Food and Drink

If British Columbia wineries have a soul mate in the wine world, it’s New Zealand. Moreover, if we are to ever to carve out a niche in the highly competitive global wine market we would do well to ape some of the impressive goals and accomplishments of this tiny green island-nation in the cool, south Pacific.

Little in size but big in flavour, New Zealand’s wine growers are perfectly positioned to take advantage of their geography and climate to produce wine that is completely in tune with the modern palate.

Fruity, flavourful wine is all the rage today, with chefs and new consumers, and it is something New Zealand has to offer in spades. So how does a country of less than 3.8 million people develop an impressive international wine export program and do it all in less than three decades?

Hard work and pride are part of New Zealand’s success story, as is a strong sense of self-reliance. However, when it comes to quality, I think a friendly, yet super-competitive atmosphere between wineries is the real secret to their success.

Not only is peer pressure alive, well and working in New Zealand’s vineyards, you get the distinct impression that the sharing of information, equipment and knowledge among wineries is done so that one can take even more pleasure in besting each other on retail store shelves and/or at national wine competitions.

By constantly measuring itself against the competition, both domestic and foreign, New Zealand has pushed its quality bar higher and faster than most of its New World competitors. Several key attributes emanate from most every bottle of Kiwi wine that collectively result in the type or style modern-day wine drinkers are demanding.

A long growing season under cool temperatures, especially at night, captures and retains intense fruit flavour inside the grape. New Zealand growers refer to the phenomenon as "long hang-time" but whatever the nomenclature it allows most Kiwi riesling, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay pinot and even syrah to excel on the vine and later in the glass.

The fact that it’s food-friendly (it makes the food taste better and food makes the wine taste better) is another attractive quality of Kiwi wines. The same cool growing conditions that intensify the fruit flavours result in crisp mouth-watering wine that comes with sufficient natural acidity to keep it vibrant and make it ideal for pairing with a variety of foods: Indian, Thai, Japanese and Chinese as well as most any New World dishes involving grilled seafood and or meat.

Screwcap closures are here to stay despite what some recalcitrant wineries and retailers may think, and New Zealand wineries are global leaders. The easy-opening, twist-off closure gives everyone the confidence that each bottle purchased is in premium condition (free of cork taint) and will stay that way for many years.

A strong Canadian dollar is also working in our favour, taming the price of Kiwi imports, so much so that in many instances it now cheaper than many popular domestic labels and highly competitive with California, Chile and Europe too.

It has been more than a decade coming but one senses the ferocious hold consumers have enjoyed on big red wines is about to loosen. Let’s face it, you can’t drink shiraz or cabernet sauvignon with everything, and that puts the delicious crisp aromatic white and red wines of New Zealand front and centre.

Here are a dozen picks designed to pique your interest in Kiwi wine, and if the screwcaps don’t win you over because they are so damned easy to open, the flavours surely will.

Cool-climate merlot with soft peppery cassis fruit aromas and smoky, bell pepper, olive, spicy resiny black cherry flavours. Serve on the patio with hamburgers and grilled sausages.

Fresh, crisp, dry style with green apple skin, lime rind, green peach and slate flavours. Fine for oysters and clams.

Big gooseberry, smoky jalapeno, mineral, green apple nose with melon, kiwi/grapefruit flavours and a chalky, citrus finish. Think mussels.