Wines suited to cellaring are not necessarily expensive, stand out in judgings, or initially appeal. Geoff draws on 40 years of cellaring wines, plus wine-writing, research and judging experience, to suggest a few which will reward over time. Visit Geoff's website to see his comprehensive, independent, analytical and non-commercial reviews by clicking here.

Some Whites for Cellaring

Some years ago, John Buck commented to me words to the effect of: here we are in New Zealand in a temperate climate eminently suited to fine delicate chardonnays, but where would you go if you wanted a New Zealand chardonnay to match a good grand cru chablis. Finally, I have the answer, for now, and I hope they point the way to a completely new style of chardonnay in this country.

 The two wines below show sensational varietal white flowers-florality only found in the finest cool-climate chardonnay, ripened properly. Typically these lovely subtle qualities of the grape are obscured by overt winemaker influence (oak derived mainly), or over-ripening. In earlier times in Europe particularly, they were often obscured by reduced sulphur.

 2010 Felton Road Chardonnay Bannockburn has the most marvellous bouquet. There are white English flowers, and very subtle acacia blossom, leading into fragrant white stonefruits on palate. The wine is rich enough to be food-friendly, but so subtle in its oaking as to be matchable with whitebait or flounder. Few grand cru chablis are as good as this. Cellar 3 – 8 years.

2009 Greystone Chardonnay presents a Waipara-derived interpretation of a similar carefully ripened, highly floral, and subtle approach to cool-climate chardonnay. The whole wine is exceptionally fragrant, with even more acacia blossom notes, fresh, fractionally stronger in both its fruit flavours and its oak than the Felton, seemingly not quite as bone dry, and a little more forward. But alongside so many more burly interpretations of the grape, this wine too asks for grand cru chablis for comparison – though a producer using new oak. Cellar 2 – 5 years.

Turning to something a little sweeter, I have just been shown perhaps the most beautiful New Zealand riesling I can remember, 2009 Greystone Riesling Late-Harvest. This wine too is intensely floral, with holy grass, freesia, vanilla and subtle acacia notes really obvious on bouquet, confuseable only with fine Mosel at an auslese level of sweetness in a botrytis year. Palate confirms, a perfect balance of nectary fruit yet refreshing lime zest and citrus-like acid, plus beautifully handled phenolics, the flavour and gentle sweetness lingering long in the mouth. This should cellar 15 years easily, and confuse many tasters along the way. Wonderful.

December 2010

I had the pleasure of visiting Otago in October, as a guest of Central Otago Pinot Noir Limited, and used the opportunity they provided to assemble a big rigorously blind tasting of 80 pinot noirs. Back in Wellington, my mind turned to the higher priced wines omitted from their assembly, and the thought they could usefully be bench-marked against the forthcoming Rousseau tasting at Regional Wines. I have now completed that tasting. Both these exercises gave me much pleasure, and both are now written up on my website.

My main conclusion is not new, that New Zealand pinot noir is well on the way to matching some of the wines of Burgundy, and is therefore at a very exciting evolutionary point. The main area where we do not match is longevity of the wines, but that is no reason for not cellaring some of ours for an appropriate shorter time. The three wines below I think are totally of premier or grand cru quality, and will give much pleasure either in comparison with other pinot noirs, or with food.

The first is a wine we have not had at Regional Wines before, Grasshopper Rocks from the less-known Alexandra district of Central Otago. It is very much a red-fruits pinot noir, and is delightfully fragrant and supple, reminiscent of some Cotes de Beaune wines. This is a relatively new winery, their wines are showing dramatic improvement year on year, yet their pricing is still clearly affordable at $36. Cellar 3 – 8 years

Longer established and therefore more expensive ($54) is Nelson's most famous pinot noir, Neudorf Moutere from the successful 2008 vintage. This wine too is wonderfully floral and fragrant, a key attribute I look for in assessing pinot noir quality. Their winestyle has evolved enormously from the blacker and heavier wines of the earlier days, yet there is still rich fruit. The whole wine is simply more elegant and burgundian now. The precise quality of the smell and flavour is excitingly different from the two Otago wines in this batch, illustrating the same kind of difference within the pinot noir spectrum as we see between say a Beaune wine and a Morey-St-Denis. It should cellar for 5 – 10 years.

The third wine is simply sensational New Zealand pinot noir, one of the very best thus far made in this country. Rudi Bauer has a great name in New Zealand pinot. His wines too are evolving from earlier darker and more massive styles. The latest example of his top label 2007Quartz Reef Pinot Noir Bendigo Estate Black Label shows a dramatically floral and cherry-red fruits bouquet leading into a fruit suppleness and concentration which matches grand cru burgundy at a very high level. That being the case, the $75 price tag is tolerable, considering few burgundy grands crus are less than twice that now. It should cellar for 5 – 12 years.

I cannot recommend these wines too much. They represent three different takes on the state of the art in New Zealand pinot noir at the close of 2010. See you next year.

