Verulam Wine Tasting Club has been holding tastings in Snorbens since 1978. We're a non-commercial club run by the members and there's nothing remotely pretentious about it. The name is Wine Tasting, not wine appreciation, wine circle or any of the euphemistic titles other clubs use; tasting wine is what members want. Speakers are warned not to talk for too long when members have an empty glass. We like a bit of education, but we like our wine a lot more.

Vivienne Franks came this month to tell us about the wines of New Zealand. Vivienne spent 15 years as Food Buyer for Marks & Spencer before going solo as a wine educator and writer. She tutors Wine & Spirit Education Diploma students, and she's just returned from a trip to New Zealand. "Blizzards caused our internal flights there to be cancelled, and we had to drive hundreds of miles instead. It was the coldest winter for years which doesn't bode well for the 2005 vintage," she told us. "New Zealand has ten wine regions; we managed to visit six of them."

"There were 463 wineries at the last count in 2004, and 395 winemakers, which means that some winemakers work at several wineries and it is possible to detect a winemakers style across wines from different wineries. Just 15 years ago, in 1990 there were 130 winemakers and 131 wineries, so there has been a fantastic growth. Montana produces 70% of New Zealand's wine, 10% is made by Villa Maria, and the other 461 wineries account for 20%."

Our tasting started with a glass of Forrest Estate 2004 Rose (Marlborough) handed to us when we arrived. With our mouths now attuned we had another pour of the rose and tried to guess the variety. It had a bluish tone to its colour which was as dark as a Pinot Noir red wine; it was very dry, almost sour with grapefruit and straw flavours. Very few of us guessed it was made from Cabernet Sauvignon.

I was looking forward to the next wine, a Sauvignon Blanc. Vivienne told us that the variety made up 73% of plantings and that she'd attended a 20th anniversary vertical tasting of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc with the winery's Kevin Judd. "From a good year they have tremendous fruit," said Vivienne, "but the 97 and 99 were horrible." Cloudy Bay had gone through a bad patch in the '90s when they were buying grapes of inconsistent quality. "But they're back on track now, and the 2004 is superb".

We tasted Jackson Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2004 (Marlborough). "Jackson doesn't buy in grapes and they make a consistent wine year on year," Vivienne explained. This had greenish tinge, with a transparent edge and an incredible gooseberry nose that I could smell as the bottle passed down our table even before it reached me. Powerful clean fruit flavours, not as overly gooseberry as the nose suggested. Vivienne pointed out the gum tree logo on the label. "It was planted by the owner's great grandfather in 1890."

Next wine was Forrest Estate Gewürztraminer 2003 (Marlborough). It had a pale lemon straw colour, oily nose and a bit oily on the tongue, with Turkish delight and pistachio flavours and a spicy finish. This was the second wine from Forrest Estate. Vivienne told us that owner John Forrest has been making wine since the 1970's. "His real love is sweet Rieslings, but they can't be imported to the UK because of EU restrictions," said Vivienne. "An 'anything but Sauvignon' mood is growing in New Zealand, and South Island is seeing more aromatic white varieties including Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Viognier and Pinot Gris which go well with New Zealand's fish dishes and fusion recipes."

Our last white was Felton Road Chardonnay 2003 (Central Otago). Yellow colour, oaky nose, crisp full bodied, slight alcohol burn on finish. This was fermented in oak. "Felton Road's reputation is made on its Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs. They didn't make any in 2004 because of frost damage," said Vivienne, "and on 28 November 2004 frost again hit the vineyard."

Our first red was Jackson Estate Pinot Noir 2004 (Marlborough). "This is a pre-release sample" Vivienne told us. "It's not due for release until April and it still a bit too young. Majestic were impressed enough to buy up their entire stock." I found an inky colour, indistinct nose, light body, a little too medicinal for my taste.

Quartz Reef Pinot Noir 2002 (South Island). From a winery reputed for its sparkling wines and Pinot Noirs, this was Burgundian in style, with an inky red colour, vegetal and strawberry nose, good viscous body and strawberry flavours.

