| If you're a wine connoisseur or just love the finer | | | | What does Gibbston Valley viticulturist Christopher |
| pleasures in life, then you must check into the | | | | Keys have to say about this company? "In the |
| award-winning Gibbston Valley wines of New Zealand. | | | | winery, working with consistently clean, ripe fruit |
| The Gibbston Valley winery and restaurant (which | | | | gives great scope to shape the wine. For some |
| only opens for lunch) are located in New Zealand's | | | | varieties this is simply a matter of ushering the |
| beautiful Central Otago region. According to the | | | | flavours of the fruit into the bottle: one sip of our |
| Italian-trained viticulturist Romeo Bragato when he | | | | Riesling and you will understand--an amazing clarity |
| made an 1895 report to the New Zealand | | | | that speaks of the clean air, warm days, and cool |
| government, "There is no better country on the face | | | | nights of Bendigo. For other varieties such as Pinot |
| of the earth for the production of Burgundy grapes | | | | Noir, a myriad of options exist. Anything done, from |
| than Central Otago". Jancis Robinson, MW who is the | | | | the percentage of whole clusters used, to |
| editor of the 'World Wine Atlas', calls Central Otago | | | | fermentation temperature, to extraction techniques, |
| "one of the top five New World wine regions." | | | | will imprint itself on the wine. Winemaking becomes a |
| Bragato and Robinson were and are not alone in this | | | | delicate balance between intervention and hands off |
| perception. James Halliday wrote of Central Otago | | | | observation." |
| "This is God's country when it comes to Pinot Noir". | | | | Gibbston Valley opened its doors in 1987 and since |
| Jane MacQuitty, a London Times journalist, wrote | | | | that time has been given over 200 national and |
| "The unsung region of Central Otago will knock the | | | | international awards for its superior quality wines. |
| rest of the Pinot Noir gang for six". | | | | |