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edited by Sue Courtney
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Wednesday Round-up - the 2010 edition
Sue Courtney's tasting notes from the First Glass Fine Wine Wednesday $15 tastings

March 2010
[ Click here for index to other months ]

Some of the prices are 'special' prices. Check the First Glass website for current pricing.

Fine Wine Wednesday Tasting - 3 Mar2010
Cuisine Gewurztraminer and New Arrivals
Wines were tasted blind and all the whites were served chilled.

Shinas Estate "The Innocent" Viognier 2008 - Victoria
This is a gorgeous example of the Rhone's forgotten grape. A toasty style of unoaked Viognier, it's quite dry and hot in the palate with an oily deliciousness to the texture. Served chilled it seems quite linear to start but fattens up in the palate with apricot, a hint of honey and a steely touch of lime. A wine for all palates.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. $19.99 special.

West Brook Barrique Fermented Chardonnay 2008 - Marlborough
Served chilled, this is oaky, toasty, buttery and creamy with a crisp, citrussy freshness. It is fruity yet savoury with juicy stonefruit, lots of creamy French oak and a long, spicy oak finish.
13.4% alc. Screwcap. $16.99 special.

Morton Estate "Coniglio" Chardonnay 2004 - Hawkes Bay
A mellow, seemingly older Chardonnay, rich in colour with hints of toasty oak spice to the perfume and nutty scents too when the chilled wine warms up. It's tight, rich, creamy and buttery with an oily texture, nectarine and citrus fruit and a touch of butter caramel. Smooth, seamless and mouth coating, this 'current vintage' is drinking to perfection right now. A great experience.
14.5% alc. Cork. $84.99.

Morton Estate White Label Gewurztraminer 2009 - Hawkes Bay
Aromatic and evocatively perfumed with musk, 'Queen of the Night' and violet scents and an intensely flavoured, lightly oily textured palate that seems on the medium side of dry. There's Turkish delight, rose water, ginger, lime and hints of apricot and linearity to the long, hot, spicy finish. A heady wine with alcohol stated as 15.2% on the Morton Estate website. The bottle states 14.5%. Five stars and No. 4 in Cuisine. Screwcap. $15.99 special.

Spy Valley Marlborough Gewurztraminer 2009
A richer, fatter, more buttery smelling Gewurztraminer with a rich, full-bodied mouthfeel. It's spicy and musky with opulent Asian fruits and well-balanced low acidity and the refrigerator is one of its best friends. A portion of this excellent wine was aged in oak. Five stars and No. 2 in Cuisine.
13.5% alc. Screwcap. $17.99 special.

Lawson’s Dry Hills Pioneer Gewurztraminer 2009 - Marlborough
A texturally sublime Gewurztraminer that is aromatic and richly flavoured. It's a full, fat, smooth, creamy, spicy, musky, medium sweet wine with spiced orange peel, rose water and honey with a touch of botrytis that adds a caramel / crème brulee character. This wine had a portion of barrel fermentation with some of that oak portion naturally fermented by the action of wild yeasts. An outstanding wine that raises the Marlborough benchmark.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. $32.99.

TWR (Te Whare Ra) Gewurztraminer 2009 - Marlborough
This medium sweet style is warm and focussed with a spicy, musky floral scent. It's a heady wine yet there is a delicacy to the powerful flavours and it doesn't seem to over power. Lightly oily with spiced orange peel, rose water and honey, this was awarded five stars and the No. 1 rating wine in Cuisine.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. $28.99 special.

Wild Rock "Cupid’s Arrow" Pinot Noir 2008 - Central Otago
Light maroon red. Deep, sweet pinot scents - spicy, earthy, savoury, fruity. Great persistence in the palate with firm svelte tannins, bittersweet fruit, chocolate and earth. Rounded and easy to drink.
13.5% alc. Screwcap. $19.99 special.

Penfolds Bin 128 Shiraz 2008 - Coonawarra, South Australia
Dense purple red. A little closed on the nose and with herbal nuances that suggest Cabernet Sauvignon more than Shiraz. A tight restrained red at this stage of its life, it is spicy and savoury to the taste with pepper, jammy red fruits, grippy tannins, leather and dried herbs. A distinctly cool climate style.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. $20.99 special.

Chakana Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 - Mendoza, Argentina
Deep, intense, impenetrable purple black colour. This smells of rich, deep, ripe blackcurrant and cedary oak suggest Cabernet Sauvignon again, and this time it is. The flavours are deep, ripe, juicy and creamy with blackcurrant and plum fruit, smoky oak, smooth meaty tannins, hints of chocolate and liquorice, dried herbs and floral nuances to the succulent finish. A blockbuster from the foothills of the Andes. Gold NZ International Wine Show.
14% alc. Cork. $17.99 special.

Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz 2007 - South Australia
Deep red black in colour with dried herbs, mint and chocolatey oak aromas. Seriously minty in the palate with bright red blackcurrant and cherry fruit, a deep undercurrent of blackberry, cedar and sweet vanillin oak and a sweet, spicy succulent finish. A serious style with upfront Cabernet flavours and a soft succulent spicy Shiraz finish. With fine but firm tannins, this is a wine made to age - and history says it will.
14.5% alc. Screwcap. $42.99 special.

Wolf Blass "Grey Label" Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 - Langhorne Creek, South Australia
Shiny purple black. On the nose there are evocative aromas of chocolate, mint and cedar. A full-bodied succulent blockbuster that's concentrated, juicy, fruity and savoury with firmly structured, grainy tannins, sweet succulent fruit, and a long full opulent finish. Outstanding. 15% alc. Screwcap. $29.99 special.

* * * * * * * * *

I like the Fine Fine Wednesday Tastings held at First Glass Wines and Spirits in Takapuna on Auckland's North Shore. All the wines are served blind and unlike the blind tasting assessments I conduct at home (which are usually from producer's samples or, more rarely, wines I have purchased myself), I usually have no idea in advance of what wines are being included in the Fine Wine Wednesday tasting line-up. Exceptions have been the Cuisine Top 10 tastings, 'Super Tastings', or producer-hosted tastings where the line-up of wines is advertised to attract the tasters. All I know is that with Kingsley Wood choosing the wines, anything goes and the wines being tasted may cost from under $10 to over $110 a bottle, though they usually average somewhere in the $15 to $55 price range.

I have continued to attend the tastings over the years as I feel it gives me a good insight to wines currently available in the market place and the general reaction compared to my own. Not everyone likes the searingly dry rieslings that I love, I've found.

It also provides an oportunity to taste some wines I otherwise wouldn't get to see and to retaste those that I have.

Footnote: Prices listed are the retail and or special prices at First Glass Wines and Spirits at the time of tasting. Check out www.first-glass.co.nz for current availability and pricing and New Zealand readers can purchase the wines online from there.
Sue Courtney's recent Fine Wine Wednesday tasting notes can also be found on the First Glass website.

Wednesday Wines index
2010 Tastings
January 2010 tasting notes.
February 2010 tasting notes.
March 2010 tasting notes.

2009 Tastings
January 2009 tasting notes.
February 2009 tasting notes.
March 2009 tasting notes.
April 2009 tasting notes.
May 2009 tasting notes.
June 2009 tasting notes.
July 2009 tasting notes.
August 2009 tasting notes.
September 2009 tasting notes.
October 2009 tasting notes.
November 2009 tasting notes.
December 2009 tasting notes.

2008 Tastings
January 2008 tasting notes.
February 2008 tasting notes.
March 2008 tasting notes.
Apr / May 2008 tasting notes.
Jun / Jul 2008 tasting notes.
Aug / Sep 2008 tasting notes.
October 2008 tasting notes.
November 2008 tasting notes.
December 2008 tasting notes.

2007 Tastings
January 2007 tasting notes.
February 2007 tasting notes.
March 2007 tasting notes.
April 2007 tasting notes.
May 2007 tasting notes.
June 2007 tasting notes.
July 2007 tasting notes.
August 2007 tasting notes.
September 2007 tasting notes.
October 2007 tasting notes.
November 2007 tasting notes.
December 2007 tasting notes.

2006 Tastings
January 2006 tasting notes.
February 2006 tasting notes.
March/April 2006 tasting notes.
May 2006 tasting notes.
June 2006 tasting notes.
July 2006 tasting notes.
August 2006 tasting notes.
September 2006 tasting notes.
October 2006 tasting notes.
November 2006 tasting notes.
December 2006 tasting notes.

2005 Tastings
January 2005 tasting notes.
February 2005 tasting notes.
March 2005 tasting notes.
April 2005 tasting notes.
May 2005 tasting notes.
June 2005 tasting notes.
July 2005 tasting notes.
August 2005 tasting notes.
September 2005 tasting notes.
October 2005 tasting notes.
November 2005 tasting notes.
December 2005 tasting notes.

2004 Tastings
Jan-Feb 2004 tasting notes.
Mar-Apr 2004 tasting notes.
May 2004 tasting notes.
June 2004 tasting notes.
July 2004 tasting notes.
August 2004 tasting notes.
September 2004 tasting notes.
October 2004 tasting notes.
November/December 2004 tasting notes.

2003 Tastings
January 2003 tasting notes.
February 2003 tasting notes.
March 2003 tasting notes.
April 2003 tasting notes.
May 2003 tasting notes.
June 2003 tasting notes.
July 2003 tasting notes.
August 2003 tasting notes.
September 2003 tasting notes.
October 2003 tasting notes.
November 2003 tasting notes.
December 2003 tasting notes.

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