New Zealand goes all aromatic

See also my tasting notes on Fifty bright stars from New Zealand.

New Zealand has long been the envy of other wine exporting countries. It has created its own extremely popular style of wine, pungent Sauvignon Blanc, regularly sells out of it and, in the UK anyway, its average retail price per bottle is higher than that of any other wine exporter. Last year that average rose from £5.95 to £6.19 while the average across all wines is hardly more than £4. (All these are set to rise sharply, by the way.)

 

But it is both dangerous and boring to be a one trick pony and over the last few years we have seen a serious attempt at diversification in the vineyards of the North and South Islands. The first development was a dramatic increase in the plantings of Pinot Noir (mirrored, incidentally, in that other cool climate wine producing country Germany) and New Zealand now has more Pinot Noir planted than Chardonnay.

 

The other obvious development currently underway is a dramatically increased focus on the pale-skinned grapes collectively known as ‘aromatics’, Gewurztraminer, Riesling and, especially, Pinot Gris – the noble Alsace varieties basically. Pinot Gris plantings increased by almost 50 per cent last year and the variety is now more widely planted than Riesling – and much more popular than Gewurz, even though both of these other two have been increasing their total area too.

 

Perhaps partly because, being so far from the equator, New Zealand’s vineyards have traditionally produced wines high in counter-balancing acidity, there has been a tendency for New Zealand makers of aromatic whites to leave a little too much sugar in them for international palates, but this seems to be waning. Forrest Estate, The Doctors Riesling 2006 Marlborough, for example, a wine made expressly to capitalise on Riesling’s ability to deliver lots of flavour at relatively low alcohol levels, has 40 g/l residual sugar, which rather detracts from its  crystalline crispness and seriously refreshing fruit. John Forrest assured me that the 2007 is drier and that this is part of a deliberate policy.  Overall today’s New Zealand Rieslings increasingly seem to be modelled on Australia’s bone dry Clare Valley examples rather than the heavy, rather fat Pfalz Spätlese-like wines of a few years ago. Tim and Judy Finn’s Neudorf, Brightwater Riesling 2006 Nelson  and Simon Waghorn’s Astrolabe Riesling 2007 Marlborough are prime examples with very direct appeal. Such wines tend to retail in the UK at around £13 a bottle. From New Zealand, only butter is cheap.

 

Richer styles of Pinot Gris seem somehow to work rather better than the old medium-dry to medium-sweet Rieslings, perhaps because the best of them recall Vendange Tardive Pinot Gris from Alsace – but also because Pinot Gris, like Viognier, needs to ripen to quite high sugar levels before it really displays much flavour. I was surprised to find that as many as nine of my 45 favourite New Zealand wines from recent tastings were Pinot Gris. Again I liked the (rather cheaper) aromatic bottling from the Finns’ stony, alluvial Brightwater vineyard better than the example from the clay loam Moutere vineyard. Neudorf, Brightwater Pinot Gris 2006 Nelson seemed to have the balance between pure, bumptious fruit and refreshing acidity just right, and Astrolabe Pinot Gris 2007 Marlborough seems similarly sophisticated.

 

In unabashed rich Alsace style is Michelle Richardson’s Richardson Pinot Gris 2007 Central Otago but she has also managed to give the wine real Riesling-like zip and raciness too. This was one of my favourites. Also from the world’s most southerly wine region is Quartz Reef Pinot Gris 2007 Central Otago which with its clean, bracing style is much more reminiscent of agood Friuli Pinot Grigio, while Mt Difficulty Pinot Gris 2007 Central Otago splits the difference and tastes almost like particularly rich grapefruit juice. I recommend them all to those looking for a white wine with a difference that does not need ageing and can be drunk both without food and with quite rich dishes – although they tend to be well into the teens of pounds per bottle.

Slightly less expensive, Gladstone Vineyard Pinot Gris 2007 Wairarapa (about £11 Great Western Wine) has Alsace weight but is usefully bone dry with lots of personality, while Stoneleigh, Rapaura Series Pinot Gris 2007 Marlborough, from the vast Pernod Ricard stable which produces Montana, is good value in soft, comforting Alsace style at around £10 a bottle. All of these wines are a useful addition to the white wines on offer throughout the world and are more varied in style than an equivalent number of Pinot Gris from, say, Friuli or Oregon, where most locals are prouder of their Pinot Gris than of their Chardonnay.

 

Gewurztraminer may not be as fashionable as Pinot Gris but New Zealand must have some excellent plant material for some examples really can deliver true Gewurz flavour – all lychees and rose petals. Lawson’s Dry Hills Gewurztraminer 2006 Marlborough is an example of a wine that has great varietal character but might be more appetising if slightly drier and crisper. The region with the most impressive history for Gewurz is Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island, from where Gewurz pioneer Denis Irwin of Matawhero once rang Robert Mondavi in California to tell him that the sun must be pretty damned tired by the time it had made its way from this, the easternmost wine region in the world, to the Napa Valley.

 

Nick Nobilo, whose eponymous family firm was sold to Hardys of Australia long ago, carries the flame with his Vinoptima Gewurztraminer Gisborne, an all-out, no-holds-barred medium-dry late harvest version. The 2006 was looking fully mature when I tasted it recently but certainly more intense and ambitious than most New Zealand whites.

 

As for the Sauvignon Blancs, there are dozens if not hundreds of labels of Marlborough Sauvignon, many of them remarkably similar, to my palate, and wonderfully refreshing if not desperately demanding. Perhaps because of this I am always on the lookout for New Zealand Sauvignon with some distinctive character. From the south of the North Island Gladstone Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2007 Wairarapa is much drier and more mineral-scented than most – almost Loire-like. But it may be as crazy to ship at £9 bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc halfway round the world as it is to ship bottles of mineral water around the globe. Te Mata, Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc 2007 Hawke's Bay, on the other hand, another North Island wine, really is a one-off with its Semillon and Sauvignon Gris ingredients and some gentle barrel ageing. Mansion House Bay, The Governor Sauvignon Blanc 2007 Marlborough is another oaked Sauvignon Blanc whose maker seemed to me to have added interest without oiliness or heaviness.

 

All in all, New Zealand whites are much more varied than they used to be.

See also my tasting notes on Fifty bright stars from New Zealand.