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Friday wine with Malcolm Rees-Francis

It’s nine days into nationwide lockdown in New Zealand and  Central Otago winemaker Malcolm Rees-Francis is living in alternate states of thankfulness and disbelief, in between being interviewed for this chat about life, the state of the world and wine. “The sin is being boring,” he told me, of what makes a wine unappealing, adding that he would rather have a bad wine than a boring one because there is no hook for your interest and your brain or for your tastebuds. Here, Malcolm ta...

Riesling around the world – tasting 23 September (and wine of the week)

After a week of pointless travelling up and down the North Island, it’s easy to lose heart, especially with full lockdown back in place so I’m grateful for the reminder to be grateful and today’s gratitude comes for the sunshine and my favourite white grape variety. Riesling is near to my heart and the theme of a tasting that I am lucky enough to host on Thursday 23 September at 6pm at Regional Wines & Spirits in Wellington. It’s also the reason for today’s work (‘work’) in...

Homage to a friend

It’s a bittersweet day. Thankful for the warmth of the sun’s rays and chilled by the wind, I am reminded by both of a friend who chose to say goodbye this week. He kept popping in to work to say hi and suggest a catch up. We used to catch up often but life gets in the way. I moved. He had plans to buy a house nearby at one stage. I kept meaning to touch base and earlier this week I planned to call and finally arrange that catch up. Turns out I was too late. I can’t help but feel sad for...

Five Pinot Noirs to see you through lockdown

It’s International Pinot Noir Day and there is plenty to celebrate here in New Zealand, despite being back in Alert level 4 lockdown. The announcement of the latest lockdown saw wine sales spike within 10 minutes online as well as in stores throughout this country. I was standing in store at the Hamilton Beer & Wine Co when the announcement came through and customers buying wine weren’t heading for the cheap and cheerful but for high  quality bottles; “I want to enjoy something rea...

Great dirt from Esk Valley news and reviews

Great Dirt is a great name and I’m not going to beat around the bush; the Great Dirt Syrah is one of the red wine highlights of my year so far. It’s been a tough one for many, not least for the winery that has just launched this evocatively named new wine brand, Esk Valley, which is part of Villa Maria Wines. Winemaker Gordon Russell started at Esk in 1993 and has since forged a reputation for making a wide range of wines from the quirky (Chenin Blanc and Verdelho) to the mainstream with&...

Writers share their trade secrets

Hamilton Book Month is here and I am flattered to be taking part as the panel chair with a bunch of fellow wine writers at the Hamilton Beer & Wine Co next Wednesday 18 August from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. If you’ve ever wondered how an accountant becomes a wine writer or how a wine writer remains sober during day time hours, pop along and join us. Bookings are required for this event, which will see four of us chat about our best two wines up to $35 in value – and share them with those who...

Wild Canterbury Pinot pushes beautiful boundaries

I’d heard vicious rumours of dry July but it must’ve been somewhere else because Martinborough was extremely wet last month and so were the insides of my wine glass. One of the best wines of the month was a wild ferment Pinot Noir from a region that is among my go-to, all time favourite places when it comes to drop dead deliciously good wines, most of which are made by small, family owned producers. That place is North Canterbury. And this pre amble is my segue into a long awaited review ...

Paper Nautilus new release

There’s nothing like a massive writing deadline to put paid to nearly everything else in life and with the deadline looming faster than bears thinking about, I am extremely focussed on creating a good read and obsessively researching to ensure the facts are on the nail as well. The new project will be revealed in the fullness of time and in the meantime, here is last week’s blog, intended to be published on Friday but with a deadline hanging over me like a dark cloud, well, sorry, it’s ...

The Chenin mystery, a wine of the week

Joelle Thomson’s weekly column is published on Fridays. The decline of Chenin in New Zealand remains a mystery 11 June 2021 South African wines made headlines in one of the most respected newspapers in the world this year because of a relatively obscure grape variety, Chenin Blanc, which can hold its own with the finest white wines, wrote UK critic Jancis Robinson MW in the Financial Times last month. It will come as good news to South Africa’s winemakers whose industry has had it tough...

Four shades of Otago Pinot from Valli

Grant Taylor, founder and owner of Valli Vineyards, is one of the most interesting creators of Central Otago Pinot Noir. There are four different Pinot Noirs made every year but there are no tiers in the range, although no doubt there are plenty of tears in frosty years because Central is the most southern wine region in the world and can be rather chilly. My wine of the week is arguably the edgiest of the four and that’s what I love about it. Reviews of the other three Pinots still to come...

Five (very) good Pinot Noirs under $25

Is it possible to buy great Pinot Noir for less than $20? The short answer is: no. But, inspired by a couple who attended Winetopia in Wellington in the weekend, I thought the time was nigh to share my five best buy recommendations under $25, which is the threshold (if you know where to shop) for very good quality Pinot on a budget. It may be more than you’d ideally like to spend on a weeknight red but how big is the dent that take out coffees make in your wallet each week? Perhaps it means...

Best new release, 21 May 2021, 2017 Doctors Flat Pinot Noir

Many people have a dream retirement job while others retire so that they can dream. Steve Davies was in the first camp when he longed for a small vineyard of his own to plant in grapes, make top notch wine and fund his later years and create a job he loves. In 2002, he began to do just that, buying about four hectares of land on a windy, elevated site on Hall Road in Bannockburn, Central Otago. He built a modest house, planted three hectares of Pinot Noir right next to it and has since set ab...

