"Then he went to New Zealand and bought a vineyard."
I was talking to a retired farm worker in the Rede Plough, a thatched pub in the tiny village of Rede, outside Bury St Edmunds in East Anglia. It has a good menu and some interesting wines; one of which I was drinking while my companion supped his pint.

Richard started work as a farm hand as a teenager in the 1930's. That was before automation when the countryside was the major employer. The young son of his employer had such a penchant for climbing onto the roof of the farmhouse at night that his exasperated father fitted bars to his bedroom window to stop him escaping. This adventurous son had older siblings who would inherit the farm and so as soon as he could he left home to explore the world.

I was listening with half-an-ear to tales of his dare devil reputation gained dust-croppers in Australia where he overloaded his plane so much the only way to get them in the air was to launch over a cliff.

"You're interested in wines," said Rich, "He then went to New Zealand and bought a vineyard. Have you heard of Chris Pask?" I hadn't, so I promised to see what I could find out about Chris Pask's winery.

A Google quickly showed that C J Pask was a respected winery. Shortly afterwards Richard went into hospital with a very serious illness and I thought a bottle of C J Pask wine would make an interesting gift. But I've not found any. Unfortunately Rich can't drink alcohol during his continuing treatment, but I hope to track down a couple of bottles so we can celebrate when he finishes his course of radiotherapy at the end of the year.

Wine Society
In Episode 2 I told how The Wine Society had de-listed their own label New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc " because we could not find a wine worthy of The Society's label in sufficient quantity." Now it's back, but not from Selaks who made their previous own label.

I drove to the Society's cellar to buy some of the new wine. It's 2002 vintage which I put in the fridge while I visited a local fine fish restaurant for a takeaway. This wine seemed a little more restrained than how I remembered its predecessor. Less 'bungee jumping into a gooseberry bush', more like descending on a Stanna stairlift.

The label says the wine is 'Produced and bottled by Maison Vin Limited, Auckland' which means nothing to me, but the Wine Society says the wine is made by Villa Maria. Is this a re-badged Private Bin? I don't know, it seems less intense than the one I wrote about in Episode 5.

But the good news is that The Society's New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is back on the shelves at £6.95.

NZ vs SA
For five years I have championed New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs to anyone who would listen and bought few others. They have been the yardstick and no-one else came even close. And it seemed no-one else would or *could* match the pungent grassy green hedgerow, cats pee and deliciously acid-sweet gooseberry flavours that New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has in trumps.

But this year South Africa has come from nowhere to take on New Zealand on its home ground. In February, crouched at a low table in a Japanese restaurant in Durban, I was poured a wine that stopped conversation and which I confidently asserted was from New Zealand. I was wrong. It was a winery I'd never heard of - Springfield in the Robertson region of South Africa. Their 'Life from Stone' Sauvignon Blanc is from vines blasted into quartz rock.

When I bought The Wine Society's Sauvignon Blanc there were some wines opened for tasting, including a SB from South Africa's Boschendal Estate which had those wonderful crisp flavours previously the sole province of NZ.

New Zealand wine prices are shooting upwards, but the SBs nowadays don't always have that distinctive flavour that originally brought them to prominence. Hopefully some real competition will concentrate minds.

As a consumer I'm not yet giving up on New Zealand. But I want buckets full of tangy gooseberry flavours and if NZ is no longer willing to supply them it seems I now have an alternative in South Africa.

SuperBOWL
As you are reading this on the web you probably take part in wine discussion boards and have interesting and passionate discussions with people you've never met. The UK discussion board at www.wine-pages.com/forum decided to have a real-life meeting so that faces could be linked to names.

SuperBOWL (British Online Wine Lovers) was held on 5 October 2002 in Glasgow. Fifty-five enthusiastic and knowledgeable wine lovers travelled from all over the United Kingdom to taste wine and enjoy each other's company. There was a walk around of fine wines and three seated seminars. Tom Cannavan, wine-pages owner, presented Chardonnay, served blind in pairs retailing at similar prices. One was from Burgundy, the other from the new world and we had to judge which was which. My friend Nick Alabaster's tasting notes read:

Nick was correct. The first wine was Felton Road Chardonnay 2000 from New Zealand and Wine 2 was Sauzet Bourgogne Blanc '99 both at around £11.

Syrah/Shiraz tasting
A few days later I hosted a tasting for the Central London Wine Society titled 'Syrah/Shiraz from around the World' featuring syrah/shiraz from seven countries. New Zealand was represented by Babich 2000 Winemakers Reserve Syrah, Hawkes Bay,12.5% - £7.49, which is widely available in the UK.

I find it hard to write notes while giving a tasting and was glad Nicos Neocleous sent me his. His opinion of the Babich was "A medium red coloured syrah gave way to a eucalyptus and ripe black fruits nose with a strong vanilla presence. It was medium bodied, not as ripe as the nose suggested and a high level of acidity. Other tasters remarked that it was 'stalky' and I can understand their point of view. Not my favourite. My score a generous 4"

The club scores out of 7, and Babich averaged 3.5. The highest average at 5.1 was Ch d'Ampuis 1995 Cote Rotie costing £40.

Old & New World Pinotage
I am holding a tasting in central London on 18 November 2002 of Pinotages from New Zealand and California and comparing them with some South African Pinotages. Few people know Pinotage is made anywhere except South Africa; the only New Zealand Pinotage widely available in the UK is Montana's East Coast Pinotage, made especially for the UK market by Montana in association with supermarket chain Tesco's winemaker.

So this is a unique opportunity for British winelovers to see what New Zealand and California make of the variety. From New Zealand will be Babich Winemakers Reserve 2000, and hopefully Te Awa Farm Longlands 2000 and Lincoln Gisborne 2002, with Montana's East Coast Pinotage in reserve.

Beyers Truter and Peter May

The very first, international Pinotage tasting was in 2000 in South Africa's Cape Winelands. Tasted blind by SA winemakers and wine writers, Babich Winemakers Reserve 1999 was the surprise winner. The SA winemakers were absolutely astounded. Beyers Truter, Pinotage's leading exponent and winemaker at Kanonkop Estate revised his earlier stated opinion that serious Pinotage could only be made in South Africa and offered his highest praise to the Babich by saying "This is Pinotage!" and that he thought it was South African.

And this year a New Zealand winery asked to take part in the South African Top 10 Pinotage Competition. They were just too late, but the organising committee is now considering the future of the competition and whether non-SA entries will be allowed. Its current regulations rule out wines not certified by SA Wine & Spirit board, applicable only to SA wines.

Babich's 2000 won a silver medal at this years International Wine & Spirit Show in London, the only non-SA Pinotage to get any award, I was given a bottle by Martin Tutty of Babich and this will be the one I'm opening. Babich Pinotage is now distributed in the UK by Percy Fox & Co Ltd.

The Te Awa Longlands Pinotage is on the high seas and we hope it will arrive in time for the tasting, supplied courtesy of Brent Cotter of Te Awa and Douglas Wregg, of UK agents Les Caves De Pyrene.

And also in transit, courtesy of Peter Fredatovich, is Lincoln Winery's latest vintage. I'm hoping it arrives in time, as this wine is unavailable in the UK.

If you are in the UK on 18 November, or have friends who might be interested, point them to the Pinotage Club website for details, or email me.

If you have been, thanks for reading.

© Peter May
6 November 2002

Any feedback? Send it to Peter.