Methode Traditionelle (Methode Champenoise)
New Zealand now exports more sparkling wines than it imports. New Zealanders are preferring the local product, and overseas markets and beginning to discover how good they are. In recent vintages, NZ sparklings have won some prestigious awards. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the foundation of our top sparklings with Marlborough emerging as the country’s premier producing region. Champagne Houses Deutz and Moet & Chandon have also been attracted to the Marlborough region as producers.
Food Match: Perfect pre-dinner drink with hors d’oeuvers
Chardonnay
Plantings of Chardonnay have outstripped all other varieties in New Zealand with vines throughout all major wine regions, particularly Marlborough, Hawkes Bay and Gisborne. They are known for their delicious varietal intensity, concentrated aromas, flavours, and appetising acidity, and are now becoming world renowned. Chardonnays from Gisborne are lush, fruity, soft wines, good drinking in their youth. Hawkes Bay wines are sturdy, have rich grapefruit flavours, power and longevity. Chardonnays, often called ‘the red wine drinkers white wine”, are bone dry as are most reds, and the better quality wines will reward cellaring.
Food Match: Seafoods, poultry, pork, nutty flavoured dishes
Sauvignon Blanc
New Zealand’s second most planted variety, with over 70% of vines concentrated in Marlborough, followed by Hawkes Bay and Central Otago. New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs have flavours never created before anywhere in the world of wine (OZ Claret, UK Winewriter). Wonderful flavours of limes and capsicums, gooseberries, passionfruit and herbs abound. Most Sauvignon Blancs are fermented and matured in stainless steel to accentuate their fruit flavours, are irresistibly fresh and tangy and are to drink young. Some wines are wood ferments or wood matured and tend to be softer, lusher and less pungently herbacious.
Food Matches: Vegetarian and herb influenced dishes, salads and also perfect to enjoy without food
Riesling
A classic cool-climate grape variety, particularly well suited to the cooler growing temperatures and lower humidity of the South Island. Over half the vines are grown in Marlborough with extensive plantings in Nelson, Canterbury and Central Otago. Ravishing perfume, rich lemon/lime flavours and fresh appetising acidity are hallmarks of New Zealand Rieslings. New Zealand wine lovers have been slow to appreciate these delightful wines, but recently they have been ‘discovered’ and are achieving the profile they richly deserve. Most New Zealand Rieslings rely on their garden-fresh scents, exquisite balance of fruit sweetness and acidity for they appear, more like the light, German style wines, but some winemakers are producing more powerful, richer, drier wines.
Food Match: Fish/lemon, poultry/fruit sauce, lightly spiced and citrus flavoured dishes, and light flavoured soup
Muller Thurgau
New Zealand’s sixth most planted variety, but in 1975 was our most widely planted. Mainly grown in Gisborne (over half the plantings), Hawkes Bay and Marlborough. An excellent wine to attract new wine drinkers, it is typically made slightly sweet. It has fruity, citrus flavours, is mild and soft, and low in acidity.
Food Match: Sweeter Asian dishes
Pinot Gris
This variety is achieving popularity in New Zealand. Marlborough and Central Otago grow over half of the vines planted, but there are significant growth areas in Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Martinborough and Canterbury. The flavours are citrus, peach and pears, with some of the rich spicyness of Gewurtztraminer, a satisfying weight in the mouth, and fairly low acidity.
Food Match: Spicy Asian dishes
Gewurtztraminer
Small quantities of this varietal are made in New Zealand, and recent vintages have yielded some excellent wines. Gewurtztraminer is a high impact wine brimming with aromas and flavours of ginger, black pepper, cinnamon, lychees, mangoes and spice. Many wines are made with a distinctive Late Harvest sweetness, so fit into the medium to medium/dry category. Most of the plantings are in Marlborough and Hawkes Bay, but there are significant pockets in Gisborne and Central Otago.
Food Match: Ideal with spicy Thai and Indian foods
Sweet White Wines
The ravishing beauty of New Zealand’s top sweet wines is starting to win international acclaim. New Zealand’s most luscious, concentrated and honeyish sweet wines are made from grapes which have shrivelled and dehydrated on the vines, many by ‘noble rot’, the dry form of the Botrytis Cinerea mould. Rieslings have been used in the majority of the most opulent sweet wines, but a number of other varieties are also successfully used. Marlborough has yielded most of the finest wines.
Food Match: Cheese (especially blue), pate and desserts
Cabernet Sauvignon Predominant Blends
In recent years New Zealand red wines have experienced a dramatic growth in quality, thanks to better selection of sites and improvements in viticulture. Hawkes Bay (two-thirds production) has established itself as the top producer of Cabernet-based reds, rivalled only by the small volumes of splendid reds from Auckland and Waiheke Island. Good Cabernet Sauvignons and blends are substantial and smooth, with sweet oaky characters, impressive blackcurrant, plum and spice flavours and gentle tannins.
Food match: Beef, rich meat casseroles, full flavoured lamb dishes
Merlot
Merlot based reds are fast catching up on the more high profile Cabernet Sauvignon, and will soon become New Zealands fourth most widely planted grape. Earlier ripening than Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot grapes are lower in tannin, and higher in sugar. They are soft, mouthfilling, with rich plummy fruit flavours. Hawkes Bay has over half of New Zealand’s vines, the rest are from Marlborough, Auckland, Gisborne and Canterbury. Many believe Merlot will become New Zealand’s principal red wine variety.
Food Match: Roast pork, lamb, cold cuts
Pinot Noir
Many believe the quality of New Zealand Pinot Noir is second only to France. Recent vintages have produced wines that have attracted international plaudits. The variety is well established in Central Otago, Canterbury, Martinborough, Hawkes Bay, Gisborne and Nelson. Cheaper varieties are light, raspberry flavoured and easy to drink. The serious and more expensive wines are velvety rich, and supple, with flavours of cherries, fruit cake and coffee.
Food match: Game dishes, mushroom, pork, lamb