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Buzzwine is the monthly column written by Russell
Allan for the Albany Community Magazine – the Albany Buzz – North Shore, Auckland.
Russell Allan lives at Omori in Southern Lake Taupo
beside the lake. He shares this idyllic setting with Lizzie (his long suffering wife
of 30 years) and Jean Luc – their faithful and totally eccentric Briard (French sheepdog).
BUZZWINE is written in an
irreverent style with insight and more than a hint of self deprecating humour. If
you like wine and travel you will enjoy theses columns. Click on any column name
below.
Shooting
Ourselves in the Foot
Albany Buzz January 2009
 New
Zealand crushed a record 285,000 tonnes of grapes in 2008. This is compared with
205,000 tonnes in 2007 and way, way up on the (what seemed huge then) 185,000 tonnes
in 2006. The 2008 crush will result in an estimated 205 million litres of wine being
produced or looking at it another way — 22.8 million cases of wine. Have we got some
drinking to do! Predictions of another bumper crop in 2009 have got the Grape Growers
Association worried, with CEO Philip Gregan, strongly warning members of a likely
glut of wine again and advising growers to thin their crops and concentrate on quality
— not quantity.
Talking to vineyard owners
and growers in Marlborough over Christmas, I was told that much of the 2008 sauvignon
blanc and other wines are still sitting in tanks — several million litres in fact.
There is not a sufficiently developed market overseas yet to absorb this supply,
our world-wide economic downturn may make this very hard to sell, and we certainly
can’t drink it domestically. So what happened? Most vineyard owners, as well as harvesting
their own crop, get a supply of grapes from contract growers. The wonderful weather
in late 2007 and early 2008 led in part, to a bumper crop — way over estimation.
Many new contract growers, buoyed by the prices that grapes were fetching, quickly
jumped on the bandwagon, thus increasing the supply dramatically. And human nature
being what it is — over-cropping was rife in some parts of the country — especially
Marlborough. If wineries were prepared to pay for more grapes, it seemed perfectly
all right to give them as much as possible. So what can we do about it?
The worst thing we can
do is to sell it off cheaply under ‘made up’ or clearskin labels and yet this seems
to be happening. At present my email is being flooded daily with offers from online
wine sellers at unbelievable prices. How does a Gisborne Chardonnay at $6.99 and
a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at $7.99 sound? Most of these offers claim to be cancelled
export orders. Cynics (like me) might say that this is just a selling point but shouldn’t
the market rule? Doesn’t this show that we wine drinkers are getting a great bargain
and are reaping the rewards of over-production? Well no actually for the proof is
in the tasting. Having tasted some of these wines, I can say that they are poor,
over-cropped miserable little quaffers that are hardly true to the variety and will
do our hard won international reputation for producing wines of substance and class,
a huge disservice.
So what do people with
full tanks do? They either have to sell it cheaply or simply dump it? The best thing
for our wine industry would be to bite the bullet and dump it. There is some light
at the end of the tunnel. Many wine growers are being offered fixed prices and told
the maximum crop allowed per hectare. This is good news for our industry in the future
and even though growers will not be happy in the short term, most will see it as
the saviour of our industry and re-affirm New Zealand’s commitment to quality wine.
In the important UK market for example, the average retail price paid for a bottle
of New Zealand wine is way above all other countries as they perceive our product
to be superior. We don’t want this perception to vanish with ill-conceived marketing
of inferior quaffing wines. Marketing we will have to do, but quality will always
find a market — even in depressed times.
If you think we have got
problems, we have nothing like the problem that Australian producers have. Wolf Blass,
Australia’s wine innovator, has described the promotion overseas of highly over-cropped
and highly-irrigated shiraz as simply idiotic. Not only is there a huge over-supply
depressing prices, but the irrigated vines are now into the 15% and over alcohol
range. He further says that no table wine over 15% should ever get a medal anywhere
in the world. Are you listening Robert Parker?
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10 of the Best for 2009
Albany Buzz December 2008
 About
a year ago I mentioned the wine options game we play regularly with our neighbours,
Peter and Carol, and how we were calling a truce before the choices became even more
obscure. Well this just hasn’t happened and Lizzie and I were again shown-up when
we failed to pick a Verdelho, sourced from out the back of Surfers Paradise at Mount
Tamborine. This grape is little known in New Zealand and is in fact a variety from
Portugal. Being a tricky little number at the best of times, the winemaker had chosen
to make it in a style very similar to the now fashionable Viognier – and it was very
pleasant. That’s our take on our embarrassing ignorance! I made a mental note to
source some Grüner Veltliner, an Austrian grape – little known here but plans
are afoot to plant it in Central Otago, so I’ll get in quickly before Peter recognises
it. For the record, it could easily have been mistaken for a riesling with its minerally
taste and bold citrus and grapefruit aromas.
We then continued with
more stupidity (wine does this to you) – ‘if you could drink only one wine for the
rest of your life, what would it be?’ Before reading on, give this a thought yourself!
Apart from the obvious idiocy, it’s quite a good exercise to make you think about
what you really like in a wine. Lizzie chose syrah, Carol – sauvignon blanc, Peter
– pinot noir. I cunningly chose Bordeaux blend s which could include cabernet, franc,
merlot, petit verdot and malbec and the Bordeaux whites including sauvignon blanc
and semillon. It also made me feel better about the wine option failure (don’t men’s
egos bruise easily!). Luckily we have a wonderful choice of wines, so restricting
myself to just New Zealand wines, I’ve picked the 10 wines I’ll try and drink in
2009. All are above $25.00 and several are way above but it is good to dream, isn’t
it! So here goes with my wish list:
REDS
- Vidals Solar Syrah – bold,
smooth, black pepper and elegance.
- Craggy Range Block 14
Syrah – a big rich smoothie from this producer of fine wines. Actually I love any
red (and white) they produce but Block 14 Syrah won’ break the bank at about $38
- Clearview Reserve Cabernet
Franc – like a seductive and smooth aged cabernet sauvignon, yet with some spice
and character.
- Kawarau Reserve (Otago)
Pinot Noir – never fails to impress.
- Wild Earth (Otago) Pinot
Noir – smooth, fruity and intense.
WHITES
- Vinoptima Gewürstraminer
– Nick Nobilo’s Gisborne beauty thatseems to get better every year.
- Esk Valley Reserve Chardonnay
– they don’t get any better than this in Hawkes Bay - especially of you can bear
to leave it for at least 5 years.
- Triplebank Awatere Valley
Riesling – I so enjoyed the dry and mineral style of the ‘05, I must come back for
more.
- Nevis Bluff (Otago) Pinot
Gris – I’m a little over Pinot Gris but this one ages better than George Clooney
and is made in a wonderful Alsace style, a taste worth aquiring.
- Bilancia Hawkes Bay Viognier
– style, style, style and elegance.This puts the V into this variety.
