Mark Henderson

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".

Vintages delicious after a decade

Pegasus Bay’s "aged release" programme, now in its seventh year, is a marvellous opportunity, 10 years from vintage, to assess the development of their rieslings and pinot noirs.

Reliable, affordable quality from the Clare Valley

What's that old adage about "best laid plans"?

Why understate tastiness?

Inflation is very much in the news currently, but Mark Henderson also ponders ‘‘score inflation’’, with ever more wine scoring compressed into a 90-100-point band.

A fascinating trio of tasty pairs

I’ve commented before that even though I taste wines blind, I do know the wines I’m tasting; just not in which order.

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Mark Henderson