Face Down in a Wet Rock Garden, By W. Blake Gray
San Francisco food, wine and spirits writer W. Blake Gray, has a soft spot for New Zealand Riesling made clear in the following article...
"New Zealand Riesling is one of my favorite under-appreciated wine categories, and a major reason is minerality.
Frequently I smell chalk, white stones, and other mineral notes in these wines; it's rare when I don't. Minerality is a loaded term for chemists and wine researchers, because it can be a catch-all for any non-fruit aromas. In New Zealand Rieslings it's often not elusive; some smell like you fell face down in a wet rock garden planted with stone fruit trees.
It's really noticeable if you open a group of New Zealand Rieslings at once, as I have had the pleasure to do twice recently. They might be from anywhere in the country, and their sweetness levels vary a lot, but that current of minerality is a defining trait.
I called a couple of Kiwi winemakers to see if they could explain why this is so.
"A lot of the reason for New Zealand Rieslings being the way they are is the cool climate, maritime influence, and very big diurnal variation," says Lynette Hudson, winemaker for Pegasus Bay in Waipara Valley. "
Hudson says the region that seems geologically most likely to produce minerally Rieslings is Central Otago. "There's a lot of schist in the soils down there," she says. "There's a lot of potential." However, she says Central Otago winemakers have tended to make a very tight, austere style of Riesling, in part because of their unfamiliarity with it. Growers are making good money with Pinot Noir, so there isn't much financial incentive to plant Riesling."
For the full article go to http://www.winereviewonline.com/Blake_Gray_on_NZ_Riesling.cfm