One of the joys of wine is that sense of place and time they can give you. Either through travel, food or even a local Italian restaurant wines often typify the culture and people that have created them.
French wines often have a certain restrained grace about them, which makes them very good for food, so we remember them with friends and social events. Spanish and Italian wines often have that hot-blooded and vivid style of sun and sea, often encountered first on holidays, Spanish wines always remind me of hot summers, and Italian hearty Tuscan meals. Australian wines, well.. anyone who has met an Australian and has drunk an aussie Shiraz will understand what that’s all about.
Then there is New Zealand, geographically close to Australia, but worlds apart, purity, vibrancy and intensity are words often associated with New Zealands wines, if a wine can sound like a country can look, then it sounds just like their landscape.
The French call it ‘terroir’, which the Oxford dictionary describes as, “the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography and climate.” ‘Gout de terroir’ is further described as “the characteristic taste and flavour imparted to a wine by the environment in which it is produced.”
Personally I like to drink a wine that reminds me of where it comes from, so it is our intention that all of our wines are good examples of what they should be, if it says Gevrey-Chambertin on the label then it should taste like one and not a Nuits-St-Georges, even though it may come from the same grower and has the same grape variety and is only five miles down the road… to that end you will find many iconic and well-known wines on our list and offers, because they are famous above all for quality but also for being exactly what they should be, and whilst rarely cheap, always good value.
Don’t worry if you haven’t been to New Zealand (neither have I…yet!) or indeed any other particular country, a good glass of wine will help you get to know it. If in doubt try reading a travel article whilst drinking a glass from the same country, even if you decide I’m talking rubbish, you can enjoy the glass and the read…
David Vernau