The best of the NZ Annual Trade Tasting
Monday 10 January
New Zealand’s winemakers descend on Lord’s cricket ground to show their wares today. While their countrymen are getting trounced on the field by Pakistan, the wine industry is in slightly better health with 33% growth in sales in the past year (Nielsen, MAT to October 2010). The average bottle price has dipped below £6 but it still boasts the highest price per bottle out of any country in the world.
If you are heading off to the tasting today, have a plan of action or you’ll be wasting valuable time. You might already have cherry-picked the tables you’ll be visiting but if not, here’s a few producers you ought to visit.
Table 9: Elephant Hill, Hawke’s Bay
Under German ownership and with a restrained Old World character to the wines, be sure to have a taste of the Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Syrah.
Table 10: Schubert, Martinborough
Er, another German owner. There seems to be a theme emerging here. Kai Schubert’s Sauvignon Blanc and Decanter trophy-winning Pinot Noirs will be available to taste. Worth the shuffle to the table, I promise.
Table 14: Felton Road, Central Otago
A British owner this time – Nigel Greening. In all honesty, Felton Road doesn’t need any introduction. Its wines are the bees knees and everybody knows it, particularly its Pinot Noirs – Cornish Point, Calvert Road, Block 5 and Block 3. Its Riesling with 45g/l residual sugar is also attractive. Get your elbows out and get your glass to the front of the queue.
Table 25: Framingham, Marlborough
Geordie winemaker Andrew Hedley will be in town to talk you through his delicious wines. It’s difficult to fault them. They’re all classy and restrained (strange, considering they’re made by someone from grotty Gateshead), particularly the Riesling and an interesting new addition to the range - a Montepulciano Rosato. If you’re bored of discussing residual sugar and tannin, talk cricket with Hedley – he was at the Gabba for the Ashes. Lucky sod.
Table 31: Man O’War, Waiheke
With Germans and Brits in the room, we shouldn’t really mention the war. Nevertheless, the Man O’War wines show Waiheke at its best. Just 40 minutes by ferry from Auckland central, my favourite wine of the moment from this vineyard is the 2010 Gravestone Sauvignon/Semillon blend although the Dreadnought Syrah receives the most rave reviews.
Table 32: Pegasus Bay, Waipara
Finally a Kiwi family running a Kiwi winery. Fellow MW student Lynnette Hudson and her party animal husband Matt Donaldson make the wine. If Matt is in town watch out for him and Matthew Jukes – they’ll likely be painting the town red and all hell will have broken loose! The Rieslings are the stars but its Sauvignon/Semillon blends also attract interest for their sulphidey style.
Ok, there are heaps of others I could recommend but I’d be here all day. Let me know how the wines perform – better than their cricket team, I hope…
Air NZ Awards: the good, the bad and the ugly
Wednesday 10 November
Twitter has been a-flitter with the Air New Zealand Awards today. It’s been all go following the media release announcing there was a record 107 gold medals awarded this year.
The press got a glimpse of the new winners today at a gold medal tasting. There were plenty of worthy winners and some wines that were questionable but overall it was quite pleasant to go to a tasting where the wheat has been sorted from the chaff.
The worst part of the tasting was not the wine but one mature male journalist revealing his recent intimate operations to the New Zealand Winegrower staff. I almost choked on my Riesling.
Anyway, back to the wines. Why so many Pinot gold medal winners? Well, there were plenty of entries, which helped. However senior judge and winemaker at Coopers Creek, says, ‘It’s a product of two really good vintages in 2008 and 2009.’
One nice surprise was the Villa Maria Single Vineyard Keltern Chardonnay 2007 (NZ$36.99). It’s easy to become snobby about a successful, large company but they do do some things very well. It is elegant and tight on the finish, had a lovely creamy leesy texture, nutty notes and a fresh finish.
