New World Struts its Stuff

A selection of New Zealand reds were pitted against those from Bordeaux at a recent blindtasting in Hong Kong at Club Lusitano with a New Zealand bottle taking third place, ahead of a bottle of Bordeaux from Château Lafite-Rothschild. This kind of blind taste test “takes away all your preconceptions and you are just focusing on quality and possibly personal preferences,” said Lisa Perrotti-Brown, a Singapore-based Master of Wine. The New Zealand wines included in the taste contest were made from the same red-grape variety used to make Bordeaux and came from vines at Hawke’s Bay vineyard, Gimblett Gravels. “It’s a wine insider’s story right now,” chief winemaker of Craggy Range Rod Easthope said. These events “allow us to strut our stuff better,” Easthope said.