Another Shade of White
Bridget Jones not withstanding, the reign of Chardonnay is over – Sauvignon Blanc is the white of the moment, and Marlborough’s “peppery, citrus driven” offerings have set the contemporary standard.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Ata Rangi’s Stunning Achievement
The Martinborough vineyard wins the Pinot Noir international trophy for the third time with a “beautifully balanced, seductive wine.” NZEdge brings you the press release of this impressive feat.
And to Wash it Down…
Serving salad? Drink New Zealand Sauvignon, also just the ticket with artichokes and asparagus. National Post features refreshing Fairhill Downs Sauvignon and classy Palliser Estate Pinot.
Architectural Taste
Te Mata Estate’s Buck House included in a review of good winery architecture – buildings that, like the wine, reflect and are inspired by the region. Designed by Ian Athfield, the “series of honest, non-fussy buildings” fuses…
Tohu Sauvignon
“The only wine in New Zealand (as far as I know) that’s made entirely by Maori. If you’ve grown tired of Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc, this gooseberry and passion fruit white, with its fresh acidity and real…
Top Price Drinking
Three Rivers shiraz is Australia’s most exclusive wine, an in-crowd signifier with the big money crowd. New Zealand wine-maker Chris Ringland is the man behind the thousand dollar bottles.
Pinot Edge
New Zealand “can and will” challenge the Cote d’Or for first place in the Pinot Noir stakes, with wineries like Felton Road, Ata Rangi and Palliser Estate producing complex, top-line drinking.
Sauvignon Assertion
“The fish was marinating in a spicy Mexican sauce. And the chef wanted the perfect wine for his meal. Max Pendolari, grape guru, provided the doctor’s answer, as he has done nearly every day for four…
Lindauer, Pick of the Bunch
Lindauer Special Reserve Brut rounds out the box in Taste for Wine’s Pick of the Bunch pre-mixed case designed to broaden the tastes of British wine-drinkers.
Golden Drop Standard
New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA are on the way to mutual acceptance of differing wine standards, making market access easier for everyone.
Wine Rewritten
Leading Sancerre vintner Henri Bourgeois decamps to Marlborough to be part of the “the one new world country that has taken a classic French grape variety and rewritten the wine script”.
Future Drink
“Fast-forward to the year 21. You shop eBay, toy with the PlayStation 2, drink wines from New Zealand and Texas and watch NYPD Blue on a flat-screen TV.”
Kiwi Fruits
“New Zealand wine makers are on the verge of world dominance, but some things are still beyond their control.”
Marvellous Merlot
“From the legendary wines of Pomerol, the tradition of Italian Merlots and the “new classic” wine regions of California, Oregon and Washington, to the great vineyards of South America, Australia, New Zealand and beyond, Merlot has proved…
Directory of Excellence
Every entry in a New Zealand winery guide has one thing in common: “passion for excellence in their field”.
Throwing Down the Gimlett
Terroir – it’s French for “good wine grows here”. Gimlett Gravels in the Hawkes Bay, a patch of gravelly soil that supports 34 wineries, is New Zealand’s first venture into this elite area of wine marketing….
Do the Funky Mushroom
Malborough pinot noir smells like “funky mushroom” – that must be a good thing, because “New Zealand’s Pinot Noirs are as good as anyone’s outside Burgundy”.
Wine of Human Kindness
New Zealand brand In the Black chardonnay contributes to Comic Relief in Scotland.
Fine Drinking
Palliser Estate Sauvignon with “real intensity, poise and class”. “Brilliant reds” are “the undiscovered splendors of New Zealand”. Wine of the week: Stoneleigh Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.
Urban Vine
Fast-food outlets and urban life now surround Babich Wine’s Henderson vineyard, but Joe and Peter Babich go on producing fine westie wine.
Sauvignon Summer
“Stick with sauvignon blanc. The good ones are so much better, for the price (Cloudy Bay, perhaps the best in the world–certainly the most striking–goes for less than a so-so California chardonnay), than other summer staples that…
Unheralded Edge
“To connoisseurs for whom the thrill of discovering an unheralded wine is almost as much fun as drinking it, educator John Sheldon’s advice is straightforward: ‘Move to the cutting edge’.”
Xmas Cheer
Montana Wines, New Zealand’s largest winery, have swallowed Corban’s, creating a company that will produce 55% of New Zealand wine.
Killer Wine
Wairau River Sauvignon favoured by the Star and National Post Online, “killer” Cabernet Franc in the Washington Post, Villa Maria leaves the National Post reaching for more.
Berry Good
“Tall, dapper” New Zealander Martin Brown runs centuries old vinters Berry Brothers & Rudd. He’s turned Lord Byron’s purveyors of the liquid muse into Britain’s top wine e-tailer.
Meat and a Green
Matthew Norman munches steak, savours Cloudy Bay Sauvignon and wonders if the man next to him has former Gov-Gen Lord Arthur Porritt’s edge vintage in his veins.
Sauvignon Savvy
Stoneleigh Vineyards’ ’99 Sauvignon Blanc: “this wine manages to have lots of tropical fruits in the nose, while maintaining the dry, herbaceous character that the grape is known for.”
Sauvignon Temptation
Former Scots Rugby rep Rob Wainwright recalls a New Zealand tour run along the lines of a temperance society outing. The players escaped the coach for a day of deep-sea fishing, which swiftly “degenerated into deep…
Fine Vintage
1978 was a good year for wine in New Zealand. That’s when John Simes, now winemaker at Mission Hill in Okanagan, Canada, began his career. The Kiwi is one of the “trained and experienced winemakers” imported to…
Perfect Pinot
An ever-increasing variety of New Zealand wines are being enjoyed and celebrated throughout the world. Al Bassano recommends our Pinot Noir.
