Rippon - this is how wine tastings should be.

A serendipitous moment leads to the best New Zealand Pinot Noirs I’ve come across.

I have recently come back from New Zealand where I spent five weeks travelling with my baby and husband. I was so inspired by what I drank and the places I visited that the next few newsletters will all be New Zealand focused. Just a heads up!

When I book Airbnb’s I don’t often think about the homeowner. I look at the pictures, check the location and reviews and usually book straight away - Impulsivity is a curse. A lot of properties are now run by external companies or professional renters so I don’t expect much interaction with the homeowner either. Lockboxes are the norm so the chances of you meeting the person who owns the Airbnb are slim.

My time in New Zealand included a roster of Airbnbs and because the country is full of the friendliest people, it didn’t really surprise me that the bookings might come with some human interaction. On booking one place, a lovely message came through in response to my washing machine query (travelling with a baby means the need for a washing machine is perpetual). She responded saying ‘of course, her washing machine was ours.’ In short, she seemed warm and welcoming but I didn’t think more about her until we drove in and bumped into her while she waited for her coffee delivery (her coffee roaster hand delivers it to her door whenever she runs out!). We started chatting and it turns out she was born and raised in London and…..she is a winemaker.

My ears pricked - a wine connection right on my Airbnb doorstep. Obviously I blurted out that I also worked in wine and we started chatting about merchants and importers, sadly leaving my husband and baby out entirely. I asked what estate she was involved with and she replied ‘Rippon. My family owns and runs Rippon.’ Rippon! Not the estate with a stellar reputation in the UK and one I had been meaning to try. It was fate. A serendipitous moment sent by the Airbnb Gods, which led to me stay in chez Rippon’s back garden.

She asked what we were up to in Wanaka (I highly recommend stopping here as part of any trip around NZ) and suggested that we might want to visit Rippon. They do tastings most days, which are free of charge. This seemed like a relatively family friendly activity, especially because I noted online that the tastings were 30 minutes long. Maybe I’ve been out of the game for a while but I always thought most wineries charge for tastings. Someone has to take the time to host, plus precious wine is being poured - I assumed there would be a small charge. Not at Rippon so I booked the last slot on their website.

Rippon, situated in New Zealand’s Central Otago region, must be one of the most picturesque wine estates in the world. They have strong competition with the vertiginous slopes of the Mosel Valley or Napa’s rolling hills but Rippon wins every time. Their sloped vineyard leading to Lake Wanaka, flanked by the snow capped Southern Alps is both an unique and epic view. The estate’s story started in 1975 when Rolfe Mills took a risk and planted grapevines on his family’s farm land. Naysayers opposed the idea, arguing that wine grapes couldn’t grow this far south in such a continental climate. Acknowledging the concerns, husband and wife team, Rolfe and Lois, ploughed ahead and planted Pinot Noir and other interesting varieties such as Riesling and Gewurztraminer. They proved the negative chatter wrong by managing to successfully grow grapes and they are now viewed as pioneers. The Mills family paved the way for all the other producers that now exist in Central Otago, and there’s a lot of them! Today, Rippon remains in the Mills family. No big corporations in sight.

Turning up at Rippon was my first tasting experience in the New World. Having cut my teeth on tasting trips in France and Italy, the difference is stark. New Zealand is an unpretentious place but I hadn’t realised just how well this attitude would marry with wine tastings. An event that can be long, tedious and full of family history or soil statistics, wine tastings can sometimes be no fun at all. Rippon’s version was short and sweet, focusing on the wines rather than hard-hitting facts. We tasted an array of wines, which I’ve outlined below but everything, from the relaxed Australian host (lots of foreign accents in Wanaka) to the laid back tasting room (with an impeccable view), was perfect. It was just what I needed and reaffirmed my love of the wine world.

The relaxed tasting room at Rippon.

Free tastings are smart. This gesture of goodwill led to every taster buying a bottle so it’s not like they are losing money. If anything they are making a nice profit and generating brand loyalty at the same time. When you’re charged for a tasting, there’s a sense of wanting to get your money’s worth. It also underlines the commercial nature of wine that is so often opposed to the romantic nature of growing grapes. I know tourism helps fund winemaking but still, I sort of don’t want to be a part of it! Turning up at Rippon felt like an intimate party, rather than a tourist playground. How you perform tastings is crucial to how customers view your brand. Rippon’s way is relaxed and wine-focused. Less about family history, more about what’s in the bottle. This left me with a clear sense of what they are trying to achieve.

They are specialists in Pinot Noir and this grape combined with their terroir makes for a match made in heaven. It’s their Pinot Noirs that really made me think ‘wow.’

2021 Rippon, ‘Rippon’ Pinot Noir

This wine bears the name Rippon as it encapsulates the estate. The Pinot Noir is picked from their older vines (the adults, rather than the teenagers) resulting in a more complex array of flavours. The structure of this was stunning with a very long finish too. The sort of wine you want to drink every night.

2019 Rippon, ‘Rippon’ Pinot Noir

I was lucky enough to taste an even more mature vintage of Rippon and at 6 years old, the wine was showing so well. Strawberries mixed with black cherries mingle on the palate and I felt hints of savoury coming through too. A wonderful example of Central Otago Pinot Noir with age. After a few weeks of tasting relatively young bottles, it was lovely to try this.

Rippon, ‘Rippon’ Riesling

I didn’t catch the vintage of this Riesling but it was delicious. Named ‘Rippon’, because like the Pinot Noir, the grapes come from their mature vines. With roots tunnelling all the way down to the schist in their soils, you can taste rock alongside lime and honey. Lake Wanaka isn’t unlike parts of Germany, so it’s no surprise that Riesling is a successful grape variety here.

2023 Rippon Sauvignon Blanc

This Sauvignon Blanc is a distant cousin to Marlborough’s Sauvignon Blanc. Grassy aromatics are replaced by stoney minerality and a smokinness. There was something a bit funky to this Sauvignon Blanc but it was interesting to experience a Central Otago (the larger region of which Rippon is a part of) take on the grape.

2023 Rippon Osteiner

A new grape variety for me, Osteiner, is Riesling adjacent. I’m glad I spotted this because Osteiner is a crossing between Riesling and Sylvaner. Fresh, clean and full of citrus, this was a refreshing way to kick off the tasting.

If you find yourself in New Zealand, please travel to Wanaka. A tasting at Rippon is a must. Good people making delicious wines in such a beautiful place is life-affirming. If you can’t get to New Zealand, Lea & Sandeman import Rippon so head to their website or stores to try Rippon for yourself. The wines aren’t cheap, but the Pinot Noirs are the best I’ve tried while on my travels. Buy this for an upcoming special occasion - it’s always good to have a great bottle up your sleeve.