News of New Zealanders via Global Media

NZ Leads “Twist and Sip”

NZ Leads “Twist and Sip”

Connoisseurs who once turned their noses up at screw-top wines rethink their opinions after early results from the Australian Wine Research Institute prove categorically that screwcapped wines suffer the least oxidation and are fresher and fruitier than…

NZ Red

NZ Red

“That New Zealand can make decent reds is news of the “man bites dog” variety. If this article had been written a mere five or six years ago, it would have been pretty short. Not any…

Drink on the Wing

Drink on the Wing

Looking to grab a drink a mile up? Try Air New Zealand, whose cellars rate third in the world for quality in the air.  

The real McKiwi

The real McKiwi

How can you tell New Zealand wine has really arrived? The French start labelling their products “Kiwi Cuvee”.  

Schuster, Stoppard, Sauvignon

Schuster, Stoppard, Sauvignon

The 1999 Montana Reserve Sauvignon Blanc (“my homage to Michael Schuster”) is a current favorite of British women’s-health guru Dr Miriam Stoppard. This New Zealand example is ‘fresh and rich and slightly oaky with a really lovely…

Palliser Palate Thriller

Palliser Palate Thriller

“My top pick Vintages white is a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that thrills the palate: Palliser Estate 2000 Sauvignon Blanc.”

Another Shade of White

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.  

Ata Rangi’s Stunning Achievement

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…

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.

Screw Up

Screw Up

Marlborough winemakers ditch traditional cork in favour of screw tops for better quality.  

Architectural Taste

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

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

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

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

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, 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

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

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”.  

Vine Delights

Vine Delights

Check out “petroleum-charged, aromatic, oily” Villa Maria Reserve Riesling.  

Future Drink

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

Kiwi Fruits

“New Zealand wine makers are on the verge of world dominance, but some things are still beyond their control.”  

Marvellous Merlot

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

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

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….

Wine of Human Kindness

Wine of Human Kindness

New Zealand brand In the Black chardonnay contributes to Comic Relief in Scotland.  

Do the Funky Mushroom

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”.  

Fine Drinking

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

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

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…

Greens’ New Zealand

Greens’ New Zealand

New York James Beard Foundation hosts a tasting of New Zealand’s top wineries.

Unheralded Edge

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’.”

Raw Deal

Raw Deal

Choose New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc to match raw oysters – and everything else.  

Xmas Cheer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

“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

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

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

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”

“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.

“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

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

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

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

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…