So there you have it –
what I’ll be drinking in 2009. The trouble with looking at this list is that I seem
to have left out most of my favourites. Where is Passage Rock Reserve Syrah, Unison
Selection, anything by Stonecroft, Colleraine, Felton Road Riesling, Esk Valley Reserve
everythings, Tom … it’s just too hard. The message simply is that we are producing
some stunning and high quality wines and it your duty to go out there and discover
them for yourself. All the best for the Christmas break. I’ll be looking forward
to new year – all the wines in the cellar will have just got a year older.
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Surviving the Recession with a Good Wine List
Albany Buzz November 2008
 Recession,
depression – it’s all go these days. I was trying to getmy head around why people
stop buying things. We humans seem to have this lemming complex. I mean, if people
didn’t run to a bank, then there would be no run on them. If people kept buying shares
then they would retain their value. Isn’t economics simple! Anyway Lizzie and I have
decided that the only way out of this recession is to keep spending – and of course
– drink lots of wine. We don’t want vineyards (or any more of them) going broke,
now do we. We are broke because we have a small vineyard – and it hasn’t even produced
any wine yet – but is this going to depress us. No, not at all. We will just keep
spending until it produces something to drink and then we won’t even notice we are
in a personal recession.
We must all play our part
in spending our way out of recession. I suggest that you dine out at least twice
a week and enjoy good wine and food. We embarked on this programme last week and
got a really nasty shock – we looked at the wine list. It wasn’t aparticularly interesting
wine list but as a regular buyer of wines, we’re reasonably up-with-the-play on the
retail value of wines – and I don’t mean supermarket specials. I have no problem
with reasonable restaurant mark-up of wine. They work hard and deserve to prosper,
but this wine list was a real eye opener. Example One: A Nautalis Cuvee – a good
non vintage bubbly that retails for about $30.00-$35.00. Wine list price: $105.00!
Example Two: Rippon Pinot Noir: Normally retails between $45.00 – $51.00. Wine list
price: $150.00. Example Three: Silks (Ngatarawa) Merlot retails at $19.00. Wine list
price: $70.00 – and so it went on. And what about the diners at the restaurant that
day? Of the thirty or so who were there, everyone was drinking beer or spirits. Wine
lists like this will put the ‘r’ into recession.
So what makes a good wine
list? Firstly the prices have to be reasonable. There is a general consensus that
wine at about twice the retail price is reasonable. This allows the restaurant to
make a reasonable profit (they buy at wholesale) and cover the costs of storage,
glassware, breakage etc. Good restaurants will also keep the margins down on the
higher priced wines. A wine list should also be appropriate for the food served.
You wouldn’t expect an Italian restaurant wine list to have a Pinot Noir, Shiraz/Syrah,
Cab/Merlot dominant wine list – you would expect they would have something like a
Chianti to have with the pizza. If they specialised in steaks, then a wine list like
this would be entirely appropriate. As a rule of thumb, if a restaurant serves great
food, then there is a good chance they will have put thought and effort into their
wine list.
A wine list doesn’t have
to be the size of War and Peace that needs a strengthened trolley to make it to the
table – a single sheet of well chosen wines will suffice. A good short wine list
will be balanced in terms of styles and prices – say three of each varietal ranging
from affordable to more expensive. A Virgo should steer well clear of the multi-page
voluminous wine list – they’ll never be able to make up their mind. If a wine list
is dominated by well-known commercial brands then it is a fair bet that not much
thought has gone into it. One or two unusual or funky wines can indicate the restaurant
has gone out of its way in preparing the wine list. Wines should be grouped in varietals
and the vintages should be correct. Avoid wine lists with ratings such as stars and
points and if a brief descriptor of the wine is included, it should actually mean
something. Vague terms like balanced, classical and sensuous just won’t do! A good
wine list will also offer a separate wines-by-the-glass list. And if you find a restaurant
where the staff know their wines and can make recommendations – then you have found
the perfect place to ride out the recession in a ‘sensuous haze’.
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How Important are Wine Shows?
Albany Buzz October 2008
 Four major wine competitions (shows) are
held in New Zealand every year: Royal Easter Wine Show (February/March); Liquorland
Top 100 (September); New Zealand International Wine Show (October); Air New Zealand
Wine Awards (November). The Liquorland Top 100 and the NZ International Wine show
differ slightly as they allow entries from imported wines as well as locals. Results
from these competitions are read keenly by the public and there is no doubt that
wine purchases are made on the basis of the ‘show’ ratings or medal that wine(s)
achieves. But are these results useful? The answer is yes and no.
On the yes side, these competitions have strict judging criteria and panels are often
made up of a mixture of local and overseas judges, including Masters of Wine, experienced
winemakers, wine writers and respected members of the trade. Teams of judges award
scores for each wine out of 20 and the judges scores are averaged out. In theory,
a wine judge will award the appearance (perhaps clarity) and colour of the wine 3
marks, the bouquet 7, and the taste and aftertaste 10 marks. In practice, because
these judges are hugely experienced, they will simply award a mark out of 20. If
a wine scores an average score of 18.5 marks, it will receive a gold medal or 5 stars
award. Wines that score between 17 to 18.4 will receive a silver or 4 stars and 15.5
to 16.9 will receive a bronze or 3 stars.
The downside of wine competitions is obvious here. What about the wine that averaged
18.4 and received a silver? Is it not as good as the wine that scored 18.5 and received
a gold? We have to take into account many things. Perhaps an overseas judge(s), not
used to our fruit driven styles, drove down the average. How many wines were tasted
that day and how jaded were the judging palates? Was it a faulted bottle? Was it
a style they liked? Had they had an argument with their spouse and were a little
grumpy? How long had it been in the bottle? Did they have hot Indian curry the night
before? The thing to remember is that judging wines is not an exact science – it
is simply a guide. Many highly rated wineries won’t play what they consider to be
a game of chance and simply don’t enter wine competitions. Does this mean their wines
are of lesser stature? As an example, if you are familiar with Te Mata, Craggy Range,
and Stonecroft wines, then the answer is a resounding no. They won’t take the risk
of a rogue result undermining their hard-won reputation. I am always suspicious of
bottles (mostly Australian) of wine covered in gold and silver labels. What wine
shows awarded these medals? Who were the judges? Did they trot out Kylie from Wagga
Wagga as the chief judge? Having said all that, if a wine is highly rated from a
reputable competition, it is almost certainly a very good wine. This however leaves
out the most important ingredient of all – YOU. As I have said on many occasions
– place yourself at the top of the tasting tree.
