Raw Deal
Choose New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc to match raw oysters – and everything else.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Xmas Cheer
Montana Wines, New Zealand’s largest winery, have swallowed Corban’s, creating a company that will produce 55% of New Zealand wine.
Killer Wine
Wairau River Sauvignon favoured by the Star and National Post Online, “killer” Cabernet Franc in the Washington Post, Villa Maria leaves the National Post reaching for more.
Bax Facts
“I am a supermodel. I worked damn hard to get where I am. I’ve been on many Vogue covers. I’ve done all my jobs well, and I worked damn hard to get that title….
Sun-kissed Pasta
Trials are underway to improve the colour of New Zealand pasta by creating yellower strains of wheat.
Berry Good
“Tall, dapper” New Zealander Martin Brown runs centuries old vinters Berry Brothers & Rudd. He’s turned Lord Byron’s purveyors of the liquid muse into Britain’s top wine e-tailer.
15% Pure
All ingredients in New Zealand and Australian food are to be labelled by percentage. “Meat” pie anyone?
Slow Potato
New Zealand researcher Graham Harris’s potato digging made him a finalist in the “Slow Food” 2000 awards.
Meat and a Green
Matthew Norman munches steak, savours Cloudy Bay Sauvignon and wonders if the man next to him has former Gov-Gen Lord Arthur Porritt’s edge vintage in his veins.
Sauvignon Savvy
Stoneleigh Vineyards’ ’99 Sauvignon Blanc: “this wine manages to have lots of tropical fruits in the nose, while maintaining the dry, herbaceous character that the grape is known for.”
Power Dressing
The Powerhouse Museum’s Fashion of 2000 features New Zealand designer Karen Walker’s “it” broken pearl dress, alongside work by Stella McCartney, Galliano and Versace.
Power Dressing #2
Dress for Success provides smart clothes for UK, US and NZ women looking for jobs. “This isn’t about ‘ladies who lunch’ sprinkling love and charity on the poor. The Dress for Success thing is…
Sauvignon Temptation
Former Scots Rugby rep Rob Wainwright recalls a New Zealand tour run along the lines of a temperance society outing. The players escaped the coach for a day of deep-sea fishing, which swiftly “degenerated into deep…
Idiosyncratic Mambo
Designer Reg Mombassa, “the quintessential idiosyncratic Australian artist, even though he’s from New Zealand,” is a key part of Mambo’s international success.
Steel Plants
A New Zealand Modernist steel garden contrasts with the Alhambra in Granada and a magnolia-festooned paradise at Lake Lugano in gardening aficionado Tim Richardson’s The Gardening Book.
Unique urenika
Dark purple and delicious, urenika (Maori potatoes), are on display at the RHS London Flower Show.
Fruit Nuts in Mumbai
Kiwi fruit and Enza apples are status symbols in Mumbai: “New Zealand apples are more juicy and have a better shelf-life … these are basically popular in higher middle and elite class of the town.”
Big Cheese
Juliet Harbutt, self-described “brash, open, jolly New Zealander”, founded the British Cheese Awards to “preach the Gospel of cheese”.
Wearable Art to Edinburgh?
Nelson’s Wearable Art Awards “come close to sensory overload … dazzling light displays, innovative props … and the exceptional Wearable Arts creations”. Organisers are hoping to show the creations at the next Edinburgh International…
Fine Vintage
1978 was a good year for wine in New Zealand. That’s when John Simes, now winemaker at Mission Hill in Okanagan, Canada, began his career. The Kiwi is one of the “trained and experienced winemakers” imported to…
Perfect Pinot
An ever-increasing variety of New Zealand wines are being enjoyed and celebrated throughout the world. Al Bassano recommends our Pinot Noir.
See You Latte
Once you’re safely at the cafe, you can order an extra frothy latte, courtesy of a herd of cows deep in the heart of New Zealand. The milk of these cows has been found…
Kissin Pad Goodbye
New York-based New Zealander, restaurateur and business partner of Sir Terence Conran, Joel Kissin, sold his four-storey townhouse at 53 West 68th Street for US$7million. His new home is “is opposite the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is…
Taylor Tailor
“Citrus silk wool bell-bottoms, lilac silk lace cardigan and a soft grape lace print cami-dress with lavender shearing were eternally pretty,” in Kiwi style-queen Rebecca Taylor’s New York Fashion Week show.