My standout wine of the day, despite talk of the gentleman’s operation mid slurp was the 2009 Greystone Riesling from Waipara. It’s a spatlese style with green apple, citrus and violet aromas. Fresh, mouthwatering and delicious. For those of you going to the Air NZ Awards (not I), get your penguin suit on and seek this gem out.
Mobilise the masses against the Mosel massacre
Monday 12 July
If you’re a Mosel Riesling lover, here’s another chance to do your bit to save the region’s best vineyards from obliteration.
If you’ve not already heard, a 160-metre-high bridge is under construction connecting the Mosel from the village of Urzig to a new four-lane motorway above some of the best Riesling vineyards in the world.
The road will run on a ridge above the famous vineyards of Zeltingen, Wehlen and Graach, mowing down the forest land. The deep trenches needed to build the road will cut off vital water to the surrounding vineyards, add to pollution and ruin a popular tourist area.
We’ve had a petition, a protest, and wine magazine readers are surely aware of this heinous crime but the wider public have been largely oblivious. Until now… Ernie Loosen, one of the major producers that will be affected by this ludicrous bridge has been a vociferous opponent of the bridge but now he is bringing the fight to the attention of the consumer.
The “Bridge Too Far” neck hanger campaign has been launched in the UK with major retailers including Sainsbury’s and Asda agreeing to carry the neck hangers on Loosen’s wines. I think this is great but why not extend it to fellow Mosel producers and taking the campaign to more people?
Nevertheless it’s worth buying a bottle, taking it round to your friends’, and spreading the word.
Award-winning bargains
Wednesday 30 June
French wine sales are suffering at the hands of the Australians, Californians, Italians and South Africans in the UK. To add insult to injury, English wines are beating them at their own game: the International Wine Challenge (IWC) has just announced Camel Valley’s 2008 Pinot Noir Brut has taken the sparkling rose trophy ahead of the Champenois. This is another kick in the teeth for the Champagne region, after poor sales in 2009.
What I like most about the competition is the value awards. As a tight northerner, the price of decent wines can make my eyes water. Finding a great wine under a tenner certainly improves my mood. And my dad, a Liverpudlian (an even more notoriously tight lot), will be making a special trip to the supermarket to fill up on bargains when he sees the results (although not to Waitrose, as they haven’t made it as far north as my hometown yet)
So, what are the stars I’ll be sending my dad out to buy:-
Oloroso Trophy winner: Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Oloroso 12 year old for a mere £6.49
La Différence Carignan 2009, France, £5.81, France, Tesco.
Moon Bridge Riesling 2009, Australia, £5.49, Marks & Spencer
Domaine Villargeau Sauvignon Blanc 2009, France, £9.99, Majestic Wine Warehouse
Falanghina Campania 2009, Italy £9.99, Laytons, Oddbins
Judging joys and teething pains
Wednesday 5 May
If you’ve ever been to Marlborough, you’ll know it has its own château. It’s not quite Margaux but Château Marlborough is swish enough, although the exterior faux turrets leave a little to be desired.
Yes, I’m back in Marlborough – again – judging at the Liquorland International Wine Competition. And after just one day, my teeth are killing me. I’m writing this with tooth mousse smothered over my gnashers in a futile attempt to ease the pain. And we haven’t even started on the Sauvignon Blanc category. That’s tomorrow. Aaaggghh.
It’s been off-dry Rieslings, Pinot Gris, other whites (Chardonnay/Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer/Semillon blends: why, oh why?), rosés and Aussie Cabernet Sauvignon for my panel today. Inevitably, there have been some shockers, a few stunners and a lot in between. The Aussie Cabernet line up was pretty consistent and threw up lots of good wines while there were sadly a lot of disappointments in the off-dry Riesling department.
We all get to wear fetching Liquorland aprons although I’ve have to pin mine as the front droops to my belly button thus defeating the purpose of wearing it. If only I had bigger boobs, it would prop the apron up.
There’s also the threat of wearing a crazy Indian/parrot headdress if your phone rings during judging so please don’t call me in the next two days between 9 and 5! The drooping apron is enough to cope with.