Fromm Winery La Strada has a Swiss owner with a hands-on perfectionist reputation. They're experimenting with Montepulciano but we tasted a Merlot/Malbec blend. Fromm Winery La Strada Merlot/Malbec 2001 (Marlborough)had an intense dark opaque colour so I was rather surprised how light bodied it appeared. There were nut and sour cherry flavours but it was unpleasantly acidic and seemed unbalanced with an astringent finish. Vivienne thought it was maybe too young. I hope it will come together with age but have my doubts.

Stonecroft Syrah 2002 (Hawkes Bay). A small producer, well known for its Gewürztraminer, they've decided Gimblett Gravels is ideal for Syrah and are replacing Merlot with it. This has an incredible depth of colour, a sweaty nose and a delicious tangy spicy palate, a very pleasant drinking wine, a bit simple and rustic for its £15 price tag.

It was interesting to have an evening tasting of wines where the majority were closed with screw caps. We didn't get any corked wines and opening them - usually a time consuming chore - was simplicity itself. Vivienne's explanation of why New Zealand has moved to screw caps is that cork producers send their worst corks furthest away and they've suffered worst. UK supermarkets charge wineries a £25 'administration' fee for every bottle returned by their customers, and short of going to Portugal and standing over the production line while their corks are being made - which some New Zealand winemakers have done - the best solution is using screw caps.

Vivienne imparted a large amount of information about the wines of New Zealand, of which I've managed to mention just a fraction, while ensuring our glasses were rarely empty. She painted an evocative picture which made me all the more determined to visit myself.

But she did mention one serious drawback. "It is difficult to locate wineries," she says, "the scenery is just so beautiful you can't stop looking at it and so you keep missing the signs." That sounds like my sort of place.

QUEEN SERVES NEW ZEALAND WINES.
In a rare break with tradition, the menu card for a banquet hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace was written in English and two of the four wines served came from New Zealand.

The dinner for 46 people on 18 February was in honour of the International Olympic Committee's Evaluation Commission who were in London assessing its bid to host the 2012 Olympics. Paris is also competing to hold the games, and in support of London the Queen didn't use French for the menu as usual nor serve any French wines.

Three generations of the Royal Family, the Prime Minister and various sporting stars were greeted with the excellent Nyetimber 1995, methode champenoise English sparkling wine. New Zealand supplied table wines for the meal, Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2003 (Marlborough) and Mount Edward Pinot Noir 2001 (Central Otago). Dessert wines were from Australia (Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora 2002 and Portugal (Royal Port 1960).

SIDEWAYS EFFECT
The Oscar nominated film 'Sideways' caused a huge boost in the sales of Pinot Noir in the US. It was released in Britain just a couple of weeks ago and is already having an effect. Newspaper wine columns are writing about Pinot Noir and the film and wine shops are promoting Pinot Noir. The Daily Telegraph quotes Tesco supermarket's Jo Offord saying they had experienced a 20 to 30 per cent increase in demand for Pinot Noir. I don't know what the baseline is, but I find that a little surprising as the film has not had a wide distribution here.

What I haven't seen is any promotion coming from New Zealand, a serious contender for the Pinot crown. However, the Telegraph recommends Marks & Spencer's Kaituna Hills Pinot Noir 2003, and my local independent wine store has rushed out an email saying for "customers who enjoy the soft, ripe elegant velvety fruit of the Pinot Noir grape help is at hand with great examples of the grape variety with distinction and style" and listing two from New Zealand, Old Coach Road Pinot Noir 2003 and Seifried Estate Pinot Noir 2002/3.

Me, I think I'll stick with Sauvignon Blanc. Last week's Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2004 (Marlborough) was everything I expect and want from a NZ SB. Beautiful clean fresh flavours, gooseberry and new mown grass, good body refreshing acidity with a slight sweetness and lingering aftertaste.

If you have been, thanks for reading.

© Peter May
22 February 2005

Any feedback? Send it to Peter.