A new year brings new trends. According to Jonathan Brooks, this year will be filled with new stars and some old favorites.
Drinking wine is better than ever (if you can afford it)
It’s no secret that the past few years have been tough for hospitality, but adversity has brought about a change for the better. When it comes to wine, the return of New Zealanders who have had wine careers in the larger overseas markets has increased the level of talent and knowledge here.
Staff shortages highlight the value of dedicated hospo professionals. As a result, salary expectations and working conditions are slowly improving, encouraging the best and brightest to devote themselves to the industry they love.
Part of my job is tasting wine with people who curate wine lists at restaurants (hard work)…). Over the past few months, I have been overwhelmed by the curated wine list, carefully curated from around the world.
Talking to colleagues across the chasm recently, I learned that the number of great wine lists (especially in Sydney) is exploding and that consumers are willing to pay higher prices for special bottles to drive demand. pushing up. Wine production in 2023 isn’t definitely going to be cheaper as costs rise across the industry, but if great wine is your thing, it will get better.
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everything old becomes new again
2022 will bring many new and interesting labels to the New Zealand market, but as exciting as the wine industry is getting younger, so too is the fact that it is getting older. you should be so excited.
During the last few weeks of 2022, I was lucky enough to spend time at both Atta Langi in Martinborough and Felton Road in Central Otago, who are now 40 and 25 respectively.
After spending time with the small teams that run these vineyards, the sense of a conservative approach to preserving heritage is gone, and we’re left wondering how we can do better in our relationship with the wineries, the vineyards and them. It creates an energy that asks if it is possible. wider environment.
From what I have observed, if your time on land and your desire to reflect on that land gives you a sense of purpose, the way to achieve it is to take what you have learned and keep asking questions about how to do it better. That’s it. As such, some of the most established vineyards are among the most innovative.
Old is new. With a handful of the pioneers of the modern Aotearoa wine industry entering their 50s and many entering their 20s, 2023 will see the vines established to make better wines than ever before. looking towards the garden.
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How to taste professional wine.
drought month
A dry January started as a response to the soaking wet festive period. Dry July and sober October both rhyme. In 2023, we will have more names, so we need to be a month away from the source and get more creative.
Like running a marathon for charity or meditating, staying abstinent from alcohol is gaining traction as a noble lifestyle choice. And for good reason. Alcohol abuse has serious negative health and social consequences. Stop drinking for a month and you’ll feel better.
My concern, however, is that these periods of abstinence can become like fad diets and send the yo-yo into binge periods. Far from it, but I think it helps to think of wine as food. Get it from the best sources you can, choose it for flavor and enjoyment, and drink it in moderation with a variety of other foods. Ideally at the table with friends and loved ones. Beat the diet.
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With more names to come, you’ll have to be a month away from the source and get more creative.
Chardonnay is back and I feel so grown up
ABC is over (for those who don’t know, it’s “everything but Chardonnay”). Chardonnay is all over the list of hot restaurants, and if you listen to most sommeliers across the country, we just can’t get enough of it.
And because the market is no longer dominated by a particular style of winemaking, we can see the diversity of this most noble of white grapes.
cult of naturalism
Forget Dom Perignon and Grand Cru Bourgogne. If the rest of the world’s trends tell us anything, expect cult natural wines to charge into the expense accounts of the well-funded and need to be looked deeper. . Do you have a $700 bottle of oxidized savagnin?
silver lining?
The global financial crisis has spawned pop-up restaurants where talented chefs have abandoned the sinking fine dining scene and found ways to offer exceptionally inventive cuisine at affordable prices.
The best new restaurants were located in off-piste locations, embracing humble minimalism rather than flashy amenities.A focus on simplicity and providence is how these ingredient-driven restaurants define themselves. It was here that natural wine gained a foothold because it adapted to the
What innovations will we see in how and where we drink wine if 2023 happens to be what some economists are choosing?
Pop-up style pop-up driven by talented young wine people opening small, deceptively simple wine bars in the suburbs, or by a new generation of winemakers and wine lovers who are unwilling or unable to wait. Keep an eye out for Wine Night. Invited to established venues to display their wares. I drink it