Mark Henderson

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Carrick & Felton Road celebrate milestones

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Carrick & Felton Road celebrate milestones

Carrick celebrated the 20th anniversary of its Bannockburn restaurant in mid-October, while next month Felton Road Wines celebrates releasing their 25th vintage.

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Dry and sweeter Rieslings can get better with age

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Dry and sweeter Rieslings can get better with age

I was chatting to a Riesling-loving friend recently and he bemoaned having cellared some older dry Kiwi Rieslings back in the day when the accepted thinking was that they would age with grace.

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Sauvignons delivery zesty appeal in tough vintage

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Sauvignons delivery zesty appeal in tough vintage

Following a trio of strong vintages, there’s no doubt that Marlborough vintners had a much tougher time in 2022 with a colder, wetter season keeping them on their toes.

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Classy pinots provide fruit and savoury depth

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Classy pinots provide fruit and savoury depth

A recent weekend saw a brief overnight trip to Cromwell for a friend’s birthday bash.

Popular event back after Covid canned ’21 edition

Sadly, the 2021 edition became a victim of Covid, but this popular sell-out event is back for 2022, once again being held on Labour Weekend Sunday, October 23.

Would you like a sweetie?

A snippet of news during the recent heatwave in England caught my attention.

Pocket and palate pleasers

Inflationary pressures continue to be with us this year and wine hasn’t avoided this shift either, with both imported and domestic labels seeing price increases.

Taylors Wines launches Family Flagship Releases

Taylors Wines from the Clare Valley in Australia held a webinar to launch their Family Flagship Releases with yours truly joining more than 100 wine industry attendees from Australasia and Asia.

Agreeing to disagree when it comes to chardonnay

Regular readers will know that my two tasting buddies Collins and McLaren regularly sit in on these tastings.

The Central Otago section of the 2022 Corteva Young Viticulturist competition recently took place at Otago Polytechnic’s Bannockburn campus; the evening dinner and speech component held at Carrick Winery.

Zesty, tangy Sauvignon Blanc awakens the senses

Sauvignon Blanc has been dubbed our "hero" grape variety as it is not only enormously popular domestically, but also our key wine export by some considerable margin.

A classy all-Central pinot noir line-up

Readers sometimes ask how I go about choosing the wines that grace this column.

A veritable ‘Forrest’ of grape varieties

The mists of time tend to cloud one’s memories, but my first exposure to Forrest wines must have been the late 1990s when I was working for a (now closed) Dunedin wine store.

Pinot Gris ready to step up at a moment’s notice

My editor contacted me in the lead-up to this edition with the grim news that they’d run out of columns.

Texture, mouthfeel part of Chardonnays’ complexity

Chardonnay is a grape where the guiding hand of the winemaker and the techniques they employ are very much part of the final wine.

Pinot noirs show great diversity

A return to an old love today as my tasting colleagues Messrs Collins, McLaren and I sampled a superb collection of Central Otago Pinot Noirs.

Chardonnays deliver qualities worthy of recognition

For a long time I have felt that Chardonnay has been one of Central’s best-kept secrets, but it is finally beginning to garner some well-deserved recognition.

Central Otago wine a hit in London

Alexandra's McArthur Ridge Wines has been on a roll.

Let’s be Franc

France’s Loire Valley is one of the strongholds of the Cabernet Franc variety. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Let’s be Franc

Cabernet Franc is a red grape variety that more often than not, sits out of the limelight.

Value to be had among the lower-shelf Chardonnays

Sourcing the wines for today’s tasting gave me the chance to "get down", minus the "and boogie".

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Mark Henderson