Unfussy Wine Enthusiasts | Wine Reviews & Articles

This is not the first choice many people make when choosing a Kim Crawford wine, but this often a mistake. Their Pinot Gris is well made and perfectly suited to the food one might eat when in New Zealand but for that matter pretty much anywhere. This Pinot Gris would pair perfectly with a ton of seafood or poultry dishes but is just as easy drinking on a sunny patio with some charcuterie and all the fixin's. The wine has a slight straw coloured hue to it but doesn't move into a particularly yellow colour which is interesting in comparison to its Italian Pinot Grigio cousins. It is surprisingly thick in the glass to the point of having some syrupy sensations as you taste it. At 13.0% one might think the alcohol / acid in there would thin that out but that's not the case. The nose is pure honey. There are very subtle notes of lemongrass and lychee in there but those are shoved aside pretty quickly for more honey. The interesting part is that the sweet nose does not re...

New Zealand was the first table we visited at the 2014 NSLC Port of Wines Festival so our palates were fresh.  We have had good luck with Stoneleigh Wines and this one truly delivers.  The price point for Kiwi wines was a bit higher than in previous years but the quality of wines were very high.  Both the whites and the reds were very solid across the board.  This wine however, was a stand out among them.  It is not a typical NZ Pinot Noir in many respects but holds true to the region in others.  The one adjective that stands out for this wine overall is "Elegance".  There is a refinement that other Pinot Noirs just don't have. In the glass the most noticeable variance from typical is that the wine, though ‎still quite light, is a much darker purple on the colour wheel.  The wine remains watery and this looking as one might expect but if the picture does it any justice at all it should the purple that you can...

This is one of the last wines we had from the 2013 NSLC Port of Wines Festival.  It sat for more than a year in our rack waiting for its turn.  We remembered nothing of the wine because it was so long ago but we were glad to see our way out of the stock from 2013.  We have had Sileni Pinot Noir as well and found that to be a great wine was well. In the glass, the wine is light yellow in colour and show a very slight effervescence which is interesting.  The other main characteristic we noticed was that the wine looked a lot less watery than we normally see if NZ Sauv Blanc. The nose is full of pears and peaches with a hint of mint.  The one main note we get is....wait for it....stinky feet.  That's right, there is a crazy amount of stink in there and it just works.  Why?  Because it's followed by a very cleansing mist of alcohol.  It is really cool. The flavour profile is a lot more traditional with a lot of pin...

‎This was a purchase at the NSLC Port of Wines Festival this year. It was an interesting taste profile so we picked up a bottle for closer inspection.  Frank Nobilo carries on the tradition of Ernie Els, Mike Weir, and other Pro Golfers who have ventured into the wine business with his Nobilo Wines .  This version is a good one. In the glass the wine is pale yellow with a green hue.  It is a watery wine and is very clear.  It looks like a Summer wine and certainly makes one want to drink it.  We miss Summer...if you couldn't tell. The nose is tropical though and through which, if this is your first review of ours you're reading, we love.  There's mango and papaya front and centre.  Beneath all that is a lemon peel element that really rounds out the nose.  Very nice smelling wine. The flavours are interesting to say the least.  It is a typically tart and crisp Sauv Blanc.  There is a citrus component on palat...

Another wine review and another apology. We were provided this wine by the team at National PR here in Halifax again almost two years ago.  Let's just say this wine has some time to bottle age.  So, thanks for the patience National PR team, we finally got to it.  It is $23 wine locally and very much a quality product when we have had it in the past. On the nose we get a LOT of floral notes, with a nutty vanilla undertone.  That is followed up quickly with a very nice cherries dipped in milk chocolate bouquet and finishes with a faint smokiness. Overall, it is quite complex. The look of this wine is in a word, light, and very typical of New Zealand Pinot Noir.  The transparency of the wine really shows your that it is Pinot Noir.  It has that c‎ranberry juice colour that normally comes with it.  As expected it is a thin wine on the swirl with quick legs.  Once again, typical. The wine is light bodied on the palate b...

