Luxury Life & Style

WINE TASTING THROUGH NEW ZEALAND Blanket Bay Marlborough Craggy Range Winery with an Otago pinot noir. While the influx of Americans and American capital has been the subject of some understandable Kiwi concern, the good news is that hospitality remains one of the country’s top industries, and getting there has never been easier. While the anemic U.S. dollar struggles against its over-valued Kiwi counterpart, New Zealand, nevertheless, offers a superb range of choices for the discriminating food and wine enthusiast at relatively affordable prices. And the wine industry in New Zealand is hotter than ever, with an explosion of new wineries, unique microclimates and brand-new regions to explore beyond its hallmark sauvignon blanc. It was, however, sauvignon blanc and, specifically, Cloudy Bay that first launched New Zealand onto the world wine stage. Now owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH, Cloudy Bay introduced a distinctly green and herbaceous style of sauvignon blanc that to this day is a polarizing product; one either adores this kind of wine or hates it. But fortunately for winemakers in Marlborough, its fans have tipped the scales. New Zealand sauvignon blanc is a certifiable, mass-market hit. But what’s really exciting about New Zealand these days is the ascendancy of European-style, terroir-driven winemaking, in which grape and land are allowed to mutually inform each other with enlightened planting and better wine as the result. This stands in contrast to that California mindset which for years forced grape on place, according to consumption trends, such that treasures like old vine zinfandel were torn out in favor of yet more acres of cabernet, chardonnay and merlot. Perhaps because New Zealand is a land of such dramatic climate contrasts, its winemakers have been more open to grape experimentation from the outset with happy results now coming online. From the killer syrahs of Waiheke Island to Central Otago’s worldclass pinot noirs to promising aromatic varieties like gewürztraminer and riesling, there is definitely wine life beyond the Bay. With the majority of international flights landing in Auckland, the nation’s largest city, make your first foray the ferry ride over to nearby Waiheke Island, which has been described as rather like Nantucket, but with fabulous wine and fewer pink pants. Waiheke first made itself known to me, in rather humbling fashion, at a blind tasting five years ago in which I zealously declared a syrah from this mysterious little island to be nothing short of a Chave Hermitage, and a 1989 at that. So much for the fancy sommelier’s nose! But I was astounded at the quality and varietal richness of this syrah, and other bottlings over the years have confirmed my suspicion that something pretty remarkable is being grown over there in Waiheke. Nowadays, the island of- 72 Luxury Life & Style November/December 2007 Marlborough image courtesy of Saint Clair Estate Wines.

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Editor's Note Carte Blanche Home Interview The Arts Seen in the South Bay Give Drive Fashion People Spotlight Travel The Cellar Dine Vacation Properties Coda

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