"What's the best winery in New Zealand?"
This question sometimes comes up at Bokumo counters.
Hmm.
"Number one" is difficult, isn't it?
Cloudy Bay is probably the most well-known name in the world.
I think the winery that exports the most to Japan is Sileni .
The most expensive one is probably "Providence" . No, "Destiny Bay" might be more expensive now.
There are many different standards. There are many different kinds of number one.
In wine-producing regions like Bordeaux in France, where there is a legally defined ranking system, it is easier to understand and you can say, "These five wineries are first class."
However, New Zealand, which has a short history of winemaking, does not have a legal classification system (although I believe Bordeaux's hierarchy is exceptionally strict among the world's wine producing regions).
However, in New Zealand there is also something called critical evaluation.
A well-known example is the score given by American wine journalist Robert Parker Jr. in Wine Advocate magazine, known as the Parker points.
This isn't so much about deciding who is the best, but rather about Parker (and his colleagues) rating the quality of the wine on a scale of 100 points based on their personal preferences.
If the wine gets a higher score, people will think, "The critics say it's a good wine," and "So it must be delicious," and the wine will sell better.
Well, this isn't a rating of the winery, it's a rating of each individual bottle of wine.
I can't really answer the question, "Which winery is the best?"
However, in New Zealand, there are wine critics who rank wineries every year.
His name is Bob Campbell.
The calculation method has not been made public, but it appears that the wines sold by a single winery are tasted and the quality of each wine is assessed, with the better wineries being ranked higher.
It costs no money to have Bob taste wines, and he boasts that he receives no profits from the wineries, so his wine review site, "The Real Review," is said to be "highly transparent" and "objective" in New Zealand.
So, the number one spot in Bob's latest winery ranking for 2021 is Destiny Bay , which I mentioned earlier.
So, if someone asked me now what's the best thing in New Zealand, I think this might be it.
(We expect to start selling "Destiny Bay" at Bokumo Wine sometime this year, so please look forward to it.)
And among the wines currently available at Bokumo Wine, the one with the highest Bob rating is Felton Road, which ranked third in 2019, fourth in 2020, and third in 2021.
Felton Road was one of the most impressive wineries I have visited.
We wanted to make sure to introduce this flavor through our mail order service, so we have been selling it at Bokumo Wine since we opened a year ago.
That's right. When I was visiting my cousin who lives in New Zealand, I mentioned to him that I wanted to go to Felton Road, and his wife, Yoko, immediately phoned him and said, "We have a sommelier from Japan, so let's take a look around inside." That's the winery she arranged.
The tour actually happened the very next day. Viva Yoko.
The vineyards are located on beautiful hills and are carefully managed, the farming methods are biodynamic, and the yeast is wild.
The winery is compact but streamlined. We were shown concrete fermentation tanks, storage tanks, and aging cellars, which are not usually shown to the public, and it was very educational.
What surprised me the most was the brewing method known as the "gravity flow system." The fermentation tanks were built on top of a hill, and all the equipment was laid out so that the grapes and juice could be brewed by moving downwards without resisting gravity.
"We don't use pumps and just use the weight of the grapes, which gives it a natural flavor," he explained.
I had the opportunity to sample it at the cellar door and was deeply impressed by its soft yet seemingly infinitely rich flavour.
I see. So this is the kind of taste you get when you use a slope to make it without defying gravity.
"Thank you, the blessings of the earth."
Such words come out of my mouth out of nowhere. I wonder if this is what deliciousness tastes like.
It was the first time I realized that wine is a "drink of the hills."
Felton Road is ranked third in New Zealand in Bob's latest rating of 2021, but it is ranked first among wineries that focus on Pinot Noir.
In other words, I think it's fair to say that Felton Road is the pinnacle of New Zealand Pinot Noir, which is attracting attention from around the world .
And now, a year has passed since I decided that I wanted to share at least a little of this excitement with people all over Japan through Bokumo Wine.
I'd say we've probably delivered around 50 or 60 Felton Roads in the past year.
Well, there's more. I want to deliver more.
I would like all wine lovers and all fans of New Zealand to know about this amazing Pinot.
With this in mind, I came up with a few ideas for a project to celebrate the first anniversary of Bokumo Wine.
Here's the announcement.
Boxmo Wine's 1st Anniversary Special: 40% off the prestigious Felton Road Pinot! (Conditions apply)
It's a whopping 40% off because we want as many people as possible to drink New Zealand's top Pinot.
But there are conditions, which I'll explain later.
By the way, Felton Road's highest-end range of Pinot Noir is called the "Block Series," which is brewed from individual vineyards and is extremely rare and difficult to obtain.
Next is the series of wines from each region, such as "Cornish Point" and "Calvert". These are sold by Bokumo Wine and cost just under 10,000 yen.
The most affordable is the series called "Bannockburn," named after the subregion.
Even so, it is still quite expensive at 8,360 yen.
However, I believe that Bannockburn offers an excellent balance between price and flavor.
If you're looking to enjoy a Pinot of this class in Burgundy or California, you'll probably need a slightly larger budget.
The plan for Bokumo Wine's first anniversary is to offer this product at 40% off, for 5,016 yen, during the month of July.
▶ Bokumo Wine's 1st Anniversary Special! 40% off on prestigious Felton Road Pinot!
However, there are conditions. Sorry...
The condition is that you purchase a total of six bottles of wine from Bokumo Wine, including other wines. If you do so, you will receive a 40% discount on "Felton Road Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2020."
I'm sorry that it's not a 40% discount per item... but I hope that you will enjoy other New Zealand wines as well, and then taste "This is New Zealand's finest Pinot!"
Of course, if you have this wine and a wine cellar, I believe that its value will increase even more in five or even ten years' time, so I hope you will enjoy it as it ages.
I apologize if this sounds a bit like an advertisement, but the 40% discount is a one-time offer, and as this is a wine that I truly love, I thought it would be okay if it felt like an advertisement, which is why I ended up writing this blog.
Enjoy NZ wine!
Enjoy Felton Road!
By the way, locals don't call it "Pinot Noir" but "Pinot Noix."
Enjoy Pinot Noir!