 And
now for some great news. Our local vineyard, Omori Estate, of Southern Lake
Taupo has just won a gold medal for its 2007 Omori Estate Pinot Gris at the Liquorland
Top 100. Described as white peach, spice, a hint of lanolin on the nose, this lighter
style wine is great with food. It has a firm structure, subtle flavours and a gentle
texture. Take a bow Peter and Carol Britnell and winemakers Matariki of Hawkes Bay,
for producing a stunning wine. A great achievement considering it was only a second
vintage and that 1,476 wines were vying to make it in to the Top 100 wines. Check
out your local Liquorland store before the limited production is all snapped up or
order at: www.omoriestate.co.nz
Gold medals do matter a lot to some people, especially to a man spotted last
Christmas in our local supermarket, taking gold medal stickers off fine wines and
putting them on the bargain basement quaffers on special for about $7.00 - $9.00.
I hope you weren’t the recipient of his Christmas largesse!
WEBSITES
www.wineshow.co.nz/WineShowMain.asp
www.omoriestate.co.nz
www.top100.co.nz/2008/#winners
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Random thoughts and Buying
Online
Albany Buzz September 2008
With the seemingly endless proliferation
of wineries and wine labels, we can be forgiven believing that New Zealand makes
a major contribution to the world of wine. The facts however speak very differently.
We only make just over 0.2% of the world's wine. A very tiny drop in the world's
wine lake. In spite of this, wine is now a serious business in New Zealand and we
have travelled a very long way from the early fortified wine produced by Dalmation
gum diggers in the early 1900s. It is also iinteresting to note that the Mission
in Hawkes Bay was producing wine in some form as long ago as the 1860s. Even James
Busby (British Resident) planted wine grapes as long ago as the 1830s. Prior to the
1970s, most of the wine we could purchase was little more than water, alcohol (the
more the merrier) and sugar. Yes, we really didn't like wine that much way back then.
My hazy memory of wine at this time was of the flagon of alcoholic and sweet lolly
water sold by Wineworths. I still shudder thinking about it, or rather thinking of
the morning after it was consumed.
If you were drinking wines in the 70s you
will remember nostalgic names such as Cresta Dore, Bakano, Nobilos Dry Red, Benmorven,
Cold Duck, and a dreadful hybrid wine-liqueur called Bragato. But we all survived
and people who were drinking this 'stuff' will be today's Reserve Chardonnay and
Cabernet Blend drinkers. Yes it was a hard apprenticeship but one I wouldn't have
missed for all the tea in China. With such a small production, New Zealand needs
to concentrate on quality. Quality may cost a little more but if our wines are to
continue to make strong statements to the world we musn't sacrifice quality. As an
example, we can't make a cheap and cheerful shiraz like the Aussies to sell at about
$10.00. We must continue to make elegant and serious Rhone style Syrahs from low
cropping in the vineyard and this will cost us a little more. This is a small price
to pay to maintain our growing reputation as a producer of quality wines and inspire
our vineyards and wine makers to scale even greater heights.
This brings me neatly to the idea of buying wine. If I am buying quaffing wine
I keep a sharp eye out for supermarket specials –and they abound. Paying
$9.90 for a Gisborne Saints Chardonnay or Gewertztraminer is hard to resist as RRP
is about $20.00. Supermarket specials between $10-$15 will generally mean you are
getting a quality wine. Once a year I normally find the Reserve Montana white range
at under $13.00 – normally in the mid $20s. Buying wine online is now taking off.
I keep a close eye on blackmarket.co.nz and advintage.co.nz but there are now literally dozens of online stores. Type
wineonline+New Zealand into Google search. If I am getting serious about purchasing
a wine I use the superb online site: www.winesearcher.com. This gives you the comparative prices of wines
from wine merchants throughout New Zealand. As an example I typed in Unison Syrah
2006. Six results came up and the price varied between $19.99 – $40.99 and that's
a huge range. Hardy's Oomoo Shiraz (a well-made wine) had three results and the prices
ranged from $13-$20. So the old adage applies – it pays to shop around!. The winesearcher
also has links to reviews of the wines, email/and or website contacts for ordering
your wine. And there is something quite comforting about knowing you have the best
price going.
My friend Lizzie gave away my last bottle of the Taylors St. Andrews Shiraz in a
ghastly fit of generosity. I emailed Taylors in Australia to find NZ distributors.
No luck at all. This would be a real test for winesearcher. To my delight, four results
immediately came up and the great 2001 and 2002 vintages are available at Wine Direct
in Newmarket. I'm just about to call them and make an order. Give www.winesearcher.com a go. You'll just love it.
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Beyond
Corkophobia
Albany Buzz August 2008
Regular readers who have put
up with my past rants will know that I come from the ‘If you like it, and you’re
paying for it, drink it’ school. If you like a bit of sweetness in your wine, then
so be it. Just get on with it and enjoy it. Never be put off by snide looks and remarks
from what the Americans charmingly call ‘cork dorks’. A cork dork suffers from an
affliction known as corkophobia. Corkophobics are paralysed by the thought of popping
the cork in case they are making a wine and food pairing blunder. I’ve never suffered
from this affliction and have been known to drink any wine with any food – just as
long as I like the wine. I am told that Pinot Noir is a perfect match for lamb and
venison. In my humble opinion it is also the perfect match for this winter nonsense
called comfort food, but so is a cabernet blend, a shiraz, a zinfandel – in fact
anything that disguises the taste of the food. I will even venture that a cabernet
franc is more comforting than a bread and butter pudding.
Imagine my shock when I was
invited to become a co-judge for the Monteith’s Wild Food and Beer Challenge. Wild
food conjures up thoughts of things that can only happen in Hokitika – disgusting
bugs combined with indigestible native plants – and besides I really don’t drink
that much beer. “It’s easy”, I was told. All you have to do is assess if the beer
is well matched to the dish. So I met my fellow judge outside the restaurant, took
a deep breath and contemplated the horror of surviving a meal without wine.
My judging comments went something
like this:
A generous entree size of seared albacore tuna steak and pan fried Nelson scallops
covered with a caramelized balsamic vinegar and decorated tastefully with fresh looking
pikopiko fronds. The dish was carefully presented on the plate and the ingredients
were true to the menu description. An inviting looking dish. The flavours were all
distinct but fitted together well as a whole.
Thankfully it wasn’t particularly
wild – quite civilized I thought. But what about the beer match. This was the Monteith’s
New Zealand Larger. What a little ripper it was, refreshing the palate after each
sip and making every bite taste fresh and inviting. I have since found out this beer
has won several international awards – and little wonder!
The second course was a generous
serving of venison cutlets served on a polenta and kumara cake with Monteith’s black
jus and caramelized onion jam. It didn’t have much colour save for the decorative
blobs of delicious bearnaise sauce, but for we red blooded meat eaters, this was
looking very promising – and again, thankfully, not too wild. This was a rich meal
and I was wondering what beer could possibly not be overwhelmed by the thick and
fruity sauce. Again the restaurant came up trumps with Monteiths Celtic Beer. It
added a complimentary malty taste to the dish and refreshed the palate with its crisp
dry finish.
