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The presenter is Lyn Timms of Lyns Consulting, assisted by Nicola Fraher, daughter of The Crater Rim owner. Nicola is the person preparing the food and wine matches for this evenings wine and food match – the food is appetiser-sized tasty morsels to pair with the wines.
The Crater Rim is a family-owned boutique winery situated in the rolling hills of Waipara, in the South Island. They grow, make and market limited quantities of terroir-specific wines produced from their own two vineyards and contracted sites in the Canterbury sub-regions of Waipara, Omihi and Banks Peninsula and Central Otago.
These sites have been carefully selected for their particular mix of varietal, topography, soil and microclimate – creating high quality, site-specific wines of individual character and drinkability. The Crater Rim manage their vineyards and work closely with each grower to ensure that vines are cropped low and managed sustainably, guaranteeing the best quality fruit possible from each vineyard site. The result is exceptional wines from exceptional regions.
Crater Rim recommended that their wines are enjoyed with a meal that best brings out their flavours and have produced a book so that those who drink their wines may have a range of options to do this.
With the growth of The Crater Rim’s success, it was only natural that Nicola Fraher, one of the daughters of The Crater Rim’s owner, saw an opportunity to combine her passion for food and wine by producing a book that not only told that story but brought the wines together with nutritious recipes that can be easily made and enjoyed. Nicola is a trained nutritionist with her own business; she also works in a marketing role for the family enterprise.
The food and wine matches for the evening:
Start with a tasting of From The Ashes Sauvignon Blanc
Tasting of Waipara Sauvignon Blanc matched with Tomato and Garlic Bruschetta
Tasting of Waipara Pinot Gris matched with Spicey Vegetable and Lentil Dahl
Tasting of Waipara Riesling matched with Thai Beef Salad
Tasting of From The Ashes Pinot Noir matched with Pulled Pork Sliders
Tasting of Waipara Pinot Noir matched with Spiced Beef Kofta on Tabbouleh
Tasting of Dr Kohls Late Harvest Riesling matched with Key Lime Pies
Renowned sailors, the Butterworth Family (Brad & Warren), is the new custodian of Julicher vineyard, planted in the iconic soils of Te Muna. The J-Knot on every bottle, the strongest knot you can tie, is a tribute to their vineyard’s founder, Wim Julicher.
Wim Julicher originally planted the Te Muna vineyard as an Olive Grove, but the site’s unique aspect made it far too cold for the olive trees. Luckily, it creates the perfect amount of pressure for the divine struggle required to produce world-class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
The Butterworth Family has a viticultural heritage dating back to the founding days of the New Zealand wine industry – the original 1890’s vineyard property is still in the family today.
The wines for our evening are from their Te Muna (Butterworth formerly Julicher vineyard and Layline ranges:
Nelson’s Tohu Wines are the toast of the New Zealand wine industry after taking out a coveted ‘Best in Show’ prize at the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards.
Over the course of two weeks of rigorous wine-testing in London in June, Tohu’s Whenua Matua Chardonnay stood out from amongst the 18,000 wines judged, to win one of the 50 Best in Show accolades.
As the only New Zealand winery to receive a Best in Show award, it was a major achievement for Tohu – the world’s first Māori-owned winery.
French wines dominated the Best in Show category with 15 awards, along with nine from Spain and seven from Italy.
Decanter organisers said while New Zealand was more well-known for its Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand Chardonnay had been quietly building its success in recent years. At the 2021 awards, Chardonnays from less-expected places like Canada and Germany also received Best in Show awards.
Tohu Wines’ 2018 Whenua Matua Chardonnay received one of the 50 Best in Show accolades at the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards.
The Whenua Matua Chardonnay 2018 is a single-vineyard wine grown in the rich clay soils of the Upper Moutere region. The only other time a Nelson winery has won best in show for chardonnay was in 1992 when Neudorf Winery won for its 1991 Chardonnay, also grown in similar Moutere-clay soil.
Tohu winemaker Bruce Taylor said the Chardonnay was all about showcasing a single vineyard.
“Whenua Matua translates as ‘significant lands’ and the changing angles and orientations of the vineyard blocks lend themselves to the complexities of winemaking.
“The wine is selected from the very best barrels of our hand-picked, whole-bunch pressed 15-year-old Chardonnay vines.
“These single-vineyard wines hold great structure, exceptional varietal characteristics, texture and complexity.”
Owned by the Kono food and beverage company, Tohu Wines was established in 1998 and around 200,000 cases of wine are produced at its winery in the Awatere Valley.
Kono chief executive Rachel Taulelei says the company is immensely proud of winning the Decanter Best in Show award.
Tohu Wines also received a Gold Medal for its 2020 Sauvignon Blanc at the Decanter Awards.
“The chardonnay is a special release for us and follows on from our 23-year celebration last year. Each wine in the Whenua series is an expression of the uniqueness of our tūranagawaewae, our standing place, and our connection to the land.
“To be acknowledged and singled out from thousands of wines in such a prestigious wine competition is confirmation that care for the land and its bounty is tōtika, a beautiful balance.”
The main types of wine include red, white, rosé, sparkling, and fortified and dessert wines.
Exploring new wines can help expand your palette and knowledge of drinks to pair with different dishes.
Grapes from all over the world give wines a range of flavours from fruity to oaky to dry.
Wine types vary and each style has a distinct taste that suits different people’s preferences. d3sign/Getty Images
Humans have produced and enjoyed wine for over 8000 years, so it stands to reason that this grape-based beverage would be easy and stress-free to enjoy, right?
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Wine education covers a great deal of information, from grape types to geographic regions to flavour profiles. While some drinkers love to geek out to the nuances and details of this subject, others can feel a bit overwhelmed when they walk into a wine shop.
While there’s no limit to the amount of information that you can learn, a few basic guidelines will help direct your shopping experience and allow you to get your hands on a bottle that suits your tastes and preferences.
