To produce a serious sparkling wine by the method traditionnelle process
is incredibly involved. There are no
short cuts to achieve quality, and the winemaking and elevage is fully
hands-on. Compounding the commitment is
the fact that there is no financial return from the fruit for several years
following the vintage. A broad resource
of fruit is required for a balanced wine and the skill involved in the
all-important base blending is extremely specialized. This all adds up to the making of sparkling a
project for the totally focused, the mad, or the stupid! It is generally not a game for the small and
inexperienced winemaker; thus the best range of
sparkling wines have been made by our largest winemaker – Montana. The Lindauer and Deutz sparkling wines are
exceptional in world terms, and this comes down to substantial grape resource
and the input of the Deutz Champagne house.
However there are other wines that also come up to the mark in quality
terms, and we offer two that certainly do that:
Villa Maria Methode Traditionnelle
NV
As the most successful exhibitor in wine judging competitions over the
last two decades, Villa Maria has one of the strongest portfolios in the
country. However, if there was any one
weakness, one style of wine that Villa Maria had not conquered, it was Methode
Traditionnelle. This changed with the
release of this wine last year. It is
the result of a special project instructed by owner George Fistonich and
conducted by then chief winemaker Corey Ryan. It is a superb, full-bodied, robust wine,
with a style reminiscent of a hypothetical blend of Veuve Clicquot and
Gosset. Showing plenty of black fruits
character, and bread-like autolysis complexities, there are citrus, savoury and
nutty notes adding to the interest.
Possessing an excellent texture, it has the breadth and structure to
handle a variety of foods. It is a
multi-regional blend; being 62% Pinot Noir from Hawke’s Bay, 6% Pinot Noir from
Ihumatao, Auckland, and 32% Chardonnay from Marlborough. Fermented with a selected Champagne
yeast, the wine spent three years on lees and incorporates base wine going back
to the 2003 vintage. The wine is 12.5%
alc and carries only 3.5 g/l residual sugar.
The bottle is sealed with a crown cap, which harks back to the closure
used in aging Champagne
‘en tirage’.
Number 1 Family Estate ‘Reserve
Cuvee 10’ Methode Traditionnelle NV
Daniel Le Brun is the most experienced sparkling winemaker in the
country. Coming to New Zealand from a Champagne family operation
near Epernay in the early 1980s, Daniel quickly
set the pace making complex, flavour-filled wines as he did in France. His wines married the intricacies’ of true Champagne wine with the
ripe and pristine fruit of Marlbororough.
Following the selling of Cellier Le Brun, Daniel and Adele set up Number
1 Family Estate in 1997. This limited
release ‘Reserve Cuvee 10’ celebrates the first decade and must be one of Daniel’s
very finest wines. Rarely seen in
retail, it surely is one of this country’s best kept wine secrets. We at Regional count ourselves privileged to
stock it. The wine is 80% Pinot Noir and
20% Chardonnay fermented to 12.5% alc.
What makes it outstanding is the combination of great elegance and
finesse with stunning depth and concentration.
The residual sugar is only 6 g/l, but the richness and intensity of the
wine is astounding. . Even more startling is the autolytic
complexity from four years aging on lees.
It can sit among the top echelon of New
Zealand sparkling wines and can be ranked along
top-flight Champagne
in quality.