Wine Insights – The Real Review

Bordeaux’s Goldilocks paradox

Bordeaux in 2026 isn’t one story. It’s several, running in opposite directions at once — which is what makes it worth watching closely.

Margaret River cabernet’s wine show success

Margaret River cabernet sauvignon wines have an extraordinary record of wine show success.

Cabernet’s role in Aotearoa

It should come as no surprise to our regular readers and New Zealand wine drinkers that cabernet sauvignon is not widely planted in Aotearoa.

Great Western’s cool shirazes

Best’s of Great Western has published a detailed explanation and description of what it is that makes Great Western shiraz different and distinctive.

Notable Names: rise of the grower vineyard (and Calvert’s contribution)

Identifying vineyard names is not a new thing in Aotearoa, the practice dates back several decades – from 1982 to 1988, Te Mata’s Coleraine came from the Coleraine Vineyard in the Havelock Hills opposite the winery.

Should you decant white wine?

A reader recently asked Huon Hooke about decanting white wines: did he agree with him that decanting whites improves them, as it does reds?

Good gris

Few grape varieties have settled into Aotearoa New Zealand as comfortably as pinot gris.

Riding the white and sparkling wave

The numbers have been trending for a while now, with the most-often quoted figures being the OIV report from December 2023 when white wine amounted to 49% of total wine consumption, firmly overtaking red wine at 43%.

Considering classification

One topic has come up repeatedly across the nine days of tastings and discussions in Burgenland, Vienna and Niederösterreich: the hotly debated subject of vineyard classification.