Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
The New Zealand Winegrowers would love us all to know more about New Zealand, their Māori culture, and their wines. Below is one of the articles by the New Zealand Winegrowers about the Māori language and some of their wines. I will continue to post articles by the New Zealand Winegrowers so that we all can learn more about this…
McArthur Ridge Southern Tor Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019 (NZ $29) Shiny-new and showing a tonne of potential, this Central Otago-grown pinot noir has classic blueberry, rosehip and cherry aromatics and buckets of raspberry on the front palate. It’s refreshing and young and the acidity is right up front, however it’s looking like it’ll morph into a lightly-styled, elegant example…
Mills Reef Reserve Gimblett Gravels Merlot 2018 NZ$24.95 Paul Dawick and Tim Preston are the crack team of talent behind Mills Reef, and Merlot is their monster truck when it comes to wines that plough across your tastebuds and leave a deep, palate imprint. Dark, inky, glossy and erupting with exotic 5 spice notes, plum, cherry, leather and cocoa characters…
Mills Reef Reserve Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2018 (NZ $24.95) Green peppercorn, violet and blueberry aromatics stand shoulder to shoulder with bright plum and cherry flavours and then they hold hands and do the Gay Gordons (remember primary school folk-dancing?) with smooth, fine-grained oak and skin tannins accentuated by beautifully balanced acidity. Nicely made. For more information about this wine go…
The Vancouver International Wine Festival 2020 had a GLOBAL CRU Seminar where top wineries from around the world discussed what is meant by “CRU”. Help put this puzzle together. There are lots of red wines to make the puzzle challenging. You can also read about my GLOBAL CRU article here. Here is my source photo to help you along. …
New Zealand is well-known for Sauvignon Blanc, but are there any other grape varieties we should know about? Yes! I attended a webinar with David Keck MS (USA), John Szabo MS (Canada), Ronan Sayburn MS (UK) and Cameron Douglas MS (New Zealand) as the speakers who talked about the differences in aromas and flavours of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir produced…
The first wine you probably tasted from New Zealand was probably Sauvignon Blanc, and probably it was from Cloudy Bay from the Marlborough region. People know this wine style and recognize it as being from New Zealand. But are consumer and sommelier’s expectations changing with regard to this wine from New Zealand? I attended an online wine seminar about New…
Esk Valley Winemakers Reserve Hawke’s Bay Chenin Blanc 2019 (NZ$29) Returning to his dry-style roots not seen since 2013, winemaker Gordon Russell has taken fruit for the first time from Ian and Linda Quinn’s Two Terraces Vineyard located west of Hastings in Maraekakaho where they grow two clones of chenin, 220 and 880. Handpicked, cooled overnight and gently pressed to…
What is greywacke, and why would a winery in New Zealand give itself that name? First, greywacke is a sandstone that contains a significant amount of silt and/or clay. According to the University of Auckland in New Zealand, greywacke “…comprises a large percentage of the basement rock of New Zealand, and so is an important rock type throughout the country….
Selaks 1934 Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2019 (NZ $16.99) Created in homage to the year that Marino Selak sold his first vintage of wine, this new range boasts a chardonnay that I’m certain will become a ‘best value classic’. I say that because for sixteen bucks you have a wine that’s absolutely heaving with pineapple, peach, guava and a lick of…
Video Guide Uncorks the Story of British Columbia Wines. Buy Now.
