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Sue Courtney's blog of Vinous Ramblings wine, food and other vinous topics from New Zealand
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| Welcome to Sue Courtney's web log (blog) of vinous ramblings. It's my on line journal and an adjunct to my website www.wineoftheweek.com which is for more formal tasting notes and articles. You'll find links to other wine blogs on my Vinous Links page. Click here to access the blog archives. If you want to make a comment, drop an email to winetaster@clear.net.nz and, if appropriate, I'll post it on the blog. Click here for this site's RSS feed. Recent Entries Sue Courtney's blog of
vinous ramblings A Prime perspective of Prophet's Rock Prophet's Rock is a landmark in Central Otago, somewhere, lending its name to a vineyard, which coincidentally has a flat-topped, house-sized rock - you could use your imagination and visualise the prophet leading the people to Central Otago - firstly for its gold and now for its Pinot Noir. In 2002 it beckoned the Mulvey family to this piece of land in the old goldmining area of Bendigo, in front of Chinaman's Terrace, where they planted Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. A year before they had developed their Rocky Point Vineyard, with Pinot Noir and Riesling grapevines, on the other side of Lake Dunstan. The first Rocky Point Pinot Noir was produced in 2004 and the premium Prophet's Rock Pinot Noir followed in 2005
Paul arrived at Prophet's Rock for the 2006 vintage. He is a conscientious winemaker greatly inspired by his time in Alsace and lets all his wines undergo slow natural ferment in barrel. Owner Mike Mulvey invited some of writers to lunch to meet Paul and to taste the wines. The venue was Prime Bistro in Auckland. As well as the Prophet Rock wines, Paul had bought some wines from his cellar that he had carried home with him from Kuentz-Bas, including two from the 2001 vintage when he was the first winemaker from outside of France to work at the winery. They were not to compare with his own wines, but to show the inspiration for his winemaking style. The wines have cork closures, with corks imported from Alsace, a strong point of difference amongst the screwcapped and Diam closures so common today. Prophet's Rock Central Otago Dry Riesling 2008 ($29-$32) Kuentz-Bas Alsace Grand Cru Pfersigberg Riesling 1997 Both wines had the same residual sugar and it showed what age can do to these dry, rich styles. The food match was Ceviche of Hapuka with orange & salted rhubarb salad. For my palate, the older wine was the best match by a long shot. Prophet's Rock Central Otago Pinot Gris 2009 ($29-$32) Kuentz-Bas Alsace Grand Cru Brand Tokay Pinot Gris 2001 Prime's chef excelled by producing a Tarte pissaladiere, a pastry tart fill with slow cooked onion and topped with anchovies, olives and tomato. I hear the onions were cooked for about six hours. A brilliant match for both wines. Prophet's Rock Rocky Point Central Otago Pinot Noir 2008
($29-$32) Prophet's Rock Central Otago Pinot Noir 2005 Prophet's Rock Central Otago Pinot Noir 2006
Food match for the Pinot Noirs was Sliced roast sirloin with pommes puree, snails bourguignon and young vegetables. If I hadn't read the menu I never would have realised the tasty black morsels were snails - so richly flavoured, almost caramelised and oh so tender - the 2007 was the highlight with this food match. Prime's new chef, Robert Richardson, soaked his snails overnight, make a reduction from sweated vegetables with red wine and port, added the snails and some beef stock and braised them for two hours. Incredibly delicious. To finish the luncheon Kuentz-Bas Riesling Ice Wine 2001 - the top echelon of stickies and unusual from Alsace - 2001 was a year that produced no shrivel in the Kuentz-Bas vineyards north of Colmar, they could not even make a Vendage Tardive, but the strange season with a two week hoar frost froze the grapes for only the second time in 200 years. The bunches broke off easily without secateurs and they sounded like rocks when they landed in the bucket. Deep gold in the glass with honeyed, waxy aromas underpinning the earthy aromatics and the rich, raisin, honeyed textured flavours have earthy nuances too. A once in a lifetime treat. A very basic website exists at www.prophetsrock.co.nz and wines are distributed through Merchant Wines (no website at all).
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vinous ramblings Monday Update sharing the love New this week on www.wineoftheweek.com is this week's Wine of the Week, the gorgeous Martinborough Vineyards Martinborough Terraces Chardonnay 2008 - click here to read the review. Last Wednesday's tasting was Gold Medals from the Royal Easter Show Wine Awards. Click here to read those reviews. Only twelve of the 102 gold medal wines were tasted but a couple of trophies at least, I'm sure. Will Church Road Reserve Chardonnay 2008 make it three Trophy winners from the Easter Show, or will Villa Maria grab the Trophy from them this year? Church Road won Champion Chardonnay with the Reserve 2004 and the Reserve 2006 and the gold medal winning Reserve 2008 is right on the mark. All will be revealed on Sunday March 20th, the night after the awards. Bubbly Lisa Byrnes Whiting (and believe it, she is bubbly - she even has "Bubbles" as her online handle) is co-owner and marketing guru behind the new Lovewine website. Recently she asked me if I would share some of my articles on the Lovewine Professional Blog. Lovewine Professional is a platform for women who work in and with wine to share information, network and support each other all while loving wine with life! "I can't pay you," she said (the story of my life and why I have turned so many of these fabulous offers down) but she promises to lift my profile. With my being so despondent after meeting so many new winemakers around the country who have never heard of me and my website www.wineoftheweek.com, which has been online for twelve years, I thought perhaps this is exactly what I need. So I've made some minor changes to Catalina Sounds article (see March 10th entry below) and introduced Catalina's brand manager, Tracey Shain in the Lovewine article - you can read this here. Also check out the videos and the forums and the other blogs and articles while you are there. Last of all my notebooks are filling up with notes and reviews - most recently a series of Sauvs from Sileni, a prime lunch with Prophet's Rock, an insight to Escarpment's new Pinot Noirs from Martinborough and a tasting with the Central Otago winemakers, who ventured north to the big smoke this afternoon. When I start earning money I'll employ a secretary. Yeah, right!
