown throughout the Rhône Valley and southern France. Syrah is the force behind the great wines of the Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage and many Châteauneuf-du-Pape reds.

The aroma, taste and texture of Syrah can be quite complex showcasing mineral and soil flavours as much as fruit and winemaking technique. Blackcurrant, raspberry and plum; meaty scents (aged or fresh); mushroom, olive, licorice or earthy flavours; and spices from pepper or peppercorn to cinnamon and aniseed can be discovered in many examples.

Shiraz and Syrah is a very oak-friendly variety and nearly all producers use it, layering complexity from the aromas and flavours of toast and sawdust – even a burnt cedar flavour can be noticed.

Syrah holds acidity well and when I say in my wine notes “backbone of acidity” I mean the acid level is critical to the texture of a wine and provides for longevity and freshness. Tannins will nearly always be bold and firm – this is part of what makes these wines so textured and compelling. W

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TASTING NOTES SYRAH/SHIRAZ

1

Trinity Hill Single Vineyard Thomson’s Block Syrah 2019, Hawke’s Bay

4

Chocolate Box Luxury Release Shiraz 2017, Barossa Valley

1

An alluring and complex bouquet with aromas of dark berry fruits, smoked meats, blackcurrant, baked raspberry pie, forest soils and field mushroom. Firm, dry, textured, fruity and complex on the palate.

Flavours mirror the fruit and ground signatures while firm tannins and a backbone of acidity deliver mouthfeel and foundation. A lengthy finish, persistently varietal with spice and power. Excellent drinking from late 2022 through 2030+.

96 Points RRP $120.00 trinityhill.com

3

2

2

Te Mata Bullnose Syrah 2020, Hawke’s Bay

Brilliant colour and bouquet with aromas of violets, redcurrants, dark cherry, fresh raspberry and mineral notes with clay and dry stone scents.

Floral, bright, youthful and complex.

Fantastic on the palate with a core of red fruit flavours, new oak sweetness, polished tannins and a backbone of acidity. The fruit soaks up the new oak easily. A complex yet youthful wine still needing cellar time to develop and harmonise completely.

Best drinking from 2023 to 2030+.

95 Points RRP $75.00 temata.co.nz

5

Matahiwi Estate Syrah 2020, Hawkes Bay

4

6

3

Aromas and flavours of dark cherry and baked raspberry. There’s a stony, crushed-rock quality and lifted scents of violet and sweet oak spices.

Youthful, taut and fruity on the palate with flavours and textures of blackcurrant, dark plum, some sweet meat and dark spice notes. Firm, youthful tannins and a backbone of acidity. Delicious and fresh with best drinking from late 2023 through 2030+.

93 Points RRP $29.99 matahiwi.co.nz

6

Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2020, Hawke’s Bay

Opaque appearance with a core of dark purple and ruby. Very youthful bouquet with scents of ripe blackcurrant, dark plums. Barrel spices and a light, black pepper note layer in complexity and breadth. Some lifted toasty barrel qualities and scents of clove, spice and vanilla. Delicious on the palate: full and rich in flavour and texture with additional ntoes of lees, gun-flint and roasted nut. Firm tannins and a backbone of acidity ensure this wine has an excellent foundation and will age well. The core fruits are powerful and lasting.

A delicious though youthful example with a long finish. Best drinking from late 2023 through 2030.

95 Points RRP $39.99 trinityhill.com

Classic bouquet of old-school Shiraz with enticing aromas of blackcurrant, smoky wood scents, dark plum, dark brown chocolate, some coffee notes and clove and vanilla pod. Full-bodied, rich in flavour and texture with medium acidity and plenty of toasty wood attributes. Firm, moderately intense tannins, with flavours of baking spices, smoke and brown sugar then dark berries and warming alcohol.

Well made and ready to drink from today and through 2025. A crowd pleaser for certain.

93 Points RRP $58.00 sanzglobal.co.nz

Chocolate Box Shiraz 2019, Barossa Valley

5

Aromas of dark berries, blackcurrant, dusty clove, vanilla spices, soft brown sugar and chocolate with a whisper of fruit cake, five-spice and a calm modern, and overall pleasantlyscented bouquet. Dry on the palate with a core of toasty, baked red berry fruit flavours, medium acidity, moderate tannins and nuances of baking spices and chocolate.

Balanced and complete with best drinking from day of purchase through 2025.

91 Points RRP $26.00 sanzglobal.co.nz

WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

59

TASTING NOTES BEST OF 2022 (SO FAR)

Cameron's Best of SPARKLING

2022

NO1 Family Estate Rosé Methode Traditionnelle NV, Marlborough

Fine, delicate, complex and pure. Red cherry and rose, pink apple skin and strawberry.

Elegant and fine with a plush mousse and layered autolysis. Sophisticated, dry and delicious.