As vast as the world of wine is, most wines can be classified into five main categories: red, white, rosé, sparkling, and fortified and dessert wines. Below, you’ll find a rundown of these categories, with a breakdown of 28 popular variety types.
To offer some expert insight, we’ve enlisted sommelier and wine educator Caroline Conner who teaches online courses to wine lovers seeking to enhance their knowledge and broaden their wine-related horizons.
Why is it important to know about different types of wine?
“The best way to learn about wine is to approach it like learning a language,” says Conner. “You can DIY it, but without lots of real-life practice, it’s hard to get anywhere.” Knowing what you’re tasting and why can help you along your wine journey in a number of ways:
Developing your palate: You may have heard the term “palate” tossed around by wine drinkers in the past, but it really just refers to a sense of taste, which can be developed by simply tasting. The more flavours you experience, the more sophisticated your palate will become because you’ll understand how taste elements differ from each other and how they work together to create unforgettable flavours.
Discovering food and wine pairings: Wine and food are a natural match for each other, and when you figure out which wines taste best with which dishes (according to your own palate), then you can take your meals to the next level.
Gaining a global perspective on wine: As corny as it sounds, you really can “travel the world” by tasting wines from different countries, continents, and regions. Learning about the climate and soil conditions of a particular country can help you understand how the wines from that nation develop their flavours. Paying attention to common wine and food pairings from that country will clue you in on how best to enjoy the bottles you purchase.
How to talk about wine
Because flavours are so subjective, it’s easy to dismiss wine-tasting terms as pretentious and less-than-useful. However, understanding a few basic phrases can give you all the vocabulary you need to describe the wines you enjoy (and the ones that you don’t). To get you started, here are a few commonly-used wine words:
Dry: “Dry” essentially translates to “not sweet”. Dry wines don’t contain residual sugar from the fermentation process (or, if they do, it’s in a very low quantity).
Off-dry: An off-dry wine features a small amount of residual sugar, which gives it a gentle sweetness. The French term for off-dry, “demi-sec,” is also frequently used in wine tastings and on bottle labels.
Sweet: A sweet wine — also known as a dessert wine — contains significant amounts of residual sugar and has a pronounced sweetness in its flavour.
Oaky: Many red wines and certain white wines undergo a process of ageing in oak barrels, and said barrels impart a woodsy, toasty flavour to the wine. The more time the wine spends in the oak barrels, the stronger the “oaky” flavour will become.
Full-bodied: This is a term generally used to describe red wines, and it refers to both the flavour of the wine and to its texture. A full-bodied wine boasts rich, complex flavours, a robust texture that coats your mouth and tongue, and (in most cases) a higher alcohol content than a light-bodied or medium-bodied wine.
Tannins/Tannic: Tannins are natural compounds found in wine grapes (particularly in the skins of said grapes). These compounds affect the texture of the wine in the mouth; the drying sensation that you may experience when drinking a glass of red wine comes from tannins. Tannins exist in both white and red wines, but because red wines are produced and aged with the grape skins still in contact, the tannic structure of red wines tends to be more prominent.
Grape: The vast majority of wines produced worldwide use grapes as their core ingredient. Wine grapes differ from “table grapes” designed for eating; they’re typically smaller, juicier, and more acidic. Most wine grapes are of the Vitis vinifera species, a style of grape specifically cultivated for wine production.
Style: Some wines are named after the style of grape used to make them; “Chardonnay”, “Cabernet Sauvignon”, and “Pinot Noir” are all examples of grapes that often lend their names to their wines. However, some wines take their names from the regions where they’re produced. French wines are especially notable for this pattern: “Champagne”, “Bordeaux”, and “Burgundy” all fit into the “wines named after regions” theme.
Now that you know how to talk about it, let’s get into the wines themselves. Below are many of the most popular wine styles you’ll find in stores and at restaurants, along with a few underrated gems.
Red Wines
Merlot
Cabernet Sauvignon is a very popular red wine, while a merlot offers a softer taste. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
Merlot is a red grape that’s grown throughout Europe, South America, Africa, Australia, and the United States. According to Conner, “some of the greatest wines in the world” are Merlots. “It’s plummy and juicy, and a bit softer than Cabernet [Sauvignon], which it is often blended with,” she says. It tastes delicious alongside charcuterie boards, roasted vegetables, and even cheeseburgers.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon can grow in a wide variety of regions and is, therefore, an easy bottle to scoop up at any wine shop. As for flavour, Cabernet Sauvignon is full-bodied and dry. “Cabernet Sauvignon is ‘bigger’ than Merlot, and it has lots of tannins, which are those chewy, drying particles in reds,” says Conner. “It’s wildly popular and you can find stunning examples all over the world.”
Pinot Noir
“Pinot Noir is widely loved because it’s one of the rare lighter reds, but has tons of flavour and complexity,” says Conner. “It’s most famously from Burgundy, but there’s great Pinot all over the place, like in Oregon, New Zealand, and even Germany.” But she does warn that these wines can be fairly pricey: “Pinot is picky and fickle, it’s prone to disease and only thrives in certain climates. You have to be a good winemaker to make the best of it, in any conditions! That’s why it’s so prized, because when it’s good, it’s good, and the winemaker took these grapes from the right place, treated them right, and made them sing.”
Syrah/Shiraz
Wines made with this red grape can claim two names, depending on where the grapes are grown and where the wines are produced. In the Rhȏne Valley region of France, these wines are called Syrah, but in Australia, they’re known as Shiraz. In both cases, you’ll find a rich, deeply-hued red wine with strong dark-berry notes and high tannins.
Zinfandel
Like Syrah/Shiraz, the Zinfandel grape produces “big” red wines with lots of stage presence. Notes of dark fruit, tobacco, and leather are common when tasting Zinfandels. It’s a popular grape in California vineyards (and most Zinfandel is indeed grown in the Golden State), but you can also find it in Italy, South Africa, and New Zealand.
