OPINION: The world’s most notorious wine forger has served his 10-year prison sentence and is back in business, creating wine forgeries for willing customers, writes W.Blake Gray in Wine Searcher.
Show up at Two Terraces vineyard during harvest, and you’ll find an array of orange cones and nametags, a platter of piping hot scones, and a kaleidoscope of plans and potential.
“Why not?” responds Ben McLauchlan when asked about planting Glera for Prosecco on his Marlborough vineyard, Balvonie. “Helen and I like to try new things.”
New Zealand wine enthusiasts have a deepening understanding and growing appreciation of sparkling wine, says Mel Skinner, Chair of Méthode Marlborough and co-owner of Esse in Kaikōura.
Pernod Ricard's sparkling production in Marlborough has almost doubled in the past five years, with some Sauvignon Blanc blocks now being redeveloped to help fill demand.
Sparkling wine is no longer tethered to formality and festivities, with consumers increasingly popping the cork for a quiet drink after work or a wine match with a casual dinner.