95 Points

Amisfield Methode Traditionelle Brut 2019, Central Otago Complex, full-bodied and richly textured with a volumous mousse that is persistent with a fine bubble. White-fleshed orchard fruits and citrus.

Dry, elegant and satisfying.

95 Points

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AROMATIC

So far

Astrolabe Wrekin Vineyard Chenin Blanc 2020, Marlborough Youthful, fine and pure with baked apple and pear. A plush, silky texture and backbone of acidity. A mineral layer adds complexity and depth to an already impressive palate.

95 Points

Dry River ‘Lovat Vineyard’ Gewürztraminer 2021, Martinborough Fragrant and very seductive on the palate with flavours of white and yellow-fleshed fruits, exotic spices and flowers, ginger spice and lavender, apricot stone and white baking spices. Dry, very long and delicious.

95 Points

CHARDONNAY

Ata Rangi Masters Chardonnay 2020, Martinborough

Seamless, pure, very elegant, varietal and complex. Flavours of mineral and apple, white peach and citrus, raw cashew nut and a mix of sweet barrel spice with a gentle smoky quality.

Fantastic texture with a lick of salinity.

98 Points

Greystone Waipara Valley Organic Chardonnay 2019, North Canterbury

Mineral and ripe citrus fruits, lemon and quince, then peach and chalk, oak then fruit spice. I can’t decide what I like more on the palate: the texture or flavour. This really is a delicious wine of charm and elegance. 96 Points

TASTING NOTES BEST OF 2022 (SO FAR)

Tony Bish Skeetfield Chardonnay 2020, Hawkes Bay

I love the bouquet and impact of this wine with mineral and fine, flinty stone qualities, fresh white and yellow orchard fruits, apple and gunflint. Very modern and quite delicious.

96 Points

spice, clay mineral qualities and a satin texture.

94 Points

PINOT NOIR

Two Paddocks The Fusilier Proprietor’s Reserve Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2019, Central Otago

Fantastic bouquet and palate with gun metal and leesy spices, roasted nut and roasted stone fruits and baking spices. Complex, youthful with chalky tannins, and toasted nut complexity.

95 Points

Complex, sophisticated, very seductive and captivating with an immediate sense of place.

Seductive and perfumed, soft and floral with fruits that remind me of aged cherry and maraschino, plum and baking spices.

Silky-smooth texture and contrast from fine needlepoint tannins.

97 Points

Blank Canvas Reed Vineyard Chardonnay 2020, Marlborough

Valli Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2020, Central Otago

Mount Brown Estates Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2020, North Canterbury

What an excellent example with weight and richness. A core of fruit reflecting fresh and baked stone fruits, grapefruit, baked apple and baking spices from French oak.

95 Points

Clearview Estate Reserve Chardonnay 2020, Hawkes Bay

A top wine at the Decanter World Wine Awards this year. Dark cherry and raspberry, contrasting fine savoury qualities showcasing wild thyme and rugged countryside schist qualities. Complex and youthful with sweet baking spices, polished tannins, a core of red fruit flavours and silktextured finish. 96 Points

Captivating and complex; layers of lees and fine oak and a pure fruit drive. Fresh white and yellow peach, baked nectarine and sweet grapefruit.

Fine tannins and core of fruit. Fantastic length and persistency.

95 Points

Wild Earth Earth and Sky Pinot Noir 2021, Central Otago

Greywacke Chardonnay 2019, Marlborough

Dicey The Inlet Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2020, Central Otago

A captivating bouquet laced with aromas of baked stone fruits and wood spices. Apple and white peach, baking spices and a fine, flinty quality.

Complex and youthful, textured and dry. Delicious!

95 Points.

Lawson’s Dry Hills Reserve Chardonnay 2021, Marlborough

Fabulous wine with complexity and power.

A core of barrel spices, raw cashew nut and roasted, yellow fleshed stone fruits. Full-bodied, salivating mouthfeel – delicious.

95 Points.

Trinity Hill 125 Gimblett Chardonnay 2020, Hawke’s Bay

An excellent wine; toasty, sweet wood scents leading to aromas of baked orchard fruits and grapefruit then a stony-earth quality. Weighty, new and fresh with youthful power and energy.

Great length on the finish, but also still very youthful. Requires cellar time.

95 Points

Westbrook Waimauku Chardonnay 2017, Auckland

This is a delicious wine built around texture with a sense of place. Flavours of peach and grapefruit, a raw cashew nut oak quality, wood

A very enticing, fresh and vibrant wine with a core of raspberry and dark cherry. Earthy with stony chalk qualities and a pure, fine, savoury thyme quality. Complex and seductive. 95 Points

Complex, mineral, savoury, youthful and vibrant – varietal. Redcurrant and apple, dark cherry and thyme. There’s a spicy wood character and earthy complexity. A wine for the cellar with best drinking from 2024 through 2032+.

95 Points

Luna Estate Silver River Pinot Noir 2019, Martinborough Complex, with a core of minerality. Cherry and mangosteen berries, old raspberries then strawberry and baking spices of oak. Complex and youthful, an abundance of tannins with pinosity at the core.