Gamay
The Gamay grape is perhaps best known as the primary grape used to make Beaujolais. Made in France, Beaujolais wines are beloved for their light texture, high acidity, low tannins, and bright fruit flavours. Every November, the first release of Beaujolais bottles (known as “Beaujolais Nouveau”) makes a huge splash in the wine market both in the U.S. and abroad.
Sangiovese
If you’ve ever enjoyed a glass of Chianti at an Italian restaurant, then you’ve experienced the Sangiovese grape. This purple-red grape produces many styles of wine made throughout Italy, all notable for their medium body, high tannins, red fruit flavours, and hints of spice. If you need a wine to pour at a red-sauce dinner, then Sangiovese will do you right.
White Wines
Chardonnay
Some well-known white wines include Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Albariño. Mykhailo Lukashuk/Getty Images
“Chardonnay is a true winemaker’s grape; it can really do it all,” says Conner. “A lot of people think they don’t like it because all they’ve tried is their mom’s oak-bomb, buttered-popcorn ’90s Chardonnay. This style still exists, but it’s not very trendy anymore, so it’s easy to find Chards with less oak, more fruit, and more balance. Try Chablis from France if you want to taste a spectacular unoaked Chardonnay.”
Sauvignon Blanc
This white grape famously makes lightweight wines with clean acidity and pronounced fruitiness. “Sauvignon Blanc is all about that fruit,” says Conner. “It has two main styles: the super-intense version with passion fruit aromas coming out of New Zealand, and the more restrained, grassy French style from Sancerre. There are great Sauvignon Blancs from Chile and the USA too.”
Riesling
White grapes are typically easier to grow in cooler climates than red grapes, and Riesling, which originally hails from Germany, serves as a prime example. Riesling wine is highly versatile; it can be sweet, dry, still, sparkling, and anything in between. Its fruity, floral flavours tend to pair well with white meat, fish, and anything spicy.
Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris
Known as Pinot Grigio in Italy and Pinot Gris in France, this white grape makes a highly approachable and popular wine with citrus notes, zingy acidity, and a pleasant undercurrent of minerality. Alongside a platter of fresh seafood or a cheese plate, Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris truly shines.
Gewürztraminer
The Gewürztraminer grape is native to Germany, and wines made with it tend to feature fruit flavours like apricot and pear, along with herbaceous notes. In the US, Gewürztraminer proves especially popular at Thanksgiving, thanks to the fact that the wine’s gentle fruit and herbal aromas pair perfectly with turkey, stuffing, and all of the fixings.
Chenin Blanc
Commonly grown in the Loire Valley of France and in South Africa, the Chenin Blanc grape translates to a white wine that’s light-bodied, appealingly tart, and easy to pair with a variety of dishes. Try it with soft cow’s milk cheeses like brie or with grilled or roasted veggies.
Albariño
If you’re a fan of Sauvignon Blanc but want a white wine with even more fruit presence, then Albariño, a wine style native to Spain, could be perfect for you. Albariño is a medium-bodied white, which means it works very well as a food wine. Pair it with shellfish, white meat, or an entrée salad.
Rosé
Rosé wine is made by removing skins from red grapes. Dulin/Getty Images
Contrary to popular belief, most rosé wines aren’t made by combining white grape juice with red grape juice. Instead, they’re made by removing the skins from red grapes after a brief period of time, resulting in a wine that’s light, refreshing, and a pretty shade of pink.
Provençal Rosé
Some rosés are made with only one type of red grape, but many — like the mega-popular, super-refreshing pale-pink rosés that come from Provençe, France — come from a blend of grapes. Conner urges us to embrace blended wines like Provençal rosés: “I think that blends are underrated,” she says. “Many of the famous European wines are blends, and all the better for it! Blending is part of the art of winemaking, and especially with climate change disrupting vineyards, it will continue to be important in order to achieve balanced wines.”
Zinfandel Rosé
Zinfandel rosés got a bad rap for many years due to the perception of “White Zinfandel” as overly sweet and not especially nuanced. However, you can now find plenty of quality Zinfandel rosés on the market, and many feature a delicate sweetness that makes them a great partner for BBQ dishes or grilled salmon.
Grenache Rosé
Grenache is one of the grapes most commonly used in the Provençal rosé blend, but you can also find rosés made solely from this red grape. Grenache rosés burst with summery fruit flavours like strawberry and watermelon, and they’re delicious with Caprese salads, grilled eggplant, and Mediterranean fare.
Sangiovese Rosé
Italian “Rosato” wine often comes from the Sangiovese grape, which gives this varietal a darker hue than some competitors and makes it a robust and spicy wine with plenty of red fruit flavour. There’s no better partner for Sangiovese rosé than pizza (especially grilled pizza).
Tempranillo Rosé
Spanish Tempranillo (also grown in the US and South America) has an almost savoury quality to it, which gives this medium-bodied rosé an advantage where food friendliness is concerned. Enjoy it with anything from grilled meats to tacos to seafood to Spanish classics.
Sparkling Wines
Champagne
Champagne isn’t the only type of sparkling wine — there’s also Crémant, prosecco, cava, and Lambrusco. Yulia Naumenko/Getty Images
Some drinkers use “Champagne” as a catch-all term for “sparkling wine,” but the only wines that can truly claim the Champagne name must be produced in the Champagne region of France from grapes grown there. You can use white grapes to make a Champagne (called a “blanc des blancs”) or red grapes (a “blanc des noir”), but either way, you’ll end up with a phenomenal bottle packed with citrus notes, a bit of yeastiness, and a prominent fizz.
Crémant
Not all sparkling wines produced in France fall into the Champagne category. If a wine is made using the same techniques as Champagne but isn’t from the Champagne region, then it’s known as a Crémant. Crémants boast many of the same flavour characteristics as Champagne, but they can often be purchased at a far lower price, making them one of the best bargains in the wine world.
Prosecco
These once-obscure sparkling wines of Venice now claim a major share in the wine market, and these Italian sparklers are bright, crisp, fresh, and very reasonably priced. Drink with a cheese and charcuterie board for a great start to a fun evening.
