Wine!? In New Zealand!?

I'm sitting here in sunny Martinborough, surrounded by dozens of wineries, carefully tended vineyards and plenty of cranky juice-stained winemakers, and I realize that I haven't said much about wine. I've tasted a lot of juice and visited numerous producers since I arrived. 2004, most wineries current realease, wasn't a great vintage for most, and was especially rough in Central Otago. 2005 looks to be worse, but I get ahead of myself. I'll try and go through where I've been and what I liked. Most of these producers don't have a huge presence in the U.S. market and many of them I'd never even heard of before.

Hawke's Bay: This sunny region on the Bay of Plenty specializes in Bordeaux varietals. I explored the area with the capable and lovely Imogen. The most famous grapes are planted in the Gimblett Gravels sub-region, nestled below the foothills, further from the maritime influences. It is centered around Gimblett Road and is most strongly defined by the grey wacke
gravel in the soil.

I visited Matariki, Trinity Hill, Selini, Alpha Domus and Lucknow the first day. Matariki had some good wines and Alpha Domus was interesting as well. Trinity and Selini are big and impressive architecturally. Lucknow was the favorite. A small winery a bit further out along the track, Lucknow has plantings in an old riverbed, and above on the river terraces. He does an Orgon style Pinot gris, inspired by a couple vintages with Lynn Penner-Ash and his Syrah shows great potential. I think that the Gimbletts could really grow some good syrah, but it's hard being in the shadow of all that Aussie shiraz.

My second trip out, Imogen showed me Nga Tawara, the first winery of production giant Corban's, sited in an old stables. We also saw Gimblett's pioneer C.J.Pask, Hastings producer Vidal, and the coastal Te Awanga vineyards of Clearview and Kim Crawford.

Central Otago: Although I was living in Central for over a month, I only went tasting twice. I did sample many other wines over home-cooked meals with Margo and at a few functions. The so-called "Continental Climate" of this region means that it gets very cold. This must partly explain the extremely high-acid white wines that I tasted throughout. '04 was especially rough, and the '05 frosts are leading to an even lighter tonnage this year. In the Bannockburn sub-region we tasted along Felton Road (although the winery of that name was unfortunately closed). Mt. Difficulty is among my favorites, with a truly savoury Pinot noir. Some of its vineyards are planted atop an old gold field which look like mesas, and some is on the valley floor. We also visited Olssens, Akarua and Carrick - who had the only drinkable whites, including a riesling. Their '03 Pinot was good and the '02 was even better.


Highwire pinot at Peregrine

Another day I went out tasting with Dawn and Chris, just back from kayaking the Doubtful Sound. We made it to Amisfield, Peregrine and Chard Farm. Peregrine is obviously owned by a viticulturist. The vineyards are immaculate. They are set off by the architectural audacity of the new winery. The wines were good too. Chard Farm has hands down the most dramatic site in the whole Gibbston Valley.


I didn't make it to Quartz Reef, but I tasted a number of Rudi Bauer's wines, and they were among the best. A shout out as well to his sparkling brut Chauvet, a happy fall back when we couldn't agree on what to drink and great paired with a rainy day at the Cromwell racetrack.