Puttin’ on the fizz
Pop the cork and try these on – Dish’s Tasting Panel have discovered the top 12 New Zealand sparkling wines to make your festive season bubbly and bright.
Here at Dish, we are completely obsessed with finding our readers the most fabulous local fizz in good time for Christmas. It’s like being in perpetual Depeche Mode, we “just can’t get enough”. So a few weeks ago, we called for entries, gathered our expert judging panel together at AUT and they preceded to plough through and hunt out the best bubbles this country has to offer.
In a never-before-seen occurrence in a Dish tasting (which are always conducted blind and under competition conditions), the top three wines were from the same brand and made by the same person. This absolutely proves that Jane De Witt is a winemaker wunderkind and that Lindauer is a label we should be celebrating at every level. A “national treasure” as Yvonne Lorkin points out.
From a whopping 72 entries, eight wines were awarded gold medals, 10 earned silver and 15 scored bronze, which is a brilliant result, and reflective of the world-class quality of our
sparkling wines. It also highlighted the superb quality of New Zealand’s blanc de blanc styles (sparkling wines made solely from chardonnay, as opposed to the usual combination of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier). Our judges were also impressed by the calibre of the “vintage” entries.
Just like Champagne, most of the famous examples are created from a blend of base wines from different years to make their signature style year after year and has “NV” or “non-vintage” written on the label. However, occasionally, if the resulting wine from one year’s harvest proves to be exceptional – then the winemaker may declare a “vintage” and that year is printed on the label. Five of our top 12 wines were “vintage” examples.
We also managed to squeeze a few words from our extremely busy, star winemaker just before we went to print. Now Jane De Witt would easily rank as the most highly awarded sparkling winemaker New Zealand has ever seen. With roles spanning across Corbans, Montana, Allied Domecq, Pernod Ricard and Lion, there isn’t much about this business that Jane isn’t experienced in.
“When I first started in the industry I never envisaged that I would have a career that has spanned so many years as a sparkling winemaker,” she shrugs. “But I’m not your classic New Zealand winemaker in that I don’t live in a classic wine region. I live in Mangawhai 1½ hours north of Auckland on a small farm, where my family inspires me to be the best I can be and the ocean provides the calm I need.”
Jane still finds the evolution and intricacies of creating a sparkling wine exciting and deeply rewarding. “The blending process is both time consuming and satisfying. I get to use both science and my creative side, which I love. It ticks both boxes. It takes time and patience to reap the rewards of a sparkling wine. How it evolves and the impact on taste that the time on lees has in the bottle never fails to amaze me. Being able to capture this under cork at the right time is crucial.”
De Witt is the winemaker for Lindauer Classic, Lindauer Special Reserve, Te Hana, Verde and Morton, so maintaining the style of each brand is very important, much like a Champagne House. “What inspires me, is making a good wine,” says Jane, “good wine that’s affordable, accessible and enjoyed by many.”
And with that, from our judges and the Dish team, we wish you a very sparkly Christmas.