NZ Rieslings

I've enjoyed Giesen and Kim Crawford, 2003 and 2004. I had a 2004 Cloudy Bay a while back that I thought was pretty elegant, but not worth the $40 tariff.

I know I've got some others in the cellar - I'll add a few to the list when I get home tonight.

Lord Helier can provide many more in-depth suggestions if he's online.

Dean

I'd suggest either of the Martinborough Vineyard Rieslings. I enjoyed their 2005 Manu Riesling recently - the Jackson Block Riesling is slghtly drier. These are new labelling, it just used to be "Martinborough Vineyard Riesling".

Then there is always Shingle Peak from Marlborough - consistently drinkable at the cheaper end of the scale.

--brian

I also have a Seifreid 2004 that's pretty good.

Dean

You may wish to have a look here;

This is a site listing the results of the major wine competitions held in NZ. Not all the wines will be available overseas, but it may help.

I stopped purchasing NZ reislings around 2000, so I'm not up to date on the latest offerings. Nga Waka (Martinborough) was a favourite. Very dry. Most NZ R's have quite a bit of residual sugar.

cheers greybeard

"Lawrence Leichtman" asked of the group.....

Lawrence, NZ Riesling covers the whole gambit, from bone dry, right through to botrytised sweeties.

As usual, the biggest problem is sourcing anything of real quality - because, most producers exporting Riesling send only wines produced in

So, two that are worth a look are the Villa Maria Private Bin Riesling and the Stoneleigh Marlborough Riesling which you should find widely stocked; together with Shingle Peak Marlborough Riesling - if you find these from

IMNSHO the best NZ Riesling is the Pegasus Bay "Aria" from Waipara, Canterbury - this is a late harvest, slightly lower alcohol beauty - if anyone can find one, grab it. Alas, it is scarce as rocking-horse sh*t.

Villa Maria have made a succession of very fine botrytised Rieslings under their Reserve label - I know that NZ has trouble conforming to EU importing restrictions so it is not available in the UK - I simply don't know if it available elsewhere.

As a rule, *most* NZ Riesling is made in a medium/dry style, and generally they are reasonable examples of a cool-climate wine. I know that several wineries make both a dry and medium style - read the label - good luck obtaining what is available - some will be nicely expressive of the variety, some will be *a bit ordinary*.

Notwithstanding the fact that many NZ wineries make some excellent Riesling, because of that exported/availability factor, I am afraid you will not be able to see how well Riesling does in NZ.

Over the years, I have had a couple which were well developed in that dry Alsatian style, but never (not one) that could be mistaken for that floral delicacy from Mosel.

Good luck - report your findings

"st.helier" skrev i meddelandet news:n1ulf.6226$ snipped-for-privacy@news.xtra.co.nz...

PMJI - (also pulling forelock and making, as always, a leg) What would be the EU importing restrictions? As long as it contains minimum

Cheers

Nils Gsutaf

"Nils Gustaf Lindgren" wrote .............

^^^^^^^ ????????? Too much good stuff, Nils ;-)))

Nils, I know that NZ has *problems* exporting dessert wines to the EU.

It is something to do with what may and may not be written on labels.

The use of the expressions "Table Wine" and "Dessert Wine" are forbidden, and in addition there exist "technical" [read "trade"] barriers which prevent the export of many NZ and Australian dessert wines into the EU.

Trying to get existing treaties altered is a long and tedious process.

Yes this is probably one of the best rieslings I have ever tasted!

Daisy

Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!