The evening was really going
very well – the company was stimulating and I hadn’t even missed my red wine. Eventually
I did, and for the first time in my life, I was suffering from corkophobia. What
could I order that wouldn’t detract from the wonderful tastes that were still lingering
in my mouth? A Ravenswood Californian Zinfandel was on the wine list. I did a double
take. Imagine a muscular and spicy Zinfandel on a New Zealand wine list – and one
of my favourites. I am having great difficulty confessing this but it just didn’t
deliver in the same way as the Monteith’s beer matches. It was in fact a little disappointing.
The previous rich tastes had totally overwhelmed the ‘Zin’. Now I’m left with the
uneasy feeling that when I order scallops, tuna and venison in future, I’ll opt for
a Monteith’s beer match. I have also realised that I am now suffering from an affliction
known as capophobia – what beer do I take the cap off to match the food. And if you
visit their website, the cheeky blighters even tell you how to taste beer! Food and
wine matching is so much easier!
WEBSITES
www.monteiths.co.nz
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My Socks are Blown
off & Lizzie Hears the F Word
Albany Buzz July 2008
Sydney in June is always a pleasant experience.
The daytime temperatures hover between 19-22oC and only a light jersey is needed
if you are out of the sun. 10am found me in the Exhibition Centre with a tasting
glass in hand making that really hard decision about where to start and what to start
with. This was the annual Sydney Good Food and Wine Show and I was a little surprised
at how empty the Exhibition Hall was. Lizzie did point out that only the mad, dedicated,
or people with iron constitutions would start wine tasting at this time of the morning.
But the Albany Buzz is a hard task-mistress and besides there were dozens of wine
stands to visit.
Most Australian wine regions were represented and grouped conveniently together with
a good selection of well-known vineyards from each region. So where does one start?
My heart said a Coonawarra red but my head said I should start with a white. Fortuitously
I found d’Arenburg of McLaren Vale in front of me. It was obviously a sign. d’Arrenburg
do things a little differently. Four generations of the Osbourne family have
nurtured the vineyards and made the wines since 1912 when Joseph Osbourne purchased
some McLaren Vale land. Joseph incidently was also a teetotaller. And yes, that’s
different. Some say that d’Arrenberg wines are funky. All I know is that I love them
– especially the Dead Arm Shiraz. The Hermit Crab Viognier Marsanne was the first
taste of the day. Viognier is a very aromatic grape (orange blossom, apricot, mango,
tropical fruit etc) and if not treated with care, can be a little intense and over-the-top.
Marsanne on the other hand is a Northern Rhone varietal that blends well with Viognier
and settles it down, adds an oily texture and some honeysuckle. A great start to
the day.
The hall was now beginning to fill up, and rather
than a pleasant buzz of convivial chatter, the near hysterical screams of women filled
the air. It came from a nearby 3,500 seat auditorium and this was where Lizzie was.
I hadn’t heard screams like this since a Beatles concert in Auckland in the 60s.
Lizzie had gone to a Gordon Ramsey cooking demonstration. Surely the screams were
related to a rock star – not a TV cook? But no – they were screaming at Mr Ramsey.
They screamed every time he opened his mouth and when he said the F word, Lizzie
told me they nearly took off their knickers and threw them at the man. And this was
just the first of five ‘shows’ he was cramming in that day. I daren’t even speculate
on the happenings at the evening shows.
Reunited with my over-stimulated Lizzie, we finished
the morning at the Taylors of Clare Valley stand. This still family-owned 500 hctre
vineyard has a five price-points range of wines starting with the well made, but
basic Promised Land, through to the top-of-the range St Andews at about $60 per bottle.
The St Andrews 2001 Cabernet was complex with rich blackcurrant, and oh-so-elegant.
But it was the St Andrews 2001 Shiraz that knocked my socks off. It had simply
enormous flavours of black cherry, plum and super ripe blackberries, some subtle
American oak and I also got coffee and licorice. In fact it was like tasting a mature
and sumptuous Grange. It was so stunning that I utterd Mr Ramsey’s F word. Now I
know what he drinks!
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HARVEST TIME AT OMORI ESTATE
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Albany Buzz June 2008
Omori
is a holiday home destination where the population swells from the 200 or so permanent
residents to over 7000 invaders during the Christmas period. These invading – mostly
city refugees – all dress in lycra, ride mountain bikes, hurl themselves around on
jet skis, water ski, and all carry water bottles to protect themselves from the very
real danger of dehydrating that can happen obviously at any time. They all seem
to be running, jumping and standing still at the same time. We locals look on in
a bemused fashion at all this hyperactivity, smugly safe in the knowledge that they
will all go away and we will have the place to ourselves again soon.
Omori is also the home of
the Omori Estate Vineyard. It is 400 metres in height above sea level and overlooks
the picturesque southwestern bays of Lake Taupo’s Kuratau, Omori and Pukawa Bays.
It is a beautifully tended vineyard with stunning views of the Lake, the often winter
snow covered Kaimanawa Ranges, and the dormant volcanic knolls and native bush covered
hills that are a feature of the area. It is a tranquil place for grapes to grow.
But why grow grapes here? Surely it is too cold in the winter, with frosts an ever-present
danger in spring and autumn, and on a hot day in summer’, the thermometer will only
register 25o - 26oC. And what about those volcanic soils? Omori Estate is lovingly
nurtured by Peter and Carol Britnell and 2008 is their 4th vintage. Their 2 hectare
vineyard is planted equally in Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir grapes. Yes, the lower temperatures
mean that the Pinot Noir will seldom achieve the sugar levels needed in most years
but what do they do? They make a stunning, fully Pinot Noir Rose. And I mean a serious
Rose – one that can hold its head up proudly in such exulted company as Esk Valley
and Unison Rose. But what about the Pinot Gris? It just loves the local terroir and
will rival the best examples of this wine from anywhere in the country. (Omori Estate 2007 Pinot Gris has just
won a gold medal at the Liquorland 2008 Top 100 competition – September
2008). A great achievement considering it was only a second vintage and
that 1,476 wines were vying to make it in to the Top 100 wines. Check out your local
Liquorland store before the limited production is all snapped up or order at: www.omoriestate.co.nz)
The previous three vintages
were picked between 3rd - 10th of May and it’s an anxious time because of frost.
The ‘heat dragon’ machine can be heard cruising the rows in the middle of the night
and the early mornings. This year the grapes were picked on 21st of April because
of the great growing conditions our long summer provided. Until a week prior to picking,
the grapes had never been bigger and riper and then 150mm of heavy rain fell in three
days – the first real rain since the end of October 2007. Nature is a cruel mistress.
If a fully fledged Pinot Noir was to have been made, this was the year to do it and
waiting for the rain to stop was an anxious time. Miraculously the grapes didn’t
loose too much condition and the weather cleared for two days of hand picking. Harvest
is always an enjoyable time for the thirty or so locals who turn up every year and
the sampling of the previous vintage at the end of the day is a highlight. Over 12
tonnes of grapes left for Matariki in Hawkes Bay and we waited with baited breath
for the wine-makers report. The news was good – a fully fledged oaked Pinot Noir
will be made, along with a Rose and Pinot Gris. Other small vineyards in the district
were not so lucky and suffered from the rain, wasps and birds.
