Coney Wines launched its first-ever bubbly last month, which reminded me of a conversation with friends at a winery in the deep south about how hugely under-rated high quality sparkling wines are in New Zealand today.
There is clear potential for Aotearoa New Zealand to forge a dazzling path forward for its sparkling wines and the latest new addition from Coney proves this point
– along with its outstanding counterparts from wineries such as Quartz Reef in Central Otago, where bubbly now constitutes 50 per cent of its total production.
“Sparkling has been on my mind for a long time,” says winemaker Lisa Coney.
Her new wine, Brillante, has been a labour of love for over three years while it has aged on ‘tirage’, a French word that means the time a sparkling wine spends on
its decomposing yeast lees in the bottle. Despite the sound of anything decomposing, this process adds incredible depth and richness of flavour to the best champagnes and, in their footsteps, great sparkling wines from elsewhere.
The volumes of the first Brillante are small and the price is relatively high at RRP $75 but there were a lot of bells and whistles involved in its production. Not to mention three years of ageing and a meticulous wine-making process.
Coney’s aim was to make a wine with structure and bright fruit flavours, which reflects its relatively reliable climate of origin and is made using the same wine-making methods used in the Champagne region in France.
Those wine-making methods are collectively described as méthode traditionnelle. This is the traditional way of making sparkling wine in the Champagne region and further afield in typically cool climates, such as the northern Italian region of Lombardy, pockets of crisp cool weather areas in South Africa, Tasmania, Victoria in Australia and throughout New Zealand from Martinborough south.
The traditional method includes initial fermentation in oak barrels or stainless steel tanks followed by blending, finishing the wine-making process and then beginning it all again in heavy bottles with a little unfermented grape juice and carefully measured yeast, which induces a second fermentation. The wine is then left in the bottle following its second fermentation, during which the carbon dioxide from the ferment dissolves into the wine and the yeast lees release delicious, bakery-like aromas.
Wine of the month: 2021 Coney Brillante Blanc de Blancs RRP $75
Brillante is made entirely from Chardonnay, hence the French term blanc de blanc, or white of white. It’s crisp, fresh, creamy and complex with all the delicious aromas of a bakery which has just opened its doors.
It was made at Coney wines and disgorged in Hawke’s Bay by Méthode Services.
Available now at Coney Wines and online at www.coneywines.com
