Liquorland has a superb selection of wines from New Zealand and abroad. We know a stupid amount about wine, and that includes bringing you the newest tipples to taste. Read on for a brief guide on the different types of wine or don't forget that you can always speak to any of our friendly staff in-store for all the help you need.
Wine Varieties in a Nutshell
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Cabernet & Cabernet Blends
They keep getting better
Cabernet Sauvignon is seen as the undisputed king of red grapes. It is a hardy, versatile grape, perfectly suited to producing powerful, lustrous red wines that can age for decades and continually get better. Cabernets can be mellow and mild, hearty and rich. It has a deep red color, with the primary taste being black currant. Other overtones can include blackberry and mint. Traditionally aged in oak, the wine also takes on an oaky, vanilla flavor. Higher quality cabs age extremely well (although a bit slowly), developing a sprinkling of five or six tastes within it.
Food Match
Cabernet goes well with beef, lamb and goose, especially when cooked with herbs. It also is a great match for brie, cheddar cheese and chocolate.
Pinot Noir
A soft red
Pinot Noir is sweeter than its Cabernet Sauvignon cousin, holding much less tannin. A Pinot Noir's color can be any of a range of colors - from cherry red to puple-red and even brown as the wine ages. Typical flavors include earth, leather, vanilla (from the oak), and jam ... the fruity flavors of the jam often taste like raspberry, strawberry, and plum. The wine is fairly light in color as a result of the grapes' thinner skins. Pinot Noir will age well for some time, but a good Pinot Noir wine may also be enjoyed young.
Food Match
With its rich flavours and soft tannins Pinot Noir suits a wide range of dishes such as veal, venison and turkey as well as a red-sauce pasta.
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Merlot & Merlot Blends
The perfect drop
Merlot is seen as being the most drinkable of red wines. Merlot’s sweetness helps to counteract the tannins in younger examples, making Merlot much softer than the sometimes harsh young Cabernet Sauvignon wines. Merlot is best described as having a rather velvety texture, with a fair amount of spice, It is mellow but still complex - a bit chewy.
For many people, Merlot is the best choice for a simple, no-thought drinking wine. It tends to be somewhat interesting without being overly complex, is smoother than comparable Cabernet Sauvignons, and can in general be drunk favorably at a younger age, while still aging well and leading to some impressive longer-lived wines.
Food Match
It is a perfect match for beef and other medium-heavy dishes. Try some with a rich, red pasta dish, or even a heavy chicken dish. Merlot is also an excellent compliment to chocolate.
Syrah / Shiraz
Dark and spicy
Known as Shiraz in Australia and Syrah in New Zealand, Shiraz/Syrah is a very dark wine with a very full and robust body and is one of the spicier red wines. Shiraz/Syrah is known for its spicy blackberry, plum, and peppery flavors. Often there are additional notes of licorice, bitter chocolate and mocha. Shiraz is even affected by growing temperature - warmer climates bring out the mellower flavors of plum, while cooler temperatures spice up the wine. Shiraz/Syrah can be made in a fruity style, which many "sweet" wine drinkers enjoy. It can also be made in a dry style.
Food Match
Shiraz and Syrah go very well with beef and other hearty foods. They also goes well with Indian, Mexican, and other spicy foods.
Rose
Perfect for summer
Rose wines are traditionally made from red wine grapes. All grapes are white on the inside. It is only the outside skin that is red or white. The reason red wines are red in color is that, during the winemaking process, the wine makers let those red skins "sit" on the wine juice. The red color soaks from the skins into the resulting wine. The longer the winemaker lets the skins stay with the juice, the darker and rich the color becomes. Therefore, to make a light rose wine, with a light pink/blush color, the winemaker simply lets those skins stay in touch with the wine for a very short period of time. The wine only becomes light pink in color rather than dark red. The flavor is also light and fruity.
Food Match
Many people find their crispness and lightness very refreshing in hot weather, leading to them being often referred to as summer wines. Rose goes very well with salads and light dishes.
Chardonnay
The full-flavoured white
The white wine for red wine drinkers, Chardonnay is usually fuller-bodied than other white wines and has usually been made with some oak influence (unless the wine label states 'unoaked'). With quite a low natural acidity, the wines tend to be quite rich with a creamy, almost buttery character. Tropical fruits are often found in New Zealand Chardonnay’s, particularly those from the North Island, while the South Island wines and Marlborough in particular tend to produce chardonnays with a more citrus character and slightly firmer acidity.
International offerings
The most famous Chardonnays come from the Burgundy region of France, but it is a grape variety that travels well and can be found extensively in Australia, South America, the USA and Europe.
Food Match
Easy with food, Chardonnay works well with chicken and pork dishes – particularly roasts, as well as chargrilled vegetables and white meats. It is a natural with root veges too and loves fish such as fresh salmon. Enjoy with Liquorland’s national bird – roast chook.
Sauvignon Blanc
A New Zealand specialty
Fresh, zesty wines with an aroma that hits you at 40 paces, the world’s leading Sauvignon Blanc style is from Marlborough. Aromatic, intense, zesty, one sniff and the taste buds are tingling with anticipation. The array of pungent flavours can include ripe and juicy tropical fruits or follow a more herbaceous style with chopped capsicum, citrus and grassy overtones.
European offerings
France’s Loire Valley produces perhaps the most famous French styles, being those of Sancerre and Pouilly Fume. Bone dry with no oak influence, these elegant, mineral style, ‘flinty’ wines are a more subtle alternative to the Marlborough style.