So, is it over for the year?
No, not at all. Winter means pruning and then the whole cycle starts over again.
What will the weather be like at bud burst and fruit set? Will the frosts come early
or late? What nasty little disease could attack the vines? Summer will come and the
vineyard will again be open for tastings. The ‘08 Gris and Rose will arrive (Pinot
Noir will arrive a year later) Christmas carols will be sung in the vineyard on Christmas
Eve and about 500 people will turn up for the fabulous New Year’s Eve party with
music by Hot Club Sandwich. And then the anxiety will start all over again. Will
the grapes ripen enough? Will it rain? Long nights will be spent on frost guard and
frost fighting. Nets will be put on to stop the birds eating the crop. Will the wasps
stay away? Welcome to the world of agriculture.
WEBSITES
www.omoriestate.co.nz
www.travelblognz.com/buzzwine.html
SPENDING THE BIRTHDAY
MONEY
Albany Buzz May 2008
 Buying a birthday present for
your wife is a perilous business and can lead to — at the very least — being the
recipient of ‘that look’ — a frightening thing at the best of times. I know this
now but I was a slow learner. The biggest debacle I can recall was when I cunningly
left brochures on Tahiti around the house to put Lizzie off the scent. It worked
so well that she was extremely surprised when I presented her with a new pair of
skis on her special day. After some serious discussion about how blokes and shelias
are different and with loads of contrition on my part, we came to an agreement —
we will each buy ourselves what we really want for our birthdays. Every year since
then I have spent my birthday present - money - buying wine for the cellar from my
favourite vineyards in Hawkes Bay, and this year was no exception. Hawkes Bay wines,
especially the red Bordeaux blends and big buttery chardonnays seem to be out of
fashion at the moment but fashion is fickle and if people want to waste their money
on trendy pinot gris, insipid un-oaked chardonnay, and cheap lightweight reds being
passed off as pinot noirs, then so be it.
First port of call was Esk Valley — 15km north
of Napier near the Napier Taupo highway. Part of the Villa Maria group, Gordon Russell,
the talented and dedicated winemaker, has ensured that Esk Valley produces wines
of class and substance year after year. I picked up the ‘06 Reserve Chardonnay —
always a classic — and with its oak and malolactic treatment it will open up into
a big rich, elegant and mouth-filling wine which I will broach in about 5 years —
the length of time a good Hawkes Bay Chardonnay needs to reach its peak. Reserve
Merlot/Cabernet/Malbec also found its way into the car boot. These reds are complex
and made to last. I know I will open them up well before the predicted peak of 2013.
At Unison Vineyard in the Gimblett Gravels on Highway
50, I got rather carried away. I just love everything that Bruce and Anna-Barbara
Helliwell make. Just like an exceptional restaurant meal when you know the food is
loved, taste a Unison wine and you know the care and passion that has gone into the
growing and making of the wine. We were also curious to meet the new owners, Philip
and Terry Horn. Their vision and passion is the same as Bruce and Anna-Barbara and
with Bruce staying on as consultant hands-on wine maker, expect Unison to continue
to rate as one of the 28 up-and-coming producers world-wide. Unison Selection and
Unison Syrah are musts for any cellar. In an effort to conserve the birthday money
for a further four wineries, a credit card was proffered. ‘What the hell’ said Lizzie,
‘It’s your birthday’.
There is nothing better than sitting in the sun
at the Craggy Range Terroir Restaurant. Great food and great wine. The cellar scored
some Gimblett Gravels Charonnay which will reward patience and the big 2006 Craggy
Range Block 14 Syrah which will open up over the next three years. Clearview Estate
at Te Awanga was another credit card stop. I just love their Reserve Cabernet Franc,
huge Reserve Chardonnays and Lizzie loves their dry and fresh and spicy Gewurztraminer.
I was now restricted to the birthday money so a
bottle of Black Barn Cabernet Franc and The Reserve Red (Franc/Merlot) was added
to the carton(s). This was followed by Sileni The Lodge Chardonnay and then to bed.
The next day found me with only $35 - not a great amount if you are visiting the
famous Stonecroft Wines made by the very focused and talented Alan Limmer. Thank
God for credit cards, so Reserve Syrah from the oldest vines in New Zealand, his
elegant Chardonnay and Old Vine Gewurztraminer were added to the stash. ‘Enough,’
said Lizzie with visions of the poor house swimming before her eyes. ‘I’ve still
got $35 to spend — and it’s my birthday money’, I said. As luck would have it, we
were just outside CJ Pask Wines — and would you believe it — the creamy and concentrated
CJ Pask Declaration Chardonnay was exactly $35.00. Divine intervention I called it.
WEBSITES
www.unisonvineyard.co.nz www.eskvalley.co.nz
www.stonecroft.co.nz
www.craggyrange.co.nz
www.blackbarn.com
www.clearviewestate.co.nz
www.sileni.co.nz
www.travelblognz.com
> Click on Buzzwine.
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THERE ARE THREE KINDS OF LIES
Albany Buzz April 2008
 ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies,
damned lies, and statistics’.
This statement has been attributed to Benjamin Disraeli — Prime Minister of the UK
from 1874 — 1880, and was popularised in the US by Mark Twain. Now I have no idea
if these two distinguished gentlemen drank wine, or for that matter, if they did,
did the drinking of such, lead them to tell whoppers or even quote statistics to
back these up? Recently however, I was looking at the 2007 New Zealand Wine Growers
statistics and if they contained any lies at all, the only place would be in the
predictions made for the years 2008 — 2010. The rest of the statistics were just
fascinating. If this was a quiz and you were asked to name the region of New Zealand
that has the most hectares of producing wine grapes planted, what would you opt for?
You would probably say Marlborough and you’d be right of course. If you were asked
to name the grape variety that is most planted in New Zealand, again you would have
said Sauvignon Blanc, and again you’d be correct. But what if you were asked to name
the next four regions and next four grape varieties? Did you say Hawkes Bay, Gisborne,
Otago and Wairarapa/Nelson in that district order and Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir,
Chardonnay and Merlot for the gape varieties?
What is most telling is the percentage gap between
the regions and the varieties, Marlborough with 53% is way out in front for wine
grape plantings with Hawkes Bay 34 percentage points behind on a mere 19%. We think
of Gisborne and Otago as large wine areas but they chime in on 9% and 6% respectively
while Wairarapa, Nelson and Waipara are home to only 3% each of the national wine
grape crop. And poor old Auckland? A mere 2%. But we use Auckland land for houses
and choked roads so it really is no surprise. Perhaps grapes planted on motorway
median strips might help and even add a certain flavour to the wine. Being an election
year, Helen is bound to adopt this idea for her carbon credit trading scheme and
wouldn’t we motorists feel great knowing that while we are stuck in traffic, we are
saving the planet.
