APRIL 2020 – FINE WINE

A Fine Wine List

New Zealand produces fine, world class wines – a dinner party discussion is likely to produce a list of wines and producers that are drinking favourites, because it’s easy to show favour for a particular brand or variety. It’s challenging to have access to all that’s available, with large numbers of producers and styles, and variations in quality across varieties.  

What if there were a team of experts, each with at least twenty years tasting and evaluation experience in the wine business, who researched the producers and wines at all price points and styles that consistently show style and provenance across several vintages, and created a list of benchmarks?

The Fine Wines of New Zealand programme began in 2016, the original idea and main sponsorship coming from Air New Zealand, who also identified the judging team and set the criteria for inclusion. The idea was to have Masters of the craft identify New Zealand wines of world class quality, and review them on a regular annual basis for currency.

The seven Masters (six Masters of Wine and a Master Sommelier) are from different disciplines within the sector, including wine makers, writers, judges, and educators. Initially, the Masters selected a series of wines from varieties in their particular field of expertise for consideration, but this has evolved into a more open system, where all New Zealand wineries are invited to submit wines that meet the criteria to be selected in a rigorous, blind judging format.

As the programme gains traction, an increasing number of wines are offered. Each judge is given a category (I am in charge of aromatics such as Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer) and provided with entries in list form to decide which wines are most likely to meet the standards taste assessment. Once a year, over three days, the wines are tasted and discussed – to be on the final list, all judges must agree unanimously for inclusion.

The judging process does not offer Stars, Points or Gold medals, but rather results in a definitive list of wines of quality, style and provenance that a buyer can have faith represents the best of New Zealand. There is no lifetime list either - recipients on the current list must to submit the same wine every year for review.

Currently there are 82 wines listed as New Zealand’s finest. Look for the distinctive purple logo or visit https://finewines.nz/