Cava
Cava, the sparkling wine most closely associated with Spain, uses the same production process as Champagne, but it’s made with a different range of grapes. The result is a dry and lively wine with a pleasant minerality — an almost flinty taste that comes from the soil where the grapes are grown. In fact, this minerality makes Cava a smart pairing choice for creamy dishes and sauces, since the wine has enough fortitude to cut through those weightier ingredients.
Lambrusco
All of the sparklers listed above are whites — even the Champagnes that are made from red grapes. But you can also find sparkling reds, a great example of which is a Lambrusco. Lambrusco comes from Italy and is made from grapes of the same name. It can be either sweet or dry, but all versions have a relatively light body and a potent fizziness that makes it a whimsical choice for pizza or pasta night.
Fortified and dessert wines
Port
Fortified and dessert wines include Port, Sherry, Madeira, and Moscato. Westend61/Getty Images
One of the most popular sweet wines on the market, Port takes its name from its country of origin, Portugal. It’s a fortified wine, which means that it has a distilled spirit added to it, upping its alcohol content. Port comes in four different varieties: Ruby (a red Port), Tawny (a barrel-aged Port), White (a Port made with white grapes), and Rosé (a Port made the same way a typical rosé wine would be made). Bold cheeses, BBQ with a sweeter glaze, and, of course, desserts all pair beautifully with Port.
Sherry
Like Port, Sherry qualifies as a fortified wine. It comes from the Andalusia region of Spain, and while all Sherry undergoes some level of ageing, darker versions (like Oloroso Sherry and Amontillado Sherry) spend more time in the barrel than lighter versions (like Fino Sherry). Sherry can be drier than other fortified wines, which gives it more food flexibility. It works just as well with an appetizer spread as it does with dessert.
Madeira
Madeira, a fortified wine from a Portuguese island off the coast of Africa, bears many similarities to Port and Sherry. It often features nutty flavours and a hint of caramel, along with fruit notes like orange and peach.
Moscato
A sweet Italian wine made from the Muscat Blanc grape, Moscato can be either still, sparkling, or semi-sparkling (with a lighter level of effervescence). The most popular Moscato, known as Moscato d’Asti, falls into the latter category. Moscato’s pronounced but not overwhelming sweetness lets it pair nicely with spicy dishes, savoury cheeses, and fruit-based desserts.
Insider’s takeaway
At the end of the day, a “good wine” is any wine that you enjoy. Spending serious bucks on high-end bottles isn’t necessary for a great tasting experience, but a bit of know-how will help simplify your shopping and will increase your chances of ending up with a wine that’s exactly what you want to drink.
Brian was a consummate presenter of his wines and his varied vineyards in the Marlborough region. His whiteboard diagrams and explanations of how, why and what consummated good wines, grounds, countries differences and weather were educational for us all, helped along by his sense of humour.
He reinforced to us that this year’s vintage was very good, very early and very small. And that this may be good for smaller vineyards as the quality is very good. He also thought we could all benefit from some fine wines being drunk.
It was the 21st vintage for Mahi, and because of COVID all of their vintage staff were from NZ!
Brian also had his son Max back from a winery in New York to do his first full crush here at his winery, which was very special for them both.
Because of COVID and the increase of wine consumption at home worldwide (in the developed world), Marlborough went into vintage with hardly any available wine and after a vintage that was down by possibly 30% there will be a supply problem, perhaps for a couple of years, depending on the weather this year.
Our tasting on the evening involved vertical tastings, which was something different for us and most interesting. Wines tasted during the evening were:
2020 Mahi Marlborough Rose’ – welcome tipple
2019 Mahi Marlborough Sauv Blanc
2019 Mahi Boundary Farm Sauv Blanc
2019 Mahi Marlborough Chardonnay
2017 Mahi ‘Twin Valleys’ Chardonnay
2016 Mahi ‘The Trine’ Chardonnay
2019 Mahi Marlborough Pinot Noir
2019 Mahi ‘win Valleys’ Pinot Noir – pre-release, not for sale at the moment.
A dearth of grapes this vintage has forced a family-owned winery in Marlborough to turn down a new customer in Europe. But it’s not just the smaller operations struggling. One of the biggest players in the global drinks industry, Pernod Ricard, is also reporting it is unable to meet the global demand for Marlborough wine this year, in particular sauvignon blanc, due to the region’s low yield.
One estimate puts the take of sauvignon blanc grapes down 30 per cent against long-term averages, due to early frosts and cool weather during the flowering season.
A Pernod Ricard Winemakers spokesperson said the company was in talks with its partners to determine how it should prioritise supply for customers “in the context of the strong ongoing global demand for the sauvignon blanc category”.
The volume shortage meant the family-owned Marisco Vineyards had to walk away from a deal in Germany to make sure it could supply its long-time customer base.
Marisco Vineyards general manager sales and marketing Siobhan Wilson said the winery, which employs about 80 people, didn’t want to sacrifice one market for another.
“The key focus for us this year is to look after the partnerships we’ve developed over the years … We have a long-term contract with annual supply conversations starting around January-February, which is tricky as vintage happens [March-April].
“So I have to take what our customers would like versus what we have got coming in.”
Marisco started blending this week, so it would have a full picture of what was available, and when, in the next couple of weeks, Wilson said.
New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan said Aotearoa hit a record-breaking $2 billion in New Zealand wine exports at the end of last year. “Exports to our key international markets have increased beyond expectations over the past 18 months, and we saw an increase of 19 per cent for the first four months of the new export year (July to October 2020), at the same time in 2019.
“We are already seeing supply and demand tension as a result, and we expect that many wineries will face tough decisions on who they can supply in their key markets over the next year,” Gregan said.
And while increased demand and reduced supply might push up prices, Wilson said they had to be careful.
“We are not just going to put the price up because it is in short supply, because next year what happens if we have a bumper vintage, and we’ve got plenty of wine, do you then discount it?
“What is important when you are selling wine, and when you are building a brand, is a consistency of quality and price.
