An attractively priced, screw-topped proprietary red from one of New Zealand's top producers, the 2009 Craggy Range Te Kahu hits all the right notes. Bright and balanced, with mouthfilling black fruit flavors, yet lively acidity, it's an extremely versatile food wine. As you might expect from a merlot-dominant bordeaux-style blend, ripe plumpness comes wrapped in soft, textured tannins that check the fattiness of meat dishes, but its tartness complements those with a tomato base too. Additional spicy nuances -- cedar and smoke -- emerged when I sipped the final glass with a plate of hard cheeses: gruyere, Canadian cheddar, Wensleydale.

Too often, producers of high-end, pricey wines adopt a heavy hand with their modest wines. The results can be crude, overweight cousins to their better bottles. Craggy Range specializes in expensive single vineyard vino, but this wine shows they know how to make a solid-value example too. The beauty of the Te Kahu is that it's not overdone -- just done right.

To most wine lovers, New Zealand is best known for its fresh, zingy sauvignon blancs. But the country also produces a range of stylish reds. Craggy Range, founded in 1997, sources grapes from a variety of key regions, including the Gimblett Gravels area in Hawkes Bay. This grape-growing valley, with its distinctive soil types and warm, sunny conditions tempered by cloudy mists, is known for plantings of bordeaux varieties and syrah. Craggy Range has 100 hectares (247 acres) in the region, much of it merlot.

Te Kahu means 'the cloak' in Te Reo Maori, a reference to the mist used to protect a mythical Maori maiden from the sun as she visited her lover. It's hard to know what the actual mists in the valley do for the grapes. The winery thinks this wine could age for 10 years, but I'd enjoy it in its lusty prime.

Elin McCoy is a wine and spirits columnist and author of "The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr. and the Reign of American Taste."

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Hi Tim,
Thanks for your nice words about my picks. . . let me know how you like the Te Kahu!
cheers, Elin

a guest , March 01, 2011

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Elin, well written - makes me want to buy some...Great wine, well priced and I will be looking for the Te Kahu red at a good wine merchant. Cheers, and really like your picks! Cheers, Tim

a guest , March 01, 2011