The cold chill of mid-winter is a dastardly time to hold a wine event; doubly so when it takes place on the unprotected waterfront of the United States' windiest city. But that's when and where the Boston Wine Expo is held, and one wonders what sort of malicious torture the organizers must want to inflict on attendees from summery, or even less severe, locales.
Nonetheless, a brave New Zealand contingent yearly battles the elements to assemble one of the best pavilions at the show. And recently-returned from that country, I can't pass up the opportunity to try the entire lineup. In New Zealand, I'd mostly tasted the cream of the crop. Here is the crop itself, selected for local availability and salability (which means Marlborough, with a heavy slant towards whites) but not necessarily for quality. A perfect opportunity for necessary recalibration. And, perhaps, a little reassessment.
(What follows are shorter takes, the only kind sensible in large-scale tastings of this nature. There's no time or opportunity for careful reflection, and so none is attempted, though occasional summary comments are included. Notes are from early February, 2002.)
Grove Mill 2002 Pinot Gris (Marlborough) – Hugely salty, showing pear, white grapes, and papaya. Fruity, low-acid, and a bit insufficient, but quite drinkable.
Grove Mill 2001 Riesling (Marlborough) – Lime, lemon, some diesel and grapefruit rind. Very short.
Grove Mill 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Ash-covered gooseberry with underripe chile pepper. All the classic flaws of grossly underripe sauvignon. Avoid.
Grove Mill 2001 Chardonnay (Marlborough) – Sweet yellow cherry, orange, and grapefruit on the finish; balanced with potential to improve.
Grove Mill 2001 Pinot Noir (Marlborough) – Dusty plum, orange rind, and cherry, though it's difficult to tell given some masking reduction. Fruit-forward. Judgement reserved.
The highly-regarded pinot gris is somewhat of a disappointment, and the sauvignon is disgusting, but the rest shows decent to promising quality.
Murdoch James Estate 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Martinborough) – Grass, chile, and bell pepper with screechy acidity. Not good, but some mistakenly identify this as the "classic" New Zealand sauvignon style. It may be common, but it's hardly classic.
Murdoch James Estate 2001 Pinot Noir Blue Rock (Martinborough) – Dark plum, blackberry, boysenberry, and black cherry in a densely-fruited package with some chocolate on the finish. A fine effort with the stuffing for aging.
Murdoch James Estate 2001 Pinot Noir Fraser (Martinborough) – Earthier than the Blue Rock, showing mixed red and blue fruit, citrus rind, and a sandy-chalky minerality with a leafy finish. More Burgundian, and perhaps more appealing in that regard, but the terroir would seem to indicate more lushness. Recommended with reservations.
Murdoch James Estate 2001 Syrah (Martinborough) – Plum, blackberry, and smoke turning to fennel and mint jam on the finish. Juicy, but a little unbalanced.
The pinots here show some real promise, as the "flagship" of the line moves from the Fraser Vineyard to the Blue Rock Vineyard.
Omaka Springs 2002 Riesling (Marlborough) – Crisp, fruity lemongrass with lots of malic acid. Perhaps a bit too much.
Omaka Springs 2001 Chardonnay (Marlborough) – Orange, tangerine, nectarine and peach with very low acidity; fruit salad without all that unnecessary chewing, and way too soft.
Omaka Springs 2000 Pinot Noir "Reserve" (Marlborough) – Orange, light strawberry, and plum with powdery tannin. Soft and nice for the very near term.
Not very impressive, though the reserve pinot would be a good picnic wine if priced correctly.
Nautilus 2002 Pinot Gris (Marlborough) – Light pear in an off-dry and oddly synthetic package that turns outright plasticky on the finish. Yuck.
Nautilus 2001 Pinot Noir (Marlborough) – Red cherry, strawberry, and light plum, soft and smooth, pleasant but eminently forgettable.
In fact, the whole lineup is forgettable.
Palliser Estate "Pencarrow" 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Martinborough) – Pencarrow is a second label for the well-regarded Palliser. Lovely ripe lime and grapefruit, in a full, long, and (at long last) ripe package. Nicely-done, and a bargain.
Palliser Estate 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Martinborough) – Very ripe, showing gooseberry, white melon, and a lovely floral/honeysuckle note. Exquisite.
Palliser Estate "Pencarrow" 2001 Pinot Noir (Martinborough) – Raspberry, strawberry, red cherry, and plum in a soft, floral fadeaway. Decent, but exceedingly light for Martinborough pinot.
