WHAT HAPPENS WHEN champenois expertise, knowledge and love of craft meets the best of Marlborough grapes? Magic, it would seem, as this Mumm Marlborough Brut Prestige NV stole the hearts and palates of the panel to win the top méthode traditionnelle 2020. There’s a field of thought out there in the wine world that in New Zealand we should be as famous for our sparkling wine as we are for our sauvignon blanc. The quality is most certainly there and it’s true to say that no maison de champagne would stake their reputation on a partnership such as this if they didn’t believe in the purity of New Zealand fruit. Simply put, this collaboration with Maison Champagne Mumm is the ultimate collaboration between the old and new wine worlds. Chief Mumm Marlborough winemaker Jamie Marfell – who has been crafting both still and sparkling wine in Marlborough for 18 years – consults across the globe with the Mumm team in Reims, Champagne to ensure the shared vision of excellence is achieved in the bottle and ultimately in your glass of Mumm Marlborough Brut Prestige. Made with 46% pinot noir, 45% chardonnay and 9% pinot meunier, this superbly crafted méthode traditionnelle has sublime citrus and lime aromas intertwined with toasty, crushed super wine biscuits and complex autolytic characters on the nose. Fresh, bright fruit and a fine bead that runs a steely and defined line straight through the palate keep this sparkling, bright, alive and invigorating. In a word, stunning.