Villa Maria Reserve Noble Riesling (375ml)

For about as long as we can remember this has proudly sat on wine shelves as one of NZ’s finest dessert wines. You don’t make Michael Cooper’s “Super Classic” list by being run of the mill.

Cooper calls it “One of New Zealand’s top sweet wines on the show circuit. It is typically stunningly perfumed, weighty and oily, with intense, very sweet honey/citrus flavours, and a lush, long finish.”

A seriously classy wine made from Riesling grapes that were left on the vine to rot a little bit. Sounds a bit odd, but it’s a common technique discovery by accident in the 18th century, known as “Noble Rot”.

By leaving the Riesling grapes hanging on the vines, and picking them well past normal picking time, they expose the little buggers to a fungus called “Botrytis”. The evaporation caused by the fungus removes water from the grape leaving a grape packed with mouthfilling, rich and concentrated flavours. God we love science!

Speaking of old, you can carefully cellar this one until 2028 (if you can wait that long) and enjoy this sweet nectar with blue cheeses, dried fruits or creme brulee.