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vinous ramblings Pinot Noir 2010 videos online If you are like me and didn't make it to the Pinot Noir 2010, the glamour Pinot Noir event held in Wellington, New Zealand, at the beginning of February, you can see what it was all about because the video and audio files are now all available on line. Just be warned, some are long - many over an hour and a half with the sustainable session just over two hours. If you've got the time now and didn't have the money then, this is your chance to take in all the action. You'll find the links here on the Pinot Noir 2010 Video and Audio page. A chance for some celebrity wine critic spotting as well.
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vinous ramblings Meeting Nina from Catalina An invitation to lunch at Soul on Auckland's Viaduct Basin was delightfully received. This is one of Auckland's top restaurants in one of the best locations. Sitting on the terrace is the place to be seen. The occasion was to meet Nina Stocker, the young, pert, pretty winemaker from Catalina Sounds and to try the wines with Soul's delicious food. And yes, the food was delicious, beyond expectations. If you ever get the chance to try the Butter poached Crayfish ravioli with lemon and apple butter sauce topped with shreds of crispy leeks, you might think you had died and gone to heaven. Better when accompanied with wine - three of the Catalina Sounds wines would fit - the Chardonnay in particular, because that was the catalyst for the dish, but also the Riesling and the Pinot Gris on this occasion.
It's not surprising Nina has a good palate. Her Australian parents lived in Switzerland, near Basel, where Nina was born, and participated in establishing a vineyard at Fluh, on the border near Alsace. On return to Australia, when Nina was 7, they established the Brave Goose Vineyard in Central Victoria. So you could say Nina's palate was attuned from her childhood. She initially didn't plan to go into winemaking, but after completing her Bachelor's degree at Monash University in Melbourne she decided to undertake a post graduate winemaking degree at the University of Adelaide. She worked in the Yarra Valley for three years and was in Portugal for the northern hemisphere vintage when she heard about the job in New Zealand at Endeavour Vineyards who own the Catalina Sounds, Nanny Goat, Crowded House and Clayfork brands. She applied for it and, obviously, she got it. The pretaster - Catalina Sounds Marlborough Riesling 2007 is made in one of those rare Marlborough dry styles and with three years of age it is rich and piercing, dry and steely with great line and length and hints of kero coming through. Catalina Sounds Marlborough Pinot Gris 2009 is soft and heady with pear and musk scents. Quite a fat wine, leesy, bready, youthful, perhaps some oak (yes 4%), with good acid drive pulsating through the finish. I thought on its own it needed a little more time. Matched to Marinated tuna with ponzu and shitake mushroom, the delicious ponzu kind of overpowered the wine. Better on the day with the butter poached crayfish ravioli.
Catalina Sounds Marlborough Pinot Noir 2008 seems a bit stalky upfront. It is quite savoury with an earthy depth, a vinous rich mid palate and a hint of chocolate on the finish. It seemed very dry without food. Much better when accompanied with Spiced duck with maple and sweet potato, grilled haloumi and toasted almonds. Catalina Sounds Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009 is the Air New Zealand Wine Awards Champion. There's a softness to the wine that I really like. The flavours are beautifully balanced with classic herbaceousness, bright citrus acidity, great length and persistence. Matched to Pan fried snapper, skin on, with whipped avocado, confit tomatoes and fried basil. Hmm, sounds like just what I would do to showcase Sauvignon Blanc, without the avocado and the olive tapenade that was mysteriously on the plate. Then to clean the palate before heading home, three sorbets - pineapple, raspberry and an intriguing apple and coriander. The last was not sweet and the flavours combined nicely with Catalina Sounds Sauvignon Blanc 2009.
