Nautilus pinot gris from Marlborough

New Zealand is a new World wine region with a cool climate.  There are over 77,000 acres of vineyards in New Zealand with 2009 production of 205 million liters.  Because New Zealand has a relatively small population, over half of the wines are exported.  New Zealand covers a distance of 1,000 miles from 34th to the 47th parallel across two islands, with the South Island being generally cooler and drier than the North Island.  On the South Island, New Zealand grows  the majority of its signature aromatic white grape varieties such as …

Long before pinot noir was popular, long before organic and green was ‘hot’, and way before pairing food and wine became a good way to sell wine, Robert Sinskey was doing all of these things. The wines that they produce and the way they make them, are based first on deeply held beliefs rather than on trends and, as a result, they have created a strong and steady customer following.
The pinot noir vines that Robert Sinskey’s father planted in Carneros in the 1980’s was inspired by his love for red …

Warmth in climate and hospitality show through in the wines of the Pfalz.  When we visited Weingut Messmer, we met with Gregor who runs the estate, but his PR man, father Herbert, dropped in to greet us.  Messmer’s flagship wines are the dry rieslings, grauerburgunder and weissburgunder, a little bit of fine gewurtztraminer and muskateller, and spatburgunder.  The whites range from everyday wines to “cru” Erste Lage from Michelsberg vineyard, Schawer and Goldener Jost, but they are all driven by purity of flavors.  This starts in the vineyard, where Gregor has moved from the common …

When people think of Pinot Noir, they think of Burgundy or maybe Oregon or Russian River.  Some think that pinot noir, aka Spatburgunder, from Germany is another wine region trying to commercialize on the popularity of pinot.  After all, in 1975, only 3.5% of total German vineyards was planted to Spatburgunder.  But domestic consumption trends have evolved since that time from sweeter white wines to drier reds.  In 2006, 63% of imports were red wines and, as of 2007, Germany became the 3rd largest grower of pinot noir after France and the US, …