The Dominion Post’s wine man, Warren Barton, has done it again. His selection of top 100 wines in his
Christmas Wine Guide that came with today’s edition of The DomPost is yet
another user-friendly, thought-provoking list of recommendations. I know that Warren goes through minor periods of angst in
choosing his wines, as we often receive phone calls to discuss the merits of
various wines he is considering. The
problem is that there are so many excellent wines, and it is often a matter of
splitting hairs, whether one wine is included or not! That bodes well for us as consumers, as we are
truly spoilt for choice. Warren has the
wine-interested ‘man and woman-in-the-street’ in mind always, and this year’s
selection gives more than a nod to wines that offer real value, and Warren has
tried to do justice to the plethora of new and emerging wine labels. It’s really a difficult job, and I reckon
he’s done a great job.
Many of the wines that Warren
features have been promoted and discussed here at Regional Wines, and several
of the wines are what we have chosen for our own Christmas Top 30. This surely is a sign of general agreement in
what’s new, good to drink and buy, and what is exciting in the wine scene at
present. These wines include the
multi-trophy winning Deutz Marlborough Cuvee ‘Blanc de Blancs 2006 sparkling,
the Eradus, Mud House and Greywacke Sauvignon Blancs from the 2009 vintage; the
Gisborne wines of Millton ‘Riverpoint’ Viognier 2008 and Vinoptima
Gewurztraminer 2004; the Mission Reserve and Clearview Reserve Chardonnays from
2008. The pretty Gladstone Rosé 2009
came through as well as one of our favourites, the Ata Rangi ‘Summer’ Rosé
2009.
In the reds, the Pencarrow and The Edge Pinot Noirs, both from the top
2008 harvest in Martinborough as well as the Urlar Pinot Noir 2008 from Gladstone. Also both agreed on were the Mission Reserve Cabernet/Merlot, Mills Reef ‘Elspeth’ Cabernet
Sauvignon and the mighty Te Mata ‘Coleraine’, all from the outstanding 2007
Hawke’s Bay vintage. And it was a lovely
to see Warren
pick the Framingham Noble Riesling 2008 as well as Sileni’s ‘EV’ Pourrture Noble
2008 which both looked superb at various events earlier this year.
The Wine Guide also features David Burton’s Top 10 Ethnic Dishes in
Wellington, as well as a selection of Ruth Pretty’s Recipes from the Ocean
(matched with wines by Warren, of course), plus
a feature on the Waipara wine-growing region in North
Canterbury by Karl du Fresne. Warren’s Top
100 wines and these extra features makes the Wine Guide a great publication to
hang on to and peruse, tasting the wines and trying out the food
recommendations over the next few weeks, while we make plans to visit the
wineries of another vignoble!
- Raymond Chan