King Charles, Queen Camilla serve NZ chardonnay at state banquet for Japanese emperor and empress

King Charles, Queen Camilla, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako got to sip some New Zealand-made chardonnay at a state banquet this week. Photo / AP

The Emperor and Empress of Japan have arrived in the United Kingdom for a long-awaited three-day state visit, welcomed by King Charles and Queen Camilla.

The visit was meant to take place in 2020, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic - and was almost cancelled once again as the UK’s general election is set to take place next week, reports the Daily Mail.

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako were officially welcomed with a glamorous state banquet at Buckingham palace yesterday - and keen observers may have noticed a nod to New Zealand in the lavish menu for the evening.

The dinner menu included baked fillet of Cornish turbot with herb butter wrapped in lettuce, sorrel cream sauce, summer vegetables, creamed potato and spinach croquette, and a green bean and quail egg salad, with a peach sorbet icecream bomb and compressed peaches for dessert.

And the wine list for the evening included a taste of New Zealand, offering guests a 2016 Kumeū River Hunting Hill chardonnay.

The Kumeū vineyard was planted in 1982, on the hill above Mate’s Vineyard, and was replanted in 2000.

The chardonnay is described as having a “piercing lemon/lime fruit lift and florality on the nose, richness and volume in the mouth followed by lingering acidity and minerality on the finish”.

It’s recommended to drink with chicken, seafood, pasta and risotto.

If they weren’t chardonnay drinkers, guests could opt for a Coates and Seely Brut Reserve NV, a Chateau Angludet, Margaux 2014, or a Laurent Perrier Cuvee Rose NV.

New Zealand is known for producing world-class wines, and it’s not the first time the royals have enjoyed a taste.

Charles and Camilla sample the wares at Hunting Lodge Winery. Photo / Luke Kirkness

During an official visit to New Zealand in 2019, then-Prince Charles and Camilla sampled wines at the Hunting Lodge Winery, including some of the country’s first sauvignon blanc wines, and learned about the history of winemaking in Waimauku, north of Auckland.

In 2011, two New Zealand wines were selected for the late Queen Elizabeth’s own wine cellar, with the royal household wine committee purchasing 840 bottles of sauvignon blanc from Villa Maria Estate and Palliser Estate.

Kate and William's sampling of a range of wines during a visit to Amisfield. Photo / AFP

The Villa Maria wine was later served at the Baftas and enjoyed by the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and movie stars.

During a 2014 visit to Aotearoa, William and Kate sampled some Central Otago wines at Amisfield in Queenstown, as well as some pinot noir at actor Sam Neill’s Two Paddocks estate.