New Zealand wines

[aglassaday]

Anyone have any experiences/opinions on New Zealand wines, especially those from Canterbury?

[wondersofwine]

Welcome to the board. We have another contributor who uses Glassaday from the New England states.
Can't answer the Canterbury part. I have been disappointed in the New Zealand Pinot Noirs I have tasted (only three or four so many more to try) but impressed with most of the Sauvignon Blanc. I like the crisp, citrusy or gooseberry kind (Kim Crawford is one I have liked in several vintages) but also the more tropical fruit kind. One of these I especially liked is an inexpensive one called Blind River made expressly for the export market for Billington Importers. It is blended from grapes from several Marlborough Vineyards that are situated to produce especially ripe grapes. Label describes as exotic fruit flavors and I was getting ripe apple, apricot and mango. Have also enjoyed Selaks Sauvignon Blanc and several others but have been disappointed in Cloudy Bay in two different tries.
Skeeter, from Auckland New Zealand, posts his tasting notes from time to time.

Bucko, one of the board moderators, likes N.Z. S.B. also and may weigh in.

[This message has been edited by wondersofwine (edited 08-24-2005).]

[dananne]

Don't generally drink white wine unless it sparkles, so I'll withhold comment on the very few NZ Sauvignon Blancs I've tried.

Have had several experiences with NZ Pinot Noir recently. Liked 'em from Tohu and Dyed-in-the-Wool. Had a nice one from Forrest a while back, as well. Was not as thrilled with a Felton Road Central Otego PN I had about a week ago. While it wasn't awful or anything like that, I did feel it showed poor price/quality ratio, with very little in the way of acidity or structure to hold it together -- the nice fruit came across as somewhat flabby.

I do feel, however, that NZ will eventually get to know the grape and the sites and microclimates where it's best suited to grow and will become known for it in red wines as they are for Sauvignon Blanc in whites.

Any recs on NZ Pinot Noir? I'm always open to continued exploring [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]

[Bucko]

While Canterbury is the fourth largest wine region of NZ, I've never seen, much less tasted a wine from the area. I've never even heard of the wineries there except for Pegasus Bay. I think the ad campaigns are failing, if indeed there are any.