Spain has 975,000 hectares of vineyards, making it 24 times bigger than New Zealand’s plantings and over 200 indigenous grape varieties (not counting all the international ones. It is a complex, fascinating country.
Dog Point : new releases
For a team as experienced as the Dog Pointers (surely some of the most consistently capable of hands) it would take a catastrophic upset for the wines to be anything other than excellent. So when the year’s new releases arrived from the winery there was an initial fleeting thought; “do we actually need to review these or shall we just drink them?”
Giesen Zero Alcohol Sauvignon Blanc
However the modern trend for wellfulness, coupled to health and dietary concerns seems to have created a newly burgeoning market, despite the inherent cynicism of the category.
Dry River : new releases
Long regarded as one of NZ’s icon wineries, under the direction of Chief winemaker Wilco Lam Dry River’s wines seem to have taken on a more animated character. These are not wines that walk on the wild side, and are definitely made to be cellared, but there seems to be more spirit in each bottle, the wines no longer buffed and polished within an inch of their lives.
Ata Rangi : new releases
Ata Rangi Pinot Noir regularly graces the lists of top New Zealand wines, the likely legacy of great vineyards, increasing vine age, continuity of people and the assured hand of winemaker Helen Masters. The most recent releases of the flagship estate pinot and its sibling ‘Crimson’ deliver poised and delicious but never showy wines.
Doctors Flat : 2016 Pinot Noir
With each successive vintage, Steve Davis confirms his place as one of Central’s best producers. A quietly spoken man, the wine is a good reflection of its maker; never flamboyant but showing confidence and presence.
Nautilus : new releases
In an industry preoccupied with finding the ‘next big thing’ the team at Nautilus is seemingly content to stick to what it does best ie. producing first-rate wines that acknowledge their Marlborough origins. Never straying too far from the tried and trusted, the latest releases show a deft hand with aromatic varieties.
Blackenbrook : new releases
Nelson’s Blackenbrook Vineyard is a quintessential New Zealand producer: a small, family-owned winery, owned by nice people quietly getting on with making perfectly nice wines. Ursula and Daniel Schwarzenbach farm 20ha of vineyards in the Moutere clays, where they produce a tidy suite of wines ranging from the expected to the slightly less expected.
Prophets Rock : new releases
And whilst there is absolutely no question we should pay a realistic price for wines made from carefully farmed vineyards by thoughtful winemakers, one has to wonder if it might be an uphill battle to convince pinot gris drinkers.
Burn Cottage : new releases
We eagerly anticipate the annual arrival of the new releases from Burn Cottage, a producer who has, in a relatively short period of time, mananged to produce some of New Zealand’s most thoughtful pinot noirs.
Two Paddocks : new releases
The evolution of Central Otago pinot noir has been a fascinating journey to watch. The 2002s, arguably the first vintage to really attract attention, were highly acclaimed.
2018 New Zealand Syrah
In mid-December, I was invited by Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers to join a tasting of 2018 Syrah put on for jancisrobinson.com’s Richard Hemming MW, who was visiting New Zealand after attending the Master of Wine Education Seminar in Adelaide.