I just spent two weeks in the North Island of New Zealand, and managed to try lots of wine while I was there. I went with 5 other people, all of whom are enthusiastic consumers of wine, but aren’t geeks like me! With six people, we managed to go through a fair bit of wine while we were there.
I have a fairly long history of tasting NZ wine. I fist visited NZ in 1985, and loved it so much I went and lived there from 1986-1991. The wine industry was really in its infancy then. I remember hitching through the Marlborough region in 1985, and I think there were 2, maybe 3 wineries. I actually first became really interested in wine while I was living in NZ. I took a wine appreciation course, then joined a wine club at a retail store, and they had weekly tastings that really introduced me to many wine types and styles. I usually visit NZ every few years.
My first observation is a very common one: the quality of NZ wine continues to grow. The reds from Hawkes Bay – especially the Gimblett Gravels region – are my favourite, though great wine is made in every region of the country. I didn’t taste one bad wine in the whole trip, but of course I did research what I wanted to try before I left.
My biggest ‘new’ find was the quality of the syrah coming from Hawkes Bay. I think the wine of the trip was the Trinity Hill Homage Syrah 2004: they kindly had this available at the cellar door for tasting, and it was a real powerhouse syrah. But at $120, I wasn’t a buyer. But the Unison Syrah 2007 wasn’t too far behind, far lower in price ($38), and I brought a bottle of it home. I tried a fair amount of other syrah from this region, and I enjoyed them all. I also brought a 2006 Craggy Range Block 14 back as well ($30).
One thing that had improved even more than the wine quality was the pricing. I was able to buy some really outstanding wines from $20-30 NZD. That’s something that is almost impossible with Canadian wines. And it’s a tricky proposition in that range for any wines here in BC. Apart from the Craggy Range Syrah, which I thought a great QPR, two Central Otago pinots were awesome value. The Domain Road 2007 Pinot Noir was the QPR of the trip: at about $29, this was an outstanding pinot noir. I brought one of these home as well. Even cheaper was the Wooing Tree Beetlejuice 2007 ($25), which wasn’t quite as good as the Domain Road, but still a great wine for the price. I also tried a 2007 Peregrine Pinot, and that was tasty as well. Once you add in the low NZ dollar ($10 CAD = about $16 NZD), then the prices get even better.
I turned on a couple of people to the NZ ‘savvies’ while we were there. It was wonderful weather while we were there, 20-22 degrees every day, and only one day of rain. It’s hard to beat a nice sauvignon blanc after a day outside. Again, the prices were good – for less than $30, you could buy some outstanding SBs. We went through a heap of St Clair Block 6,7 and 11 while we were there, and they were all outstanding. The SB from Te Mata in Hawkes Bay was also outstanding, much more tropical in style and slightly fatter and less acidic, as most Hawkes Bay versions were.
The food pricing and quality didn’t increase so much. While there is no doubt that NZ food has improved by leaps and bounds since I first lived there, there wasn’t any growth from when I was last there 3-4 years ago. The food seemed even more expensive than usual, which is saying something. Eating out every night was fun, but the wallet took a hit. It’s always hard to get used to the food pricing in general, especially that of the entres (i.e., appetizers), which are often $15-25, with mains averaging $28-38 in most places (even ‘basic’ places). Of course, the taxes are included in NZ, and tipping isn’t required, and wine pricing is better than it is in Canada and the US; still, in general, restaurants are over-priced for the quality of the food. In terms of high end Auckland restaurants, we went to the French Café once and O’Connell Street Bistro twice. The former was far too pretentious for its own good, and none of the 6 people thought the food more than average. For the money, it was a real dud. The food at the O’Connell Street Bistro was much better, we thought, though the prices still a bit of a stretch. And BYOs seem to be disappearing, which is a real shame. ‘Ethnic’ restaurants are the final bastion of BYO in NZ, it seems, at least in the main cities.
There is a real lack of big wine stores as well. I enjoyed the First Glass store in Takapuna on the North Shore the most, as the quality of the staff and the availability of in-store tastings on one Saturday raised it above the competition – mainly Caros. That was a nice store with a reasonable selection as well, but the staff didn’t seem quite as on top of things. That’s just based on a couple of quick visits each, however. I was surprised at how small each store was, though. The supermarkets have a bigger – though not better – selection. Oh, Caros did have some nice selections on their web site, though. For example, they recommended the 2007 Alluviale Gimblett Gravels Merlot/Cabernet Franc, and that was a fascinating, unique wine well worth the $25 or so asking price.
Best cellar door visits included Unison in Hawkes Bay and Puriri Hills in the Auckland area. Both people at the cellar door were intimately involved in the winery, as so were able to answer lots of detailed questions. Hawkes Bay gets better to visit, and the Auckland region gets worse! Kumeu is really the only winery worth visiting in Kumeu now, as most wineries have left the area. I was surprised and impressed that they had all their chardonnays available for tasting – good on ‘em.
Thanks to all for their responses to my questions on this subject a while back!