The Wild Flavors of New Zealand’s Waiheke Island, Plus The Armagh Vertical: Weekly Tasting Report (Oct 19-25)

It was funny to come to New Zealand a little over a week ago to find more great pinot noir, but it was actually Bordeaux varieties such as merlot and cabernet sauvignon that impressed me the most at the start of my trip.

When I was beginning to learn about New Zealand wines at the end of the 1980s while I was living in London, Bordeaux blends, mostly from Hawke’s Bay, were the most coveted wines of the island nation. But that changed over the years as pinot noir took hold as the great wine grape of New Zealand. And for the most part, pinot remains the icon grape.

Yet, behind the scenes in small wineries on the North Island, Bordeaux blends continue to rock. And most of these producers can be found less than an hour by car or boat from Auckland. I wrote about Puriri Hills and comments and ratings from others such as Gillman and Providence will be forthcoming. But I barely mentioned the numerous producers I met and tasted with on Waiheke Island, a 40-minute ferry ride from central Auckland. The deep water bay that surrounds the island acts as a buffer to the cold and keeps temperatures mild during the vine-growing season. It’s great for moderating the volatile weather of Auckland and its environs.

“Waiheke is almost its own country,” said Sean Pratt, who owns the most famous winery on the island, Destiny Bay. His top wines, such as the Magna Praemia, sell for more than $350 a bottle and sometimes more. “We have a hotter and drier climate and it gives flavors to other grape varietals, unlike other areas.”

You can say that again. His wines, which have a majority of cabernet sauvignon in the blends but also use malbec, petit verdot, cabernet franc and merlot, show a surprising richness and depth that you would more likely find in a Napa cabernet than a red from a chic and relaxed island near Auckland. “It’s all normal here,” Pratt said as we tasted a range of his wines from different vintages at his small winery. “The grapes get ripe.”

READ MORE NEW ZEALAND COMES ALIVE: VIBRANCY, DIVERSITY AND A ‘GOLDILOCKS’ VINTAGE

In fact, a lot of grapes find a riper footing on Waiheke. Paul Dunleavy, one of the owners of Te Motu winery on the island, organized a massive tasting and dinner with more than a dozen wineries the same day as the Destiny Bay visit, and I rated most of the wines outstanding quality – and some as classic. The top wines were mostly cabernet sauvignon-based, such as Destiny Bay, Stonyridge, Man O’War, Passage Rock, Mudbrick Vineyard and Te Motu. Take a look at the tasting notes below on these.

“Where else in New Zealand can you grow great cabernet?” Dunleavy said during the dinner. “It’s great here!”

Stay tuned for more enthusiasm and adventures in New Zealand. I just arrived in Central Otago for a few days after great tastings, visits and conversations in Martinborough and Marlborough. Remember that the latter region is not just the source of cheap and industrial sauvignon blancs. Check out the wines from Te Whare Ra, Churton and The Wrekin. These are all thoughtful, handmade wines from biodynamic and organic vineyards.

THE ARMAGH VERTICAL

In Australia, Senior Editor Stuart Pigott finished up his cross-country tasting adventure last week by visiting the Jim Barry winery in the Clare Valley. “I expected a big row of dry rieslings, but suddenly winemaker Tom Barry set up a vertical of The Armagh on the bench,” Stuart said, referring to the winery’s top shiraz, which is also one of Australia’s top reds.

The wines included the stunning, soon-to-be-released Jim Barry Shiraz Clare Valley The Armagh 2020, which has eye-popping fruit and fine tannins. While waiting for the 2020 to come to market, we recommend grabbing any bottles of the great 2018 vintage you can find, because it’s one of the best Australian shiraz we have ever tasted.

“At the other end of the row was the Jim Barry Shiraz Clare Valley The Armagh 1989, only the fourth vintage of this wine, which was rich and velvety and still has plenty of life,” Stuart said. “It reminded me of the first time I visited Jim Barry 20 years ago, when The Armagh was already a cult wine.”

One feature of the tasting was the possibility to taste two vintages, the 2002 and 2006, under Stelvin screw cap and cork closures. “A lot is talked about cork being better for the maturation of high-end reds than screw caps, but in this case it didn’t taste that way,” Stuart reported. “The 2006 had 15.5 percent alcohol and the 2002 weighed in at 15.8  percent, so these were pretty opulent wines. In both cases the extra vitality under screw cap helped the balance.”

“I  really think we’re on the right path with the latest vintages,” Tom Barry, the third-generation winemaker at his family’s winery, told Stuart. “Changing the oak treatment and moderating the alcoholic content were the right way to go.”

Back in the 1980s, The Armagh was matured for just over a year in American oak, but since the 2017 vintage it only sees French oak. Today the barrel sizes are 300 liters and 500 liters rather than smaller barriques, but barrel aging is longer at 18 months. Alcohol levels are now between 13.5 percent and about 14 percent. This all makes for brighter flavors and a more elegant mouthfeel.

READ MORE A NEW ERA FOR AUSTRALIAN RIESLING: FLAVOR AND DRINKABILITY

SHAKING UP THE RHEINGAU

Right after returning to Germany from Australia this past weekend, Stuart was able to taste the first vintage made by the Wegeler winery in the Rheingau since Ralf Frenzel acquired majority ownership in March 2021.

Wegeler is actually two wineries, with 15 hectares of vineyards in the Mosel and 45 hectares in the Rheingau. The Mosel holdings include a piece of the world-famous Doctor vineyard of Bernkastel, and all those wines are made in the Mosel cellar by Norbert Breit. The Rheingau wines are made in the Oestrich cellar by Michael Burgdorf.

Wegeler’s Rheingau holdings include 5.6 hectares of the Rotheberg GG site in Geisenheim, which was ranked in the first class alongside Schloss Johannisberg and the Marcobrunn sites in the world’s oldest vineyard classification published in 1867. The fact that this site was long under the radar, despite the fact that we rated many of Wegeler’s dry and dessert rieslings from the Rothenberg highly, speaks volumes about what was going wrong at the winery

“The Rheingau used to be a very conservative region where little changed, but during the last years the earth really moved, and Frenzel’s acquisition of Wegeler was one of the earthquakes,” Stuart explained.

Frenzel first attracted attention back in the 1980s as the young sommelier who assisted wine dealer Hardy Rodenstock at his famous rarities tastings. Frenzel moved on,  establishing the successful book publishing company Tre Torri and the wine magazine Fine, both based in Wiesbaden.

“Often when businesspeople acquire wineries they struggle to adapt to things like being dependent on the weather, but that’s not the case here,” Stuart said. “Although the first vintage, 2021, was challenging, both Wegeler wineries turned in impressive performances. In the last couple of years, the Mosel wines made a big leap forward.”

The highest rated wine of Stuart’s tasting at the estate was the Wegeler Riesling Rheingau Rothenberg Trockenbeerenauslese 2021, one of the top dessert wines of this vintage in the Rheingau. “However, the row of Riesling Kabinett wines from both regions was every bit as exciting,” Stuart said. “That category is now rightly attracting more attention right around Planet Wine, and these are beautifully balanced examples.”

– James Suckling, Editor/Chairman, and Stuart Pigott, Senior Editor

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the past week by James Suckling and the other tasters at JamesSuckling.com. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports.

Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.