The child has barely hit his crib so we have so little time to do this but we loved this wine and felt like we needed to get a post out.  This wine is really great.  We had it with some sushi and it was a nice pairing.  As a 2013 it is a really great indication of a great year in NZ.  We picked this up as an impulse purchase on our follow up trip to the NSLC for the wines we neglected to buy at the Port of Wines Festival. OK, OK, OK running out of time. Super clear wine with a very pale yellow colour.  Almost green but nice looking. Really nice bouquet with that typical tropical fruit nose.  Papaya and mango with a little starfruit and green apple.  Delicious. The flavour profile was all the good things that we love about Kiwi Sauv Blanc.  Crisp acidity in balance with luscious tart fruit.  Yet somehow, this just seems a touch better when you see that it is $19 regular price currently on for $16 locally.  Awesome.  So, her...

Courtesy CJ Pask Wines We purchased this wine just before we found out Shannon was pregnant and she graciously allowed her Mom and I to enjoy this one on a lovely late Spring evening that ended a very warm day.  We love warm weather. We enjoyed barbecue chicken with fresh avocado and balsamic tomatoes.  That paired wonderfully with a Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc.  This wine from CJ Pask is from Hawkes Bay and is reminiscent of a number of great Sauv Blancs we have had over the last year or so.  Tropical fruit abound in the nose and make for a great tasting experience. Shannon smelled this and immediately mentioned green mango which we all agreed led the way followed closely by starfruit and maybe some papaya.  Great nose! The wine was absolutely crystal clear with a very light yellow colour and a very evident greenish tinge.  It was pale in colour for sure but again really familiar with the others we have tried previously. The flavours are really nic...

So, wine blogging without Shannon is like playing in the big game with your star running back on the sidelines with a strained hammie.  Not a perfect situation by any means but you dig deep and play on. This wine was a purchase at the 2012 Port of Wines Festival where it stood out from the crowd with what we felt were strong flavours for Pinot Noir.  Well, there was some truth to that and some false memories.   The Ned from Marlborough is a nice version of Kiwi Pinot but there are some shortcomings. In the glass it is a fairly standard looking New Zealand Pinot which a light and clear colour profile with a thin structure.  Call it cranberry juice/strawberry kool-aid coloured maybe even a watery looking wine.  It is not unlike many that we have had from Marlborough so this has a similar visual.  It is a pale wine overall which screams cool climate Pinot. The nose is definitely Kiwi Pinot with loads of cherries and other berries.  The label say...

We have seen a definitely up-tick in the number of posts online covering Pinot Noir again. Could it be that the impending bursting of Spring has caused wine folks to shine a light on the lighter red?  Whatever the reason it is great to see.  Whether it be from France, California, Oregon, New Zealand, or Canada Pinot Noir is such a versatile and amazing grape.  When in cooler climates it makes a grassy and green tasting light red whereas when the growing season is warmer and longer it is a luscious and more elegant red (and darker). Seasoned wine writers like Steve Heimoff  are giving it more attention these days.  Plus, there is the everyday news coming out of the regions that grow Pinot Noir themselves like Oregon .  Makes us want to watch Sideways again...gotta check the listings and Netflix. So, in that light and given the fact we cannot wait for Spring, we wanted to highlight a few memorable Pinot Noirs that we have sampled over the last year whic...

We have a bit of a Wine Blogging conundrum on our hands.  What should you do when one of the wine reviewers is with child?  This is a wonderful and magical thing for sure and we are over the moon but from a wine tasting perspective we are in a pickle. So, what are we to do? Well, I am going to try and continue to review wines albeit at a much slower pace and potentially on weekends, as I do not need to be finishing off a bottle of wine in one sitting.  We will be supplementing our reviews with other content as you may have noticed over the last few weeks.  We have a bit of a transition to manage but once our new bundle of joy arrives we will start heading back to our European ways on wine.  Shannon can certainly use her eyes and nose as part of this but it is the tasting part she will not be engaging in.  I will try and hold up to her very high standards.  Her doctors have said that a little wine here and there is not a real danger but...

