Hawke's Bay finally gets it white
After seven years hawking their red wines around the country to "cement Hawke's Bay's reputation as the ultra-premium red wine capital", the organisers of the annual Hot Red Hawke's Bay roadshow have decided to add white wines to the mix.
I thought they would never get the message. But it seems that finally they have.
Hawke's Bay is about more than just red wines. Always has been. The problem is that some winemakers have, in their passion to promote the Gimblett Gravels and the stunning reds that they produce, done so at the expense of some outstanding whites – especially chardonnays, some of them among the finest in the world.
I don't give a damn if these princely whites have, for the moment, fallen out of favour and are difficult to sell.
It is no excuse not to try and there is certainly no excuse when you're promoting the wines that you produce to overlook some other very fine whites – oak-aged sauvignon blancs, gewurztraminers, semillons, rieslings, viogniers, chenin blancs, and pinot gris among them. When it comes to winegrowing, Hawke's Bay is a special piece of real estate.
The climate, sub-climates and a wide diversity of soil types means it is possible in this elongated chunk of the North Island, bounded on one side by a mountain range, the other by the Pacific Ocean, to grow almost anything. Even a couple of promising pinot noirs. And there could well be other possibilities as the cooler, more elevated areas of Central and Southern Hawke's Bay are further explored.
It is this diversity, as well as the excellence of the wines – white and red – that should be celebrated, although you can hardly blame producers for taking advantage of the international excitement that their reds have and continue to generate, syrah and Bordeaux blends in particular.
But I, for one, am delighted that the winegrowers of Hawke's Bay will this year take with them their whites when they visit Wellington on June 22 and Auckland the following day.
Unfortunately the 20-something winemakers taking part will not visit Christchurch this year, which means South Islanders will not have an opportunity to sample the wines.
What will they be missing? For starters, another lineup of some of the country's finest reds, including Italian and Spanish varieties, as well as some of the county's finest and most delectable chardonnays, sauvignon blancs that deserve more attention than they get, and some excellent examples of other whites, including dessert wines and rarer beasts such as arneis and verdelho.
Anyone who can't make the roadshow can, of course, try these and other Hawke's Bay wines by buying them for themselves.
Some suggestions, including wines which might or might not feature in Hot Red Hawke's Bay, or might be represented by a later vintage:
Clearview 2009 Reserve Chardonnay, $35
Five different barrel-makers and four types of yeast contribute to the complexity of this rich and deliberately grunty, peach and grapefruit beauty deftly tempered with toasty oak and acid.
Te Mata 2010 Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc, $28
One of the finest examples of a distinctly Hawke's Bay sauvignon blanc (with a dash of semillon and a splash of sauvignon gris). It's fragrant, fleshy, matured in oak – one of New Zealand's most under-appreciated wine styles.
Stonecroft 2009 Old Vine Gewurztraminer, $45
They don't come much better than this. A lovely weighty, generous aromatic wine that seduces the senses with a heady mix of ginger, spice, a hint of honey and a mouthful of rich, ripe stonefruit.
Esk Valley 2010 Verdelho, $24
A Portuguese white from the island of Madeira that was pioneered here by Esk. A fuller-bodied, fresh and vibrant wine that smacks of oranges and peach; that is rich, dry and interesting. Good with fish.
Elephant Hill 2010 Viognier, $28
A variety touted as an alternative to chardonnay that is slowly gaining popularity with white wine drinkers and foodies. Soft and generous with trademark apricots mingled among the tropical and citrus fruit.