In terms of grape variety, Sauvignon Blanc production
is way out in front with 42% while Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are at 18% and 16% respectively.
And in spite of all the recent hype, the great red hope — Syrah, languishes at just
1% along with Gewurtztraminer and Cabernet Franc. Even the much vaunted and trendy
Pinot Gris only rates a mere 5%. So what do we do with all this Sauvignon Blanc?
Surely it’s too much for us all to drink! The answer is we export it. 75% of our
wine exports are indeed Sauvignon Blanc. Pinot Noir is second but is a full 67
percentage points behind on 8% of our wine exports. Chardonnay follows with 6% and
Merlot and Cabernet blends on 2% and 1.2% And who drinks our wine overseas?
Well it seems that the UK can’ get enough of the stuff at about 28 million litres
followed by Australia and the USA at about 18 million litres each.
By now my head was swimming with statistics but
then I came upon some startling new facts? Did you know that we have 2 hectares planted
in Flora and 1 planted hectare each of Roussanne, Scheurere, Osteiner and Wurzer.
I don’t know if these are grape varieties or German pop groups but I’ll try and find
out and keep you posted. This could be the damned lies part of Disraeli’s statement.
He was a politician after all.
Website:
www.nzwine.com/statistics/
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THIS IS BAD — THIS IS GOOD
Albany Buzz March 2008
 Oak treatment, tannins, kerosene, triage,
acid noble rot, length, finish, volatile acidity, bouquet, oxidation, tca, brettanomycees,
and cigar box are all words associated with wine. It’s almost as if another language
has been invented to ensure that we, the average wine drinkers are kept in the dark
about wine. Let’s try and demystify some wine terms and descriptors so you can amaze
and annoy your friends with your serious vinous knowledge.
Kerosene is the smell or aroma you get from a very
well aged riesling and an aged Hunter Valley semillon. You may even get a hint of
kerosene on the palate. The wine will often be deep gold and almost stick to the
sides of the glass. No, the wine has not ‘gone off’. Admittedly it’s an acquired
taste but one well worth acquiring.
Oxidation means a wine has been excessively exposed
to oxygen. This can happen during the wine making process or more likely, the cork
is faulty and has let in oxygen. Minor oxidation will cause a wine to be dull and
lifeless. If the wine smells and tastes like sherry, or even worse — vinegar, that
is bad! An oxidised red wine will be almost brown colour and a white wine is likely
to take on a deep amber resin hue. In both cases, tip the wine down the sink or return
it to the supplier for a refund or new bottle. Some wines are deliberately exposed
to controlled amounts of oxygen before fermentation to develop more complex flavours
— this is good!
TCA or Cork Taint is caused by a chemical reaction
between the wine and the cork. This is a ‘corked’ wine. A mildly corked wine is hard
to pick but can taste and smell dull, musty, and damp. Full blown TCA is just like
stinky mouldy cardboard, and once tasted, will never be forgotten. This is bad. Three
cheers for screw caps, the antidote to TCA.
Complexity and length is a very good thing in wine.
If you find your wine displays lots of different flavours and these change over time
in your glass, then you have a complex wine. If the taste of the wine lingers on
in your mouth after drinking it, then this is regarded as a good sign. It is commonly
called length or finish. A good wine will also have three distinct phases which can
be discerned — an initial burst of flavour, a solid middle palate and a long lingering
finish. A skillful wine maker will have blended three distinctly different pressings
and given each a different level and type of aging to produce this desired result.
Look for this in a really good pinot noir. This is good. A wine with a beginning,
no middle and some end is easy to pick. It’s as if you can put your tongue through
where the middle taste should have been.
Tannins, Acids and Alcohol. Tannins are extracted
from the skins, pips and stems of the wine and some can be imparted by aging the
wine in oak. Excessive tannins are bad. Your mouth will feel furry and dry right
out. They may overwhelm the fruit entirely. Many serious red wines may appear to
have excessive tannins when young but with aging, they will meld with the fruit and
acid to produce a high quality drop with some definite oomph. This is really good.
Acids give wines their bite when you swallow. Too much acid means too much sharp
bite. If the wine feels hot when you swallow, this is the tell-tale sigh of high
alcohol. Many American cabernet blends suffer from this problem — huge alcoholic
and jammy creatures and this is bad. If you are drinking a wine where the fruit,
tannins and acid all seem to be in perfect balance, invite me around for a drink
immediately. This would be good.
Breathing a red wine by just taking out its cork
is not worth doing. The only bit that breathes is the little bit at top of the neck.
Breathing a red wine is good but all of it must be exposed to the air. Pour it into
a jug or decanter and leave for about 10 minutes, then pour it back into the bottle
for serving. This allows the wine to open up and show its true class and this has
got to be good.
There is just a little qualifier to add to all
this. It’s probably your mood that really decides how you enjoy your wine. Even a
great wine just does not taste so good if you are not enjoying the company and a
simple little rose can assume legendary status in a relaxed and convivial or romantic
setting — and this is very very good.
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Main Men
Albany Buzz February 2008
GETTING TO THE BEST BIT
Albany Buzz February 2008
 We have all, at
some time, been in the company of a person who is doing their very best to impress
us with their knowledge of wine – and isn’t it a pain! Lizzie cruelly says that I’m
one of those pains! That said however, it is also true that the greater your knowledge
of wine, the deeper your enjoyment of wine can become. So in the interest of enjoyment
and at the risk of being a pain, the next two columns will explore some simplified
winespeak ideas. Much of this you may know already but it just may help you enjoy
your wine even more – and if that happens, then it’s been worth it.
Picking: The decision of when to pick the
grapes is crucial. Too early and the acids will be high, the sugars low and the flavours
wanted will not be there.
Cropping: The theory here is to remove many
bunches of grapes from a vine so the remaining bunches will be more concentrated
in flavour. Over-cropped vines will produce thin wines that are lower in sugar, colour,
and flavour. But if you like your wines this way, you will probably find them in
the bargain bins in supermarkets at $8.00 and under, and you will no doubt have more
disposable income that can be spent on bottled water!
Winemaking: Grapes arrive at the winery and
are often put on conveyor belts to remove leaves and other unwanted bits from the
picking. If a high quality wine is to be produced, only the best bunches will be
selected, de-stemmed then crushed to release the juice. If it’s a white wine, the
juice is removed from the skins and pips immediately before fermentation begins.
If a red wine, the skins and pips are left with the juice during fermentation. This
allows the colour and tannins to be extracted from the skins.