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vinous ramblings Nautilus Estate's 25th Anniversary 2010 minus 25 = 1985. If you were born in 1985 you will be turn 25 in 2010 and so you share a birth year with Nautilus Estate. They produced their first Sauvignon Blanc in 1985, although it wasn't from Marlborough. It was from Hawkes Bay fruit, but does that matter? Their foray into Marlborough came in 1989 with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc came later. But the release of the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc is still the 25th for Nautilus. At a soiree at The Big Picture Wine at the Auckland Fish Markets this evening, some older vintages of Nautilus Estate Sauvignon Blanc were tasted. The 2002 looked good with a seam of limey acidity providing underlying verve to this very dry wine with a toasty complexity and mellowness from bottle age. A leap to the 2007 vintage with mellow, buttery scents and a creamy texture with mango and other tropical fruit, a zesty herbaceous backbone and well defined acidity to ensure this will age nicely. Then the zesty, pungent 2008 with more classic gooseberry and capsicum with melon and restrained tropical fruit and just a hint of a mellowing character creeping in on the long dry finish. Finally the anniversary vintage, the 2009, which was fresh, zesty, bright and powerful. Matched to a moist barbecued fillet of snapper topped with pesto and placed on a corn tortilla wrap - the food and 2009 combo was quite exciting.
When I told Clive his wine was pipped at the post by the Mahi in my tasting, mainly because of the texture, he nodded in a knowing way.
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vinous ramblings Harvest Festival at West Brook The week before last someone said, "Next week it is autumn". Unbelievable at
the time with the February heat and humidity. March 1st arrived and it still seemed like
summer. But the tropical-like downpour that evening signalled a change. Now, eight days
into March, it's so true. That nip in the air in the morning, the dew, the wisp of fog in
the valley, the last Golden Queen (peach) off the tree and an extra blanket ready at night
signals autumn is knocking. And the grape harvest is underway. But Auckland is still experiencing balmy hot days, just perfect for an afternoon of food and music among the vines after a morning at the beach, not just any beach but my favourite Muriwai and Maori Bay. We called in at West Brook winery on the way home from Muriwai to see what the harvest festival was all about and tried a glass of the Easter Show gold medal endowed West Brook Waimauku Chardonnay 2008, made from grapes harvested off the vineyard right in front of us. Far too cold, the chilling accentuates the oak, but not a problem if you are buying a bottle to sit in the beautiful vineyard setting to have lunch and listen (or dance) to the music. The wine soon warms up.
I didn't have my notebook out so these are my notes from the end of December. I described the wine as having "Rounded creamy flavours with caramel nuances, silky savoury oak and nectarine-like fruit. Medium to full-bodied, expressive and a little reminiscent of the trophy winning 2007 although this vintage is 100% Auckland fruit. Far too easy to drink." We loved it.
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vinous ramblings Gold Medal Summary Updated On February 20th, the results of the Sydney International Wine Competition 2010 were announced. By my calculation, going through the Total Entry for the 2010 Competition on the Top 100 wines website, there was a total entry of 1980 wines with 125 wines receiving Blue-Gold and another 122 granted Top 100 status over and above Blue-Gold. Thus 247 wines were equivalent of gold medal standard. Hundreds of New Zealand wines were entered and it seems to be (although I could be mistaken) that 83 New Zealand wines were awarded Blue-gold or Top 100 status. Last weekend the Royal Easter Show Wine Awards were judged and the gold medal results were published a few days ago on the WineShow website. From a total entry of 1517 wines, 102 gold medals were awarded as well as 222 silver medals and 551 bronze medals. The Easter Show blurb also informs that 276 wineries entered this New Zealand only competition. Currently the total number of NZ wineries is around 665, so that's about 41.5% of wineries that entered. Comparing the results of these two shows, there were only six wines that received gold in both shows. Three of these 'double golds' had not received a gold medal before, which means three are now triple gold medal winners at least. Fifteen more of the Sydney wines had won a medal in another New Zealand wine show, while 25 more of the gold medal winners from the Easter Show had received a gold in another New Zealand show. This means there are now 139 new gold medal winners added to the my Gold Medal compilation from the 2009-2010 show year. In total, there are 434 wines on my gold medal list (hopefully all duplicates are accounted for). So what wines are the most consistent gold medal winners appearing in the latest compilation? With five gold medals are
The following all have four gold medals
Of course some of these wines, Wooing Tree Central Otago Pinot Noir 2007 immediately springs to mind, have done exceptionally well in other overseas competitions too. But as explained on my Gold Medal Compilation page, I'm only keeping track of the New Zealand shows and the Sydney International. Click here to check out my Gold Medal Compilation Page.
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vinous ramblings Highlights from Wednesday's Tasting With some of the Gewurztraminers from Cuisine magazine's aromatic tasting on the agenda for the Wednesday tasting, winelovers came out of the woodwork. It's a variety many of us love, yet the best examples seem few and far between. Wines from the magazine's tasting included the No. 1 - Te Whare Ra Marlborough Gewurztraminer 2009, No. 2 - Spy Valley Marlborough Gewurztraminer 2009 and No. 4 - Morton Estate Hawkes Bay Gewurztraminer 2009. The Morton Estate was interesting. The Cuisine tasting notes said it was dry but it seemed off dry to me so I looked up the website for more clues. It was a shock to see 15.2% alcohol on the notes, whereas the bottle stated 14.5%, so it could have been 'dry', the heady alcohol adding that sweeter impression. But it was the new Lawson's Dry Hills 'The Pioneer' Gewurztraminer 2009 that stole the show. Surely this Lawson's wine is a new benchmark for Marlborough? It was tasted immediately before Te Whare Ra, the Cuisine No. 1, and the TWR did not disappoint, but the wines are quite different. Also tasted the new Penfolds Bin 128 Coonawarra Shiraz 2008, and Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2007. I preferred the 389 of course. I always do. One of the red wine highlights, which put the Bin 128 on a hiding to nothing, was the Chakana Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 from Mendoza, Argentina, on the foothills of the Andes. A sumptuous wine with juicy ripe, meaty tannins, creamy oak and a dark, earthy, floral streak. I wondered at one stage if it had some Malbec in there. It's seems a super wine for a BBQ - and with daylight saving on for another month, there's still plenty of time for those. Click here to check out all my notes from the 3rd March tasting.
