A Nation of Drinkers?

[Serge Birbrair]

Compared with other countries, New Zealanders are not heavy drinkers. The average New Zealander drinks:
>> 5% less alcohol than the average Australian.
>> 12% less alcohol than the average Briton.
>> 30% less alcohol than the average German.
>> 40% less alcohol than the average Irish.


http://www.emigratenz.org/ReallyAndTruly.html

[Lorraine]

The point being?

[Craig(NZ)]

Look Serge, im doing my best to turn things around. But im only one person drinking here, I cant change the world!!

[Grey Ghost]

Hi Serge,

Glad you liked the sauvignon blanc - and I hope you don't get to taste the Bluff oysters as it is hard enough to get them in my neck-of-the-woods without you eating everything.

Recently they've released the alcohol figures for NZ and, if I recall correctly, they went like this:

20 litres spirits (?) woooo - all those alcopops the 18 yo drink.

34 litres wine (I do >100)

70 litres of beer

We're going down hill on the consumption stakes as we used to drink 120 imperial gallons of beer a head, 40 years ago.

In your list you forgot to include the Belgians and the Finns - who seem to drink so much that they can't be sober ... any of the time!

Agree about too much oak in PN as a general rule, but as in Florida, restaurants are not the best places to get the best wines - they want/need to turn-over stock as fast as they can.

So, Marlborough PN will soon be recognised as the bench-mark, softer, richer, with greater depth and silkiness on the mid-palate compared to Central Otago. Cherry flavours there remind me of the cough syrup I had as a child.

No really, ... good PN can be had there, but in the 50 I tried last time I was down only about 5 or 6 stood the test of my preferences. As always, wine is subjective and personal. When they have a good year there - 2002 - the wines can be very good indeed, but they need the temperatures to be close to those of Marlborough to get that good.

Hope you enjoy your visit to Australia too.

GG

[Daryl Douglas]

What goes around comes around

Now there are probably at least a dozen New Zealanders who hate you back, even more than you could ever imagine. Hope ya like them odds! And I thought you had plans to visit the Land of the Long White Cloud?

[McLaren Vale Vine Doctor]

NZ probably the greatest winemakers/marketers per head of population in the world. Currently both of the Aussie big retailers (Coles & Woolworths) record NZ savvy in their top 3 bottled wine sellers across most of their stores. Usually Giesen Sav Blanc / Cloudy Bay.

Given the price war glut in Aust that is selling ice to the eskimoes.

[Serge Birbrair]

Look Serge, im doing my best to turn things around. But im only one person drinking here, I cant change the world!!

I did my part to up the numbers. Not a single day without a bottle or two

[Serge Birbrair]

In your list you forgot to include the Belgians and the Finns - who seem to drink so much that they can't be sober ... any of the time!

Agree about too much oak in PN as a general rule, but as in Florida, restaurants are not the best places to get the best wines - they want/need to turn-over stock as fast as they can.

I also haven't included Danes, who are #5 in per capita consumption in the world


I didn't have many NZ PN's at restaurants, most ones were either tried at the wineries or bought at the wine shops and BYO to restaurants.

I think the biggest obstacle in NZ PN's is "vine age". Give it 10 more years and neither of us will recognize the juice.