The panel was impressed by another outstanding Top 5. You’ll see that all but one of the top nine wines are described on their labels as Noble or Late Harvest. Noble means the wine was made mainly from botrytised fruit – grapes infected by noble rot, a fungus that can attack any overripe white grapes left hanging on the vines, so producing some of the most delectable wines on earth (eg Sauternes in France). Such wines are rich, very sweet and oily in texture. They go well with rich smooth pâtés and strong blue cheeses. With a lower botrytis content, late harvest wines are lighter, less sweet and go best with sweet, fruit-rich desserts. Riesling shines in this class, but our top spot went to semillon. The perfect finish to a special dinner, these honeyed beauties are to be savoured.

The Tasting Panel
Panel chair John Belsham, highly respected international wine judge and owner of Foxes Island Wines, Marlborough, was joined by James Rowan, winemaker at Auckland’s West Brook Winery, and Sam Kim, senior Auckland wine judge and Wine Orbit author. Associate judge (non-scoring) was Cuisine’s New Zealand wine writer, John Saker.