Summer of Riesling – Published 03.02.12

It started in New York and now it has reached New Zealand – the Summer of Riesling is a bold initiative to engage the consumer with the many delights the riesling variety has to offer.
This international movement was started in 2008 by Paul Grieco from Terroir Wine Bar in New York and to help local organisers Angela Clifford from Waipara and Duncan Forsyth from Mount EdwardWines in Central Otago kick start the first Summer of Riesling in New Zealand Paul, the self-styled Summer of Riesling Overlord, joined the celebrations being held around the country.

The object of the Summer of Riesling is to encourage the consumption, discussion and enjoyment of Riesling and New Zealand’s Summer of Riesling started on the 12^th January and so far has included winemaker dinners, tastings and wine lists celebrating what is the single most versatile wine grape produced

In 2008 Paul decided that only Riesling would be offered by the glass as the white wine pour at Terroir and the concept has caught the imagination of producers, retailers, restaurantuers and consumers. What began as one man trying to convince customers to try this noble variety has resulted in about 500 restaurants and wine retailers in the US taking part as well as restaurants and retailers in Australia, Canada and now New Zealand.

Pauls attitude of ‘If you like chardonnay then there is a rich, succulent, barrel aged riesling to keep you happy; if you prefer crisp fruity sauvignon blanc then you will probably enjoy a dry, vibrant riesling’ and his belief that providing great service means making great recommendations to his customers (rather than just being a host and giving them what they ask for) was the beginning of the Riesling Revolution and earned him the Summer of Riesling Overlord crown. Last year Terrior Wine Bar had only Riesling on its wine list for the ‘94 days of summer’, 30 by the glass and over 90 by the bottle.

Last week I joined in with two parts of the Summer of Riesling celebration in New Zealand; firstly a national riesling tasting, featuring about 45 versions from different regions in New Zealand, that was attended by wine writers and restaurantuers from the US, UK, Australia and of course New Zealand. This was held at the stunning Tipapa luxury lodge and function venue at Greta Valley, just north of Waipara.

Part two was the CLIMAX celebration dinner at Pegasus Bay Winery where supporting Waipara wineries had a range of aged rieslings for us to sample and each person took along a bottle of riesling that best expressed what they love about the variety to share with their dinner companions. Not only did we experience some stunning wines from around the world but Pegasus Bay showed why Cuisine magazine judge them the best vineyard restaurant in the country year-after-year. Unbelievably good food, a fantastic environment and people who know how to celebrate!

This year more than 30 dining and retail establishments along with about 40 wineries from around New Zealand are celebrating the Summer of Riesling so as the website says “Become a foot soldier, choose Riesling. Viva la Revolution!” www.summerofriesling.co.nz

I have been drinking

Gladstone Vineyard 2011 Riesling – RRP $25
Produced in Gladstone in the Wairarapa this is made in a off-dry style the initial flavour is a burst of green apple that quickly evolves into zesty lime flavours with a backbone of river stone minerality. With a touch of honeyed sweetness in the finish to balance the mouthwatering acidity this would be perfect with pan seared white fish.

Julicher Estate 2011 Pinot Rose – RRP$19.95

This multi-award winning winery in Martinborough has produced another cracker here. Made from 100% pinot noir fruit the wine has a luscious texture in the mouth and is bursting with fresh summer berry flavours – strawberries and cream with a twist of spice and just enough sweetness to make it a delightful lunchtime wine.  

Recent Awards - Published 16.09.11

Wine shows are important for the wine industry for a couple of reasons. Firstly because winning a medal and, in particular, a gold medal or trophy means producers get to put a nice shiny sticker on the bottles they are trying to entice you and me to buy. A medal of any colour is a general indication that the wine is of good quality, it may not necessarily be to your taste but it should be a good example of the variety. The second key reason for those in the industry is it lets producers benchmark their product against other wines; as all judging is blind (the judges don’t know whose wine they are tasting) and because judges at wine shows are generally all very experienced, have palates that are able to detect small nuances in wines and are able to express why they prefer one wine over another it is fair to say wine producers find out very quickly whether or not their wines are up to generally accepted industry standards.However we also need to remember that not every winery enters wine competitions, either because they have already established a great name for themselves in the market place and or because of the expense. By the time a winery pays to enter the competition which can be expensive, sends several bottles of each wine entered and then have the cost of attending an awards dinner if they are in the running for a trophy of some sort it is not a cheap exercise.