“So, we all have a responsibility to ensure that we sell at a good price and the right price,” Wilson said.
Ongoing labour shortages, due to the closure of New Zealand’s borders and the restricted number of RSE workers, had also piled pressure onto wine companies.
Wilson said they had challenges coming at them every day and a short vintage was just one of them.
“We have got massive challenges in Marlborough getting wine shipped offshore because of the shortages of boats coming in, the restriction of space … and it is all the result of the pandemic.
“At Marisco Vineyards we are really resilient, my team have been working for me for a long time, and they have experienced many challenges over the year, so we just deal with it.
“The key thing is the communication with our customers and being really honest with them about the situation,” she said.
Cellar Club members celebrating the club’s 40th-anniversary wine trip to Wairarapa Feb 2021
It was a brilliant day weather-wise, to travel via train, then bus to Martinborough. The three vineyards that were organised for us to visit, thanks to Gayl’s marvellous efforts, were Nga Waka, Tiwaiwaka and Grava/Alana.
We were divided into three groups, with each group assigned to two of the three vineyards to taste at – for ease of the smaller cellar tasting rooms, and the exuberance of the people attending.
Each of the vineyards was fully welcoming and at the Grava tasting room, if you asked, you could taste the Alana version of the wine being tasted, which was great if you were tasting with a partner.
Grava/Alana
At Grava/Alana where Lunar are the new owners, the vineyards brands are kept very separate. Grava has its vines on the Lake Ferry Road which has gravelly/alluvial soil and Alana’s wines are made from vineyards further in around Martinborough. The wines tasted were:
2018 Sauvignon Blanc – 12 months in oak/12 months in barrel fermented
2020 Alana Pinot Gris
2016 Riesling [also tasted the 2016 Alana Riesling]
2017 Alana Pinot Noir
2018 Pinot Noir
2017 Late Harvest – Sauvignon Blanc harvested mid-May
Nga Waka
At Nga Waka – where the new American owners are stuck in Nevada – the wines tasted were:
2020 Sauvignon Blanc – planted in 1988/89, the first wines made in 1993
2019 Chardonnay – fermented in oak barrels for 10 months
2019 Rose – from Pinot Noir grapes
2018 Pinot Noir
Tiwaiwaka
At Tiwaiwaka the tastings were conducted under the branches of a lovely oak tree. The wines tasted were:
2020 Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon Blend – an excellent surprise to start with 2019 Semillon
2018 Rose
2020 Chardonnay
2018 Pinot Noir
2019 Cabbage Tree Pinot Noir – the second favoured tasting for group B
2019 Merlot
Orders were good for all vineyards and many have been delivered directly to members already, with the delivery of the smaller lots being arranged by Wayne and Murray in the coming days.
The bus driver, Craig, was brilliant and was always where he was needed.
Coney’s
Tim Coney welcoming members for a tasting & celebration lunch
Our tasting and lunch at Coney’s was entertaining, with one of the owners Tim Coney regaling us with his stories of the vineyard, his band and his love of opera (which is where the musical names for the wines come from), and life in general in the Wairarapa.
To accompany the wines each table as served with a small platter of food. The wines tasted during this session were:
2020 Rallentando Riesling
2018 Riesling
2020 Ragtime Riesling
Piccolo Pinot Gris
2019 Foxy Lady Syrah Rose’
2016 Reserve Pizzicato Noir – a gold medal winner made to go with food
The lunch was well-received when served. The train trip to the Wairarapa and back was an added highlight for everyone, with many having never travelled that line before.
Thanks to Gayl and Wayne for your efforts in making this event such a memorable occasion.
Finally, if you are interested in viewing the various photos taken on this wine trip, they are on the club’s gallery page.
New Zealand’s wine industry built its name on sav, but we’ve been putting all our eggs in one basket for too long, writes Jules van Costello.
Savvy represents 63% of New Zealand’s area under vine, 74% of our wine production and a whopping 88% of our exports by volume, meaning for every dozen bottles of wine we export, over 10 of those are sauvignon blanc. Photo: Getty Images
I like to think of sauvignon blanc as the IPA of wine. It’s brash, bombastic and a little bit basic (in a good way). Like IPA, its tropical aromas of guava, passionfruit, lemongrass and a little bit of sweat jump forth from the glass. In the words of wine educator Oz Clark: “There had never before been a wine that crackled and spat its flavours at you from the glass”. It should not be surprising that some of the flavours in savvies and IPAs are the same – New Zealand’s most acclaimed hop variety, Nelson Sauvin, is named for its olfactory similarity to Marlborough sauvignon blanc.
Savvy is easy to understand and even easier to like. In the world of wine, which has a tendency to disempower consumers by letting so-called “experts” hoard knowledge, this is unequivocally a good thing.
Sauvignon blanc put New Zealand on the map. It is the foundation on which the entire export side of our wine industry has been built. But sadly, there can be too much of a good thing. While writing my new book, Beyond the Vines: The Changing Landscape of New Zealand Wine, I’ve had to wrestle with the fact that while sauvignon blanc is amazing, the New Zealand wine industry has too many eggs in one basket. It represents 63% of New Zealand’s area under vine, 74% of our wine production and a whopping 88% of our exports by volume, meaning for every dozen bottles of wine we export, over 10 of those are sauvignon blanc.
In August 2020, New Zealand Winegrowers released their annual report which stated that, despite six months of Covid-19 affecting sales, we’d actually exported more wine than ever before. Big grocery brands have done incredibly well but many smaller producers are feeling the pinch. The smaller the producer, the more likely they are to be selling wine in restaurants, which is hard when restaurants are shut or diners are too scared to go out. Secondary lockdowns in Melbourne, London and even in Auckland, as well as the huge mishandling of Covid in our biggest markets – the USA and UK – have had profoundly negative effects for many Kiwi producers.
New Zealand, the forward-thinking upstart that it is, committed to free trade in the mid-1980s. We are an export economy and from my position, this has generally helped us do business. However, one of the consequences of this is that no industry is too big to fail. Our producers, unlike those in Europe, for instance, cannot rely on government intervention to keep them afloat if the arse drops out of the market.