Palliser Estate 2000 Pinot Noir (Martinborough) – Black cherry, ripe strawberry, and blackberry in a smooth blend, though it's marred a bit on the finish by a leafy, slightly bitter tannin. It will age, but I suspect that tannin will always be slightly green and vegetal. Not their best effort.
The sauvignon is a killer (and the Pencarrow a likely steal), but the pinots are surprising near-misses for this normally solid winery.
Spy Valley 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Grass, green pepper, and lime. Plain and simple; one wonders, why bother? There are much better sauvignons, from Marlborough and elsewhere.
Spy Valley 2001 Chardonnay (Marlborough) – Ripe tangerine, banana skin, and Juicy Fruit gum. I can see this being popular, though I personally hate the fruit gum component in chardonnay. Acidity is not mentioned here for a reason.
Spy Valley 2001 Pinot Noir (Marlborough) – Strawberry-flavored chemicals.
Not really worth a second look.
Tohu 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Smooth, ripe tropical fruit, with light lashings of lime and lemongrass. Nice.
Tohu 2000 Chardonnay (Gisborne) – Banana skin and citrus, more of that fruit salad without definition. Neither unpleasant nor particularly wine-like.
Tohu 2000 Chardonnay "Reserve" (Gisborne) – 11 months in French and American oak, hand-picked. Balanced citrus and butterscotch; the woody blends well with the fruity, braced by good acidity. It helps that the fruit is profoundly ripe, but not overripe, showing mostly grapefruit and Rainier cherries at the moment. A fine effort.
Tohu 2001 Pinot Noir (Marlborough) – Stemmy black cherry and plum, a nice small wine slightly marred by underripeness.
Tohu is a winery I want to like, given that it is owned and operated by Maoris. And while this makes the labels rather beautiful, it promises nothing about the wine. Thankfully, these wines are mostly quality efforts, and I expect further experience and investment can only help.
Matua Valley 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Ripe lime sorbet zested with lemon and a slight touch of minerality. A bit sour, however, showing grass and straw on the finish. Slightly odd, but I enjoy it.
Matua Valley 2002 Chardonnay (Gisborne) – Banana flower, orange, tangerine, nectarine, peach, grapefruit – the whole fruit basket, full-bodied and fruit-driven but with sufficient balancing acidity. A fun date, but don't expect it to go home with you.
Matua Valley 2002 Pinot Noir (Marlborough) – Minty strawberry, ripe red cherry and raspberry; crisp and different, almost like a Chalonnaise to the rest of Marlborough's Beaune. I like it.
Uniqueness is admirable, and two of these three definitely buck their prevailing trends. But they're definitely not for everyone.
Allan Scott 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Capsicum, grass, ash. Awful.
Allan Scott "Vineyard Select" 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Riper, showing lime and lemongrass, but still not much of a wine.
Allan Scott 2002 Riesling (Marlborough) – Ripe apple, Mandarin orange, and nearly brutal acidity; tastes almost Australian in its tooth-scraping way.
Allan Scott 2001 Chardonnay (Marlborough) – A ripe nectarine filled with a giant scoop of sugary peach ice cream. Overly goopy.
Allan Scott 2001 Pinot Noir (Marlborough) – Underripe black cherry is all there is to recommend it; otherwise, it's light, leafy, bitter, herbal, and underripe.
A pretty dismal lineup, with the exception of the overly-crisp riesling.
Lake Chalice 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Medium-ripe lime and lemongrass. Crisp. Very, very simple.
Not enough data.
Alpha Domus 2001 Sauvignon Blanc (Hawke's Bay) – Lemon curd with balancing minerality. Enjoyable.
Alpha Domus 2001 Chardonnay (North Island) – An INOX chardonnay, showing flat banana and mango. Unbelievably for me, I think this wine could use some wood.
Alpha Domus 2000 "The Navigator" (Hawke's Bay) – A Bordeaux-style blend (merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and malbec). Softly floral black cherry, with a gentle, elegant balance and lots of vanilla on the finish. Too "girly" for its own good, but pleasant and likely to be gulpable through the entirety of its short-term future.
Another odd but generally positive set of wines; the Navigator and the chardonnay could both use more "oomph," however.
Thornbury 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Herbed trout. No, I'm not kidding. Almost but not quite ripe, and in the end the partial failure is a complete one.