Sweet Sugar
Peter Gordon is the man who launched a thousand experiments with seaweed, noodles and kangaroo. His latest book, “Cook at Home with Peter Gordon”, applies the same eclectic principles, offering something for cooks of…
Pask Bask
Where do you go for the top Bordeaux? Edge Hawkes Bay winery CJ Pask makes the best Bordeaux-style wine in the world, according to the world’s premier wine judging event.
Inky Waves
Tattoos have become increasing popular among the men and women who chase the massive waves of the Pacific. For many, a tattoo is an important way of recognising their Polynesian heritage.
All Sewn Up
New Zealand designer Therese Hollingsworth has won the Textile category of the Country Road Design Awards. Her piece, felted was strongly influenced by the “simplicity and symmetry of Japanese design”.
Zambesi Zen
Relax, salute the sun: this summer warm to the meticulously designed, unstructured, ‘new age’ look picked to capture the fashion mood. Yoga inspired spiritual materials for contemplative consumption. Leading the pack of new-agers are…
Superplonk
Is Cloudy Bay the new Champagne? “An utterly gob-smackingly gorgeous bubbly … Track down the 1995 vintage of Pelorus, from the Cloudy Bay bunch in New Zealand. A massive advance … this is one of the most…
Sheep Shearer’s Delight Strolling the Paris Catwalks
Watch out Rod: “you wouldn’t want to mess with a girl like Rach. She is an Alp of a woman. Throw in the facial features of a young Judy Finnegan, a formidable Sports Illustrated…
Hallertau hops give organic beer a bite
Bateman’s a family owned organic brewery in Lincolnshire has joined the swelling ranks of organic beers with Yella Betty Bitter, brewed with organic chariot pale malt and Hallertau hops from New Zealand – “wonderfully…
On Top of the Brief
The Times profiles New Zealander Carrie de Duluin, Personal Assistant to Serena Rees and Joseph Corré (son of Vivienne Westwood), creators of Agent Provocateur, the label that gave new meaning to “naughty, but nice”…
Dionysian Olympic Success
“Eventually, excellence of all sorts is rewarded, and one day New Zealand will be able to show off its medals.” The New York Times explores the success of New Zealand’s contender in the wine making Olympics:…
Crunchies for a flat stomach
Looking to get in shape for her acting career Kiwi supermodel Rachel Hunter enlisted the help of SunWoman who came up with a brilliant eating plan which included Hunter’s favourite foods: Crunchie bars, Frosties,…
Shipping Undesirables Off to the Colonies
New Zealander Sam Chisholm, deputy chairman of the New Millennium Experience Commission, operator of the beleaguered Millennium Dome, is supporting a proposal to ship contents of the Dome to the Sydney Olympic complex, including the giant pink…
Golden Kiwi
Zespri gives the Kiwifruit the golden touch, hoping to strike it lucky in the lucrative American market. The new yellow cultivar is, “much like the green variety on the outside, but its mustard-hued flesh has a custardy…
Classy Champagne
New world producers, with the help of the champagne houses, are producing great tasting sparkling wines that are making the originals uncomfortable. Leading the bunch is Daniel Le Brun, making “some rich, classy Kiwi bubbles.”
Enjoy: Lattes and Colas Not as Dangerous as Thought
A study by the Australian and New Zealand Food authority has found that the caffeine pick-me-ups effect in tea, coffee, and soft drinks did less harm than previously thought. “We have been drinking tea, coffee and…
Big cheese #2
New Zealander Errol J. Baird runs a food importing business in Jamaica. “He offers to the discerning gourmet New Zealand cheese and wine.”
