Enthusiastic praise from abroad for good N.Z. wines

Press, 6 August 1981, Page 12

Enthusiastic praise from abroad for good N.Z. wines

Maurice Hunter’s

GRAPEVINE

Robert Lawrence Balzer is not a well known name in New Zealand but, as wine and food editor of the Los Angeles "Times,” and the most widely syndicated wine and food writer in the United States, his readership runs into millions.

For anyone with any interest in those fields his writings, particularly his “Private Guide to Food and Wine,” are almost required reading. Following a visit to New Zealand earlier this year at the invitation of Gorbans Imports, Ltd, he has since devoted four pages of his guide to writing in praiseworthy terms of the country and its products, ranging from Milford Sound to Auckland, and from kiwifruit, pavlova (complete with recipe) to wine.

Of the wine, he says: “We tasted our first New Zealand wines about six to seven years ago at an exposition in Los Angeles. They were nothing short of dreadful. Produced from mostly French hyorids, the whites were high-acid thin to the point of being almost caustic. The reds had zero virtue beyond their colour, which was less than jewel bright. But that is all changed.” Reviewing now six Corbans wines, at present available, which he considers to be well worth seeking, he continues: “While Corbans Liebestraum is not highly prized by local wine writers, we found it to be charming, inexpensive, and of positive virtues to anyone enjoying a medium-dry table wine of

Rhine/Mosel style. There is more substance and a pleasing distinction with Gorbans Sylvaner Riesling, light, dry, refreshing. The vintaged Chenin Blanc is our favourite. with a crisp, clean charm and balance.

“Corbans vintage New Zealand Cabernet Pinotage (’7B Claret to. us), aged in small oak casks, is well worth trying. The Pinotage is a hybrid developed in South Africa from Pinot Noir and Shiraz. Together, the blending with pure Cabernet Sauvignon has produced a claret of brilliant ruby, easy lightness for daily table service. To put it in the vernacular, it drinks good!”

Balzer concludes his comments by saying: “This is a shopping period for American wine lovers. While it remains true that seven out of 10 bottles of wine consumed in our country are produced in California, the search for good, reliable, high value daily table wines, red or white, can be fraught with expensive disappointment, or lead to some very worth-while discoveries. No one can prescribe for another man’s taste with any degree of satisfaction, but these New Zealand wines fit the above described category of good wine and good value.”

Which all goes to prove how the quality of our local products has improved in a comparatively short time.

There is, however, room for serious doubt as , to whether the dreadful wines

of six to 7 years ago were Corbans. Theirs was not the only company exporting to California at the time. It would be fair to assume that any accolades would be won in spite of, rather than in cooperation with, any other producer.

While in Auckland recently I had the pleasure of tasting, in company with the Corbans winemaker* Norbet Seibel, some of the 1981 wines. Although still far too young to have come together properly, they show every indication of being even better than the 1980.

Norbet Seibel claims with pride that his wines have the lowest sulphur levels of any wine on earth — and I believe him. The crystal clarity in the glass and’ the full, clean fruit quality were such that it was difficult to leave them alone.

One which particularly impressed is the 1980 Chardonnay. now being released in Christchurch. "

I am not normally enthusiastic about chardonnay. possibly because it is subjected to so many different techniques that I never know just what to expect. I do kiiow that I shall be laying down a quantity of this one, but if anyone opens a bottle within the next twelve months; they will do so at the risk of severe chastisement.

An indication of the general lift in quality production is evident in the recent announcement of awards made atthe twelfth of the Club Oenologique in Bristol.

All four gold award winners are now available, namely. Corbans 1980 Auslese and 1978 Cabernet Sau-

vignon. Selaks 1979 Cabernet Sauvignon and Penfolds 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon. In the silver award class Montana 1977 Pinotage and 1978 Marlborough Cabernet Sauvignon are on the shelves, as are Corbans 1980 Gewurztraminer, Selaks 1979 Muller Thurgau and limited edition dry Riesling, McWilliams 1977 Cabernet Sauvignon and Penfolds Directors Port. In view of a predicted

wine surplus in 1982 and the following years, it is to be hoped that we are heading for conditions in which producers will mature their wines at the winery and release them only when they are at, or approaching, their peak.

A stalwart supporter of New Zealand wines in England. Mr John Avery, of Avery’s of Bristol, has stocked some lines . since

t 1970. Recently he has ex--1 tended the range sufficiently to earn the reputation of a 5 stockist of "new world” 1 wines. L He has made the predic- . tion that in 15 to 20 years - time New Zealand will be ■ producing better wines than i Australia. ;.. l agree with the man. but I 1 believe that he is about 20 years behind the times. 1