Fermentation: Wild yeasts form naturally on the
skins of grapes and when crushed, the yeasts have access to the sugar in the juice
and begin converting it to alcohol – in other words, fermentation. The more sugar
in the grapes, the greater the alcohol content. Fermentation continues until all
the sugar is eaten and the yeast cells give up. Winemakers may use the wild yeasts
or may add different varieties of yeasts to start the fermentation. Fermentation
can be stopped before all the sugar becomes alcohol by cooling the juice so the yeasts
stop working. The yeast is then filtered out and the sugar left will add a certain
sweetness and body and the wine which will have a lower alcohol content.
Malolactic Fermentation: This is a secondary fermentation
which can occur naturally after fermentation. The harsher malic acid of the juice
is converted to a softer lactic acid. Winemakers may kick off this process by injecting
lactic bacteria. Most reds have this secondary fermentation and it is a useful technique
in a wine such as chardonnay to fatten it out and give an almost butterscotch-like
flavour. In crisper more acidic wines such as riesling, malolactic fermentation is
a no no and wine makers must master the art of stopping this happening or risk the
embarrassment of it taking place at a later date in the bottle (it will be fizzy).
Aging: The wine may then be aged on its
lees – the dead yeasts, for varying periods of time before it is racked (drained
away from the dead yeasts). Quality red wines are then more likely to spend further
time (a year or more) aging in expensive oak barrels while a white wine may just
rest in a stainless steel tank unless some oak contact is required.
Fined and Filtered: Consumers of wines in general do
not like cloudy wines or particles – especially in white wines. Either before, during
or after aging, wines are filtered and then fined – that is a
substance such as egg whites are added to grab any tiny particles left over and clear
up the wine. The danger with filtering is that too much can take away some of the
natural character and charm of the wine. This is where the skill and judgement
of the winemaker come to the fore. Some wines may even have further bottle age before
they are released for you and I to drink – and that’s the best bit.
WEBSITES:
www.winepros.org/wine101/enology.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winemaking
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IT'S ALL IN THE TEA
LEAVES
Albany Buzz December 2007
 In
a past life I lived in a provincial city. The thing that sticks in my memory most
was the stir that a self proclaimed clairvoyant caused when she shifted into town.
Over a period of time, all the women in the office would traipse over to her house
to have their futures read. Mrs X would look deeply into their tea cups, and using
her amazing ability to ‘read’ the leaves, she would astound them all with her accurate
predictions. She could predict travel in the future, the purchase of, or at least
contemplation of purchasing or changing cars, a family crisis or a success in the
future. There was no end to her amazing foresight, and as word of her success spread,
most of the women of the city had contributed handsomely to her pension fund. Mrs
X however made one fatal mistake. She clearly had not had a cup of tea that morning
for she failed to predict that the small plane she was on would crash later in the
day. A sad end to a glittering career.
As well as enjoying wine, I also enjoy tea and
recently, to my astonishment, I was able to read the leaves and predict that later
that day I was going to open a bottle of wine. The leaves spoke so clearly that I
was even able to predict the actual wine — an American Sonoma Valley Ferrari-Carano
Cabernet Sauvignon. Even the year was right — 1997 to be exact. What the leaves
didn’t tell me was that apart from the first impressive sip, the wine opened up into
a huge jammy, over-the-top experience. But hey, I was only learning. Now armed with
a much more refined technique, I am able to share with you some wine predictions
for the coming year. The leaves tell me that in 2008:
- Helen Clark, flushed with success from banning
fireworks and offering tax cuts, will strike a blow for sustainability. In a stunning
move to save the forests of France she will ban all French oak treatment of our wines.
The French will retailiate of course and no more Citroen, Renault or Peugeot
cars will be seen on our roads. The scheme will start with Chardonnay and be phased
in over six weeks.
- Al Gore will make an award-winning film predicting
all New Zealand wine areas (except Northland) will become frost-free and
why helicopter companies should get their comeuppance.
- Allan Limmer of Stonecroft will seal all of his
wines with stelvin closures.
- Muller Thurgau will become the new Pinot Gris.
- Stephen Bennett M.W. — wine writer for North and
South, will find a Hawkes Bay Syrah he really likes — probably Unison.
- Robert Parker Jnr will startle the wine world
by adopting a new 200 point system for judging wine.
- Trevor Mallard, fresh from an anger management
course, and now in touch with his feminine side, will discover and promote the
drinking of Rose wines exclusively — probably Esk Valley Rose — although the
leaves were not too clear on this point.
- The Martinborough Wine Festival Tickets will be
slow sellers and Trade Me will list hundreds of them at below cost.
- In a brilliant move to stifle any further controversy,
the Hawkes Bay Wine Awards will appoint Britney Spears as chief judge.
- Blackmarket.co.nz will suffer a terrorist attack
and disappear from the world wide web.
- Wither Hills will bottle all their sauvignon blanc
from one batch.
- Lizzie and I will make our first vintage of Schist
Face Pinot Noir.
- Michael Cooper will write a book called ‘Buyers
Guide to New Zealand Wines — 2008’ and it will sell very well.
Just remember, it’s all in the tea leaves and if
any of this just happens to come true, remember you read it first in the Buzz! Have
a fun Christmas and New Year and do treat yourself to some special wines.
Cheers — until 2008.
THE PARKERIZATION
OF THE WORLD
Albany Buzz November 2007
 In a previous column
I mentioned Robert M. Parker, Jr the man wine drinkers, wine writers, wine makers,
viticulturalists et al love to love and love to loath in equal amounts. Robert Parker
is a university graduate with a major in History and a minor in Art History who served
for over 10 years as an attorney. He gave this all away in 1984 and devoted all his
time to writing about wine and developing his wine publications started in 1975.
His publication The Wine Advocate has now over 40,000 subscribers in the USA and
is widely read in 37 countries world-wide.
He is regarded as the most influential
wine critic in the world and invented the 100 point wine rating system. So why is
he loved and loathed in equal amounts? The 100 point system is where it all starts.
This system implies absolute precision. Other world renowned wine writers such as
England's Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson say that ranking the quality of a wine
is just too subjective and they, along with many Australian and New Zealand writers,
have adopted a 20 point system to accommodate this. Repected New Zealand wine writer
Michael Cooper uses a 5 star system while Peter Saunders — a writer held in very
high regard in our industry, simply descibes the wine as he sees it, no stars or
points at all. Under the Parker system, 90-95 points is regarded as outstanding,
80-89 points is very good, 75-79 points is above average. So what happens when the
ratings go out? The price of the 90+ wines shoots up alarmingly, putting it out of
the reach of your average buyer. The wines rated under 90 become harder to sell and
the average wines in the 75-79 bracket are nearly impossible to shift.
My favourite Parker story (and I can't
swear to its authenticity) concerns a French chateau owner offering him sexual favours
from his two daughters when he rated his wine 95 points. The reaction to Parker's
score of a meager 85 points by another owner simply resulted in death threats. Another
consequence of his influence is that a wine he rates highly becomes the benchmark
style for that wine. Human nature and economics being what it is, if you could sell
your vintage for several million dollars or euros more because of a high rating,
then you would be very silly to not make it in a 'Parker approved' style. This is
now known as the Parkerization of the industry. I have commented on his style before
but in summary, it seems to be anything highly alcoholic and over the top. Parker
is often seen to be out-of-step with others in the industry. A 2003 Bordeaux vintage
was described by Jancis Robinson as having 'completely unappestising overripe aromas'.
