Stephen Smith, Master of Wine and chief oenologist at Craggy Range Vineyards in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, suspects his wines are cross-dressers - and he's right. The Craggy Range team produces restrained elegant wines that Smith describes as 'New Zealand wines with a European focus'.
For a start, they produce their wines from single vineyards only - allowing the fruit's true expression to emerge, giving each wine its own site-based personality. A team of three winemakers headed by Smith produce 25 to 30 individual wines including vivacious riesling from the South Island to bordeaux-style reds from the North Island. Unlike most antipodean riesling producers, Craggy Range deliberately chose to emulate wines from Germany's famed Mosel Valley with both their Fletcher Family and Glasnevin Gravels bottlings fermenting the low alcohol levels (10 per cent by volume) characteristic of the region.
Smith, who is the first viticulture specialist to have passed the rigorous Master of Wine exams, suggests the further south you travel in New Zealand, the more Mosel-like the wines become. 'Only Germany and New Zealand produce riesling from sites with humidity of more than 50 per cent, whereas Washington [in the United States] and Australia grow riesling in much drier climates.'
As with most high-quality New Zealand winemakers, Craggy Range's rieslings are sealed with screwcaps. 'Wines under screwcap need more air,' says Steve, so be sure to select glassware that allows you to swirl the wine.
Craggy Range, Riesling, Glasnevin Gravels Vineyards, Waipara 2008
It is often said that a sign of a wine quality is the capability of the liquid to evolve and change in the glass. While at first glance this wine was quiet, offering light citrus and mineral notes only, 10 minutes later delicate apple blossoms began to waft from the glass and the nuanced layers of flavour did not stop evolving until the glass was empty. There is a slight candyfloss character on the palate, balanced by juicy acidity that gives the wine a sweet-sour twist at the finish; an elegant wine with substantial length.
