Review of Wine New Zealand 2005

Review of Wine New Zealand 2005

Who are the Powertasters?
The Powertasters are a group of wine enthusiasts who are professionally involved in the hospitality industry and responsible for selecting wines for some of the best wine lists in the country. We have attended the Wine New Zealand Trade Show every year since its inception, recognising the opportunity it provides to taste the largest selection of New Zealand wines available anywhere in the world.

Because we have always taken the show seriously, tasting and separately rating as many wines in each category as possible in the 3 days available, we were 2 years ago labelled “The Powertasters” by a winery owner who shall remain nameless.

This year we donned our “Powertasters” shirts and set about the task of evaluating the myriad of wines on show and giving each a rating on a 1 to 5 scale. Over the 3 days we tasted a total of 617 wines, systematically proceeding through each varietal from Sauvignon Blanc on the first morning to the Dessert Wines on the last afternoon. Of all the wines tasted, 487 or 79% rated 3 stars or better.

Obviously it was impossible to taste all of the wines on show and we had to make some judgment calls on what to leave out. We did not taste any Sparkling wines or Pinotage this year and were selective on other varieties based on past performance or quality of other labels on show.

Overview of the Show

Congratulations to the organizers for excluding the public from Wine New Zealand. It made our mission so much easier on the Sunday and significantly reduced the level of intoxication.

We understand that due to the reconstruction of the exhibition halls the show will be held about a month later next year. We believe this should be a permanent move and would be of immense benefit to Wine New Zealand. The present timing of the show is too early with many wines on show having been rushed into bottle in time for the show or being shown as tank or barrel samples. We believe that Wine New Zealand is now the key element to the success of Hospitality New Zealand and that the wineries should have greater influence on the timing of the show than the need to avoid a clash with Technical Institute examinations.

It was noticeable this year that a large number of wines from earlier vintages were being trotted out again. Was this due to timing of the show, excess stocks still needing to be sold, or disappointing results from more recent vintages?

We were disappointed at the number of wines that were presented too cold. It makes it very difficult to give a fair appraisal to a wine that has its bouquet and flavours numbed because it is too cold.

Hooray for screwcaps! We estimated that around 80% of the wines on show this year were sealed with screwcaps and out of the 617 wines tasted we encountered only 1 affected by cork taint.



Sauvignon Blanc
2005 Sauvignon Blanc is thankfully a whole lot better than 2004!
All 22 wines that we rated four and a half or five stars were outstanding examples of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. We all found the Sileni ES “The Sounds” 2005 quite exceptional, pity there is so little of it.

Chardonnay
This class also showed better than last year, with much more consistency of quality in the 2004 vintage than we saw in the frost affected 2003 wines.
We believe any of the 130 chardonnays which we rated 3 stars or better deserve a place on wine lists.

Pinot Gris
While the top three wines were quite outstanding, this was a disappointing class.
We have yet to see a definitive regional style for Pinot Gris and styles swing wildly from the lean Italian Pinot Grigio style to highly alcoholic fruit bombs that are all too common.

Riesling
We did not find any Rieslings which merited a 5 star rating which was disappointing. There were a lot of good well made wines but no showstoppers. The drier style Rieslings tended to fare better.

Gewurztraminer
The top wines in this category were outstanding, with the top 3 being in a class of their own. The Cloudy Bay 2003 was a serious contender for our Wine of the Show.

Viognier
There was again an increased showing of this “flavour of the month” wine and the Herzog 2004 was very classy. At number 2 the Coopers Creek 2005 offered very good value for money.

Dessert Wines
For the second year in a row we found this to be the outstanding class of the show (even if it was the toughest on the teeth!). The most commonly used grape was Riesling but we also encountered wines made from Semillon, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir.

Pinot Noir
Only 5 wines were awarded 5 star status this year compared to 14 last year. The top wines in this class were very good and we found the Seresin “Leah” 2004 quite outstanding, but there were noticeably fewer standouts than previously. We believe this reflects the difficulties presented by the frost affected 2003 vintage and the even more difficult 2004 vintage in Central Otago.

Syrah
We did not find any wines in this category deserving of a 5 star rating and generally found that wines from 2003 and 2004 lacked the concentration of flavour and were less complex than those from the very good 2002 vintage. Interestingly our top 5 wines in this class came from 5 different vintages.

Merlot
The impact of the difficult 2003 vintage was even more evident in this category with only 1 wine from that year achieving any rating. Again no 5 star ratings but the Unison Marie’s Vineyard was a deserving first choice.

Cabernet Sauvignon
The 1998 Vidal Estate “Joseph Soler” was outstanding and was so vibrant it could have passed for a much younger wine. There were few straight Cabernets on show and 5 of the 6 wines rated were from the very good 1998, 2000, and 2002 vintages. The only wine rated from the 2003 vintage was from Waiheke Island.

Malbec
There appears to be increasing interest in this grape variety and the top 2 wines were very good, showing the richness commonly associated with Argentinian Malbec.

Bordeaux Blends
This class was badly affected by the poorer 2001 and 2003 vintages resulting in a smaller number of 5 star wines than usual. Nine of our top ten wines were from the 2000 and 2002 vintages. The other was the excellent value for money Capricorn Red Rock Gravel Pit Red 2004.
The top 20 wines in this category are ample testimony to the fact that New Zealand can make world class Bordeaux style wines.


