Tasting Report: Some of the Best Wines of New Zealand
New Zealand is a special place. Its bright sunlight, strong elements, and bold landscape etches thoughts and memories in your mind that you never lose. Each time I drink a New Zealand wine – no matter if I am in Los Angeles, Hong Kong or London – I think of those amazing few days flying and driving to almost two dozen of the country’s best wineries.
There are a number of videos and blogs already on the site chronicling my trip in October with JS.com’s videographer Jacobo. It’s worth spending time viewing them to get a feel for New Zealand, if you haven’t made the trip. In fact, Jacobo edited extra long videos to give a more indepth view of our unexpected voyage.
Besides the video, I posted about 200 tasting notes of current and historic vintages from many of the top producers of the island nation. What most strikes me about the wines in general are their bright acidities and balance. Very few of the top wines are overly fruit-driven, or jammy. Instead, they have this almost crunchy acidity and relatively low alcohols that give them a tension, structure, and liveliness that makes me want to drink them.
And they also seem to age well. I tasted a number of Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays with five to 10 years of age to them, and they were still delicious and developed complex and fascinating character with bottle age, very much on the same level as a top white Burgundy.
I know that the majority of New Zealand wine is not about this. Most is made by massive companies producing millions of bottles of cheap and cheerful white – most slightly cloying and vegetal Sauvignon Blanc. But I didn’t make the trip to New Zealand for that. I wanted to visit the best wineries, talk with the owners and winemakers, and taste the wines with them. I wanted to see it all with my own eyes.
So I picked a few of my favorites like Kumeu and Felton, and I asked a number of palates I respected with lots of knowledge on New Zealand wines for their best winery picks – including Aussie wine writers Mike Bennie and Nick Stock. And I then came up with my itinerary.
It seems just about everyone talks and writes about New Zealand Pinot Noir, and for good reason. It grows incredibly well there, and produces a number of different styles, from the mineral, slatey style of Central Otago to the dead ringer earthy Burgundy character of Martinborough. And I am a big fan of small production Pinots from vineyards in Canterbury. In fact, I included one in my Top 10 Wines of 2012.
But Chardonnay is equally compelling to me in New Zealand. My top-scoring wine in my tasting was a Chardonnay from Martinborough. I think you find an energy and structure in the best Kiwi Chardonnays very similar to premier cru and grand cru quality from Burgundy. Plus, there’s that special character of slightly exotic fruit and terrior. In other words, don’t forget to explore the best Chardonnays from New Zealand.
I started drinking New Zealand Chardonnays in London in the late 1980s and I have always been a big fan. A wine merchant friend in London continues to serve them blind during dinners – particularly Kumeu River Chardonnays – and I still occasionally mix them up with Burgundy. It’s really good stuff.
Sauvignon Blanc, of course, is the mainstay grape of New Zealand, and it makes some top wines for excellent prices. I buy and drink wines like Dog Point in Hong Kong on a regular basis. Cloudy Bay is always excellent – although the normal bottling can be a bit candied. Go for the single vineyard Te Koko.
There are lots of other wines to consider, from Bordeaux blends and pure Syrah to Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Viogner. There’s so much going on in New Zealand. And most of the best wines are from $20 to $50 a bottle. It’s hard to think sometimes that it is such a young winemaking nation because more of the vines were planted in the last 20 or 30 years. Get some.
Also tasted, but not receiving marks of 90 points or more:
