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Review rated by 115 Ciao members on average: very helpful
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I can honestly say that I will never forget the day I first tasted this wine. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, right at the end of August 1996 and I was standing in a beautiful garden high up on the edge of Ilkley Moor. Unusually for me I was wearing a swirly pink dress which, quite unintentionally, matched the glass of wine which my son-in-law pressed into my hand.
Unless it’s a very superior champagne, with that wonderful deep biscuity taste, I’m not usually a great fan of sparkling wines. A lot of the cheap ones are so harsh they remind me of paint stripper, so when I was told that this was a Méthode Traditionnelle wine from New Zealand, I was, well, sceptical to say the least. Still, it had been a long day, the sun was shining and condensation was forming on the outside of the glass.
The wine is just on the golden side of pink, almost salmon pink, with the colour coming from the black skins of the Pinot Noir grape. When you smell the wine (and you always should – you’ll see why later!) you’ll get a smell of yeast and toast – freshly-baked bread and the end product all in one breath. It was excellent on that summer afternoon and I sipped gratefully. I knew this day would stay in my memory.
With most cheap sparkling wines you get a mouthful of fizz most of which goes up the back of your nose and you end up spluttering. Not with this wine, though. There was a pleasant fizz on the tongue (a ‘mousse’ I believe it’s called in the trade) and then an explosion of summer fruit flavours. I caught strawberry and peach and something a little more elusive – possibly lychee. Sometimes I catch a flavour of almonds. The fizz doesn’t just die away either.
There are four varieties of grape in the wine, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Pinotage. They’re not even grown in the same part of New Zealand. Marlborough and Hawke's Bay are well-known wine-growing regions but Gisborne is less well-known. With a mixture like this it’s difficult to say that the wine is typical of any particular region, but it’s one of New Zealand’s most heavily exported wines. That’s not surprising though when you consider that it’s a good celebration wine at only £7.99 a bottle, even when it isn’t subject to any particular offers. You can drink it on its own (great for a party!) or with a meal – it’s a good friend to a light meat. It’s very drinkable. We met in summer, but it has accompanied our Christmas dinner more than once. At 11.5% alcohol by volume it’s not a wimp either.
Over the intervening years we’ve had at least a bottle of this a week. It’s generally our Friday night, end of the working week, treat. It’s not a vintage wine, but it’s been remarkably consistent. At one point the standard champagne-style bottle and proper cork changed to something which you felt you should stand up and roll a bowling ball at, but thankfully that’s changed back again. There was, however, one hiccup. Earlier this year we bought several bottles and all were tainted. It’s quite easy to tell. When you pour the wine and smell (remember I said you always should?) you don’t get the yeast-and-toast aroma but instead there’s the sort of smell that leaves you wondering if someone hasn’t been changing their socks too regularly. We returned the bottles to our supplier and they were happily replaced. This does happen occasionally with a lot of wines, but any reputable supplier (mine’s the local supermarket!) will gladly replace the offending bottle.
You’ll generally find this wine in the ‘Champagne and Sparkling Wines’ section at the supermarket. Look for the usual champagne-style bottle and foil-covered cork, pink label with a black diagonal band and gold writing. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
There was some other reason why that day sticks in my memory. What was it now? Oh, yes, I remember. It was the day my daughter got married.
What a wonderful review i must say it certainly makes me want to go out and by a bottle i am a big fan of masterpeace Rose wine ( an australian wine i think) I am looking forward to sampling some of this i must say !
13.04.2009 14:56
Congrats on the diamond xx
25.04.2005 15:04
What a wonderful review i must say it certainly makes me want to go out and by a bottle i am a big fan of masterpeace Rose wine ( an australian wine i think) I am looking forward to sampling some of this i must say !
01.06.2003 21:36
And I thought they were meant to fizz up at you like that! I'll definitely be looking this one up, Chris.