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A
splashy summer white from New Zealand
© Michael
Vaughan 2001
National Post Weekly Wine & Spirits
Columnist
Saturday,
July 14, 2001
You’ll have no sweat trying to
find a decent white worth digging into while sitting around the pool this
summer. This month’s Vintages release features a number of well-priced
items, which are perfect palate cleansers for those hot sultry days.
My
top pick Vintages white is a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that thrills the
palate – Palliser
Estate 2000 Sauvignon Blanc at
$16.85. This pale straw-coloured refresher has rather intense, dried
peach, white grapefruit and gooseberries on the nose. On the palate it’s
very crisp and dry with zesty, grassy, gooseberry flavours followed by an
excellent long finish. It’s best with strongly flavoured dishes (i.e.
curry) or seafood - especially oysters.
What’s interesting about this
fine effort is that it does not hail from the South Island’s Marlborough
region, which accounts for 80% of all NZ plantings. Indeed, Marlborough is
considered by many to be the Sauvignon Blanc capital of the world.
No, Palliser comes from the tiny
town of Martinborough, a small sub-region of Wairarapa just east of the
Wellington on the North Island. Martinborough is home of some of the
country’s best Pinot Noir. Indeed, the average wine prices from this
region are New Zealand's highest.
Established in 1988, Palliser is
relatively new and currently produces about 20,000 cases. Its vineyard
holdings are now approaching some 100 hectares. Winemaker Allan
Johnson, who is also an avid viticulturalist, believes that great
wines are made in the vineyard with modest yields. “Our viticulture is
twice as expensive because we take more effort to achieve good open
canopies which expose fruit and leaves to maximum sunlight to produce
flavours found nowhere else in the world.”
Author
Michael Cooper in his indispensable soft cover Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wines 2001
has this to say about Palliser’s Sauvignon Blanc: “This wholly
seductive wine is one of the greatest Sauvignon Blancs in the country. A
distinctly cool climate style, it offers an exquisite harmony of crisp
acidity, mouthfilling body and fresh, penetrating fruit characters. The
grapes give the intensity of flavour – there’s no blending with Sémillon,
no barrel fermentation, no oak aging.” Cooper rates over 1,700 NZ wines
from 1998 to 2000. Unfortunately, it’s not available in North America.
You can order it from (FlyingPig.co.nz
Obviously the judges at the recent
2001 Sydney International Wine
Challenge agree by awarding this 2000 Palliser Estate Sauvignon Blanc
a gold medal. With only 256 cases at the LCBO, this is one you’ll want
to pick up immediately.
Those
of you fortunate enough to pick up some of the Palliser
1999 Pinot Noir at $23.90 (my recommendation for
June) will be
pleased to discover that this little gem captured two Sydney trophies -
Best New Zealand Pinot Noir and Best Lighter-Bodied Dry Red Table Wine. No
mean feat indeed!
Moving on to July’s LCBO
Vintages Discovery, the zesty Collard
Brothers 1998 Chenin Blanc at $12.95 offers fair drinking
value. From the NZ North Island’s Hawkes Bay region, it’s dry, crisp,
well structured, roasted lemon-melon flavours have tangy grapefruit
acidity on the lingering finish. A real crowd pleaser that shows lots of
versatility and is at its peak.
An
even better buy, is the tangy, light-bodied, grapefruit-driven flavoured Domaine
Lahitte 2000 a Côtes de Gascogne from southwestern France at
only $8.90. This zippy blend of Colombard, Ugni Blanc, Gros Manseng and
Sauvignon Blanc has a nice touch of bitterness on the finish and will go
well with seafood.
For a delicious change of pace,
chill down a bottle of La
Riojana 1999 Torrontés Santa Florentina from Argentina’s La
Rioja region in the northwest Andes. A real deal at $9.95, the unoaked,
dry, spicy, gentle Muscat, tangerine and honeyed beeswax flavours are a
perfect foil for Thai cuisine.
For Chardonnay lovers, there are
two top picks. From California’s Sonoma County we have the weighty
(13.4% alcohol) Chateau
St. Jean 1999 Chardonnay a reasonable buy at $24.35. A major
portion of this blend was fermented and aged sur lees in French oak for
six months. The dried lime-lemon nose is intense with some very faintly
honeyed, fine vanilla notes. On
the palate it’s well balanced with classy, hazelnut and lemony-dried
pear flavours with excellent length. (www.chateaustjean.com)
By
contrast, there’s the surprisingly delicious, 100% barrel-aged blend of
Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco and Riesling – Paladin
& Paladin 1999 Bosco Del Merlo Priné
($18.75) from Italy’s northeastern Lison-Pramaggiore district located in
the Veneto region. The lovely, ripe, pear purée nose caries over on to
the palate, which is well balanced with fine pear purée flavours and a
touch of lemon on the lingering, cedary finish. An excellent choice with
poultry. (www.paladin.it)
Finally, if you aren’t near to a Vintages outlet, don’t despair. There should be plenty of this year’s Toronto Wine & Cheese “Best Value White” Champion - the South African KWV 2000 Chardonnay - a truly remarkable buy at only $8.95. The faintly smoky, bright, green pear purée flavours are complemented by nuances of vanilla stick and lime. You won’t be sorry if you keep a few bottles of this rounded and ready to enjoy Chard on hand for emergencies. (www.kwv-international.com)
Copyright Food & Beverage Testing Institute of Canada
2004
Prior written permission is required for any form of reproduction
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Contact Michael Vaughan at
mbv@total.net