NZ Wine Wows With Surprises

“’The speed of change in New Zealand wine leaves me breathless,’ writes Elin McCoy after visiting the country for tastings earlier this year.” McCoy reports for Decanter.

New Zealand always seems to deliver surprises “starting with the country itself a place where you feel you can glimpse the planet’s beginnings in landscapes heaved up by earthquakes and scoured by glaciers.”

“It all leaves you a little breathless, as does the surprising speed with which the wine industry has changed and grown since my last visit to New Zealand in 2009,” writes McCoy.

During her visit McCoy was “bowled over by a sparkling wine he’d never heard of before” – a “non-vintage No1 Family Estate, Reserve from Marlborough”, which “had the fresh, complex, salty, biscuity-rich finesse you find only in Champagne – and very good Champagne at that.”

McCoy caught up “with the maker of the No1 Reserve, Daniel Le Brun, whose family has been making Champagne for generations in France in Champagne.

“New Zealand’s pioneer of making solely ‘traditional method’ cuvées learned to adapt to the country’s climate while keeping Champagne yeasts and ‘other technique secrets’.”

Elsewhere “the number of fascinating whites carried me beyond the country’s signature grassy Sauvignon Blanc to Albarinos, Gruner Veltliners, and a salty Pegasus Bay Sauvignon/Semillon,” writes McCoy.

In Martinborough McCoy “was wowed by multiple vintages of pure, intense, savoury Pinots made by the extraordinary Japanese diplomat-turned-winemaker Hiro Kusuda.”

“There’s always a frisson of enthusiasm when new wines challenge my previous assumptions. Sadly, many wine drinkers prefer to stick to the same old regions and grapes,” writes McCoy.

“But wines that comfort through familiarity amount to an already known universe. Been there, tasted that. Welcoming surprise means being open to savouring the future. And in New Zealand that looks very, very exciting.”

Article Source: Decanter, Elin McCoy, June 25, 2018

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