This article is our 200th post since beginning our Blog in late November 2011 and we are so glad it is coming just before the start of a New Year.  This Holiday Season has been a busy one with a lot of preparation for family and friends to enjoy our version of Holiday Cheer, which of course revolves around wine.  This year we knew we would be having Christmas Dinner outside the house so we had to make sure that the wine selections were good ones. For Christmas Dinner, we decided to have a Whitehaven Pinot Noir from New Zealand which we received as a gift.  Once we saw it we immediately knew that it would be part of the celebrations where lots of Turkey and Pork were going to be served.  It was a luscious Pinot Noir with a nice berry ripeness to it underscored by mild vegetal and green pepper notes; which we loved.  We have had their Savignon Blanc recently which we really enjoyed as well.  We also selected a Blufeld Riesling for the same dinner selecti...

We were provided this wine from Monkey Bay Wines  and very quickly we decided that we could not review it paired with the same thing as the 2004 we tried when we lived in US which was Papa John's Pizza.  A match made in heaven....we think not.  This time around it was with a Salad Niçoise and went much more smoothly. The first thing, we noted is that this wine has a lot more character than the last time we tried it.  In 2004, we thought it was a refreshing, crisp, light, and citrusy wine.  But, when paired with Papa John's we were not overly high on it.  Surprise, surprise. This time around we took a look at the colour and we were close with our opinion of the 2004, clear, pale, soft vanilla tones (think off-white), kind of a light gingerale colour.  2011 is right in the same ballpark.  The colour is a little on the dark side (golden) when compared to the Kim Crawford version.  Either way, we had the right idea back in '04. The s...

This wine was provided to us and it is the red companion to the Sauvignon Blanc we tried about a month ago.  Check out our review of that wine here . This wine was opened about 15 minutes before we drank it and immediately it had very little in common with most of the Kiwi Pinot Noirs we have seen of late.  It is not the light and grassy smelling version we are used to drinking.  This wine is dark and smells big and beautiful.  We have seen Pinots like this from California and maybe France but not from NZ....not like this. Bottom line, the look of this wine is much, much darker than the usual Pinot Noir from New Zealand.  This wine from Central Otago, is cherry red with a slight amount of transparency but is not light in colour.  Super unique compared to the norm and super interesting. The nose is fantastic on this wine.  Exemplary.  Reserved in some ways but very much a fruity and robust smell with blackberry and plum but with a fragran...

We were recently provided with two New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs; the 2011 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc (KC) from Marlborough ($23 locally) and the 2010 The People's Sauvignon Blanc (TP) also from the Marlborough region ($19 locally). We decided to do a comparison tasting with some typically Kiwi foods.  Fresh Oysters, Asian Broiled Salmon, and Pan Sauteed Lamb with a Green Salad and a Dijon Vinaigrette.  Two wines, the same grape, different vintages but the same region.  We wanted to see how these two stacked up against one another.  Rather than our typical rating (which we will provide in a shortened version) we wanted to focus on attributes and food pairing. First off the wines are so very different when it comes to food pairings it is amazing. So, we will break it down by pairing.  Let's start with the fresh Oysters (with lemon and hot sauce): KC - this wine has a lot of tropical fruit notes that really compliments and cuts through the brinines...

We purchased this wine as a clearance sale item which was regularly priced at $25.49.  We paid $18 for the wine which on paper is a great deal.  We brought this and a number of other selections home from our local NSLC .  They are having a clearance sale on a number of wines many of which are at a significant discount.  Yay!! This Pinot Noir from Mud House Wines is produced in the Marlborough region of New Zealand.  When we opened this bottle there was a slight 'poof' and some light bottle smoke came out.  We decanted the wine for a few minutes but the first note we had was a very slight effervescence.  Not too sure if that was intentional or not but it did not seem to linger and it did not seem to overly affect the wine (i.e. it was not a bad bottle). The look of this wine is pure Pinot Noir.  Light in colour and body, it is exactly what we would expect when you pour NZ Pinot Noir in a glass, no more and no less. The nose is wher...