On top of that some competitions insist you have a certain amount of wine available for sale after the awards and many small wineries simply don’t make the volume of wine required so are excluded from entering by default.

Having said all of that Nelson wineries have performed exceptionally well in the recent round of wine shows, especially for aromatic style wines. Gold medals for sauvignon blanc, riesling, gewurztraminer, pinot gris, chardonnay, pinot noir and syrah are very good results but two trophies for Riesling is simply exciting. Kaimira Estates Iti Selection Brightwater Riesling 2011 (low alcohol) was the Champion Riesling at the New Zealand International Wine Show while Brightwater Vineyards Nelson Riesling 2011was the Champion Riesling at the Bragato Wine Awards. And let’s not forget Seifried Estate winning three gold medals in the same show for three different rieslings, a fantastic achievement.

For one of New Zealand’s smallest wine producing regions the wineries here certainly punch well above their weight. About 3% of New Zealand’s wine is made here but the region won 4.5% of gold medals awarded (200) at the NZ International Wine Show that attracted entries from around the world and 16% (51 awarded) at the Bragato Wine Awards.

On a local note the fiercely competed for Colin Harrison Memorial Trophy for this region’s best Chardonnay was awarded to Rimu Grove’s 2010 Chardonnay, one to look forward to when it is released later in the year.

Over the next few columns I will have a look at the award winning wines, let’s start with

Waimea Estates 2011 Sauvignon Blanc - $19.00

Bursting with pungent floral aromas of white peach and passionfruit with a palate that is full, rich and fruity with lashings of crisp lime flavours to balance the fullness of the passionfruit characters. With a long juicy finish this wine certainly deserves its gold medal status.

Kahurangi Estate Mt Arthur Reserve Chardonnay 2010 - $22.00

There is nothing shy and delicate about this old fashioned beast. Flavours are packed with big oak characters with lovely creamy butterscotch flavours, a dusting of oak toast and some lovely herbal characters all beautifully balanced and wrapped up in a lusciously rich texture.

Wine Tours

Sari (my partner) and I organise a fundraising dinner each year for The Suter Art Gallery and for my sins she auctions me off to the highest bidder; that is she auctions my services as a tour guide.

Arranging tours of wineries is not something I normally do, in fact this is the only one I do each year as there are commercial operators out there who do a fine job catering for tour groups.

Each year I make sure the tour has a focus on something in particular and this year it was aromatic style wines. First stop was Te Mania Wines and Richmond Plains where David Holmes introduced us to a white wine made from red grapes (Richmond Plains Blanc de Noir made from pinot noir fruit) and talked about organic production.

I thought 10am might be a bit early to be tasting wines but not for this heroic bunch, they approached the task with gusto as David lead them through a tasting of finished wines and tank samples. The tank samples proved just how good the last harvest was with all of the wines bursting with clean, pure varietal flavours.

Back in the van at 11am and off to Blackenbrook Wines at Tasman where co-owner and winemaker Daniel Schwarzenbach showed us around his winery, talked about how he makes wine and let my bunch of wine lovers taste some of his product, comparing finished wines with new season tank samples. The group were astounded at Daniel’s passion and dedication to quality in everything he does. For me Blackenbrook’s 2007 reserve gewürztraminer was the best match with the still warm home baked bread Ursula produced for us.

12.30pm meant arrival at Neudorf Vineyards for lunch and a wine tasting and chat with Tim and Judy Finn. Tim is widely regarded as one of the country’s premiere winemakers who has an affinity with the environment that contributes so much to the flavours and textures delivered in every bottle of Neudorf wine and for this group the chance to sit down over lunch (in the sun believe it or not) and chat with him about his winemaking philosophy, the continual search for new techniques, technologies and research to help improve his product was a unique opportunity.