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vinous ramblings Treasures from a Cellar - Part 3 Te Mata Estate's premium wines from Hawkes Bay have just been released - the 2009 vintage whites and the 2008 vintages reds. You didn't know? Well, retailers are excited about it to the extent that everyone is trying to undercut everyone else, especially with the icon Coleraine and 'buy from me' emails are flying around left, right and centre. Oh, the Penfolds 'Bin' wines have been released too and they are also attracting the retailers' marketing campaigns. There was no wine writer event for the Penfolds release this year but who needs wine writers when you have such enthusiastic retailers? Anyway we tasted a couple of the Penfolds 'Bins' at the Wednesday tasting last night and my notes will be posted sometime tomorrow evening. I really couldn't get that enthused given the price and the competition in store. But back to Te Mata. When it comes to retailers, you would think that the Te Mata release is the highlight of the year. And it could quite well be. However I'm not going to dwell on the new releases right now as I'll be tasting them again in a couple of week's time. But there were some exciting older wines to taste at a function today. This is why this post is titled Treasures from the Cellar - Part 3. These three wines are from the 1998 vintage - a hot year, a drought in many places, and while it wasn't really the best for Sauvignon Blanc in Marlborough, it was fab for the reds in Hawkes Bay. They were tasted alongside their 2008 counterparts and the older wines were the ones that had lost all trace of crimson ruby - more browning garnet in hue. All the wines had corks ad the alcohol was noted as 13.5% on the bottle for each of the wines. Te Mata Bullnose Syrah 1998 Te Mata Awatea 1998 Te Mata Coleraine 1998
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vinous ramblings Treasures from a Cellar - Part 2 "I'm going to pour this blind," said my sister and pulled from below the
table a bottle of wine in a brown paper bag. In the dim restaurant lighting the colour of
the wine in the glass seemed more brown than crimson red (although it looked a much
richer, deeper red in the flashlight of the camera). It looked old and the scent was
mellow as were the flavours that brimmed with lovely, sweet, well-integrated creamy oak
and fruit that ranged from strawberry to redcurrant to black cherry. There was still
underlying acidity that has helped to preserve the wine and a dried herb stalkiness
inherent to Cabernet Sauvignon of its era. She asked, "Is the wine 10 years old, 15 years old or 21 years old?" I plumped for the oldest and that was correct. The other questions I didn't do so well on - even though I thought Hawkes Bay on first tasting, throw some other suggestions in there and it has you going off on a tangent. Thus the sweetness in the oak made me think it could be Australian and I picked the wrong producer too. But it was actually Villa Maria Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 1989 from Hawkes Bay. The winemaker's notes on the back label stated, "Separately matured Cabernet Sauvignon (68%) and Merlot (23%) blended to producer the full flavoured complex style". I didn't realise in the dim restaurant light that the proportions did not add up to 100%. It will be a mystery as to what else is in the wine - or perhaps I wrote it down incorrectly. A great year for Hawkes Bay reds and a fitting wine to open to celebrate a 21st birthday - or even an older birthday when one would really like to be 21 again. Earlier one of the birthday boys had opened Clearview Estate Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2002. This was golden in colour with toasted butterscotch-coated stonefruit scents and a well-integrated, seamless mellow, spicy, toasty palate with lovely creamy oak and a caramelised stonefruit richness. The harmony of the wine was just superb. A super eight year old Kiwi expression of the great white grape. The other birthday boy opened a red wine of much contrast to the 21 year old Cab. Felton Road Central Otago Pinot Noir 1999 had brightness to the fading ruby hue. Earthy, savoury and funky on the nose with bittersweet fruits carrying through to the very smooth, svelte, silky and savoury palate - texturally complex and seductive with a delicate spiciness. Very youthful, I thought, for an 11-year-old Pinot Noir - and to me it seemed that it had not yet reached the plateau of its particular aging hill. Worth noting if you have this in your cellar.