Ripening white grapes at a vineyard in Marlborough Region, country’s largest winegrowing region with distinctive soils and climatic conditions, South Island of New Zealand. Photo: Getty Images
Sauvignon blanc is popular now across the globe, but what happens when the bubble bursts? We could face a quick trend shift à la Sideways that saw merlot’s demise, or even a sudden global event change how the wine world works overnight. Most of the players who are making big bucks on industrial sauvignon blanc will not care. They will move onto something else. The growers and the wineries will be hurting. The wine world is a slow-moving beast, but it is also a fickle one. At this stage, New Zealand does not have an exit strategy.
Savvy is important – we can make relatively high-quality juice relatively cheaply. This is what got us into this problem in the first place. But we can also make world-class wine all over New Zealand. We need to champion more serious styles of sauvignon blanc, which we excel at.
We also need to diversify, and quickly. Despite having over 55 commercial varieties being grown, land devoted to most varieties has been dwindling (all but sauvignon blanc, of course, pinot noir, pinot gris and syrah).
I myself am heavily invested in the natural and lo-fi wine game with my businesses Cult Wine and Te Aro Wine but, strangely enough, I do not think this is the saviour of the industry, nor is making more and more serious wine. We need to find something we can make relatively cheaply, well, and for which there is an international demand.
I believe light red wines are part of the answer to the problem of the sav bubble – Montepulciano from Italy, St Lauren from Austria and Gamay are all contenders. In Australia, these light reds have taken off domestically and are making waves internationally. Like sav, we can make affordable pinot relatively well so there is no reason why we cannot apply these skills to grape varieties that are a little easier to grow. I happen to like drinking light reds but this is one solution that should also suit consumers in Australia, USA and the growing Chinese market.
We also need to experiment, throw grapes at the wall to see what sticks. The bubble will pop. We need to be ready.
Saint Clair Family Estate from Marlborough with Alison Downs presenting.
Last month we had Saint Clair Family Estate from Marlborough with Alison Downs presenting.
This was an extremely well-presented evening and was enjoyed by all club members present – 40 of us!
It was interesting hearing Alison’s wine journey from the UK and Europe to the New World and her enduring wine passion and growing knowledge and experience.
The committee was unanimous in their agreement that Alison is probably the best presenter we have had in recent memory.
Our orders from the evening were substantial with people enjoying all the wines presented, especially interesting to get to sample the Pinot Blanc, a new white grape for most.
The next chapter for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is anything but traditional.
Few wines have a stronger signature style than New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Since the grape was first planted in 1975, it has become a sensation among U.S. wine drinkers — not only for its crisp character and zingy acidity but for its sheer reliability. Even without cracking the screw cap, it’s a safe bet that any given bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand will be youthful and refreshing, with fresh citrus and grassy, herbaceous notes.
“Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is truly unique and always identifiable in a lineup of Sauvignon Blancs from around the world,” says Jules Taylor, owner and winemaker of her eponymous Marlborough winery. But, she says, “it is not all the same.” Today’s producers are increasingly intent on showcasing that there’s more to Sauvignon Blanc — and to New Zealand in general — than its stylistic stereotype. Untraditional vinification techniques like barrel ageing and wild fermentation, offbeat sweet and sparkling wines, and regional distinctions outside of Marlborough are all proving that New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has the potential to be an even more diverse category in the future.
Pioneers of Experimentation
ADVENTURE. HARD WORK. and insanely flavorful NEW ZEALAND WINE
Over the 40 years since Sauvignon Blanc really took off in New Zealand’s vineyards, winemakers have worked to understand the adopted variety. “Our treatment of Sauvignon Blanc has changed and evolved enormously, both in the vineyards and in the wineries,” says Craig Anderson, the winemaker at Hillersden Wines in Marlborough, who has worked in the country’s wine industry for 23 years. Today, most New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is produced to highlight aromatics and acidity, using techniques like mechanical harvesting, fermentation at very low temperatures using commercial yeasts, and clarification and bottling as early as possible.
But this signature style also stems from the natural attributes of the grape’s main production hub: Marlborough, home to nearly 89 per cent of the country’s Sauvignon Blanc. Plentiful sunshine, cool temperatures, and moderating maritime influence shape the intensely aromatic, yet piercingly acid-driven style of the wines.
“For a long time, only the ‘classic’ style was being produced,” says Taylor. “That fresh, vibrant, juicy-acidity style. [It’s] the wine that put Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc on the world wine map.” These wines garnered international attention for their unique and distinctive character — a zingy, fresh style unmatched elsewhere — and wineries worked to meet that demand.
Similarly, the rise in new styles of Sauvignon Blanc is partially in response to current market demands. “There’s a thirst for more diversity and complexity from consumers, and also recognition from Marlborough winemakers that the style needs to continue to evolve,” says Duncan Shouler, the chief winemaker for Giesen Group in Marlborough.
However, winemakers are curious by nature. With more than four decades working with the grape under their belts, New Zealand’s vintners are increasingly willing to push the boundaries of what Sauvignon Blanc can be. “Now those producers are confident of their understanding of Sauvignon Blanc, they naturally want to explore alternative expressions of the variety,” says James Healy, the co-owner of Dog Point Vineyard in Marlborough. “Almost all serious producers of Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand have at least two styles on sale.”
Interestingly, experimentation with Sauvignon Blanc styles is not entirely new in New Zealand. Many point to Cloudy Bay, one of Marlborough’s first wineries, as the pioneer of experimental Sauvignon Blanc winemaking, using techniques like wild fermentation, malolactic fermentation, and barrel ageing in the early 1990s. These early experiments resulted in some of the country’s best-known — and more widely available — untraditional Sauvignon Blancs, notably Cloudy Bay’s iconic Te Koko bottling, first created in the 1996 vintage.