Pask Bask
Where do you go for the top Bordeaux? Edge Hawkes Bay winery CJ Pask makes the best Bordeaux-style wine in the world, according to the world’s premier wine judging event.
Superplonk
Is Cloudy Bay the new Champagne? “An utterly gob-smackingly gorgeous bubbly … Track down the 1995 vintage of Pelorus, from the Cloudy Bay bunch in New Zealand. A massive advance … this is one of the most…
Dionysian Olympic Success
“Eventually, excellence of all sorts is rewarded, and one day New Zealand will be able to show off its medals.” The New York Times explores the success of New Zealand’s contender in the wine making Olympics:…
Classy Champagne
New world producers, with the help of the champagne houses, are producing great tasting sparkling wines that are making the originals uncomfortable. Leading the bunch is Daniel Le Brun, making “some rich, classy Kiwi bubbles.”
Otherworldly Sauvignon Blancs
The New York Press predicts a sauvignon blanc summer – great for when the mercury rises. “The genuinely good stuff–particularly the world-class sauvignon blancs of New Zealand’s Marlborough region – tastes like alcoholic Fresca. Tastes almost otherworldly,…
Giesen Estate Best White of the Show at Prestigous US Awards
Giesen Wine Estate Double Gold 1999 Sauvignon Blanc, from Marlborough, has won best white of the show at America’s most important wine-judging event, the San Francisco International Wine Judging Competition. With 2,800 wines from around the world entered, it…
“He Who Laughs Last …” Kiwi Wines Now the Benchmark
Colonial upstarts from the all parts of the Empire are conquering Britain. As renowned wine merchant Simon Berry ponders regretfully, “We laughed at New Zealand 20 years ago, and now they are benchmark wines.”
Quality Not Quantity for Outstanding New Zealand Vintage
“Outstanding quality and lower quantities characterize the 2000 vintage in New Zealand. The country’s hallmark Sauvignon Blanc and very promising Pinot Noir varieties in particular have benefited from the difficult growing conditions.”
New Zealand Whites Give Bland Californians a Taste of the Real Thing
“Here come the sauvignon blancs from New Zealand. Hooray!” White wines from “half a world away” are challenging the blandly commercial US natives, “they almost seem juicier than other wines, maybe because they supercharge our salivary glands.”…
Fine Wine
Kim Crawford Unwooded Marlborough Chardonnay 2000: “sprightly, with pure quince apple and tangerine-lime citric accents and bright acidity tamed by the process of malolactic fermentation”. Seresin Estate’s Pinot Noir and Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc make Bloomberg’s favourites of…
“Nobody Does Sauvignon Better Than New Zealand”
“Certain wine regions become known for certain wines because the majority of producers there do them better than anyone else … when it comes to sauvignon blanc, nobody does it better on a consistent basis than…
“I See (Nz) Red” – the Critic’s Palette Tells the Facts as It Sees Them.
“In terms of sheer quality, the most exciting of all emerging wine-producing countries is New Zealand … if I were compelled to pick the wines of just one country … to drink for the rest of…
New Zealand Whites the Best
Before you call the PC Police, the reds are pretty good as well: The National Post’s Michael Vaughan pines for New Zealand wines, “The LCBO Classics Catalogue offers slim pickings from a country with a lot…
New Zealand Wines Meet the Challenge
Hong Kong: Kiwi wines dominate in the South China Morning Post’s Kevin Sinclair’s answer to the challenge of how to build the perfect home wine collection from scratch.
Wine Wine Wine
New Zealand corks are popping all over the place: Imperiale of Goldwater Estate Waiheke Island Caberet/Merlot 1990 to be auctioned at Christies (price estimates US$2400–$3800), NZ wine featured in the Guardian and at Marks and Sparks.
Quality Not Quantity for NZ Wines This Year
Fickle Summer weather and cold autumn southerly winds have made it likely that New Zealand will produce a disappointingly small crop of sauvingon blanc grapes this year … the plus side is that the small vintage…
Cool Taste from a Cool Country
“Make sure the wine is chilled like a winter morning before you open it. Then savour the nose. You get strong whiffs of passionfruit. It tastes divine … It’s got a lovely opulent taste that lasts…
Fine Wineries, Better Views. John Westbrooke Visits a Gourmet Hotspot
Martinborough used to be a sunny, sommolent village serving the farmers on the Wairarapa River Valley. It’s still a village, but it’s also the latest hot spot for the New Zealand wine industry.
A Cool, Crisp, Refreshing Dip: Oyster Bay
“Fondle a bottle of sauvignon blanc on a hot day. There are beads of cool condensation on the outside and the label says “Oyster Bay”…”
Watch out France – New Zealand is on the Fast Track to Becoming Top Wine-producer
New Zealand may be one of the newer players in the wine industry, but it has already carved out a niche as one of the best producers of white wines in the world and is now…
Great Red Hope
It’s not New Zealand’s fault. Little more than 10 years ago they took the world by storm with their fruit-packed, freshly acidic, amazingly aromatic Sauvignon Blanc. Now …
Check Out This Landscape of Timely Tastes
Are you still reeling from the way your guests drained your wine supply during those blowout millennium parties?