95 points.

Bruce by Matahiwi Estate Pinot Noir 2019, Wairarapa

A wine of richness, complexity and personality.

Dark cherry with a fine savoury complexity, plum and dried raspberry, moments of blackcurrant and a youthful, urgent layer of oak. Fruit flavours coat the palate. Excellent structure and length.

Young and vibrant.

95 Points

Jackson Estate Vintage Widow Pinot Noir 2018, Marlborough Myriad flavours of red berries and dried herbs,

barrel spices and a core of minerality. Flowers and autumn leaves, red cherry and plum, barrel spices of dusty clove and vanilla with an abundance of polished tannins and acidity.

95 Points

Black Quail Estate Pinot Noir 2019, Central Otago

Fragrant, varietal, fruity and complex with dried raspberry and black cherry, wild red flowers and a core of crushed rock and earthy notes. A lovely wine, youthful with savoury qualities and mature vine characteristics.

95 Points

Black Estate Home Pinot Noir 2020, North Canterbury

Complex and new, a core of pinosity and sense of place with earth and mineral qualities then flavours of red apple and dark cherry, some sweet cranberry and wild flowers. Fine tannins, complex, savoury and detailed.

94 Points

OTHER REDS

Fromm Vineyard Malbec 2019, Marlborough

A youthful, focused and complex wine with flavours of dark berries and baking spices, a natural earthy quality and sense of place. Taut and youthful on the palate. Firm and ripe with textures of tannin and a squeeze of acidity.

96 Points

Hans Herzog Blaufränkisch 2019, Marlborough

Fabulous bouquet of complexity and mystery; aromas of dark red berries, tilled earth and fivespice with anise, sweet toasty wood scents and dusty clove. Excellent concentration and length – an abundance of fine tannins and acidity for mouthfeel and longevity.

95 Points

RED BLENDS

Radburnd Merlot Cabernet 2019, Hawkes Bay

Another benchmark from Kate Radburnd with a bouquet of baking spices and dark plum, blackberry and sweet tobacco. A layer of leesy, savoury complexity adds breadth and depth. A fine tannin structure with muscle and power. A stony mineral core and a very lengthy finish.

96 Points

SYRAH

Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2020, Hawke’s Bay

A top wine at the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards, showcasing a core of blackberry and toasty plum flavours, toasty barrel spices and stony mineral complexity. Taut and firm, bold tannins and a backbone of acidity. Fruity and dry.

95 Points.

WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

61

p o r D t Las THE

WITH THE WORLD NOW OPENING

UP AGAIN, CAMERON DIPS HIS TOES BACK IN THE INTERNATIONAL WINE SCENE

W

ith all sorts of changes in travel underway I’ve been able to get onto international flights again.

Starting in spring, I’ve logged trips to the United Kingdom for the Decanter Wine Awards, Australia for Rodd & Gunn’s Lodge Bar & Dining establishment in Brisbane, and the US (also for Rodd and Gunn).

The mood in wine and hospitality circles is of cautious, but still hopeful, excitement. In cities like London and Brisbane, it looks like all the restaurants are open, and they’re mostly full when I’ve walked by. In chatting with fellow sommeliers and industry colleagues, wine and beverage sales are very good.

Taking on a full-time role with Rodd & Gunn as their Global Beverage Manager has been exciting, challenging and rewarding in equal measure. Opening the new Lodge Bar & Dining venue in Brisbane has been an excellent opportunity to showcase New Zealand through its fine wines and its food.

At home, our restaurant customers are exploring the range of wines on offer without defaulting to their usual tipple so quickly. They are willing to spend a bit more but generally drink a bit less. In the next 18 months or so we will

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WORLD OF WINE – WINTER 2022

hopefully get a sense of how things stand as the dust settles.

Talking of the future, New Zealand’s 2022 wine vintage will deliver excellent quality from most producers, but you’ll need to be patient for many of the exciting releases will not likely start until 2023. It’s a vintage that shows great promise but the wines will need some time to settle and develop before they become available. Based on samples I have received or tasted from tank or barrel, there will be some cracking wines from Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah and red blends.

On my website and on some wine bottles in outlets you may spot my personalised endorsements. In their distinctive Ford Mustang yellow and black, the stickers on bottles and printed material will be easy to spot – see below.

These are not award stickers, but a highly visual endorsement of great winemaking. There are four tiers in my system and as a guide include: Recommended for wines that you can buy with confidence knowing they will taste great today; Premium for wines with special qualities (a 90 – 92 score); Excellent for wines with concentration, texture, character and quality (93 – 94); and Outstanding for wines that are impeccable and cellar worthy (95 points and above). W

A glass for every occasion.

w w w.d ay a n d a ge .co. n z

w w w. s c h o s p i t a l i t y.co. n z

www.valliwine.com