Top 100 red wines of Wairarapa

Discover the top 100 best red wines of Wairarapa of Wairarapa as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the red wines that are popular of Wairarapa and the best vintages to taste in this region.

Discovering the wine region of Wairarapa

The wine region of Wairarapa is located in the region of North Island of New Zealand. Wineries and vineyards like the Domaine Whistling Track or the Domaine Schubert produce mainly wines white, red and pink. The most planted grape varieties in the region of Wairarapa are Pinot noir, Pinot gris and Chardonnay, they are then used in wines in blends or as a single variety. On the nose of Wairarapa often reveals types of flavors of raspberry, lemon or straw and sometimes also flavors of honey, stone fruit or stone.

In the mouth of Wairarapa is a with a nice freshness. We currently count 47 estates and châteaux in the of Wairarapa, producing 115 different wines in conventional, organic and biodynamic agriculture. The wines of Wairarapa go well with generally quite well with dishes of shellfish, vegetarian or goat cheese.

Discover the grape variety: Cabernet franc

Cabernet Franc is one of the oldest red grape varieties in Bordeaux. The Libourne region is its terroir where it develops best. The terroirs of Saint-Emilion and Fronsac allow it to mature and develop its best range of aromas. It is also the majority in many blends. The very famous Château Cheval Blanc, for example, uses 60% Cabernet Franc. The wines produced with Cabernet Franc are medium in colour with fine tannins and subtle aromas of small red fruits and spices. When blended with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, it brings complexity and a bouquet of aromas to the wine. It produces fruity wines that can be drunk quite quickly, but whose great vintages can be kept for a long time. It is an earlier grape variety than Cabernet Sauvignon, which means that it is planted as far north as the Loire Valley. In Anjou, it is also used to make sweet rosé wines. Cabernet Franc is now used in some twenty countries in Europe and throughout the world.

Food and wine pairing with a red wine of Wairarapa

red wines from the region of Wairarapa go well with generally quite well with dishes of beef, veal or game (deer, venison) such as recipes of beef and spice stuffed peppers, veal curry or duck breast in a crust.

Organoleptic analysis of red wine of Wairarapa

On the nose in the region of Wairarapa often reveals types of flavors of cherry, tropical fruit or sour cherry and sometimes also flavors of eucalyptus, cocoa or lavender. In the mouth in the region of Wairarapa is a with a nice freshness.

News from the vineyard of Wairarapa

New Zealand’s Craggy Range joins La Place de Bordeaux

The estate, which comprises the Gimblett Gravels (Hawke’s Bay) and Te Muna Road (Martinborough) vineyards, will be represented at La Place by two of the oldest négociants, CVBG and Mähler-Besse, in both Europe and Asia. The 2020 vintage of Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah and Craggy Range Aroha Pinot Noir will join the ranks of some of the world’s most renowned wines. La Place ‘made sense’ for Craggy with the estate focused on expanding its distribution reach within the world of fine wine, ...

Platinum: The 97 point wines of DWWA 2022

The largest-ever year for entries, an incredible 18,244 wines were judged at the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards – with just 163 wines awarded a Platinum medal. ‘Winning a Platinum medal is something really exceptional’ said Decanter World Wine Awards Co-Chair Sarah Jane Evans MW. ‘Platinum is like the stratospheric level’ she commented, ‘so it’s really saying to the winemaker: this is a great wine.’ Making up just 0.87% of the total wines tasted at the 2022 c ...

Andrew Jefford: ‘Rosé, for the time being, is a pretty babble’

Many wine styles can seem perplexing at first: imagine the first bottle of Barolo if you only know Barossa Shiraz, or the first bottle of Jura Savagnin if you were brought up on California Chardonnay. With time, thought and repeated tasting, though, comes understanding. You learn each wine’s syntax and lexicon, its hints and inferences. You grasp the ways in which each style communicates. Its beauty dawns, then grows. Rosé wine sales grew 23% worldwide between 2002 and 2019. Its fuel has come fr ...

Top wines in regions and sub-regions of Wairarapa