Best new release, 19 May 2021, 2019 Zen Chardonnay

Tony Bish is, for many, the Hawke’s Bay king of Chardonnay. Not that he is alone in producing superlative dry whites in New Zealand’s second biggest wine region. He has earnt the mantle as King of Chardonnay because he has dedicated his Urban Winery (a bar, restaurant and working winery) entirely to Chardonnay; the world’s most popular wine grape. The wine at the top of his Chardonnay tree is called Zen and it’s not cheap. A single bottle goes for $139.99, give or take, depending on w...

First International Viognier Day launches

It’s big, it’s bold, it’s voluptuous and it nearly died out last century, but now Viognier has its own international day. The first International Viognier Day was launched this year by Yalumba Wines. This South Australian winery has done much to revive this grape’s flagging fortunes by working on Viognier clonal selection and setting up the first ever Viognier Symposium in 2002 as well as encouraging other wineries to produce this full bodied, flavoursome white wine, which has distinc...

Homage to Cabernet Franc

It’s not exactly the green turtle or the reptilian hawksbill turtle (both now in sanctuary in the Philippines, a rare success story) but Cabernet Franc is one of the rarer great red grape varieties in the world and it has now declined by nearly 50% over the past 10 years in New Zealand. Is it because it has never been ranked as highly as Cabernet Sauvignon, which has also dropped to 219 hectares from 519; a more understandable decline since it is so tough to ripen Cab’ Sauv’. French win...

Sauvignon Blanc Day 7 May

Tomorrow is International Sauvignon Blanc Day and it’s especially important to New Zealand, the world HQ of Sauvignon Blanc. The most planted grape in New Zealand and responsible for over 85% of this country’s wine exports, Sauvignon Blanc is made in an increasingly wide range of styles from upfront, fruity and off dry to creamy, complex, new wave fumé styles to dry, flinty wines that bear more than mere passing resemblance to good Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé. Enter the new 2020 Hunter’...

Small can be good too – vintage 2021

A very cool, very dry summer with very low rainfall means two things for New Zealand’s biggest wine region this year; low volumes of wine but extremely high quality, if the earliest tastings and reports are anything to go by. Yesterday I was lucky enough to taste wines from one of this country’s best wine producers, Clos Henri in Marlborough. And I use the word best sparingly because it has become so over used. The winery is owned by the French Bourgeois family, who have been making wine ...

From family garage to fully fledged winery…

This year, 2021, marks Pegasus Bay’s 30th vintage since the winery’s humble beginnings in the family garage in Christchurch back in 1991. Ivan and Chris Donaldson planted some of the first vines in Canterbury in 1971 when he was a consultant neurologist who started making wine as a hobby in the garage at home and, surprised by the depth of his family’s interest in wine, he and Chris then purchased land in the Waipara Valley in North Canterbury in 1986. The couple’s four sons are ...

New bubbles day launches in Marlborough

A group of 12 Marlborough winemakers are embracing the late Lily Bollinger’s mantra to drink top notch bubbles any time, to celebrate with it when happy and commiserate with it when sad. The ‘it’ in question is  New Zealand sparkling wine made by members of Méthode Marlborough, a group of likeminded winemakers who use 100% locally grown grapes and the traditional French method for producing their sparkling wine. The group launched their first annual Méthode Marlborough Day at the...

Wines of the earth from Urlar

Urlar means of the earth in Gaelic and is a fitting name for wines made from grapes that are certified organic and grown biodynamically. The winery was started by Angus and Davinia Thomson, who have now sold the business, but who laid the foundations for a winery that lives up to the integrity of its certified organic, biodynamic claims. This week I tasted three of this relatively small winery’s new wines, which I have reviewed here. 18.5/20 2019 Urlar Gladstone Pinot Gris $25 Dry, rounded,...

Spritzy best wine of the month

If you’ve ever stumbled onto this website before, it will come as no surprise to find a mini rave about Riesling, one of my top five wine grapes and wines in the world. I know it’s very fashionable to talk dry and drink sweet, but I’ve always craved dryness in Riesling. It’s the succulence of the acidity that balances great Rieslings that really excites my mind and my mouth when drinking wines such as this outstanding North Canterbury dry white. North Canterbury has a long track recor...

A column for the under dog

Numbers aren’t everything but when it comes to commercial enterprises, they’re usually the most accurate measure of success, which brings me to a trio of bottles that I’ve been eyeing up on my tasting shelves all year. The trio in question is Chenin Blanc, one of the least successful grape varieties in New Zealand today, occupying about 20 hectares of the country’s grand total of 39,935 hectares of grapes growing nationwide.  There’s more than a hint of irony in that because Ch...

Small volume high quality vintage

Speed was of the essence this year when harvesting grapes in New Zealand’s biggest wine region this year, says Jane Hunter, managing director of Hunter’s Wines in Marlborough. Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are her top picks for vintage 2021. Volumes are down but quality remained relatively high, she said, when asked for her thoughts on vintage 2021. “Vintage 2021 was similar to vintage 2020 in terms of quality but vintage 2020 yielded slightly higher volumes of grapes. The biggest chal...

A church with a new lease of life

I tend to give organised religion a wide swerve these days after dabbling in it as a teenager, but this week I rediscovered a church worth visiting. It is the home of Clos Henri Wines in Marlborough and while not actually used as a church any more, the quaint little colonial building that houses this winery’s cellar door is the sort of place that encourages a reverential approach. It’s home to some of this country’s rare few single vineyard Sauvignon Blancs, all made entirely from estat...

Ups and downs of vintage 2021

Julian Grounds is the Pinot Noir loving winemaker at the helm of Craggy Range in Hawke’s Bay, a winery well known for its blockbuster Bay reds and sophisticated Chardonnay, despite the fact that 65% of this iconic winery’s production now comes from Martinborough. I asked him this week what the biggest challenges and greatest joys of vintage 2021 were. Here is our conversation, a fascinating insight into the inner workings of one of this country’s best known wineries. What has been the b...