Kumeu River 2000 Chardonnay Maté’s Vineyard (Kumeu) — This was, I think, the last cork-finished vintage at Kumeu River, and it was somewhat amusing to not be able to just twist it open. It’s aged well, with the minerality it showed in its youth now fully fleshed, its brighter fruit turning to bronzed representations thereof, and yet all the lively structure still intact. Some complexity. Very, very well balanced. It could go a good deal longer, I’d think, and more complexity will undoubtedly result, but for my palate I’d think now to five years from now would be ideal. New Zealand can make world-competitive chardonnay, and Kumeu River is a proof of concept. (8/16)
new zealand
The Felton teen rabbit
Felton Road 2001 Pinot Noir (Central Otago) – This was a somewhat mistaken ager, in that I thought I was hanging on to one of the Block bottlings. Time has done nothing but weakened it, and while the fruit’s matured a bit, mostly the wine’s just softer and more muted. A bit plummy, some of the old blood orange rind that I used to think marked the region (I now believe it to be a clonal issue, since I’ve tasted it from the Waipara and Martinborough as well), some muscular earthiness, all at about volume 5 rather than the former 8 ½. Drink up, if you’ve got any. (7/12)
Neudorf on neugolf
Neudorf 2008 Sauvignon Blanc (Nelson) – A somewhat metallic side of sauvignon blanc, ripe and a bit showy but still avoiding tropicality. Also a touch reductive, which may be the closure. (6/12)
Cott in the crossfire
Brancott 2011 Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough) – Neither the pyrazine fest it once was (granted, I’m sure what’s going into this wine now bears less than no relation to what went into it in previous decades) nor the sweet, soft fruit of the double-oughts’ overreaction, instead this is straightforward and varietally correct, but sanded down (and some of the sandpaper remains, texturally) and pretty dull. It’ll do in a pinch, but I’d like that pinch to be a bucket of ice on a Marlborough Sounds beach somewhere, with maybe a cube of that ice in the paper cup from which I’m swigging this. (6/12)
Street splitter
Donaldson Family “Main Divide” 2005 Riesling (Waipara Valley) – Vivacious, and I mean that in more than one sense: there’s a ton of spritz here, which really livens up an otherwise directly, icily fruity wine full of green-toned sorbets. Developing nicely, with just a hint of petrol, and really fun. (6/12)
On and on
Fromm “La Strada” 2002 Pinot Noir (Marlborough) – Very, very mildly corked, but the wine is so stubborn and the TCA so hesitant that there’s actually something worth drinking here. But keep that mitigation in context, please, as you read the following: blackstrap cherry, a bit whippy and snarly, with lingering firm structural tannins and a long, columnar finish. In full form, this would have been a magisterial take on pinot-as-statuary. Alas. (2/12)
Two to Onetangi
Onetangi Road 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Malbec “Reserve” (Waiheke Island) – After a picture of this half-emptied bottle hit Facebook, one friend asked me if what I was tasting was representative of Waiheke Island’s climate. My answer, then and now, was that it’s really hard to tell. There do seem to be some fairly distinct mesoclimates on what’s a relatively small island, but I suspect that the greater differences are competency-related. It’s perhaps worth noting that this winery doesn’t appear to exist anymore. As for the wine itself, it’s green beyond where even a traditionalist would wish it to be (better Waiheke Island Bordeaux-style blends retain an appealing proportion of varietally-essential pyrazines), and getting to that strange point where the green is mixed with a gummy purple texture that’s just not all that appealing. It’s not bad, but blind I’d guess some supermarket Chilean wine from an operation that didn’t have the money to slather industrial winemaking makeup over the thing. (12/11)
Kai Winn
Kaimira 2004 Gewürztraminer (Brightwater) – A pale shadow of its once-bright self, showing only the faint chew of skins and a bit of acrid walnut oil. (12/11)
Back in Schwarz
Blackenbrook 2004 Pinot Gris (Marlborough) – Holding up well…so well, in fact, that I have fleeting regrets for opening my only bottle. Well, it’s New Zealand pinot gris, so one can hardly blame me for a lack of confidence. This has taken on more riesling-like qualities with age, and the enhanced minerality and precision are to the wine’s benefit. Yet it hasn’t shed a clear, glass-like pear quality that identifies its variety. In terms of style, it’s chilly-Germanic rather than a richly-spiced Alsatian analogue or weak-fruited Italian. Those who wanted more fulsome fruit should have consumed it at release, but I am far from convinced that this wine is done evolving. Into what is the question. Slightly fruity riesling (with a short finish and less acidity) would be my guess. (12/11)