Thornbury 2000 Chardonnay (Hawke's Bay) – Melon, grapefruit, and papaya. Pleasant enough, I suppose, but one gets tired of all these simplistic fruit salads, and longs for something showing a little more complexity, acidity, and (in the best cases) minerality. The best examples from each region prove, in fact, that their terroirs are capable of producing more than just chuggable chardonnay. Why not try?
Thornbury 2000 Merlot (Hawke's Bay) – Blueberry coffee with milk chocolate, yet underripe; an off-putting combination.
Not worth the effort.
Huia 1998 "Brut" (Marlborough) – Frothy, tropical lime and lemon rind with a buttery char on the finish. Most odd.
Huia 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Lemon and grapefruit, and showing Huia's trademark smooth, soft attack and finish, despite good acidity. A stylistic outlier, but quite pleasant.
Huia 2000 Chardonnay (Marlborough) – Passionfruit, mango, kiwifruit, and orange. Swap a few fruits here and there, it's all the same.
I've never really been on the Huia bandwagon, though I admire their principled pursuit of delicacy. These wines do little to change my mind. Some will like them a good deal, primarily those for whom the majority of Marlborough whites are too zingy and aggressive.
Babich 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Ripe lemon-lime and "grapiness" with a little floral minerality. Quite enjoyable.
Babich "Winemaker's Reserve" 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Loads of Juicy Fruit gum, with soft kiwifruit, papaya, and pomegranate flavors lingering through a spicy, crisp finish. Just a tiny bit of oak treatment, and it adds quite a bit. Very credible, despite my continuing aversion to the chewing gum.
Babich 2002 Chardonnay (Hawke's Bay) – Fruity lemon-lime in a sort of generic citrus-ade. Ripe, with good balance and a softening finish. Pleasant.
Babich "Irongate" 2000 Chardonnay (Hawke's Bay) – Rainier and red cherry, plum, banana and tangerine with lingering perfume and nice balance. Very juicy and full-bodied, with medium-term aging potential (which should help calm the fruit orgy).
Babich "Winemaker's Reserve" 2000 Syrah Gimblett Road Vineyard (Hawke's Bay) – Blueberry, plum, blueberry and soft, slightly leathery tannin. But really, it's more like a blueberry pie, and one would hope for more acid. In a very New World sort of syrah paradigm, it's perfectly fine, but it lacks punch and, especially, complexity.
A good to very good lineup from one of the patriarchs of New Zealand winemaking. Babich keeps falling off critics' lists of the best Kiwi wines, and one hopes that their obviously high-quality fruit sources can lead to even more expressive wines in the future.
Borthwick 2001 Chardonnay (Wairarapa) – Big, banana-tropical fruit with orange, grapefruit, and passionfruit. Huge yet soft, with good acidity on the finish.
Borthwick 2001 Pinot Noir (Wairarapa) – Orange rind, plum, red cherry, strawberry, and showing lots of floral perfume on the finish. Interesting.
Borthwick represents something I didn't get to taste in New Zealand: Wairarapa wine not from Martinborough. These wines, while not yet at the top rank, show that there's potential all around the area's grassy plains and gentle slopes. A winery to watch.
The Crossings 2000 Sauvignon Blanc (Awatere Valley, Marlborough) – INOX, prise de mousse yeast, machine-harvested. Lime, green apple and steely minerality. Razor-sharp and precise.
The Crossings 2001 Sauvignon Blanc "Catherine's Run Reserve" (Awatere Valley, Marlborough) – Medway River Vineyard fruit, 200m higher than the source for the previous wine, hand-harvested, whole-bunch pressed, aged in 10% French oak, with lees-stirring and micro-oxygenation. Lemon, grapefruit and huge, ripe apple in a fatter, fuller-bodied, rounder wine that still does not lack for balancing acidity. Quite lovely.
The Crossings 2001 Pinot Noir (Awatere Valley, Marlborough) – 10x5 clone, nine months of light lees-stirring, three types of French oak. Lighter strawberry and floral notes, almost perfumey, with tangerine, graphite, and good acidity. Really interesting and seemingly quite different from Wairau Valley pinot noir.
This is a winery I didn't know much about, but there's certainly some serious work going on here, and this was also one of the few where the pourer was eager to talk details. Plus, the honesty about modern winemaking science is refreshing. I like these even more than the notes might indicate.