Wine two turns of the world away

I found this lovely New Zealand wine in Flagstaff

It's pretty amazing to think that wine made two turns of the world away can be found in this little town of Flagstaff, AZ. Two turns of the world away?  Does that make sense, you all may ask. 

Well, if you give the globe a half-turn up, there's South America. And sure, there are good wines coming from Chile and Argentina in the southern hemisphere, but let’s go another ½  turn away from South America, this time to the west. That would land us in New Zealand.  I know this is rather drawn-out … but does it make sense now?

New Zealand is two turns of the world away. How on earth do they get get those wines from there to here?

Auckland, the capitol of New Zealand is a twelve-hour flight from L.A. If I could fly directly from Flagstaff to L.A., it would be another two hours. NZ is so far away that as I write this at 8 p.m. Saturday in Flagstaff, it is already 4 p.m. Sunday there. When I fly to Auckland in November I will cross the International Dateline and actually lose a day out of my lifetime. No worries, I’ll pick it pack up when I fly home in December.

I have until November to get familiar with NZ wine. “Wine from New Zealand?” chides one Flagstaff girlfriend. “That’s the last place on earth that I would think of being a wine-growing region. Is their wine any good?”

After asking a NYC friend recently back from NZ for a recommendation for a good wine tour, she asked, “Why do you want to go to a vineyard? It's really not the essence of NZ."

Well... can you tell by these reactions that NZ wines have not yet made dramatic inroads into the U.S. market? I've been drinking NZ wines for over four years now and appreciate them as the best sauvignon blanc wines that I've tasted. I must tell the world!

So my mission is to scout around this mountain town of Flagstaff and find all the NZ wines that I can, drink the ones that I can afford and then report back here on the True Vine Wine Blog. So far, I really can’t believe how many different NZ wines that I have found at local markets. If I can find it here, you will find it in your home town. (Please let us know where you find NZ wines by posting a comment below.)

So take a spin around the globe with me and let's get a taste of New Zealand together. Watch for wine reviews to come!

Find this article interesting?  Get this article and others posted to your Google Reader when new wine stories are available. Just pull down “Subscribe to” above. Stacey Wittig is an Arizona Travel writer that writes about food and wine.

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