The Powertasters Top Rated Wines

Sauvignon Blanc
1. Sileni ES “The Sounds” 2005
2. Mount Riley 2005
3. Cloudy Bay 2005
4. Forrest Estate 2005
5. Wither Hills 2005
6. Mud House White Swan 2005
7. Lawson’s Dry Hills 2005
8. Astrolabe 2005
9. Saint Clair Pioneer Block B2 2005
10. Villa Maria Private Bin 2005

Chardonnay
1. Mills Reef Elspeth 2004
2. Clearview Reserve 2004
3. Vidal Estate Reserve 2004
4. Villa Maria Single Vineyard Waldron 2003
5. Margrain 2004
6. Gravitas Reserve 2004
7. Kumeu River 2004
8. Villa Maria Reserve Marlborough 2003
9. Odyssey Iliad Gisborne 2004
10. Cape Campbell Limited Release Reserve 2004

Pinot Gris
1. Villa Maria Single Vineyard Taylors Pass 2004
2. Bilancia 2005
3. Grove Mill 2005
4. Canterbury House Vineyard Select 2004
5. Lawson’s Dry Hills 2004
6. Wairau River 2005
7. Huia 2004
8. Seifried 2004
9. Omaka Springs 2005
10. Bladen 2005

Riesling
1. Framingham Dry 2003
2. Corbans Private Bin Amberley 2002
3. Margrain 2003
4. Pegasus Bay 2005
5. Framingham Classic 2004
6. Martinborough Vineyard 2005
7. Riverby Estate 2004
8. Gibbston Valley 2005
9. Grove Mill 2004
10. Montana Reserve Vintage 2002

Gewurztraminer
1. Cloudy Bay 2003
2. Vinoptima 2003
3. Lawson’s Dry Hills 2004
4. Villa Maria Single Vineyard Keltern 2004
6. Forrest Estate 2004

Viognier
1. Herzog 2004
2. Coopers Creek Gisborne 2005
3. Bilancia 2005
4. Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels 2005
5. TW Gisborne 2005

Dessert Wines
1. Pegasus Bay “Finale” 2003
2. Villa Maria Reserve Noble Riesling 2002
3. TW Botrytis Semillon 2003
4. Alpha Domus AD Noble Semillon 2004
5. Matariki Late Harvest Riesling 2004
6. Vidal Reserve Semillon 2003
7. Margrain Botrytis Selection Riesling 2004
8. Astrolabe Noble Riesling 2004
9. TW Botrytis Chardonnay 2003
10. Schubert “Dolce” 2004

Rose
1. Stoneleigh Pinot Rose 2004

Pinot Noir
1. Seresin “Leah” 2004
2. Margrain 2003
3. Mount Difficulty 2003
4. Fromm Clayvin Vineyard 2004
5. Johner Estate Gladstone 2003
6. Mud House Black Swan 2003
7. Alana Estate Premium 2003
8. Gibbston Valley 2000
9. Quartz Reef Bendigo 2003
10. Rock N Pillar 2003


Syrah
1. Mills Reef Elspeth 2002
2. Passage Rock 2004
3. Capricorn Red Rock The Underarm 2003
4. Matariki 2001
5. Okahu Kaz Shiraz 2000

Merlot
1. Unison Marie’s Vineyard 2004
2. Villa Maria Reserve 2002
3. CJ Pask Reserve 2002
4. Mills Reef Elspeth B4 2002
5. CJ Pask Gimblett Road 2002
6. Mills Reef Elspeth 2000
7. Black Barn Reserve 2002
8. Sileni ES “The Triangle”2002
9. Esk Valley Black Label 2004
10. Sileni Cellar Selection 2004

Cabernet Sauvignon
1. Vidal Estate “Joseph Soler” 1998
2. Vidal Estate Reserve 2002
3. Matariki 2000
4. Mills Reef Elspeth 2000
5. Kennedy Point 2003

Malbec
1. Villa Maria Single Vineyard Omahu 2002
2. Mills Reef Elspeth 2002

Bordeaux Blends
1. Mills Reef Elspeth One 2002
2. Matua Ararimu 2002
3. Vidal Estate Reserve Merlot Cabernet 2000
4. Esk Valley Reserve Merlot Malbec Cabernet 2002
5. CJ Pask Reserve Declaration 2002
6. Squawking Magpie “The Nest” Merlot Cabernet 2002
7. Mills Reef Elspeth Merlot Cabernet 2002
8. Forrest Cornerstone 2002
9. Capricorn Red Rock Gravel Pit Red 2004
10. Wishart “Legend” 2002

Trophy List

Best White Wine - Sileni ES “The Sounds” Sauvignon Blanc 2005

Runner-Up - Cloudy Bay Gewurztraminer 2003


Best Red Wine - Seresin “Leah” Pinot Noir 2004

Runner-Up - Vidal Estate “Joseph Soler” Cabernet Sauvignon 1998


Champion Wine of the Show - Sileni ES “The Sounds” Sauvignon Blanc 2005

Runner-Up - Cloudy Bay Gewurztraminer 2003


Best Value White Wine - Mount Riley Sauvignon Blanc 2005

Best Value Red Wine - Capricorn Red Rock Gravel Pit Red 2004


Winery of the Show - Sileni