The Framingham winery in Marlborough is best known for its marvellous range of Riesling wines, that many would say are the finest made in New Zealand. Winemaker Dr Andrew Hedley makes the full gamut from dry bottlings through the equivalent German pradikat designations from Kabinett to Trockenbeerenauselese. Some of these wines are under the limited-release ‘F-Series’ label. However, three of the Rieslings are sold under the ’regular’ Framingham label, where availability is greater, and interestingly, the quality is just as high as the rarer ‘F-Series’ wines, these being the ‘Classic’, akin to a richer Kabinett, the ‘Select’, which is on the richer side of Spatlese’ and the ‘Noble’ which can be classified as a Beerenauslese.
Recently, I have noted a step up in all of the ‘F-Series’ wines, indicating that Andrew and his team are successfully trialling new techniques in the vineyard and winery, to produce more sophisticated wines. As is the case with such wines, there is a ‘trickle-down’ effect into the ‘estate’ wines, and likewise, I can see the benefits from the work that Framingham have carried out, such as indigenous yeast fermentation, skin contact, and the use of various woods, lees aging, as well as incorporating methods that may not be normally deemed appropriate for certain styles and varieties. Andrew is carefully pushing the boundaries in style, and the Framingham label is increasingly showing points of difference from mainstream Marlborough. Here I review the 2018 ‘estate’ Sauvignon Blanc and 2017 Pinot Noir, and 2017 ‘Classic’ Riesling with 2018 ‘Select’ and ‘Noble’ Rieslings. www.framingham.co.nz
