Bob Campbell is one of only 264 Masters of Wine in the world. An international wine judge, Bob judges wine professionally in ten countries and contributes regularly to publications around the world. His specialty is New Zealand wine which he reviews from an international perspective.
Bennett’s own brand
Stephen Bennett MW - photo taken two years ago but he hasn't changed much
Stephen Bennett MW, founder and principal owner of Auckland-based wine distributor, Bennett & Deller, has put his money where his fairly outspoken mouth is by launching his own wine label.
Bennett & Deller mainly distributes wine from France, Spain, Italy and Argentina although they have represented several local wineries, including Isabel, Daniel Schuster and Gravitas. Steve has worked with some of his brand owners helping them to fine tune wine styles to more closely meet the market. Now he has taken total control by “designing” three wines he describes as “uncompromisingly food wines” for his mostly restaurant customers.
To demonstrate the strength and style of his Sauvingon Blanc, Riesling and Pinot Noir Steve presented them to me blind with other benchmark wines.
His Discovery Point 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was matched with Dog Point 2008, Cloudy Bay 2008 and Saint Clair 2008 Wairau Reserve – three wines that I had previously rated highly. Discovery Point has a retail price of around $22 while the others sell for $25-$32. Discovery Point did not disgrace itself, in fact I thought that this bone-dry style oozed Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc character. It has good power and purity – I gave it 90 points.
Discovery Point Dry Marlborough Riesling $22 was matched with Craggy Range Fletcher Vineyard Marlborough Riesling – a slightly uneven playing field because the latter wine has a residual sugar level of 13.5 grams/litre while the Discovery Point is 5 g/l – although the difference probably works in favour of Craggy Range. They are both good wines. The Discovery Point Riesling is weightier with a richer and more voluptuous texture. It is, as Steve claims, an excellent food wine that gives a nod in the direction of Alsace.
At that point I ran out of time to complete the tasting and had to dash. Steve left me three glasses of Pinot Noir: his Breaksea Sound 2006, Mt Difficulty 2007 and Peregrine 2007 – all from Central Otago. I tasted the wines a couple of hours later but didn’t record notes because they had been exposed to too much air by then. Once again Steve’s wine stood up well to the competition and at a $30 price point is significantly cheaper (Mt Difficulty is $40 and Peregrine $37).
A good start. I highly recommend all three wines. All are reviewed on this site (I haven’t yet figured how to hot-link them to reviews).