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vinous ramblings Treasures from a Cellar - Part 1 It is Neil's birthday today, a birthday he shares with my brother and another friend (plus a girlfriend I lost touch with years ago after she moved to the UK), so the birthday boys and their groupies are heading to a local BYO for dinner. There'll be treasures galore from our respective cellars - with backups, because most of the 'treasures' have corks. Older wines can be a real joy as I found out last week at a lunch with Martinborough's Palliser Estate. Palliser Estate Martinborough Riesling 1997 is a golden yellow colour - leggy in the glass. It has intense aromatics with a buttery richness to the soft citrus scents. In the palate the texture is oily and the acidity is buttery and soft - softer than the aromas would suggest. And as well there are hints of melon jam and kero. Palliser Estate Martinborough Riesling 2001 has a more distinct aroma of lime marmalade while the acidity in this wine is amazingly youthful - it is fresh and clean with lots of verve. Nine years old but seems much younger. Palliser Estate Martinborough Chardonnay 1995 is just the most amazing 15-year old I've tasted. Spicy with underlying acidity driving through the wine. Quite 'hot' but creamy and buttery with distinctive apricot fruit. Clean, youthful, golden - destroys the myth that New Zealand Chardonnay does not age. Palliser Estate Martinborough Chardonnay 2005 is savoury and nutty with a hint of peach-like fruit and melon - then the fruit starts to brim above the savoury nutty backbone. Long and sweet-fruited with a creamy well-integrated toasty oak finish - it is persistent, spicy and long.
Palliser Estate Martinborough Pinot Noir 2005 Ruby red. Youthful, savoury and earthy with a deep richness, svelte tannins, bittersweet red fruits and a hint of lavender. A big wine with spicy, long, mouthcoating, pinot spice and a smoky oak finish. An excellent match to slow cooked fillet of venison served with a chestnut cream sauce. These older wines that were a joy to drink show the benefits of cellaring. Of course the Palliser wines had been cellared in pristine conditions at the winery. Thanks to Palliser Estate for letting me share in the beauty of these treasures.
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vinous ramblings A Zone Becoming a Boundary Last week, when people started asking me what I knew about Te Awa Boundary 2003 from Hawkes Bay that an online wine store was discounting it at a ridiculous price, I thought I had better find out more. It was a bit of a mystery because some of the wine writers who are very familiar with the Te Awa's icon red wine, Boundary, thought that there was no Boundary 2003 ever made. But with some sleuthing the mystery unravelled. Could it be the same wine as Te Awa Zone 6 Merlot Cabernet 2003? The Zone 6 was a one-off wine only ever made in 2003. I haven't tasted a wine labelled Boundary 2003, but I have tasted the wine labelled Zone 6, and the subsequent vintage of Boundary, the delicious and sumptuous 2004. I like the Boundary 2004 so much, it is this week's Wine of the Week. Click here to read the review and the results of my sleuthing that unravelled the mystery of Boundary 2003 and Zone 6.
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vinous ramblings A Savvy Weekend The Royal Easter Show Wine Awards judging took place this weekend and for the first time in 10 years Neil and I were not involved. The invitation for me to judge and for Neil to steward failed to arrive this year. It's like Heidi Klum says on Project Runway; "One day you're in, and the next day you're out", although no-one actually said it. Nevertheless I welcomed the weekend to catch up on some reading, as well as tasting through some Sauvignon Blanc samples that have been piling up. I tasted about 30 over the last week, in three groups of ten, which meant I could have more than a snapshot of each wine - and a snapshot is really all you get in a wine show situation. Plus I was able to try wines with food. I chose food that I thought would work really well with the variety, like snapper, tomato and salad greens, and tomato and basil pizza. Some wines worked well and one or two were sublime matches but others were a screeching disaster. It really depended on the acid and sweetness levels in the wine and the use of oak. Talking about oak, there seems to be more and more oak-aged styles and for some it really worked - like Te Mania Reserve Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2008 - a year older and despite the creamy oak, still very fresh and bright. Rockburn Central Otago Sauvignon Blanc 2009, which has 65% oak I thought a solid silver medal standard. The most complex of the oak-aged styles was Te Awa Hawkes Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2009 with an array of fermentation vessel and agents. As for the best food match - it had to be the homemade Tomato and Fresh Garden Basil pizza with Clifford Bay Awatere Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2008, closely followed by the Brightwater Lord Rutherford Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2009. Both wines rated as silver medal standard without food but with this match they went to platinum! So for the more classic unoaked or very lightly oaked wines, these are some of the ones that tickled by fancy.
All these wines and more are now updated to my Sauvignon Blanc page Oh well, I've made a big dent into the Sauvignon stash, but there are still about 25 more on the 'to taste' list. Now I just have to get into that Sauvignon tasting mood again.