By 3pm we were driving through bitterly cold pouring rain heading to Seifried Estate to meet Chris Seifried who not only talked with passion and a deep understanding of the things that make Seifried Estate the success they are but he simply couldn’t resist pouring ‘just one more’ tank or barrel sample. Learning about the almost extreme lengths they go to in making Sweet Agnes Riesling in an ice wine style showed us how even a large winery puts huge effort into creating something very special.

5.15pm and my tour group was tucked up in the warmth of their homes and I got to put my feet up for another year.

I have been drinking

Golden Hills 2009 Dolcetto - $34.90 from the winery

I have been following this wine for a couple of years and I am just as impressed with the latest release as I have been with previous versions. Medium to full palate weight and packed with elegant cherry and aniseed flavours. A delight

Morton Estate ‘The Regent of Morton’ 2002 - $54.99 but on special for $21.99 at Freshchoice Nelson City

This eight year old blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc is a beauty. The age means the flavours have had time to get to know one another, the tannins are still firm but are nicely integrated into the refined mouthfeel and to top it off you can save $33. Fantastic wine at a fantastic price.

Neudorf Vineyards 30th Anniversary Dinner at Hopgoods restaurant

Thirty years ago this month Tim and Judy Finn completed their first vintage at Neudorf Vineyards and to celebrate this milestone and a year packed with awards and accolades they joined forces with Cuisine Restaurant of the Year category winner, Hopgood’s Restaurant, to present a celebration dinner.

Over the years Neudorf Vineyards has proved to be one of New Zealand’s leading producers of fine wine and a long history of top accolades has been added to in the last 12 months; named New Zealand’s Greatest Winery for 2009 in The Wine Report by Tom Stevenson, Winner of Champion White Wine at the Tri Nations in Sydney (also winner of the Chardonnay Trophy and runner up for the Riesling Trophy), Decanter magazine chose Neudorf Chardonnay as ‘New Zealand’s Best’ and Michael Cooper awarded all the Neudorf Moutere wines Five Stars in his indispensible Guide to NZ Wine.

The six course celebration dinner was held on the 10th May and each course was matched with a premium Neudorf wine. I would like to say ‘my favourite course was xyz’ but I can’t, all of the food was simply outstanding and the careful pairing of the wines made sure the dinner was simply faultless.

Some of the delights about 80 diners enjoyed included dishes like Smoked Venison carpaccio with a fried quails egg, creamy celeriac and beet jelly served with Neudorf Moutere Pinot Noir 2007’ followed by ‘Salmon and crayfish ravioli with watercress, apple & fennel salad and sorrel cream paired with Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay 2004’

The skill and imagination of Kevin Hopgood and his head chef Aaron Ballantyne were displayed throughout the entire meal with little treats like the quail eggs that were poached, removed from the shell, crumbed then quickly deep fried and duck that can be quite dry but in this case was rich and succulent.

As to the wines, well they were as good as we expected – refined and elegant. One thing that did make me sit up and take note was the pinot gris. From the 2005 vintage the Neudorf Moutere version reminded me that good pinot gris can age magnificently.

In recent years pinot gris has had plenty of bad press (from me included) because there are a number of bland, boring, flavourless versions being sold for about $10 or less however when made well from grapes grown with care and attention pinot gris can be a super wine and will age beautifully. Buy a good version, put it in the cellar or cupboard for a few years and be pleasantly surprised.

To top it off for Neudorf Vineyards the dinner was held about a week after one of the best vintages ever in the region came to an end.

These two outstanding Nelson businesses are proof that quality will always shine.

To see what is happening at Neudorf or to check out the stunning vineyards go to their website and have a look at the live webcam images. Tim moves the camera occasionally, depending on what is happening on any day.

I have been drinking

Neudorf Moutere Pinot Gris 2009 - $28 at the cellar door

This is a luscious wine designed to last the distance. It has enough acidity to hold the fruit flavours together while the full palate weight continues to develop complexity that results from extended yeast lees contact. Bursting with spiced nashi pear and quince flavours and a little twist of ginger in the background this is delightful autumn drinking right now. Perfect with cheese.

