Celebrate good times
Add sparkle to your winter celebrations with champagne and méthode traditonelle from boutique vineyards around the world.
01 Hans Herzog ‘Cuvée Thérèse’ Marlborough Méthode Traditionelle Rosé 2015, $75 Hans Herzog brings a European elegance and seriousness to the concept of sparkling rosé. Coming from a family of Swiss winemakers, Hans and his wife Thérèse chose Marlborough as the site for their winemaking project, where they grow almost 30 different grapes on a tiny organic micro-site. All hand-tended and farmed with tiny yields, the fruit going into this cuvée is incredible and it shows in the product: a rich, full-bodied and beautiful rosé that still manages to be bone dry.
02 Supernatural Wine Co. ‘Super Nat’ Hawke’s Bay Pet-Nat Sauvignon Blanc 2018, $29.90 Pétillant-Naturel, otherwise known as the ancestral method of sparkling wine, may be all the rage at the moment in France and across the globe, but its roots couldn’t be more traditional. Predating the Champagne method, this sparkling is made by allowing primary fermentation to complete in the bottle. Cloudy, unfiltered and brimming with moreish character, it’s a pleasure to drink.
03 Rock Ferry Brut Marlborough Méthode Traditionelle NV, $39.90 While Marlborough has developed a justified reputation for high-quality Champagnestyle wines, few producers have Rock Ferry’s precise dedication to quality. Knowing that their best pinot noir fruit in fact comes from their Bendigo vineyard in Central Otago, they’ve put two and two together and blended their Marlborough Chardonnay with their Central Pinot for this release. And although it’s done in the more classic Champagne-style, where the wine undergoes secondary fermentation in the bottle, this non-vintage brut has buckets of personality.
04 Champagne Jean Milan ‘Symphorine’ Grand Cru Rosé NV, $135 Based in the small grand cru village of Oger, the Milan family built their reputation as a récoltant manipulant, or grower, selling their renowned chardonnay fruit to the top cuvées of Dom Pérignon and Pol Roger. Now operating independently with the talented Caroline Milan as winemaker, and following a fully organic and biodynamic regime, the house has created Symphorine Rosé for the New Zealand market. Ninety per cent chardonnay to 10 per cent pinot noir, it’s a crisp and elegant expression of Champagne rosé that still packs a punch with body and texture to spare.