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vinous ramblings Reading between the Scores It was interesting reading the First
Glass newsletter this week with its analysis of the wine section of the latest Cuisine
magazine (No. 139 / March 2010) and the percentage of awards bestowed to the wines that
were entered in the New Zealand aromatics tasting. Kingsley Wood, who wrote the
newsletter, reported that there were only 16 out of 180 pages devoted to wine editorial
(as opposed to advertorial) in this latest edition. He also counted up the wines
tasted and their scores and came up with the following results. He says that a less than impressive number of 193 wines out of 300 did not meet the minimum 3 star or bronze medal quality level, which means that the judges were overly tough in the judging or nearly two thirds of the wines were just ordinary or poor quality. I think it is certainly food for thought when so many wines are being discounted in the period of over supply. We tasted several of the Pinot Gris and Riesling wines, including the No.1 in both categories at last week;s Wednesday tasting. Ti Point Marlborough Pinot Gris 2008 was the No. 1 Pinot Gris. I tasted it a couple of weeks ago, at room temperature, and could see why the judges rated it No. 1. I loved the mouthfeel and roundness of the wine but tasting it last Wednesday night, when it was chilled in a manner suitable for the hottest month of the year, the wine didn't perform to my expectations at all. My wine of the night, however, was the Mt Difficulty Target Gully Riesling 2009 from Central Otago. Rated just four stars in Cuisine, this is made in a Spatlese style and chilling brings out all the nuances that make this type of wine just so delicious when tasted almost ice cold. It reminded me of my childhood and sucking on FruJu iceblocks on a hot summer's day and I thought wouldn't it be fabulous to actually make iceblocks out of this wine. Next week we are tasting the Gewurztraminers and we will taste the No. 1 wine Te Whare Ra Gewurztraminer 2009. Interesting to note that one of the judges was the Te Whare Ra winemaker. 'Nuff said. Meanwhile, check our MY reviews from last Wednesday, by clicking here.
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vinous ramblings A Lavish Lunch with Locharburn Wines As the number of new wine producers continue to grow at an unprecedented rate, my discovery of their wines seems to lag behind. It's not surprising because according to the 2009 New Zealand Winegrowers Annual Report there was an increase of 100 producers from the end of June 2007 to the end of June 2009 and nine months on from that report that are at least 22 more. It's hard for me to keep up with all the names. But it helps when they make themselves known to me. I recently met Chris and Jenny Hill, now of Central Otago but formerly of Taranaki.
Chris had joked about owning a winery for many years, but it wasn't until he and Jenny
took a holiday south to Queenstown that they discovered Pinot Noir and 'caught the wine
bug'. For a while it seemed like it would be an unobtainable goal but, in What better way to try the current releases than with a degustation lunch - it's a chance to not only taste the wines, but enjoy them in a social situation with food, which is how wine should be enjoyed. Although with the restaurant being Dine by Peter Gordon, it was food of a much higher standard than I would usually be having at home. Locharburn Pinot Gris 2009 ($25) was a star with Chef Bernard Bernabe's Pan Seared Nelson Scallop with cauliflower puree, baby rocket, sauteed shiitake and vanilla dressing. He created a dish that complemented and highlighted the flavour profiles of the Pinot Gris, beautifully. The wine is quite high-toned without food, with varietal apple and pear fruit and a warm, nutty, textural backbone that builds in the mouth and softens the upfront acidity / steeliness. A wine that came into its own with the food match. Locharburn Rosé 2009 ($22.95) has a gorgeous light pink spinel gemstone colour. Aromas of bright red cherry fruit mingling with a pinot earthiness lead into a slightly viscous, full-bodied (for Rosé) spicy palate with a touch of pink bubble gum coming through and spiced macerated strawberry. Made from rows designated for this style of wine and treated like a white wine in the winery, it is crisp and cry with natural fruit sweetness. An accompaniment of strong, rich, oily, melt-in-the-mouth Hot smoked Akaroa Salmon overpowered the wine both aromatically and flavourwise, in my opinion.
Locharburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2006 ($35) is deep, savoury and earthy with violet-like florals and spiced cherry scents becoming more and more fragrant in the glass, and a gamey character to the flavours. Velvety textured with bottle age introducing a seamlessness but as the wine evolves in the glass it seems denser in texture and form. The food match was Seared Cervena Denver Leg with olives, capsicum, grapefruit salsa and buttered parsnips. The meat was rare, bloody, warm and gamey. All sort of hunting images came to mind. The Pinot Noir added sweetness and brightness and took the food to another level. Find out more from www.locharburnwines.co.nz and if you are down Central Otago way, do call into the Lazy Dog Restaurant and Cellar Door where you'll Locharburn wines for tasting as well as others from a range of boutique Central Otago producers.
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vinous ramblings It's not unusual I went to see Tom Jones last night. Now there's a guy who totally enjoys what he does and boy, can he sing. "It's easy when you are blessed with a voice like this," he said during the performance.
Trade guests of Villa Maria had the cellar door area and outside tables to socialise and later dine while concert seats were reserved in an allocated seating area right in front of the stage just a short walk from the cellar door across the grass. Our seats were about 30 rows from the front and immediately behind the 'gold' ($199 seat) section. This was still very close and the music reverberated right into the bones, thumping the chest with its beat. At 'party central' for the trade guests there was an endless supply of a selection of Villa Maria's products. A bubbles to start with canapes, then a glass of Sauvignon Blanc to take to the concert area to watch the Lady Killers. This all girl (or woman) band is the best of its genre in New Zealand. Tina Cross, Suzanne Lynch, Taisha and the gorgeous Jackie Clarke belted out the songs, the highlight being Suzanne's rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. The tangy Villa Maria Single Vineyard Southern Clays Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009 was a perfect accompaniment in the heat of the sun on this blue sky afternoon with the smell of the grass underfoot adding to the effect. After the Lady Killers segment, a lavish buffet was served at 'party central'. I tasted the Villa Maria Reserve Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2008 - a full flavoured Chardonnay with lots of toasty French oak and peach and pineapple fruit but not sure if being as chilled as much as it was, was in its best interest.
