This tasting includes several unusual but exciting white varieties that show great promise and are worth exploring. Look out for them in good restaurants and wine shops or browse online.
BEST VALUE
$22
Four stars (out of five)
Good value
This dry white wine made from pinot noir is rich, textural and mouthfilling with hints of ripe pears and stone fruit and a long finish.
greylandsridge.co.nz
$25
Three and a half stars
Average value
A powerful wine from an Austrian grape variety that we are seeing more of in New Zealand. It hints of peach and mandarin, and is mouth-filling with a firm structure and long, dry finish.
aronuiwines.co.nz
$25
Three and a half stars
Average value
Fragrant with hints of gorse flower and ripe kiwifruit. With a year's bottle age it is mouth-filling and nicely balanced with a firm structure and long, crisp, dry finish.
tinpothut.co.nz
$26
Three and a half stars
Average value
Flora is a cross between gewurztraminer and semillon, and this unusual wine from Central Otago is mature at two years old. It hints of peach, citrus and seashells, and is mouth-filling with a hint of nuttiness and a rich aftertaste.
tosq.co.nz
$25
Four stars
Average value
Albariño is a Spanish grape variety producing some exciting wines here. This is fragrant with lovely fresh but rich fruit - white peaches and citrus, hints of nuts and mineral and a surprisingly firm structure and steely-dry finish.
aronuiwines.co.nz
$25
Three and a half stars
Average value
Fragrant with attractive ripe stone fruit, mouth-filling and well structured with a firm dry finish. Catalina Sounds is probably better known in Australia but is now being sold here.
catalinasounds.co.nz
ANOTHER GLASS
Sileni Wisp Hawkes Bay Pinot Gris 2014
$17
Two and a half stars (out of five)
Average value
A pale, lightly coloured and lightly flavoured wine, simple and off-dry. One of the trendy low
alcohol wines at 9.5%.
sileni.co.nz
