Today's assortment eschews the concept of single variety wines in favour of embracing the blend.
It is all a matter of balance and synergy, where two, three or more ingredients can create a complete whole, while the freedom of the blend allows wine-makers to experiment and ''have a little fun''.
Pegasus Bay's Sauvignon Semillon and Millton's Les Trois Enfants are old hands at this game, while the new Vergence typifies the test-bed approach, with the Untitled range marrying a startlingly diverse, multivintage, region and variety approach (Back label Lot numbers will unlock the details).
Game on indeed.
Price: $32
Rating: Excellent
Matchstick and a little wild yeast funk soon blow off leaving ripe pear, pea and grassy hints. Powerful fruit offers breadth on the palate, pear, pea pod, citrus, sweetly fruited yet dry, a little chalky grip a counterpoint to the fruit. A zesty tangy element runs like a laser beam through the wine, to the delightfully long finish that hangs in the mouth.
A lovely food choice.
Price: $21
Rating: Very good to excellent
Surprisingly evolved colour yet a fragrant and complex nose of honey, citrus, roses and hints of Turkish delight. The nose suggests sweetness but this is dry; the silky and supple palate offering dry honey and musk, orange zest, grilled grapefruit and a bittersweet almond note on the fresh, lifted finish.
Beguiling, intriguing and rather fascinating.
Price: $27
Rating: Very good to excellent
Somewhat subtle nose, struck match, smoke and bramble, a little wildness too. A game of two halves perhaps, as the palate is bold with intense grapefruit, orange, mandarin, dried herbs and nuts.
There’s complexity on this finely balanced, silky palate; a zesty rush of acidity on the close keeps this clean as a whistle, while time sees an attractive chewiness evolve.
Price: $20
Rating: Excellent
Multi region and variety blend. Youthful, fresh and complex nose of strawberry, apple skin, citrus peel, peach and wine gum. Creamy and attractive palate of mixed berries apple and musk moving into some savoury notes. Delightfully, bright and zesty, dry finish that hangs in your mouth.
A neat each-way bet here, both as an aperitif, or with food.
Price: $25
Rating: Very good
Multi vintage, variety and region blend. Fragrant nose that evokes tropical fruit salad. Creamy entry, a crisp, fresh palate with notes of cooked apple, pip fruits, toffee and a refreshing, ripe grapefruit character that gives zestiness.
Fresh and appealing drinking with a little wisp of salinity on the finish that gets the salivary glands going.
Price: $30
Rating: Excellent
Intriguing multi vintage, multi region and multi variety wine with a nose of red fruits, malt biscuits, wild herbs and a tangy, resiny note. This nods its hat to Europe, its tanginess and juicy, crunchiness suggesting a Kiwi Beaujolais.
Fresh, bright, vibrant, nicely balanced with an appealing bittersweet element before flowing to a long, cool, dry finish
