The finest Kiwi fruit
THE claims of Australia have been pretty thoroughly trumpeted in these pages (though not on this page) of late; time perhaps for a gentle puff towards her quieter, smaller neighbour. New Zealand may produce some of the world's most boring cricket matches, but she has her supremacy, as watchers of the awesome All Blacks well know.
Her strongest international contestant at the moment is certainly sauvignon blanc. The cool micro-climates of Hawkes Bay on the North Island (on the same latitude as southern Spain, actually) and Marlborough in South Island inspire this grape to express its green gooseberry, crushed nettle char- acter more vividly than it does anywhere else in the world, sancerre included. Even an ordinary NZ sauvignon (like the widely available, reasonably priced Montana current vintage the crisp 1987) can be startlingly fresh and aromatic — infinitely better than the dull, flat sauvignon which comes out of Australia and California. In those parts of the New World, sauvignon blanc tends to be called fume blanc — a rather imprecise and unsatisfactory pseudo-synonym which implies the use of oak, but can also mean a blend of sauv- ignon and semillon or chardonnay. Oak- aged and sometimes oak-fermented fume blanc — and, to add to the confusion, semillon-based fume veil — is made in New Zealand too: these wines are bigger and heavier than straight sauvignon, tend- ing towards white burgundy rather than sancerre. One or two of them, the Nobilos especially, are successful, but I have no doubt that the fresh grassy-fruity style, unencumbered with excessive oak, will prove infinitely more popular over here the UK, incidentally, is the leading export market for New Zealand wines. The very best New Zealand sauvignon — the wine which stands out above all its fellows in the same way that Grange does with Austra- lian shiraz — does have a very discreet touch of oak, but so well assimilated you would hardly guess it was there: this is Cloudy Bay, from Marlborough.
New Zealand can make good chardon- nay too, but here of course she is up against much heavier opposition close to home. New Zealand chardonnays tended until recently to have a rather green character and a touch of bitterness, coming from new oak tannins not properly inte- grated with the fruit. Cook's (the other big New Zealand winery apart from Montana) cracked this problem a couple of years ago and their Hawkes Bay chardonnay, stock- ed by Waitrose, is excellent value. One or two smaller estates are showing that char- donnay in New Zealand is capable of scaling the heights. Morton Estates' Hawkes Bay chardonnay has a beautiful green-gold colour and a concentrated nose combining toasty oak and ripe, almost pineapply fruit. Even better, though, is the chardonnay produced by the nonpareil of New Zealand wineries, Cloudy Bay. My note from the comprehensive New Zea- land High Commission tasting last month reads as follows: 'v. rich buttery and fruity nose. Spectacular ripe fruit on palate. Really wonderful wine.' If this is even better than the Cloudy Bay sauvignon (and I believe it is), that is because chardonnay is a nobler grape.
New Zealand's reds are at present no match for her whites. Cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir have been planted with considerable optimism. I have yet to taste one with the strength of character required to compete in an overstocked international market. There is a disappointing thinness and weakness about these wines: some of the more ambitious cabernets overcom- pensate with a not very attractive stewed quality, resulting, I suspect, from excessive maceration. These may be teething trou- bles: one must remember that New Zea- land's wine industry is still very young. Two Auckland lawyers obviously believe New Zealand cabernet has a future at the highest level: they are producing some- thing called The Antipodean which retails at nearly £50 a bottle and is supposed to be a match for Mouton Rothschild. I suspect that might be a chance for France to avenge her defeat in the World Cup.
A much more promising avenue is ries- ling. The inexpensive Montana riesling I noted as 'remarkably good, with a her- baceous nose, a rich oily texture and excellent concentration — just a touch of sweetness'. The Millton Late Harvest ries- ling smelled of oranges and melons, but not a kiwi to be found.
Stockists of New Zealand wines include Alex Findlater (the largest range), La Vigneronne and several high street chains.
Harry Eyres
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