BEIJING, May 29 --Wine consumption on the Chinese mainland is tiny by world standards, at about half a glass per person per year. In Australia, where I live, average wine consumption is about 80 glasses a year.
Australia makes good pinot noir. But pinot noir from New Zealand's Central Otago region has been receiving much attention from the world's influential wine critics.
Rudi Bauer, winemaker for Quartz Reef in Central Otago, is the region's best-known winemaker. He was one of six people short-listed as international winemaker of the year, the equivalent of a wine-world Oscar.
.Gibbston Valley was an early standard setter in Central Otago, its 2000 vintage gaining the trophy for best pinot noir at the London International Wine Challenge. Such is the demand for that wine that it sells for $NZ 450 ($300) a bottle.
In 2008 the Wild Earth 2006 pinot noir received an award for best pinot, and then the trophy for champion red wine, at the International Wine Challenge in London. Last year, Cuisine magazine named the wine New Zealand's best pinot noir.
Wild Earth's owner Quintin Quider, an American, told me yields were deliberately kept low to improve fruit quality. The vineyard sits at the end of Felton Road, opposite the famous Felton Road Vineyard.
Next door to Wild Earth, another American, Jen Parr, is weaving magic in the vineyard at Olssens, and picking up lots of awards, especially for her whites. Parr's 2009 Annieburn Riesling is sold out, such is the demand for this sweet delight. The 2009 dry version of the Riesling has elegance and great length, with hints of honeysuckle and lime.
Perhaps the best-known red at Olssens is the Nipple Hill pinot noir. It is a friendly, entry-level red with plenty of ripe fruit.
I had to work until late at home tonight so I opened a bottle of the 2002 to help me along.
It is gorgeous.........interestingly, it starts off very light indeed on the nose and light and refined on the palate (predominantly cherries) so that you think it has faded from its younger power but it then puts on increasing weight with extended time in the glass and three hours after opening it is absolutely gorgeous and still unfolding weightier aromas and palate sensations (milky coffee, kirsch, caramel). Most of all, it still drinks like it is a pretty adolescent who will grow up to be a stunner. This has at least another 3-5 years to evolve, unfold and improve further.
Just to share.......
With warm regards,
Mike (Hong Kong)
Wine Maker of the Year -
Royal Agricultural Society Gold Medal: Rudi Bauer, Central Otago
Posted 29th March, 2010
While Rudi was attending the DER FEINSCHMECKER Wine Awards in Germany as a Winemaker of the Year nominee, he was awarded Wine Maker of the Year 2010 New Zealand Agricultural Society Royal Easter Show.
The Royal Easter Show Wine Awards is New Zealand’s oldest, most respected wine competition.
Rudi, who is currently in Germany to attend the DER FEINSCHMECKER Wine Awards, was surprised and honoured to have been awarded the Royal Agricultural Society Gold Medal.
“It was a great surprise when I found out about the award. It’s a true honour to be recognised amongst New Zealand’s finest wine makers, “says Rudi.
An Italian winemaker won the Wine Maker of the Year award at the DER FEINSCHMECKER Wine Awards in Germany. Rudi was one of six people nominated for the award, dubbed the ‘wine Oscars’.
Rudi, Austrian by birth, has been working in New Zealand since 1985. He moved to Central Otago to make the region's first gold and trophy Pinot Noir at Rippon Vineyard in 1991. Rudi moved on to Canterbury to produce consistent medal-winners for Giesen over five years. In 1996 Rudi formed Quartz Reef in Bendigo, Central Otago specialising in Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Methode Traditionnelle.
Kiwi winemaker up for prestigious award
Posted 25th January, 2010
For the first time ever a Kiwi winemaker is in the running for what has been dubbed the Oscars of the wine world.
Cromwell, Central Otago is as far as you can get from the traditional world of wine in Europe, but one vineyard is impressing them.
Wine guru Oz Clarke checked out Quartz Reed Vineyard and was impressed with what he tasted. For more click here
Video courtesy of tvnz
An Austrian in NZ
Posted 13th October, 2009
One of the great pleasures of working in the wine trade is meeting a host of people for whom their sense of adventure as well as a desire to make great wine has taken them far from their native places. A great example of just such a globetrotting grape fanatic is Rudi Bauer of Quartz Reef. Presumably quite at home in the mountains of New Zealand’s South Island, Rudi is nonetheless pretty far from his Austrian birthplace. Here he explains how it all happened, and just why Bendigo is (going to be) a great spot for his beloved Pinot Noir.
Video courtesy of Enotria
Radio NZ review by John Hawkesby, 17th August “Quartz Reef Non Vintage…..another Central Otago beauty from Rudi Bauer – Real Champagne you have when you are not having Champagne – sophisticated, suave, complex (a bit like myself); lovely biscuity after taste, lovely texture, fresh, crisp and elegant – will allow the chocolate to sing, at the same time cleansing the pallet” Listen to the whole interview here
Quartz Reef Bendigo Estate Pinot Noir 2006
96/100
Superb depth and doubled-up richness in this super cuvee from Rudi Bauer. Strong ripe cherry and spiced blueberry fruits, some savoury biscuit oak – very pure and direct.
The palates dense yet elegant, and files tannins in ascending layers, a savoury commanding finish. Intensity with grace. The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 2009
Quartz Reef Pinot Noir 2006
A bold, fleshy, generous red … It’s a deeply coloured wine, muscular, warm and savoury, with cherryish, nutty flavours showing excellent complexity and density. Quartz Reef Pinot Noir 2007
Dark, fragrant, sturdy and savoury, with sweet fruit flavours of cherries, plums and spices, rich and finely textured. Quartz Reef Bendigo Estate Pinot Noir 2005
Richly coloured, with a highly fragrant and complex bouquet, it’s a powerful, authoritative, savoury, very concentrated red. Quartz Reef Bendigo Estate Pinot Noir 2006
Deeply coloured, with a strong seasoning of new oak. Still very youthful, it is sweet-fruited, with rich cherry, plum and spice flavours and firm underlying tannins. It’s clearly a keeper. Michael Cooper’s Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wines 2009
Gourmet Traveller Wine Top 12 Tasted & Rated
NZ Sparkling Wines Bob Campbell
The gap between New Zealand’s finest sparkling wines and those hailing from Champagne is closing at a rate of knots, according to Bob Campbell MW. His top 12 is a case in point with cool contenders Marlborough and Central Otago leading the charge. 93/100
2003 Quartz Reef Chauvet
It had three years and nine months maceration before being riddled and disgorged. Unusually, it has not undergone malolactic fermentation. The result is a rich, bready wine made in an oxidative style with a suggestion of sherry-like aldehydes. It’s a pure, lifted methode with a strong character, an ethereal texture and a pleasantly drying finish. The wine achieves some of the almost perfume-like aromatics I expect to find in Champagne.
Dec’08/Jan’09
