Alternative New Zealand Whites

You can’t talk about New Zealand white wine without at least giving the Sauvignon Blanc grape the respect it deserves. As a little varietal, it has firmly put New Zealand on the wine making map and, like the Loire, New Zealand has taken the grape and made it its own. The success of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc around the world (it’s even the top selling white wine in rival country Australia) has led to the production of more aromatic whites such as Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris.

Yesterday the New Zealand Wine Fair 2013 took place at the LKF Hotel in Lan Kwai Fong with over 140 wines from 24 producers across New Zealand coming together to showcase their wines to the trade, media and, later in the day, to the public. The event was hosted by the New Zealand Winegrowers and was preceded by a master class on New Zealand wines from local Master of Wine Debra Meiburg.

I wanted to see how the alternative grapes held up this year so I used the event as an opportunity to source the best Pinot Gris, Riesling and Gewurztraminer that were in the room and let you know which one we thought were worth telling you about – after all, summer’s just around the corner right and as the weather warms up, why not give something new a try, right?

By far and away the best Gewurztraminer came from Haythornwaite Winery who are located in Martinborough. Susan Haythornwaite, a passionate grower of Gewurztraminer was in town to show off her wines which really were very nice wines indeed. They make a range from bone dry up to sweet and the Dry Gewurztraminer “Susan” was aromatic and herbaceous. Moving up the spectrum of sweetness the Auslese was lovely whist their sweet wine, Noble Gewurztraminer “Maureen” was just delightful.

For me, the best Pinot Gris was from Invivo, a winery located in Marlborough. Their Pinot Gris was delightfully creamy and morish, almost addictive and a real value-for-money wine. This one is definitely worth a try. There were plenty of other great Pinot Gris there too. The Waimea Estate Pinot Gris 2011 from Nelson was refreshingly crisp and minerally, you can very much get a sense of the terroir from where these grapes were grown as the stony nature of the soil definitely shone through in the wine. The Kim Crawford Pinot Gris 2012 was also very pleasant, crisp, refreshing and most definitely one for the hot sunny summer’s day. One wine that struck me as a very nice, simple everyday wine to have in the fridge at home was the Spinyback Pinot Gris 2012 from Nelson, a wine that I can imagine coming home from work to and crashing on the sofa with a good few glasses of.

Riesling planting in New Zealand has steadily grown over the last decade or so and there are a good deal of very nice dry Rieslings coming from New Zealand these days. New Zealand Rieslings are generally a little easier to understand than their counterparts from Europe in the sense that they are normally labeled “dry” so you know what to expect from the wine. A good deal of the Rieslings from New Zealand are, generally, dry so don’t be afraid of getting something super-sweet when you buy a New Zealand Riesling, as they generally are not.

Some lovely dry Rieslings present yesterday were the Villa Maria Private Bin Marlborough Riesling which is dry with lots of citrus-like nuances that give it a lovely acidity making it very clean and fresh in the mouth. The Vidal White Series Dry Riesling 2010 was also very elegant and floral, a nice feminine wine with good acidity. The 2012 Riesling from Kim Crawford is really very different from wines they have produced in earlier vintages. This vintage was a later harvest and the grapes were left on the vine to ripen much longer than usual, this has given the grapes a little extra sugar kick and it is certainly noticeable in the wine which was lovely blend of rhubarb and honeysuckle type flavours, in all a nice cozy wine.

Wines such as Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Riesling offer you something different, something a little more elegant than some of the everyday wines from more traditional grape varieties. There are some stunning Chardonnay’s coming from New Zealand, arguably some of the world’s best and of course there is Sauvignon Blanc, the King of Wines in New Zealand. But, if you’re feeling like a breath of fresh air this summer (if this rain stops and the sun ever comes out) then look at something slightly different from New Zealand, it’s the same great New Zealand quality, just with a different grape variety.

Haythornwaite Wines are available from IB Distribution. Contact Cody Busby or Gar Lee on cody@ibdistribution.com or gar@ibdistribution.com for more information

Invivo Pinot Gris is available from Platinum Group in Hong Kong. Contact Justin Hart on justin.hart@platinumgroup.com.hk

Wimea Pinot Gris is available from Wine N Things here in Hong Kong. Contact wine@winenthingshk.com or go to their website www.winenthingshk.com

Kim Crawford Pinot Gris and Riesling are available from ASC Fine Wines. For more information contact Agnes Tsui on agnestsui@asc-wines.com or go to their website www.asc-wines.com

Spinyback Pinot Gris is available from Winnie Hau at Great Asia International. For more information, contact Winnie on Winnie@greatasiainternational.com

Villa Maria wines are available from Summergate Fine Wines. For more information go to their website www.summergate.com or email info@summergate.com

Vidal White Label Riesling is available from Asia Euro Wines in Hong Kong. Contact Terry Hon by email on terry.hon@asiaeurowines.com.hk