Wednesday Wines – Episode 246 – New Year New Zealand Special Part 2
The First XV from the New Zealand New Release London Tasting last year
The RRPs were provided by New Zealand Winegrowers UK (no retailers were provided)
(the wines are listed in the order of the tasting sheet)
White
2024 Forrest, Albariño, Marlborough (£15.00)
Accurate, vital, and with just the right amount of juiciness and succulence, this brilliant wine stands up against the sternest of Spanish challengers. If the price is correct, this spectacular wine should find its way onto cutting-edge wine lists and into modern cellars everywhere.
2024 Spy Valley, Gewurztraminer, Marlborough (£POA)
Just brilliant, this is a crystal-clear, pin-sharp wine with a haunting Gewurz nose and a stunningly linear palate. Nery and ice-pick fresh, this glorious modern style craves elite sushi and sashimi.
2024 Zephyr, Gewurztraminer, Marlborough (£27.99)
Genius! This wine takes Spy Valley’s spindly, tense, scent-spritzed framework and adds gravitas and swagger to its core. While it is marginally richer than the perfume suggests, the finish is dramatically dry and ever so intellectually pleasing. I have not tasted a Gewurz in a long while that is as rewarding as this wine.
2024 Felton Road, Dry Riesling, Central Otago (£27.00)
This has long been a model NZ Riesling, and in 2024, it challenges the senses with a brittle carapace of lime zest and jasmine, and the finish hints at lemon sherbet tones before whipping the sherbet from view. Epée-sharp, this is a masochistic wine with immense appeal and unrivalled mouth-watering attributes.
2024 Zephyr, Riesling, Marlborough (£27.99)
Soaked in green apple skin bitterness and raucous gooseberry flesh tension, this is a wickedly impressive wine, seemingly designed for spicy Asian banquets, fresh-shucked oysters, butterfly clams in garlic and parsley and any other dish where you might ordinarily open a Manzanilla! But wait a couple of years, and you could be mistaken for thinking this wine came from Austria! An incredible shapeshifter, this is a marvellously competent and excitingly restless wine.
2024 Pegasus Bay, Riesling, North Canterbury (£26.25)
This wine starts demure, graceful, more floral, and gentler than the Felton Road. Then, teasing acidity and raking sourness balance the civility in a final flourish of glorious astringency.
2023 Zephyr, MKIII Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough (£31.99)
This was the finest and most complex Sauvignon Blanc of all 48 on show. While it is shaped like a super-elite Pouilly-Fumé, telltale Marlborough details focus the mind on the sublime purity of fruit and the skill required to add infinitesimal fractals of detail without applying brakes to the experience. With a majestic ‘high-gold score’ in my notes, this wine instantaneously catapulted itself to the top echelons of my Sauvignon Blanc experiences over the last twelve months.
2021 Nautilus, The Paper Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough (£25.00)
With a couple of years on most of the other Sauvignons, this was the most relaxed wine in this section, and I felt like pulling up a chair and demolishing the bottle. This was a rare sensation as far too many Sauvignons showed disjointed acid rawness, tinned fruit sweetness or acrid herbal tones. By contrast, The Paper was a model of sophistication and restraint.
2023 SPOKE, Amped Chardonnay, Marlborough (£21.95)
Firm, chiselled, mineral-soaked and unforgiving, like a toothsome Beaujolais Blanc or a nervy Maranges Blanc, this is a combative wine, and I like its stance on the palate. With a bit of patience, this will be an erudite fellow with sleek lines and masses of old-school allure.
2023 The Marlborist, Chardonnay, Marlborough (£25.99)
This is a fascinating discovery, and it showed more exoticism and layers than expected, with a beautiful texture that enchanted my senses. Classy and refined, this is a must-taste wine if you like silky Saint-Vérans or willowy Viré-Clessés.
2023 Felton Road, Block 6 Chardonnay, Central Otago (£43.00)
Top drawer, regal and stunningly detailed, the only thing holding this wonderful wine back is its youth. Hang on for three or four years, and you will be the proud possessor of one of the country’s most impressive Chardonnays.
Red
2023 SPOKE, Rudimental Pinot Noir, Central Otago (£23.95)
Leaving aside the fabulous value for money afforded by this wine, this is a definitive Kiwi Pinot because it shows velvety lines, dark cherry fruit notes, balanced acidity and tannins and no trace of unwanted oak. While the flavours are not the most complex, the whole package is extremely carefully assembled, resulting in a seamless and lip-smacking wine.
2023 Felton Road, Bannockburn Pinot Noir, Central Otago (£46.00)
This was my pick of all the ‘serious estate-level’ Pinot Noirs. It is always a very reliable wine, but in 2023, it inches closer than ever to the special cuvées from this winery, and it is also not too far off reaching its drinking window. I am a lifelong admirer of Felton Road’s wines, and this beauty continues an unbroken record of greatness.
2023 Felton Road, Block 3 Pinot Noir, Central Otago (£72.00)
And this is the wine to buy if you have a cellar! Rich, powerful, commanding and epically proportioned, this is a structured wine with all the elements for a long and impressive life. It was the finest red of all at this event.
2022 Pegasus Bay, Pinot Noir, North Canterbury (£42.25)
Classy, youthful and limestone-soaked, this wine always carves a unique path over the palate, reminding me of just how incredible the elite wines of Waipara can be. Resonant, refreshing and muscular, the counterpoint between grace and menace is perfectly captured here. Give it three to five years, and you will be amazed at the evolution here.