Wine columnist RICHARD CALVER has been cycling in NZ… and enjoying some local wine, where he could find it.

I’M  a little sheepish about sharing with ewe the fact that I spent most of the month of February in NZ, eh. 

It is the land of my upbringing and the place where I return to undertake outdoor adventures and where I recently completed the Nelson Taste trail on an e-bike with 10 other people, some whom I’ve known for more than 40 years. 

While we were tasting produce and visiting two wineries (Seifried Estate and Te Mania) in the region around Nelson (which is at the northern end of the South Island), the North Island of NZ was being pounded by Cyclone Gabrielle. 

The weather destroyed many, many Hawkes Bay wineries. It was ultimately tragic for the four dead and 10,000 people displaced by this weather bomb. 

We were very lucky to enjoy sunny weather with very little wind in the pocket of the country we explored. The luck we had was accompanied by a quotient of guilt and angst that others were suffering as we enjoyed the fruits of the land. 

As Nelson is surrounded on three sides by mountains, it enjoys a unique mesoclimate that produces some very good grape varietals, although I didn’t care for the Te Mania sauvignon blanc. 

We actually found it difficult to get locally produced wine in the restaurants that were recommended, a disappointment as promotion of the local wine should be a priority. 

At Seifried, I shouted our group to a Pinot Rosé 2022 that the manager of the place let us drink with our cut lunches under the shade of some mature trees. The price was marked up to $NZ45 when it is usually $NZ20 a bottle so we paid a surcharge for eating and drinking in the lovely winery garden. 

The wine’s temperature and texture suited the heat of the day and allowed our systems to be settled after crossing a busy highway where some motorists were unsympathetic to our party’s attempt to just get to the other side of the road. 

The intense strawberry flavour and slight acidity cut through the clagginess of my self-prepared ham, cheese and tomato sandwich and it took us out of the ordinary as enjoying a small glass of wine during the day can do. But never enough to make that bike wobbly!

A member of our party was particularly partial to pinot noirs from Otago and purchased the Roaring Meg Pinot Noir 2021, which we enjoyed at various meals where we self-catered. 

This wine features flavours of black cherry and spice and was good value for money, at under $NZ30. This wine reinforced my view that Otago pinot noirs are up there with the best in the world, especially given value-for-money considerations.

On my return to Australia, I felt deracinated [removed from home]. In NZ I’d had a physical and recreational challenge that completely filled my days: we rode 73 kilometres one day to reach our required destination to be fed and watered. 

On my return I’m embracing retirement and the need to impose my own discipline on the passage of each day. 

While shopping in Manuka I saw that French Flair was offering a tasting and decided to see if they had a French pinot noir to sample to refresh my senses with this varietal. 

I was offered a taste of the Domaine Francoise et Denis Clair Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Beaune 2020, which is sold at $75 a bottle. It is a 100 per cent pinot noir from Burgundy. It was darker in colour than the NZ counterparts I’d been trying, a deep purple. It had a luscious bouquet and a tannin hit that meant it would be good drinking for some time. It was a good homecoming. 

“The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave, and it feels even better to come back.”  –Shutterfly