Blackenbrook Vineyards Pinot Gris 2009 - $23.90 at the cellar door

This is another wine designed to stand the test of time. The big, rich mouthfeel is there predominantly because of the huge 15% alcohol. The alcohol is high because the sugars have been fermented out resulting in a drier style wine packed with ripe flavours but without being too sweet. A beautifully balanced delight.

Ernst Loosen

In my last column I wrote about the recent symposium to explore aromatic wines that was hosted by Nelson winemakers. This was the second such symposium and this time the focus was on riesling and gewürztraminer.

One of the international guests at the symposium was Ernst Loosen who was born into a great tradition of German winemaking. In the 1980’s he made the move from archaeology to taking the reins of the 200 year old winemaking dynasty that is Weingut Dr Loosen.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Ernst for an hour or so and talk about his thoughts on New Zealand aromatic style wines. It is obvious that he has thrown himself at the challenge of learning about wine, not just 200 years of tradition at the family estate but also about winemaking around the world. He has taken many things he has seen and learned on his travels and incorporated them into Dr Loosen winemaking today, ensuring that not only is heritage preserved but that it continues to evolve.

This attitude to learning about wine is reflected in his thoughts on New Zealand wines. He is quite firm in his belief that New Zealand winemakers must continue to learn about their land and grape growing conditions so they can make the best possible wine from the best quality grapes their piece of paradise can produce.

This wine could be anything from sweet to dry and austere in style and he says there is no point in trying to make something you think the consumer wants if it is not good quality. The focus should always be on quality and then go out and find a market that wants the style of wine produced. He says, for example, there is no point in trying to sell fruity floral wines in Germany where their tastes are more accustomed to dry style wines.

As we talked about the quality of the wines he tasted in his time here he kept coming back to two wines in particular, Stonecroft Gewurztraminer and Vinoptima Gewurztraminer. To use his words “I was totally impressed by the gewürztraminers, that is the style of gewürztraminer I really like …The Stonecroft and the Vinoptima we had in the tasting, even if they are so different I totally understand the style and would say ‘where is the Munster cheese?, they are fantastic wines”

Ernst also told me he does not drink a lot of gewürztraminer but he was excited about not just the quality of the winemaking but the incredible flavours and structure balance. He says New Zealand winemakers are starting to understand the importance of place and this is reflected in Nick Nobilo from Vinoptima growing just a single variety of grape, gewürztraminer, and making the absolute best example of this variety he can. It shows in the finished product.

His final piece of advice for selling our wines overseas – “not only am I a winemaker I am the average consumer and to sell your wines you need to open them with as many people as possible so they can taste them, if they haven’t tasted them they may not buy them”.


I have been drinking

Olssens 2008 Riesling

 From Central Otago this vibrant dry wine has lots of flavour (apple, citrus and subtle honey) with a streak of delightful steely minerality in the finish. This isn’t a shy style, you know you are drinking riesling and you know you are drinking quality.

Big Villa 2007 Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay


Big Villa is the house brand for Advintage Wines who have a reputation for delivering wines that are as they describe them and at great value. In typical chardonnay fashion this is packed with butterscotch and lightly toasted nut characters. Check them out at http://www.advintage.co.nz/ and join their mail list.

Aromatics Symposium

On Waitangi Day about 160 people gathered at Upper Moutere to discuss and taste the wine varieties Riesling and Gewurztraminer. As well as wine enthusiasts most local winemakers were in attendance along with winemakers and wine writers from around New Zealand.

But most importantly there were a large number of world renown wine writers, commentators, restaurateurs and buyers from most parts of the globe – Hong Kong, Singapore, London, New York, Sydney and of course the key note speaker, Ernst Loosen, from the Mosel region in Germany.

