Top of the pops for Christmas

By Joelle Thomson

“In victory I earn it and in defeat I need it,” said the late great Sir Winston Churchill, who is often attributed with this infamous quote in which he was supposedly referring to champagne and who famously enjoyed a bottle of Champagne Pol Roger every day. 

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story but the truth today is that great champagne is growing in price while New Zealand’s best sparkling wines are growing in quality. I personally enjoy both, for different reasons.

New Zealand produces a vast amount of sparkling wine, most of it made to a high standard by such luminaries as No 1 Family Estate (owned by Adele and Daniel Le Brun and family), Cloudy Bay, Deutz (owned by Pernod Ricard but named after the French fizz of the same name), among many, many more in Marlborough. Not to mention the outstanding Quartz Reef NV from biodynamically grown grapes in Bendigo, Central Otago. Here are three of the Wairarapa’s best bubbles. I hope you enjoy drinking them as much as I have enjoyed tasting and writing about them.

Wines of the Month:

17.5 / 20

Matahiwi Brut Rosé RRP $24.99 to $30-ish

Making sparkling wine is a complex operation and, given the high volumes of Matahiwi Rosé Brut made each year, this is a fabulously flavoursome little number. 

It’s a blend of 65% Pinot Noir (hence the bright pink hue) and 35% Chardonnay. This wine has appealing purity of flavour with all the tastes of summer berries strawberry, raspberry and red plum aromas. Tasty, light bodied and deliciously good value. Matahiwi.co.nz

18.5 / 20

2020 Palliser Griffin RRP $55

Inspired by champagne and made using the two great grapes in the Champagne region: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. This bubbly is dry, full bodied, creamy and complex. Griffin is always made as a vintage (from a single year) and the 2020 vintage is a smooth, citrusy bubbly that drinks beautifully now and will continue to develop complex yeast, toasty richness over the next four to five years.

18.5/20

2019 Urlar Méthode Traditionelle RRP $75 to $83

This is Urlar’s top sparkling wine and is a dry, refreshing and creamy blend of 65% Chardonnay with 35% Pinot Noir, which has nuances of toasty richness from its ageing on yeast lees in bottle for 18 months. It is a youthfully zesty expression of sparkling wine made using the same method to make champagne.

Prices vary between wineries and retail outlets. Wines featured in this column are generally available at Martinborough Wine Merchants.

     Joelle Thomson is an independent wine writer and author who lives in Martinborough.