One of the higher-profile Hawkes Bay wineries CJ Pask has taken a New Testament approach towards its meagre return from its own vineyards in 2000. New Zealand customers of Pask’s popular Roy’s Hill Sauvignon Blanc noticed two bottlings available of the 2000 vintage, both of which are apparently labelled as CJ Pask Gimblett Road Hawkes Bay Roy’s Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2000. One of the labels says ‘Product of New Zealand’, the other ‘Product of Chile and New Zealand’. Incredibly, the latter wine is actually 95% sauvignon blanc from Chile, to which Pask has added 5% of New Zealand semillon, which is actually from the 1999 vintage. Even more incredibly, not one drop of the wine under this label is actually New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from 2000, let alone from Gimblett Road in Hawkes Bay. Kate Radburnd, winemaker and part owner of CJ Pask, said that her company had worked with the Wine Institute of New Zealand to correctly meet all legal labelling requirements. ‘We have been totally up-front with labelling’, she said. In late-breaking news, CJ Pask has offered to remove the words ‘Gimblett Road’ from the offending label. I’m sure this instantly clears up all the confusion for Pask’s supermarket buyers.