The Aromatics Symposium had a focus on learning by sharing knowledge and tasting a range of wines from here and overseas. Speakers like Andrew Caillard (Master of Wine, wine writer and author from the UK) Ernst Loosen from Weingut Dr Loosen (200 years history of winemaking in Germany) and Simon Tam (wine commentator from Hong Kong) had important messages to pass on to wine producers in this country while Alan Limmer (Stonecroft Wines) and Nick Nobilo (Vinoptima) shared their passion for producing gewürztraminer.

To top the day off from an international awareness point of view TV personality and the owner of arguably one of the best palates in the world, Oz Clarke, not only shared his immense knowledge and thoughts on New Zealand’s wine and its place in the world market but he had a film crew in tow. Assuming some of the several hours of footage he took away with him appears on international television screens Nelson will be the recipient of some fantastic regional promotion – for free!

During the day and at the evening function at Neudorf I managed to spend some time talking with Clarke about wine and food in general. He makes a point of drinking and eating local produce where ever he is. He says this gives him a real ‘sense of place’ about a region and its people. He also has a deep fondness for good beer and was mightily impressed with the local brews he managed to taste here. He was particularly impressed with the things the guys at the Moutere Inn are doing in there efforts to foster the local brewing industry.

Congratulations to Nelson Winemakers for arranging an outstanding weekend.

During the day we tasted wines from New Zealand and overseas so how did our wines stack up? In the opinion of everyone there, very well indeed. A few highlights included a fleshy Greenhough Vineyards 2007 Riesling, beautifully balanced Mount Edward 2007 Riesling from Central Otago. From Germany we tasted a rich Jesutengarten 2007 Riesling delightfully balanced with piercing acidity and from Austria a Dursteiner Hollerin 2007 Riesling that had superb aroma complexity with luscious, ripe stonefruit characters.

In my next column I will tell you the Gewurztraminers we tried.

Festivals

Summer is wine and food festival time and we have some great choices in the top of the south.

Last weekend we had the annual Sarau Festival at Upper Moutere while the week before the good folk in the ‘bay’ delivered the first Golden Bay Cultural Food and Wine Festival and by all accounts it was a glowing success.

I was lucky enough to be at the very first Marlborough Wine Festival more than 25 years ago and in that time New Zealand’s longest running festival has evolved to meet the changing desires of both attendees and the booming wine industry in the region, the whole time maintaining the relaxed and fun atmosphere that makes the festival so special.

This year’s Wine Marlborough Festival will be held at the Brancott Estate vineyards, same site we have all become familiar with over the years, on Saturday 13th February. Tickets for this festival are strictly limited but if you go to their website you may still be in luck – http://www.wine-marlborough-festival.co.nz/ . Tickets are about $48

Much closer to home the following weekend (11am, Sunday 21st February) the Rotary Club of Richmond hosts the Brightwater Wine and Food Festival. This event has grown each year and become an important date on the wine calendar in Nelson. Tickets are $20 if you get one from Everyman in Nelson or Specsavers in Richmond Mall but $25 if you buy one at the gate. Kids under 12 get in free. Go to http://www.bwff.co.nz/ for lots more information, especially to check out the bus timetable.

If you happen to be in Auckland on the same weekend as the Brightwater festival don’t panic, the Rotary Club of Devonport is also hosting their annual two day wine and food festival (http://www.devonportwinefestival.co.nz/)

Festivals are not only a great day out but for the wine aficionado they are also a good place to taste a wide range of current release wines, as well as a few special treats many of the wineries bring out on the day.

If you want to learn a bit about wine then it is also a good time to find out about different styles of wine by comparing the many styles made by this region’s producers.

On top of all this Nelson Wineart is also hosting the tri-annual Aromtaics Symposium at the Upper Moutere Recreation Centre. This symposium has attracted many of the world’s elite wine writers including Judy Sarris (editor of Australian Gourmet Traveller) and the highly regarded and influential Oz Clarke, Matthew Jukes and top producers of aromatic wine styles from Alsace and Australia.

Unfortunately seats at this event sold out weeks ago but don’t fret I promise to tell you about the treats you missed out on.

So many choices – so little time!!