Our summer selection
From bubbles to rosé, this selection comes from Great Little Vineyards, champion of boutique vineyards and the best quality organic and biodynamic wines in New Zealand and the world.
01 Champagne Jean Milan Symphorine Grand Cru 2010 $118
Until recently, the champagne market has been dominated by a group of big producers who buy their grapes from small farmers. We’re seeing more and more of these ‘growers’ turning out exceptional releases under their own labels, rivalling the quality of the bigger names and often at a better price point. Jean Milan is a tiny organic and biodynamic operation in a prestigious Grand Cru village which used to sell its fruit to the likes of Dom Pérignon. The Symphorine is its best cuvée, and the 2010 vintage has everything we look for in a premium champagne.
02 Mon Cheval Waipara Valley Pinot Noir 2008 $75
C.P. Lin is producing very special wines on his small North Canterbury vineyards. He is blind, although he insists that this isn’t the reason for his heightened sensory perceptions of smell and flavour; like any artist he was born with that ability. Unlike most producers, Mon Cheval holds back its pinot for years; the current release is 2011. Great Little Vineyards has a small amount of library stock from his remarkable 2008 release, a great vintage that almost a decade on is just showing its best characters.
03 Corofin Carter-Ashmore Marlborough Chardonnay 2015 $49.90
Rather than working with their own vines, Mike and Anna Paterson have sought out the best micro-sites in Marlborough to produce just five single-vineyard wines that express the vastly di erent character of their soils. The Carter-Ashmore Chardonnay is produced in tiny quantities and is an example of how, done right, small-scale organic winemaking can produce something polished and elegant.
04 Mahana Nelson Carbonique 2015 $35
“Summer sipper with body and character” –p inot noir rosé, but not as we’ve ever known it. Mahana’s Michael Glover, is a true maverick who has learned fromE urope’s best winemakers and brought his respect for old-world processes to some daring experiments in Australia and now in Nelson. His interpretation of rosé is by no means traditional, but makes for a ridiculously moreish wine. The organically farmed pinot noir grapes undergo a special process called carbonic maceration, which gives the wine great perfume and lift.
Brought to you by our wine columnist Daniel Kemp.