I decided to go and watch Hello Sailor when they came on, but apart from Lying in the Sand with an electric ukulele, they could not hold me with their performance so I returned to party central for dessert. Then at last it was time for the man that everyone had come to see, Tom Jones. He turns 70 this year but still has all the moves. It was sometime during the performance I snapped the pic to the right.
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vinous ramblings Central Otago Pinot Noir vs Central Otago Pinot Noir and a magnificent Marlborough Six Pinot noirs were tasted at the First Glass Wednesday tasting the other night and everyone raved about the Felton Road Pinot Noir 2008. Served last, it really was an appropriate finale and of course when people found out what it was, how could they not be in awe of one of the New Zealand's great Pinot Noir names? But I also liked the second of the six Pinot Noirs served - Peregrine Central Otago Pinot Noir 2008. So what would these wines taste like if tasted side by side? My conclusion is that they are remarkably similar although on the night surprisingly it was the Peregrine that had the edge for me. Felton Road Central Otago Pinot Noir 2008 is a dense ruby/purple colour with a savoury, earthy, deep aroma, black cherry and plum fruit and a velvety texture. A big wine, I though it a little disintegrated in the side by side tasting - one of the 'biggest' Pinot Noirs from Central Otago's 2008 vintage so far - along with its stable mates, but this young wine really needs to evolve. Interestingly when tasted last year, in a large Burgundy glass rather than a small tasting glass, it was the most accessible of the five Felton Road Pinot noirs from 2008. Peregrine Central Otago Pinot Noir 2008 is finer in it's ruby/purple appearance, similar savoury aromatics but finer textured than the Felton Road - silky and sensuous with fruits of the forest, it was my favourite of the two in the side by side tasting. But the highlight of the evening was neither of these two wines. The wine that got the biggest tick was TerraVin Hillside Pinot Noir 2006 from Marlborough. I was tasting it blind but found something in there that reminded me of my Pinot Noir of the Year last year, the Dog Point Marlborough Pinot Noir 2006. The drop dead gorgeous texture, the savouriness, the funkiness - could this be Dog Point, I wondered in the blind tasting?. Deep fruit cake / maraschino cherry aromas intermingling with woody herbs and the gamey, savoury flavours with a spicy layer and a long, complex finish - I just wanted to revel in the aftertaste of this wine - but one had to move on. An excellent tasting once again with Wooing Tree Pinot Noir 2007 from Central Otago also in the line-up - click here to read all my tasting notes.
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vinous ramblings New Central Otago Wine map and new wineries Central Otago Winegrowers Association have produced a new guide to the wineries and vineyards of Central Otago and as well as in brochure/pamphlet form the maps are available to download from the COWA website (www.cowa.org.nz) too. It's a pretty comprehensive map and there are a heap of new producer's names, some I've never heard of before. One of those is Locharburn Estate, tucked away in small writing at Stop 7 on the Cromwell Basin map. Locharburn is one of the producers that uses the Lazy Dog Restaurant and Cellar Door on the corner of State Highway 6 and Gladsmuir Road in Queensberry. They share the tasting room with Two Degrees, Valli Vineyards, Misha's Vineyard, Kawarau Estate and Clutha Ridge. I tasted Locharburn's wines today, but more on them later. A big thanks to Locharburn for giving me the map. Back in the first popular area of Central Otago, the Gibbston Valley, there are now eight tasting rooms and or restaurants. These include Brennan, Chard Farm, Amisfield, Gibbston Valley, Waitiri Creek and Hawkshead, the latter at the Winehouse and Kitchen next to the Kawarau River bungy jump. I also tasted Hawkshead's wines for the first time recently. Hawkshead Bendigo Riesling 2009 ($22.50) is a little earthy on the
nose to start with apple skin the dominant fruit scent but with a little aeration, citrus
comes through too. It' so fruity and juicy in the palate, loads of red and green apple, a
tickle of ginger and well balanced fruit sweetness that tames the quivering acidity and
gives harmony to the lasting finish. Hawkshead Gibbston Valley Pinot Gris 2009 ($26), like its stablemate Riesling, is earthy on the nose and with aearation it smells like well-handled plasticine, or clay. But in the mouth the mandarin-like acidity is much softer and the overall impression is sweeter (than the Riesling). There's a creaminess to the texture with hints of vanilla and hints of musk coming through, a suggestion of white mushrooms on the finish and lingering flavours of lightly spiced, stewed pears. Denis Marshall, former MP, and Ulrike Kurenbach are the people behind this new label and they have contracted Chris Keyes from Gibbston Valley Wines to make the wines. There is also a trio of Pinot Noirs. I look forward to tasting those soon. Check out www.hawksheadwine.com. While this updated Central Otago wine map has a long pregnancy, it's here now and wine tourists can celebrate this new guide to the Central Otago wineries. The website is useful too, although the "Links to other wine wesbites" page is pretty sparse and wineoftheweek.com, New Zealand's longest running wine review website, on the Internet since 1998, sadly doesn't rate a mention.
