End of year highlights

John Saker picks some highlights from the past 12 months and recommends a festive drop or two.

This year wasn’t the best of vintages for a number of Kiwi wineries, but I still found a lot to like about the 2017 wine year. I liked what British wine scribe Jancis Robinson said about biodynamic wines when I interviewed her at the Wellington Pinot Noir conference at the beginning of the year: “I would never say if I could tell whether a wine is organic or not by tasting it. But I do think I can usually tell if a wine is biodynamic or not. There is extra life… it’s as though you can taste little microbes whizzing around in there.” (Biodynamic wineries in New Zealand include Seresin, Felton Road, Rippon, Millton Vineyard and Bell Hill.)

I liked – make that loved – being a part of the Central Otago excursion to Burgundy in late October (there’s a report on that adventure in the current issue of Cuisine). And on that trip I fell in serious like with the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Batard-Montrachet 2014 we were served as an aperitif before lunch at that domaine – a chardonnay that will live long in my palate memory. (Fun fact about that day: as soon as each bottle was emptied it was immediately removed and destroyed to prevent it being reused as a fake). I liked a number of medium-priced pinot noirs released during the year, especially the following: Kurukuru Central Otago Pinot Noir 2015 (dense and tense, $39.95); Crimson Pinot Noir 2016 (great tannins, $36); Opawa Pinot Noir 2016 (unrefined and bolshy and all the better for it, $27); Neudorf Tom’s

Block Pinot Noir 2015 (dark, saline, muscular, $33). I liked visiting North Canterbury earlier in the year, a region with riches galore, including the outstanding Black Estate winery restaurant (it topped that category in this year’s Cuisine Good Food Guide). While there I tasted mostly chardonnay. If chardonnay is New Zealand’s secret vinous treasure, then North Canterbury is New Zealand chardonnay’s secret treasure chest.

I liked everything about the Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction. Every year it raises its game and its total. This year the auction generated over $200,000 for the local hospice. Beaut wine, good cause, great outcome.

I really liked these two drops, both of which have a festive, summery bent:

Red + Reid Dry Vermouth $29 (500ml)

This is impressive. Crafted by Chris Reid (who helped bring you Reid + Reid gin), its playful gingery aromatics usher in a fascinating palate. A halo of white vinosity (chardonnay is the base wine) surrounds an intense, intriguing botanical core which brings on ginger, citrus and a bitter wildness. I mixed myself a Reid + Reid and Reid + Reid martini, and so should you.

Lamarca Prosecco $24.95

The growing legion of Prosecco lovers will go for this. Creaming soda, marzipan and stonefruit notes come through; it has weight, texture and completeness. Lovely and so drinkable.