KEY POINTS:
Retro parties may be all the rage, but among the flares and fondues, afro wigs and cheese and pineapple on sticks, you'd be hard pressed to find guests sipping the kind of wines truly in keeping with the past. Our wines and their drinkers have become so sophisticated over the past three decades that some of the insipid sweet specimens of the 70s are simply past the point of revival.
It's easy to scoff at this less-cultured carousing, but it was the disco dancing decade that ushered in our modern wine industry and turned a generation on to its rapidly improving products. The fortifieds that had dominated wine drinking for decades were falling out of fashion as table wines started to take off.
These early hocks, sauternes, Burgundies and clarets shared little with their European namesakes, not even the grapes with which they were made. In the early 70s our vineyards were still predominantly planted with hybrid varieties. What they lacked in taste they made up for in hardiness in a climate then classed by many as unsuitable for growing classic varieties.
Cold Duck was flying off the shelves, a sweet, fizzy red inspired by the German practice of mixing leftover wines together at the end of a night. Bakano was a step up as it contained some proper cabernet sauvignon. Marque Vue was a booming bubbly of that era, and another popular drop was the sweet, semi-sparkling white Montana Pearl, whose bulbous bottle could double up as a classy candle-holder.
A leap in quality came with the growth of Muller-Thurgau. While dissed as dull today, the soft, simple, fruity, low-alcohol wines made from this non-hybrid variety were a major improvement on what came before. Often erroneously marketed as riesling, it found its way into many of the day's big brands, such as Blenheimer.
The likes of Blenheimer continued to be trendy tipples into the 80s, but can now be found lurking on the lower shelves of the declining cask category. Muller-Thurgau went from being the most widely planted to grape to now accounting for less than 1 per cent of New Zealand's vineyard area. The death knell was largely sounded by the arrival of wines made from new noble grapes on the block.
With the emergence of these more vibrant varieties in the 80s and the outlawing of the dubious practice of adding water to wines, came a new wave of intensely flavoured drier styles. The most distinctive was sauvignon blanc, first planted in the 70s, which started to be seen on the market from the 80s.
Most people clearly remember their first encounter with these early sauvignons. It was green, with mouth-puckering acidity and was very herbaceous, recalls Saint Clair's Neal Ibbotson. Quite unique, but very aggressive on the palate. These may have turned heads in Britain, but it took decades for sauvignon to rise to its current position as New Zealand's most widely consumed variety. They've also changed a fair bit in style. Increased understanding of sites and vine management has resulted in riper sauvignons and soft tropical fruit has replaced assertive green notes.
What we're making and what we're drinking today has never been better. So rather than charging your glass with some charmless chateau cardboard, raise that pewter goblet for old time's sake - but make sure it's full of one of our modern classics.
Tradition meets modernity
Historic Site
Montana Terroir Series Festival Block Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2006 $22.95
Marlborough sauvignon blanc pioneers, Montana, sourced grapes for this wine from one of the oldest blocks in its early vineyards. A typical Brancott Valley sub-regional style, its fresh flavours are on the green spectrum, with cut grass, capsicum, dried herbs and green apple.
From Liquorland Newmarket, Liquor King Ponsonby.
New territory
St Clair Pioneer Block 4 Sawcut Chardonnay 2006 $26.95
Early Marlborough grape-grower, St Clair, has kept the pioneering sprit alive through exploring the Ure Valley, halfway between Kaikoura and Blenheim. It's a rich chardonnay, with lots of concentrated mandarin and stone fruit and toasty oak, but balanced by a zesty acidity and mineral notes from the region's limestone soils.
From Glengarry stores.
Kumeu classic
Kumeu River Chardonnay 2005 $37.95
The Brajkovich family has been making wine in Kumeu for almost 60 years, and this is the 20th vintage of their iconic chardonnay. Tight and elegant, with hints of white peach, nutty undertones and a tangy lemon and mineral spine, it's more about texture than upfront fruit. A wine of understated power.
From Fine Wine Delivery Company, the Wine Vault, Caro's.