Today, Te Koko showcases a different side of Sauvignon Blanc — a serious and complex version that contrasts the bright and clean Cloudy Bay, Sauvignon Blanc. The majority of the juice undergoes indigenous yeast fermentation followed by malolactic fermentation, and the wine is aged on its lees in a mix of old and new French barrels for 18 months. “This approach builds far more richness, texture, and complexity in the wines,” says Jim White, Cloudy Bay’s technical director, “while the fruit-driven aromas become more complex and some savoury, spicy notes start to show.” It is released as a three-year-old wine.
But the team behind Te Koko has also brought this experience to other wild, barrel-fermented and aged Sauvignon Blancs in New Zealand. Healy, who was one of the winemakers at Cloudy Bay from 1991 until the early 2000s, recognized the potential to craft a Sauvignon Blanc in this style from a specific parcel within the Dog Point Vineyard. “That particular vineyard … produced a wine with a distinct and concentrated citrus influence,” he says, “which, combined with these vinification techniques, made it an obvious choice to make in this way.”
Healy decided to stay away from new barriques, looking instead to other international, cool-climate Sauvignon Blanc regions. “The idea of fermentation in older seasoned barrels, as is done in parts of the Loire, appealed,” he says.
As much as Cloudy Bay’s early experiments informed the creation of Te Koko, they were also tied to the origin of the Wild Sauvignon bottling from Greywacke; co-owner Kevin Judd was Cloudy Bay’s founding winemaker, and the fruit for Te Koko’s 1992 predecessor came from Greywacke Vineyard.
“When we had our first harvest in 2009, it was natural that we would continue the less-trodden path of Sauvignon and develop our own individual style of indigenous fermented Sauvignon Blanc,” says Kimberley Judd, Kevin’s wife and a co-owner of Greywacke. “[Kevin] preferred the richer, in-depth individuality that wild yeast brings to the finished wine.”
While the Wild Sauvignon is made from the same vineyard as Greywacke’s classic Sauvignon Blanc, the two are distinct. “The result is a more savoury, herbal flavour profile in the wine, and a textural quality that builds on the structure and intensity of mouthfeel,” says Judd. “The hands-off process gives the wine some real personality and individuality.”
Exploring New Styles and Regions
Some winemakers are using the country’s signature variety to make wines that are neither still nor dry. “For me, the drive behind making alternative styles of the variety is to show wine buyers and consumers that Sauvignon Blanc as a variety is more diverse than it is given credit for,” says Taylor.
In addition to her classic Sauvignon Blanc and wild, barrel-fermented OTQ, Taylor makes a late-harvest, sweet Sauvignon Blanc in vintages that encourage the development of botrytis, a beneficial mould that grows on grapes, dehydrates them, and concentrates flavours and sugars. The style has been produced in New Zealand in tiny quantities over past decades.
“In the right vintages with good botrytis, a great wine can be made,” says Shouler, who also makes late-harvest Sauvignon Blanc.
Others are experimenting with sparkling styles of Sauvignon Blanc. While many use the tank method to highlight the grape’s intense aromatics, Hunter’s Wines in Marlborough uses the ancestral method to create its Offshoot Pet-Nat. “This Pet-Nat provides a little glimpse at the type of wine our winemakers are used to tasting in the winery before wines are prepared for bottling,” the winery writes on its website.
Because Marlborough is the centre of Sauvignon Blanc production in New Zealand, stereotypical “New Zealand” Sauvignon Blanc is really stereotypical “Marlborough” Sauvignon Blanc. But other regions work with the grape as well, though in markedly smaller quantities.
While nearby spots like Nelson on the upper South Island and Wairarapa on the lower North Island make similarly bright, mouthwatering Sauvignon Blancs, further areas are now defining their own regional styles. The warmer Hawke’s Bay, for instance, has the second-highest numbers of Sauvignon Blanc vines in New Zealand after Marlborough and makes riper, rounder varietal wines. “In the warmer regions to the north, the wines tend to be more tropical and lower in acid, and further south, they are more delicate while retaining good acidity,” says Taylor.
Even Central Otago, New Zealand’s most southerly wine region, counts a handful of Sauvignon Blanc vines among its plantings. “I’ve always portrayed the region as ‘officially too far south and too cold for Sauvignon Blanc,’” says Andy Wilkinson, the director of operations and sales for Misha’s Vineyard in Central Otago. “However, with that said, if you have the right site — one that is exposed to lots of light, both direct and reflected — you can produce the most stunning style of Sauvignon Blanc.”
The rocky soils, longer days of intense sunshine, and cool nights of Central Otago’s continental climate combine to create a gentler Sauvignon Blanc with softer fruit and lifting but less sharp acidity. “The tough conditions that we expose the vines to encourage them to put more energy into the fruit, [producing] few bunches but much more intensity,” adds Wilkinson.
Though these offbeat styles of Sauvignon Blanc are broadening the grape’s spectrum in this island nation, don’t expect that signature New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc style to disappear. “It is a style that is well suited to the geographic and climatic conditions of New Zealand’s major grape-growing regions,” says Judd. “But as the New Zealand industry matures, there will be an increased presence of what we call ‘left-field’ Sauvignon Blancs in the market.”
While this might worry those who have come to rely on the predictable nature of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc as a category, stylistic diversity doesn’t undercut the intrinsic tie of these wines to their place of origin. “I think that ultimately, this will eventuate into two, perhaps three styles that will be instantly recognizable as [being] from New Zealand,” says Healy. “The one thing that they will all share is an interpretation of the intensity of the fruit quality that we have seen consistently over the past three and a half decades out of this country. It really is unique.”
West Auckland’s wines are produced close to the city but their origins are a world away, writes Maggie Wicks
A view of the vineyards, Westbrook Winery, Auckland. Photo / Supplied
Dalmatian history is everywhere in West Auckland. You can see it as you drive. As central Auckland falls away, it gives way to suburbs, then motorways, then the low-lying industry of car yards and forklift hires. Finally, the paddocks and tractors and fruit trees of the countryside, only 25 minutes from town.