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vinous ramblings Thai Lemongrass Pork and Gewurztraminer A group of wines were selected to try with a new packet sauce that I found in the Asian food section in the supermarket. Labelled Thai Lemon Grass Sauce, it was spicier than I could have imagined and ginger was the dominant flavour. The back of the packet said to cut pork into strips, marinate in the sauce for at least an hour, then stir-fry. It was served with stir-fried vegetables (carrot, capsicum, bean and courgette) that were added to the pork at the end of its cooking. A one pan, one plate dish. I like those. So to the wine that was best - Forrest The Valleys Marlborough Gewurztraminer 2008 (14% alc., $25) was the star. A sweet style of gewurz with violet and spiced orange peel aromas and a juicy, slightly viscous palate with flavours of sweet citrus, Asian spices and perhaps a hint of rose water, it has warmth and richness to the texture and a suggestion of spun sugar on the finish. A one glass wine without food and a failure with two previous food match attempts - 1. peach soup, and 2. coconut curry vegetables - but this bite and spice of the ginger and lemon grass flavours did not challenge it. Like all good wine and food matches, each took the other to a new level.
Older entries are now in the archive |
Paul Pujol is the winemaker. The Hamilton-born
kiwi has a French father who gave him his name and his ability to speak fluent French.
After graduating from Lincoln Uni, he set himself a mission to do five vintages in 12
months. In 2001 he worked at Seresin for the Marlborough harvest in March / April, then
flew to France where he did vintages in the Languedoc region in August, the Loire Valley
in September and in 
Prophet's
Rock Central Otago Pinot Noir 2007 ($48-$50)
Winemaker Nina (pictured) is an Aussie import, her first vintage in New
Zealand the 2009 - a year that culminated in winning Champion Sauvignon Blanc
at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards, so it's easy to understand
why she is pretty excited about her job. With no previous experience with
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, besides drinking it when she lived in Australia, perhaps it
was Nina's palate in the blending room, crafting the wine from all the components, that
gave this Trophy winning wine the edge? 
Catalina Sounds Marlborough Chardonnay 2008 seems
like a big, fat, buttery style on first tasting with spicy oak, honey and savoury lees
nuances - but there's a pleasing restraint to the wine with citrus characterising the dry,
flinty finish. Matched decadently to butter poached crayfish ravioli, as
mentioned above.
If you check out
this week's 
We found winemaker James Rowan
and were whisked away to the barrel room to taste some of the 2009 chardonnay barrel
components. Then, from bottles, the components of the 2008 Waimauku chardonnay. One
component was about 95% Mendoza with the remainder Clone 95, the other about 95% Clone 95
with the remainder Mendoza. James at one stage thought about making two separate wines but
tasting the gold medal wine alongside it, served at cellar temperature, which was cool,
not icy cold, it was just perfect. 
Palliser Estate Martinborough Pinot
Noir 1994 is quite a muddy brown-garnet colour. Red fruits and savoury older Pinot
characters well up on the nose, later scents of old roses too. The scent is mellow and the
flavours have that sweet vinosity of old wine - liquorice and macerated port-like red
fruits without the port-like alcohol. Smooth, silky and savoury with an earthy
leathery undercurrent - the aftertaste lingers in the most magnificent way. This is a wine
I'd like to spend a long time musing over - smelling those glorious scents and savouring
the mellow flavours.
what Chris describes as a 'mid
life crisis', the dream became reality after visiting Queenstown again to look at
properties and falling in love with Locharburn. Six weeks later they were the owners of
this property, 18 kilometres north of Cromwell. As well as relocating south and building a
house on the property, Chris undertook a correspondence diploma course from the Eastern
Institute of Technology (EIT) so he could confidently work hands on in the vineyard. There
was already three hectares of Pinot Noir planted and Chris and Jenny produced their first
vintage from these grapes in 2005. Planting of Pinot Gris followed, with the first vintage
in 2007. They have since planted Riesling Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Needing a
winemaker, they went to 
Locharburn
Central Otago Pinot Noir 2008 ($36) has a beguiling aroma of herbs, delicate spice and
florals. Still tight in the palate with dry tannins it evolves beautifully and the
flavours that linger hark back to the aromatics with sweet raspberry / cherry fruit. Szechwan
cured and sear duck breast with beetroot puree, caramelised radicchio and cinnamon
consommé was intriguing. The food had a heady anise, spice and plum jam aroma with
the gamey scents of the duck coming through. The sweetness, spiciness and savouriness of
the food complemented the wine beautifully. 
The concert was held at the beautiful 
I much preferred Villa Maria Single
Vineyard Taylor's Pass Pinot Noir 2007 - soft, silky, gentle - not aggressive, not
overpowering - just spicy, savoury, earthy and even a nuance of mint.
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