Uncork the show for us

Visiting champagne makers, torrents of new vintage sauvignon blanc and more pinot gris than you can possibly drink signal summer is on its way. And that's without even mentioning one of the wine industry's most important annual events, Wine New Zealand, held last week.

Wine New Zealand is an outing of new products for those who work with wine and food. The effort winemakers, distributors and chefs go to for this show is a waste when members of the public can't attend - to taste, learn about and enjoy new styles and meet winemakers.

The main reason it has not morphed into a public event is the risk of it turning into a huge drinking session-cum-wine festival, says Philip Gregan, chief executive of New Zealand Winegrowers. Winemaker Steve Hotchin, who produces Ra Nui sauvignon blanc, suggests only about 1 per cent of the public interested enough to attend would over-indulge.

Since most of this country's established winemakers and many smaller winery owners attend, it is one of the best opportunities each year for wine enthusiasts to learn more about their favourites and about the wine industry.

Hotchin plans to suggest to the show's organisers that the Sunday be open to the public.

We have moved away, almost entirely, from cask wine; we have learned how to drink wine with meals without suffering a shocking hangover the next day; and we have become a wine-producing nation - albeit a tiny one. Therein lies the rub; our small population makes it difficult for exhibitors to show their wares to trade only.

Surely the potential is there to open the doors of our most important wine show to the public without adverse effects.

Wine News

Marlborough bubbly pioneer and winery owner Daniel Le Brun has launched New Zealand's first sparkling wine with a crown seal. The seals are the little metallic caps used on beer bottles and this limited edition first-run of crown seals has been used on No 1 Family Estate Cuvee Number Eight only.

It was the brainchild of Jeff Poole, owner of the Fine Wine Delivery Company in Auckland. Most champagnes and high-quality sparkling wines are sealed with crown closures during their secondary fermentation, the period that induces bubbles. They are then sealed with a cork.