As the landscape changes, so does the language. Viksich. Vitasovich. Yukich and Fistonich. The history is written directly on to the street signs and the businesses.
And then there is wine. Award-winning, experimental, modern and traditional. It’s all here.
The late Josip Babich, who planted his first wines in 1912 when he was a teenager. Photo / Supplied
Kumeu is one of New Zealand’s most historic wine regions. Babich, one of the region’s best-known wineries, has been producing wine for 100 years. Josip Babich was just 14 years old when he left his home in Dalmatia, and set sail for New Zealand. He was alone – he never saw his parents again. He was here to dig kauri gum with his four brothers – he ended up establishing one of New Zealand’s most historic vineyards.
Down the road at Kumeu River, history is in the making. The Brajkovich family left Croatia for New Zealand in the 1930s, and have gone on to be internationally recognised as setting a benchmark for non-Burgundy chardonnays.
A world-leading chardonnay
In 2014, a very special blind tasting took place. London wine distributors Farr Vintners brought together a room of world-leading wine experts, critics and writers. Each of Kumeu River’s four chardonnays were tasted against white burgundies (chardonnay grown and produced in the French region of Burgundy) from the finest French producers. And the result? Kumeu triumphed over the top white burgundies in every category except one – where it came first-equal.
The Brajkovich family, the owners of Kumeu River. Photo / Supplied
Kumeu River was started by Mate and Melba Brajkovich, and the company is now run by their four children. Between them there is a Master of Wine, a hospitality expert, a chemical engineer and a marketing professional – they really couldn’t have planned it better. Rather than pitch into the juice with commercially cultivated yeast, they use a natural fermentation, leaving it to the ravages of the wild yeasts in the atmosphere. The result is nothing short of gorgeous. This August they’ll release the 2019 Hunting Hill chardonnay, which they say it’s their best ever – do not miss out. This is beautiful country to drive through, but you may not recognise any of it past Swanson, which is the last passenger stop on the line. These days the lines further out carry only stock, no passengers, which is a crying shame. A train would be a handy and safe way to get home after a day of wine tasting. In the Ararimu Valley, Westbrook is named after an old station, between Waikomiti and Glen Eden, which closed in the 80s. The winery was owned by the Ivisovich family for 85 years, until they sold to another local family just a few years ago. Here they offer not just a wine tasting, but an education in wine and food matching.
An education in wine pairing
Food and drink at Westbrook, Riverhead. Photo / Supplied
Order the cheese and wine platter, and you’ll find a surprise on there – an outstanding bad match, which the server will delight in watching you discover for yourself. It’s a great lesson, and they’ll make sure you end on something delicious.
As you drive through Kumeu, you’ll realise that they’re experimental out here. Whereas Marlborough specialises in sauvignon blanc, in Kumeu they’re always testing and adjusting, trying new grapes, old grapes, fashionable styles and unheard of ones. Albarino is popular at the moment – it’s the chardonnay drinker’s sauv, and you’ll find it at many of the Kumeu cellar doors. At the Hunting Lodge you’ll find an orange wine, a love-it or loathe-it drip that is fermented with the skins on. They’ve most recently released the Chardy Jack – bourbon-barrel-fermented chardonnay that could have happily come home with me.
An historic Auckland homestead
The Conservatory dining room at The Hunting Lodge, Waimauku. Photo / Supplied
Once a private country estate, the historic 19th-century lodge has been hosting Aucklanders’ boozy lunches for five decades. This is also the site of New Zealand’s first sauvignon blanc. Now, more than 70 per cent of wine produced in New Zealand is sauv, and the Hunting Lodge still bottles its Homeblock sauvignon from 40-year-old vines.
At the lodge, guests can choose a pizza to nibble at the lawn bar, play petanque in the family area, visit the cellar door for a tasting (free if you buy a bottle), or take a table in the airy all-white conservatory, where the windows run from floor to ceiling. The restaurant has taken chef Des Harris from Clooney and put him in charge of this beautiful dining area, where he works with a permaculturalist to create a sustainable farm-to-table experience.
Food and wine at The Hunting Lodge, Waimauku. Photo / Supplied
We entered starving, we left stuffed. There was homegrown roasted beetroot served with ricotta and huge wedges of focaccia, a painterly pumpkin soup splattered with oils and petals and seeds, followed by lamb shoulder with fricelli pasta. After that, passionfruit and rosemary jellies with salted caramel fudge, and finally a glass of amaretto on ice appeared. Monsieur, it is only wafer thin…
Sated, satisfied, and a bit fuzzy around the edges, we walked out into the cold night, where a taxi was waiting. It was a dreamy 35 minutes back to Auckland along the dark and empty roads. An easy end to an easy, and excellent, day out.
Where to visit on a wine tour of Kumeu
Babich Wines For a history lesson and great hospitality, plus the terrace is the perfect place on a sunny day.
babichwines.com Soljans Soljan’s was established in 1937 by Bartul Soljan, and is one of the oldest wineries in the country. It remains a proud family-owned and operated vineyard, and visitors can take a tour with a member of the family. Visit the cellar door for a wine flight, from the sparkling moscato to the tawny port, then stay for lunch.
soljans.co.nz Kumeu River A cellar door only. Stop by for a tasting of those famous chardonnays, and to learn about the history of this family-run business.
Kumeuriver.co.nz Coopers Creek A friendly cosy atmosphere by the fireside in winter, and gigs and picnics on the lawn in summer.
cooperscreek.co.nz Westbrook Beautiful dining area overlooking manicured lawns. Explore the grounds and experience the wine and cheese pairing.
Westbrook.co.nz The Hunting Lodge The perfect place to finish, from pizza to fine dining, and some unique bottlings.
It’s a only short drive, but if everyone wants to wine taste, arrange a driver. Both NZ Wine Pro (nzwinepro.co.nz) and Fine Wine Tours (finewinetours.co.nz) offer door-to-door service with an expert on hand to introduce you to the history, the winemakers and the wines you taste, plus lunch included.
