I have written reasonable amounts about Charles Wiffen (see Charles Wiffen Sav Blanc) so will supply info only on the wine.

This Riesling is made using Cryo-extraction. It certainly hasn't suffered through this process. The wine is a 500ml bottle uncommon in sticky's in NZ and consequently stands out on the shelf.

Colour: Lemon gold
Nose: Spicy ginger character evident with hints of citrus (particularly lemon and orange).
Palate: Good acid and length, with reasonable finish, which seemed to leave very little on the palate. Mayhap the high acids gave the effect of drying.
Overall: 84 on the Jeremy Scale. This wine sells for around $30 NZD and is a B- on the QPR scale.

Nice TN's, Jeremy. I was just reading your other TN on the Pegasus Bay Riesling. You just rated that wine a 94 and gave it a B- for QPR at a price of $30NZ. And this wine is rated an 84 by you and a B- for QPR at the same price of $30NZ. I was just wondering if there was an error somewhere or if you feel that both are slightly above average from a QPR standpoint. Thanks.

jb

I think for riesling there are some 90+ pointers around that cost less and thus the Pegasus seems a little pricey hence the lower mark.

Stickies are often more expensive and because it is a 500ml bottle it equates to better value. Hence a lower score but a B- on the QPR.

I mark QPR ona comparative scale not just on points. IE there are few excellent Gewurzt in NZ but those that are made tend to be quite expensive so they score differently to a Riesling where there are large amount of good quality examples for cheaper prices. The same with Sav Blanc. I feel irrelevant of score any sav blanc over $30 NZD is automatically a B on the QPR scale.

So I have a sliding QPR scale but a fixed scoring scale.

Does that make sense?

Absolutely.

Thanks, Jeremy.

jb

I didn't know ice wines were produced in NZ, Jeremy, though I'm not surprised given the level of technology today.

Is there much made?

Icewines are made less commonly than full botrytis and late harvest styles. Nearly every vineyard has a Sticky wine as well as the standard range of table wines. Looking at the last Cuisine listing of NZ Sticky's tasted the numbers are four hundred and seventy three, which out of about five hundred vineyards is pretty impressive.