New Zealand Wine: Autumn Release 2008

Close your eyes and imagine for a second your favourite place in the world.

Go ahead, try it.

It may be an idyllic island paradise with palm trees swaying gently in the breeze; it may be sitting by a cool mountain steam, looking out over deep forests and blue lakes; or it may be hanging out in a giant turtle shaped spa, all soaped up and bubbly with three senior college girls named Mandy, Randy, and Sandy.

…hey, who am I to judge.

For me…one of my favourite places to be is in a room filled with wine and plenty of time to taste it all.

I know, tragic but true.

Lucky for me, every now and then I actually get to live out this fantasy.

My latest visit was made possible by an invitation from New Zealand Wine to attend the New Zealand Wine: Autumn Release 2008 show.

Imagine if you will, a large rectangular conference room, 100+ newly released New Zealand wines, and all the time in the world to taste them (well a good couple of hours anyway). Yes, you’re right. It doesn’t get much better than this.

The wines were laid out with sections for Riesling, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Noir, more Pinot Noir and some other red varietals.

Naturally I started with the Riesling and worked my way ‘round (although in hindsight, this did mean that by the time I reached the really meaty Pinots I had already tasted 30+ wines and the tasting part of my brain had well and truly been fried - and given that I was primarily there to sample the newly released Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignons I really should have skipped the whites altogether, but hey let’s face it, there wasn’t much chance of that happening…).

Anyhooo, I digress. Where was I…oh yes, the Riesling.

Riesling

I’ve written about this before, but I find the sweetness that is generally found in New Zealand Rieslings to be slightly out of balance with the acid and fruit. This is a shame really, as when done well (see for example Rieslings from Germany and Alsace) residual sugar in Riesling can add weight, complexity and life to the wine. When not done quite so well however the wine can end up a bit cloying and soapy, lacking the crisp freshness that makes an off-dry Riesling so more-ish.

Generally I found this was the case with the line up on display - however, the Waipara Hills ‘Equinox’ 2007 and the 2006 Forrest Estate Winery ‘The Doctors’ from Marlborough did stand out from the crowd.

Pinot Gris

There was a more limited range of Pinot Gris on offer so it’s a bit hard to comment on over-all quality. I did like the Waipara Hills ‘Equinox’ Pinot Gris 2007 (floral, spicy, nice acid/fruit balance, good length); although at A$40 I thought it was a bit pricey.

Sauvignon Blanc

Over all there were the usual suspects amongst the Sauvignon Blanc, with the majority falling into that typical NZ Sauvignon Blanc mould – well made, invigorating, crisp and fruity, but boring as hell! There was also one weird/bad wine - I’m not sure if black jelly-beans and green nettles was what the wine maker was after, but this particular bottle was a shocker.

However, just to prove that I’m not a complete NZ Sauvignon Blanc Nazi, I can say that I was mightily impressed with the Mahi Boundary Farm Sauvignon Blanc 2007.

Ahhh…a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with character and complexity. Yummy cut hay and smoky oak combined with plenty of banana and kiwi fruit on offer. Long and lingering too – very good wine this one. The Staede Landt Marlborough 2007 was impressive as well.

Chardonnay

The one section of wines that impressed me the most was (maybe surprisingly to some) the Chardonnays.

In general I found these wines well structured, well balanced and interesting.

Wines of note were the Mahi ‘Twin Valleys’ Marlborough 2007, the Staete Landt Marlborough 2006, and the Te Mata ‘Woodthorpe’ Hawke’s Bay 2006. Interestingly enough these wine were from the lower end of the pricing spectrum.

Ahhh…the Pinot Noir. All 75,251 of them.

I can honesty say that, barring a single exception (and there were over 25 Pinots on display!), no one should be offended if they are offered a glass of any one of these wines.

All of the wines I tasted were well balanced, had crisp acidity, clean fresh fruit and obvious but soft tannins. They were very well structured wines clearly made from excellent fruit…

…and if that’s what you’re looking for in a Pinot then fine, fill your boots…its just that, in my view, Pinot should offer that little bit more complexity and character.

Now I’ve got a confession to make here. While what I’ve said above accurately reflects the lesser (in price) Pinots I tasted, by the time I reached the top end stuff (generally A$50+) my tongue really had had enough and I was having serious trouble distinguishing between a blackberry and a baseball. So it was at this stage that I called it a day (ironically missing out on tasting the very wines that I had primarily come to taste - the Syrah, Merlot and Cabernets).

I can say, however, that from what I could still taste, I could appreciate that a number of the bigger Pinots did appear to have more to offer than merely clean, crisp raspberry and strawberry fruit. Prime amongst these were the 2006 Anthem, 2006 Surveyor Thompson, and 2006 Waitiri Creek from Central Otago; and the 2006 Envoy Point and 2006 Seresin “Rachel’ from Marlborough.

I will locate a few of these bottles and let you know what they’re really like later.

Overall I had a fantastic time. The event was truly run superbly. My many thanks go to Carole Ruta and the team at New Zealand Wine for the invitation and for putting on such a great show.

As always, I’m looking forward to the next one!

Cheers

MW