2007Quartz Reef Pinot Noir Bendigo Estate [ black label ] $75

2008Neudorf Pinot Noir Moutere $54

2008Grasshopper Rock Pinot Noir Earnscleugh $36

October 2010

Just to vary the pace occasionally, sometimes it is fun to mention a wine that is flying under the radar, maybe isn't even a good cellar wine, but is a lot of fun or otherwise worthwhile.

Such a wine is 2008 Guigal Cotes du Rhone Blanc. It is absolutely lovely wine, fragrant on the one hand but lightly mouth-filling on the other. It has a lightly exotic lift from the percentage of viognier, but is not at all heavy – and there is no oak at all. One could think of it as an un-oaked chardonnay, but so much more delicious than any I could name. It should be well worth trying with a range of seafoods, as well as Asian dishes, and salads and the like too – it might be better slightly chilled for the latter. And, it is both affordable and totally modern in its cleanliness and styling – really recommended.

The other two I have in mind are the opposite extreme, quite sensationally good cellar wines which must be purchased by the case, simply because they will cellar for longer than 12 years, and it is so much fun checking how cellared wines are coming along.

The first is in a word, the best red wine the Babich family have ever released. It is 2007 Babich Patriarch, a very serious cabernets / malbec blend. I used this a couple of weeks ago in a lecture / tasting for the Oenology students at Lincoln University, alongside a good cru bourgeois Bordeaux, and the latter was eclipsed. The quality of bouquet with violets apparent, and the fine-grain cassisy texture, are like a classed-growth Medoc such as Ch Cantemerle. It is not a big wine, but it is long in flavour, rich, and a delight – the kind of elegant fragrant cabernet many Australian winemakers simply would not understand. It will cellar for 20 years.

The second that takes my fancy I may have recommended before – and for this one it is a wine all but the most hidebound Australian winemaker would gape at admiringly. 2007 Sacred Hill Deerstalkers Syrah is one of the best syrahs made so far in New Zealand. Winemaker Tony Bish is easing back on the oak in his top wines, and it really shows. The wine is deep and dense and rich, already nearly velvety in mouth. Though the fragrant 2008 is now the current release, Tony has discovered he has some cases of the 2007 now again available, due to another customer (most unwisely) not taking up their reserved allocation. So this is a oncer, grab it while it is available, and again, 12 bottles are needed just to check its development even occasionally.

2008 Guigal Cotes du Rhone Blanc $24.00

2007 Babich Cabernets / Malbec Patriarch $55 – 60

SEPTEMBER 2010 

Hawkes Bay & Gisborne

Conventional wisdom is nowhere more irritating than the wine scene, and particularly in the context of Sauvignon Blanc. It has long been a patent nonsense that Sauvignon should be drunk as young as possible, and is an expendable winestyle. Why, Laville-Haut-Brion sometimes costs exactly the same as the great red wine, and Parker gives a 20+ year lifespan for most reasonable vintages.

In this context, one of the unsung wines of the local scene is Te Mata's Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc. It was the first really serious Sauvignon locally, is modelled on fine Bordeaux blanc, and remains one of the best. It is not as exotic as Cloudy Bay's Te Koko, due to the nil MLF, and it is not quite as uncompromising as Sacred Hill's Sauvage.

Thus, when Te Mata winemaker Phil Brodie presented the latest 2009 Te Mata Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc the other night, as soon as I got my sample home I opened the 2000 version. The comparison is sensational. The 2000 is scarcely older, just a little deeper in colour but still flushed with lemon, but the bouquet has softened into a gorgeous toasty sweet aroma, with undertones of sautéed red capsicums. And the palate is even better. So the 2009 can definitely be cellared for 12 years, and will provide a delightfully different and eminently food-friendly full-bodied white every year along the way.

I am enchanted by Viognier at the moment. Te Mata pioneered this variety in New Zealand too, pretty well, but they haven't shown such flair with it as some other varieties. Last year's 2008 newly-christened Zara Viognier was a bit of a flop. The 2009 is much better, clearly riper, but because Te Mata doesn't think MLF appropriate in this variety either, notwithstanding all the countervailing evidence from the Northern Rhone Valley, it is still a bit hard and simple. Though not a cellar wine beyond a year, the one to have a look at is the new 2009 Spade Oak Viognier, from Gisborne. Most years Gisborne is a bit marginal for the variety, like Syrah, but this 2009 is a beaut. Worth opening one with the Te Mata, to see the wonderful difference 50% MLF makes to the palate. The Spade Oak is in fact the riper of the two. Great food wine, with anything that picks up the suggestions of wild ginger blossom and apricot in the wine – and indeed many other pale foods too.

However, the top cellar prospect for this month is 2009 Te Mata Syrah Bullnose. Though it is not the biggest or most dramatic New Zealand Syrah, for some years now it has been arguably the most beautiful. In particular it illustrates the dianthus and dusky rose-floral component of fine Hermitage superbly. The palate is already velvety. I rather like to buy a case of the better years, 2002, 2005, 2007, now 2009, for it is a wine of real charm, finesse and food appeal. This 2009 will cellar for 12 years or so too, like the Cape Crest. Just privately, I think Bullnose is more Te Mata's flagship wine than their Coleraine Cabernets/Merlot.