So, we were picking up some groceries and decided to get a bottle of wine to have with dinner.  We went to the NSLC Port of Wines store in Bedford.  As we walked the aisles a nice lady came over and asked us if we would like to sample some wines from Villa Maria in New Zealand along with some sushi.  She had us at sample but the sushi was a bonus. Behind the counter was Justin Harrison who is a Brand Ambassador for Villa Maria Estate Wines .  He is a Kiwi who recently relocated to Vancouver.  He gave us a great description of the wines and the efforts that Villa Maria is making in terms of sustainability in their production as well as the awards and accolades the winery has recently received.  Fascinating stuff and he defintely is a great Brand Ambassador.  So good in fact we walked away with their 2009 Pinot Noir ($24.99) and their 2011 Sauvignon Blanc ($19.99).  Though to be honest once we tasted the wines it wasn't a hard sell. We decided...

So, this was a sale table purchase and a good one at that.  This is a $23 wine locally and we got it for $16.  We have tried the Kim Crawford Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc and have been very pleased with those, so we figured we would give this NZ Dry Riesling a try.  Now, as we have stated in the past our white wine knowledge could use a boost and neither one of us could remember the last time we had a Dry Riesling so we went with some pre-conceived notions of Riesling in general but the minds were certainly open. In the glass this wine looks like a Riesling (Surprise!), but the nose was all minerality.  This wine smelled like someone poured honey all over beach rocks and then dipped them in lemon juice.  Crazy nose and crazy good.  So, when we tasted it we were thinking Dry Riesling would be heavy on the dry part.  Not so.  Now, to be fair, this wine is absolutely drier than any Riesling we have ever had but it still has a sweeter flavour pr...

This New Zealand Merlot from Hawkes Bay was on sale at our local NSLC down $5 from $16.99.  At the price we decided to give it a go. The wine had a very toasted oak nose with Toffee and Mocha but it was not overly strong.  It was a nice smelling wine and had a very fruity taste profile.  It had a rustic sensibility and we would have a tough time picking this out as a Kiwi wine if we tasted it blind. It wasn't a fruit bomb and being that NZ is not as big a Merlot producer as it is for Pinot Noir that is not a surprise. The wine definitely mellowed once it was decanted and it also became more elegant. We liked this wine but at $11.99 we REALLY liked this wine.     Tasting Notes:   Score: Sight (0-5)  Medium dark Red Wine with the nice body when swirled in the glass.  3.5 Smell (0-5)  Strong notes of toffee and mocha with some fruit but it smelled a lot darker than it tasted.  4.0 Taste (0-10)  When first poured it was ...

We have had a number of Kiwi wines over the years and they have always been great.  The trouble is they are usually between $20 and $30 so they don't get consumed all that often.  Whether it is Spinyback, Opawa, Kim Crawford or Villa Maria or one of the many other great producers the wine is always great and usually quite memorable. New Zealand is known for Sheep, Rugby, Extreme Sports, and Wine with the latter being such a great export.  The big grapes in NZ are Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc (though they grow a number of varietals).  The Pinots are typically light in colour and usually quite grassy and green with notes of plum and strawberry.  The Sauv Blancs are normally crisp and fruity with strong tropical notes of pineapple and starfruit. So back to the original question, is the additional overall cost worth it?  We would love to see the overall price point be $5 - 7 lower but at the current prices we really do feel that wines from NZ d...

We are unabashed Red wine drinkers, it makes up 95% of our wine consumption.  We are definitely opinionated about what makes a good red wine (more on that to come).  That said, we do enjoy white wines and we do rave about some but we still gravitate to red wine, no matter how delicious a white wine we may come across.  What is wrong with us?  Why do we give white wine such little attention?  We have had some amazing whites over the last year (2008 Marynissen Estates BFBA Chardonnay from Niagara, 2010 Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand , and the list goes on) and yet we pass by the whites with not so much as a glance most of the time.  Why is that?  Many white wines have the flavour profile that we are looking for and we definitely like our whites to be bold and full of flavour, just like our reds.  We (unlike many these days) enjoy big buttery, oaky Chards and crisp tropical Sauv Blancs (depending on what we are eatin...