Food Match
As a fruit filled, flavoursome wine with quite firm acidity and hint of sweetness, Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is great as a glass to enjoy on its own or with seafood such as shellfish, green salads and dishes with freshly chopped herbs. The most famous tipple in the Land - just drinking it makes you a good citizen!
Pinot Gris & Pinot Grigio
The likeable wine
One of the most popular types of wine drunk in New Zealand, Pinot Gris is one of the most agreeable wines regardless of your palate, perhaps because Pinot Gris is more about texture than flavour. Grown throughout the country, New Zealand Pinot Gris has a spicier and more full-bodied style than the drier Pinot Grigio, with notes of apple, pear, honeysuckle, spice and bread. Climate is the major factor in creating regional styles. The warmer north island creates ripe, fat, oily styles, while the cooler south island produces tighter wines with great structure.
The mutant grape
Interestingly, the gray-red grape that makes Pinot Gris is a mutation of the Pinot Noir grape. The color difference is derived from a genetic mutation that occurred centuries ago. In fact, the leaves and the vines of both grapes are so similar that the colouration is the only aspect that differentiates the two!
Food Match
Pinot Gris with its zesty and refeshing acidity pairs really well with fresh vegetables, raw fish and lighter meals. Fish and shellfish are classic pairing partners with Pinot Gris.
Viognier
The next big thing
Viognier is a full-on, full-bodied white wine with plenty of aroma, flavour and weight. Often reminiscent of peaches and apricots together with spicy, toasty oak. Dry, but with lots of concentrated ripe stone fruit flavours, this is a satisfying wine style not for the faint hearted.
In Australasia
Though originally from the northern Cotes du Rhone in France, Viognier makes some great wines in Australia and New Zealand and at far more accessible prices. South Australia, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay are the ones to look out for.
Food Match
Full flavoured wine needs a full flavoured dish. Try with Moroccan flavours such as tagines, roast chicken with herb and fruit stuffing, pork, rich risottos, and the odd Asian inspired dish such as laksa.
Gewürztraminer
The demanding grape
Gewürztraminer is a very perfumed, aromatic wine with aromas and flavours of Turkish Delight, roses, lychees and jasmine. Sometimes dry but usually with some sweetness, Gewürztraminer is a fickle grape to grow and demands much attention in both the vineyard and winery.
New Zealand growing areas
Gisborne, Hawkes Bay and Marlborough all make excellent Gewürztraminer, managing to capture the essence of its heady nature. It is also widely planted in Germany and in Alsace, France.
Food Match
A lovely glass of wine on its own, its powerful array of spicy, pungent flavours are well matched with Thai food in particular or if a sweet wine, then with subtle fruit desserts. You don’t need to be able to pronounce it to enjoy this fine tipple!
Riesling
The diverse grape
Grown primarily in the South Island where the climate is ideal, Riesling currently provides greater depth than any other variety grown in New Zealand, with styles ranging from bone dry to lushly sweet. Flavours are just as diverse - you’ll find stonefruit and spice characters from sunny Nelson; lemon, lime and spice from Marlborough; and green apples and citrus from the cooler Waipara Valley and Central Otago regions. If you're looking to step out of your comfort zone a little, New Zealand Riesling is still one of the best value for money wine varieties and a good place to start in your wine adventures out of the comfort zone as it offers two things - aging ability and versatility.
Food Match
Riesling’s combination of fruit intensity, citrus notes and refreshing acidity makes it a wine for asian cuisine. Enjoy the drier styles with salads, light seafood or chicken dishes, and the sweeter styles with spicy Asian foods or with Japanese tempura.
Champagne
Only in France
Champagne is a region of France, and only wines which come from this region can properly be called "Champagne". After primary fermentation, the wine is bottled and a second fermentation occurs in the bottle. Champagne's signature bubbles were included by accident back in the 1700s, wine was supposed to be flat, like most wine is today. Bubbles were an error in the process, and the monk Dom Pérignon worked hard to remove them. Instead, he found methods of blending and clarifying the drink, and soon it was sought after by French aristocracy.
An Italian thing
Only in Italy
Just as only sparkling wine from Champagne can be called "Champagne", "Prosecco" is the name reserved for a sparkling wine made in the Veneto region of Italy around the city of Treviso. Prosecco is produced primarily from the prosecco or a.k.a glera grape, which is native to the Veneto region. Prosecco is generally characterized by notes of green apples, citrus and white flowers that are usually light and delicate and not exceedingly complex. Some prosecco even borders on sweet, or what’s known as off-dry.
Sparkling Wine & Methode Traditionelle
A variety
There are a few different types of bubbly - brut is the driest, and the "standard". Extra-dry is less dry than Brut. Sec is sweet, and Demi Sec is even sweeter. Methode traditionelle is made the same way as champagne, but cannot be called champagne as it wasn’t made int that region. Sparkling wine is the third version of bubbly where the bubbles are introduced by adding carbon dioxide during the bottling process.
Serve it the right way
Bubbly is best served in in tall, narrow-necked glasses, called flutes. Do not use wide-brimmed glasses - they cause the drink to quickly lose both bubbles and flavor. Chilling the wine keeps the aromatics of the bubbles, maintains bubble size and prevents frothing/ foaming, but too chilled takes away aromatics. A couple of hours in the fridge is a good guide.
Liquorland is a specialist liquor retailer formed in 1981 with 18 stores and has grown to over 100 stores nationwide.
