Colin and Rob Forbes do “research” in NZ

On our trip to the extremely picturesque Marlborough region of the South Island of New Zealand we were stunned by the expanse of vineyards.  The region is more than twice as large as the Barossa region.  Much of that is of course planted to Sauvignon Blanc, but there is a significant amount of Riesling which we of course targeted and there is also some Pinot Noir.  We found that there were two styles of Riesling: firstly the dry botrytis style and secondly a cleaner, dry style with which Australians are more familiar.  Some examples of both styles were fantastic and the dry style gave food for thought on how to build Riesling palate structure.  We will be taking this on board for future vintages.

May 2013