TimeOut Gets into NZ’s Real Crown Jewels
Time Out’s Mary Ann Percy provides an insider’s guide to New Zealand’s recondite attractions. Everybody knows about New Zealand’s tourist standards (Jonah and the whales), but “get your A into G: have you slipped…
Otherworldly Sauvignon Blancs
The New York Press predicts a sauvignon blanc summer – great for when the mercury rises. “The genuinely good stuff–particularly the world-class sauvignon blancs of New Zealand’s Marlborough region – tastes like alcoholic Fresca. Tastes almost otherworldly,…
Cuizean
Kiwi super-chef Peter Gordon is one of the “illustrious visitors” concocting culinary creations at Henrietta Green’s Food Lovers’ Fair. The fair brings together specialist food producers and suppliers hand-picked by the redoubtable Miss Green…
Giesen Estate Best White of the Show at Prestigous US Awards
Giesen Wine Estate Double Gold 1999 Sauvignon Blanc, from Marlborough, has won best white of the show at America’s most important wine-judging event, the San Francisco International Wine Judging Competition. With 2,800 wines from around the world entered, it…
Fusion eating: Kiwi food produce makes for great Italian fare in Malaysia
“The start to original Italian food is to use all fresh ingredients … the juicy New Zealand mussels in Amatricana sauce are to die for … the imported New Zealand spring lamb grilled in…
Vodka and herb, a très moderne kiwi potable
The Guardian blows away the myth that herbs are restrained by the cooking pot and salad bowl and offers some herbal cocktails for the urban sophisticate, including herb-based martinis from Dick Bardsell and vodka…
Rebecca Taylor’s Urban Femininity Nominated for Prestigious Perry Ellis Award
New York based New Zealander Rebecca Taylor’s signature brightly colured cardigans with sequin trim have seen her nominated for the reputation-making Perry Ellis Fashion Award. She will be hoping to follow in the fashionable…
“He Who Laughs Last …” Kiwi Wines Now the Benchmark
Colonial upstarts from the all parts of the Empire are conquering Britain. As renowned wine merchant Simon Berry ponders regretfully, “We laughed at New Zealand 20 years ago, and now they are benchmark wines.”
Give them a taste of Kiwi
“Sometimes expats crave a taste of the familiar – and now they can find it on the net.” A New Zealand writer yearns for Tim Tams and ponders the number of dotcoms, such as…
Quality Not Quantity for Outstanding New Zealand Vintage
“Outstanding quality and lower quantities characterize the 2000 vintage in New Zealand. The country’s hallmark Sauvignon Blanc and very promising Pinot Noir varieties in particular have benefited from the difficult growing conditions.”
New Zealand Whites Give Bland Californians a Taste of the Real Thing
“Here come the sauvignon blancs from New Zealand. Hooray!” White wines from “half a world away” are challenging the blandly commercial US natives, “they almost seem juicier than other wines, maybe because they supercharge our salivary glands.”…
Fine Wine
Kim Crawford Unwooded Marlborough Chardonnay 2000: “sprightly, with pure quince apple and tangerine-lime citric accents and bright acidity tamed by the process of malolactic fermentation”. Seresin Estate’s Pinot Noir and Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc make Bloomberg’s favourites of…
“Nobody Does Sauvignon Better Than New Zealand”
“Certain wine regions become known for certain wines because the majority of producers there do them better than anyone else … when it comes to sauvignon blanc, nobody does it better on a consistent basis than…
“I See (Nz) Red” – the Critic’s Palette Tells the Facts as It Sees Them.
“In terms of sheer quality, the most exciting of all emerging wine-producing countries is New Zealand … if I were compelled to pick the wines of just one country … to drink for the rest of…
World’s Second Largest Mall Gets Submerged in Kiwi Designed Undersea Experience
Underwater Adventures at Mall of America has recently expanded its its exhibit space. “Originally built for $25million, the aquarium was designed by New Zealand ocean explorer Kelly Tarlton, using his trademark glass tunnel that revolutionised the traditional…
New Zealand Whites the Best
Before you call the PC Police, the reds are pretty good as well: The National Post’s Michael Vaughan pines for New Zealand wines, “The LCBO Classics Catalogue offers slim pickings from a country with a lot…
