New Zealand

While studying for the blind tasting in the WSET diploma, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was always the banker for me. My mum drinks it most nights and it is a wine I can comfortably recognise inches away from the glass. I have a feeling more …

  Family-run wineries are part of the charm of the Waipara wine region, and Pegasus Bay is the perfect case in point. Started by Ivan and Christine Donaldson in the 1980s, and continued by their four sons (Matthew, Ed, Paul and Michael) today, Pegasus …

Dom Maxwell has kicked off a trend without realising it. “My wife told me not to do it,” says the Greystone winemaker. “Her exact words were ‘aren’t you worried about the possums?’” Yes, possums are a problem in New Zealand. They are actually a …

Syrah from Gimblett Gravels has become one of the most promising categories of red wine from New Zealand. After a 16-year vertical tasting of Craggy Range’s iconic Syrah, Le Sol, it was easy to see why. But before delving into the experience of tasting …

Gimblett Gravels has become one of the most celebrated sub-regions of Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand. What brought this region up from drag racing to racy reds? Hawke’s Bay is the oldest wine region in New Zealand, but the sub-region within it that is …

Some would say that Te Mata’s Coleraine was the first true iconic wine of New Zealand. The first vintage of Coleraine caused a stir when it came in 1982 but it wasn’t without a precedent. Te Mata Estate had already been making well-respected wines …

The Fine Wines of New Zealand programme is an interesting concept. Put simply, it is a classification system to highlight the best wines of the country. It certainly isn’t novel to rate wines, but the way in which the Fine Wines have approached their …

Grant Taylor was one of the first winemakers to come to Central Otago in the 90s. He was hired by one of the true pioneers of Central Otago, Alan Brady, to be winemaker at Gibbston Valley. At the same time, Grant consulted for some …

In wine, we often reduce things to numbers. Most articles on the Central Otago wine region in New Zealand will include, at some stage, ‘45th parallel south’ and ‘southernmost wine region in the world’. It is true that Central Otago is on the 45th …

Felton Road is one of the better known names in New Zealand wine. A true trailblazer as it was the first winery in Bannockburn, Felton Road helped put Bannockburn as a wine region on the map. It stormed onto the scene with its first …