Some of the wine trade were not worried as they knew Parker had a soft spot for the
chateau and sent out a statement that said; 'It is widely anticipated that Robert
Parker will love it and we predict a massive score'. So do I read Robert Parker?
No, but I'm deeply fascinated with the commercialism of the man who styles himself
as a consumer advocate for wine. You can even rent monthly a Robert Parker java applet
which runs on your cell phone and gives you access to the Robert Parker 'Wine of
the Day' and 'special buying opportunities'. This boy is good but I still go back
to the old maxim — you be the judge and if you like it, drink it.
To gain some understanding about the genius
of Robert M. Parker Jr, I highly recommend you visit his website. Some of you may
find it just a little crass but you may want to avail yourself of an approved Robert
Parker wine accessory such as a $30 US Cargo Single Cinnabar decribed as: 'a perfect
wine bag for the wine lover who likes to carry their favorite selection with them.
The 'Cargo' wine bag, made of 100% quality cotton canvas, helps to maintain the temperature
of your wine. It is designed to hold either a 750 ml or 1.5 litre bottle and has
a corkscrew pocket in front. There are leather closures with a comfortable web handle
that is adjustable in length. The inside has elastics to hold the bottle in place'.
Just how perfect is that!
Websites:
www.erobertparker.com (the e is not a mistake)
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EASY TO DRINK – HARD
TO PRONOUNCE
Albany Buzz — October 2007
 When I first started to enjoy wines, I
discovered several bottles of a wine with a totally unpronounceable name in our local
specialist wine store (today a threatened species) called Gewurztraminer. Even my
curiosity would not overcome my acute embarrassment when attempting to pronounce
the name of the wine, and so, this stunning varietal was to remain a mystery to me
for several years. Suspecting that it was a German word, I finally plucked up courage
to ask a German tourist I met in a local pub. ‘Guh-VERTZ-truh-mean-er’, he said and
so my love affair with this wine began, and is still as strong as ever.
It may be hard to pronounce and even harder to spell but Gewurtztraminer is the easiest
of all white wines to recognise in a blind tasting. The heady, almost over-the-top
perfume is always more than enough to give it away. It is often said of Gewurtztraminer
that its only fault is that it has got too much of everything. The distinctive flavour
of lychees, hints of peaches and mangoes, a little spiciness, and the aroma of heavily-scented
roses, and an almost oil-like ability to cling to the glass, is what it is all about.
At its best it should be delicate and yet mouthfilling and lingering.
The history of this pinkish-brown spotted berried grape is quite fascinating in itself.
It was (in the Middle Ages) a pale green grape called Traminer with none of the spicy
flavours we know today and was planted quite extensively all over Europe. One characteristic
of Traminer was that it commonly mutated and one such mutation was seized upon by
the French of Alsace because of its spice and beautiful perfume. The word Gewurtz
(synonym for spice and/or perfumed) was simply added to Traminer to identify this
special spicy and heavily perfumed mutation of Traminer.
Alsace still does it best of all but we also do it very well in many districts in
New Zealand including Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Marlborough and Central Otago. During
the late 80s and 90s the plantings of Gewurtz. declined quite markedly in New Zealand.
The main reason for this was its ability to really react badly to any adverse weather
at fruit set, making it uneconomic to plant in comparison with other grape varieties.
But thankfully this has now been reversed as better clones have been developed and
our wine makers have embraced the charms of this wine giving it an increasingly higher
profile amongst wine drinkers.
Gewurtztraminer is not an every-day drinking wine as its over-the-topness means you
can tire of it if you drink too much of it on a regular basis. Use it for special
occasions and to re-educate your palate about what a great wine should taste like.
The Villa Maria Cellar selection and Private Bin range and Saints (Montana) are good
introductory level well priced wines. If you are looking for a sensory explosion
of the Gewurtztraminer kind, then you can’t go past any of the following:
- Stonecroft Old Vine Gewurtztraminer (Hawkes Bay)
Vinoptima Gewurtztraminer (Gisborne)
Villa Maria Single Vineyard Ihumatao (Auckland)
Te Whare Ra Gewurtztraminer (Nelson)
and our very best Gewurtztraminer of all:
Dry River Estate Gewurtztraminer (Martinborough) Believe me, this wine is so good
that if you drink it, you will be immediately be awarded a Carbon Credit.
Previous Wine Columns on the Web:
www.travelblognz.com > Click on Buzzwine.
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WHEN WINE OPTIONS GET RIDICULOUS
Albany Buzz — September 2007
 In the ‘70s Liz and I were part of a small
group of wine enthusiasts who met once a month to listen to guest speakers – wine
makers such as the Spence brothers from Matua Valley and John Hancock of Morton Estate
(now Trinity Hill). We would taste their wines and they would regale us with wonderful
tales of the then fledgling New Zealand wine industry. One story really tickled our
fancy. The vineyard owner was sitting down to have an early evening wine when he
heard a shotgun blast. It was probably the wine maker scaring off the birds he thought.
Several minutes later there was an insistent knocking on the door and there stood
the agitated – and slightly tipsy wine maker asking if he could stay the night as
his wife was none too pleased, and was making serious bodily threats. He explained
that she had been shopping in town and purchased a large pink ceramic flamingo which
she had placed in a tree outside their house. Said wine maker, after a solid day
blending and sipping, came home and spotted the flamingo in the tree. Seized with
an attack of good taste, he did what any right thinking male would do – blasted it
to bits with his shotgun.
The serious part of the evenings was however the wine options game. One or more wines
were concealed in brown paper bags and small glasses would be poured for all of us.
We would then look, swirl, sip and taste as a series of questions were asked about
the wine.
- Is it from the northern or southern hemisphere?
- What country is it from?
- What region of that country is it from?
- What is the grape or the blend?
Sometimes we were even asked to name the vineyard and the vintage year – but thankfully,
not often. Because the wine type is only revealed after the last question has been
asked, things can go terribly wrong if you make a mistake with the first question.
Once we went off into a northern hemisphere tack from which there was no return,
and decided that it was a Grenache from Rhone in France when in fact it was a humble
Merlot from Hawkes Bay – at least we had the colour right.
Recently we have revived this fun game with our neighbours who have a small vineyard
– Omori Estate – in Southern Lake Taupo. As we pretty well know what each other has
in their cellar, we tend to ‘play the man’ and often with good results. Recently,
things have taken a turn for the worse. I scored a coup by finding a bottle of Clay
Cliffs, Central Otago Muscat. How obscure is that! They didn’t even get close. Next
week, Peter replied with a Merlot, blended with God knows what, home-made in old
oak barrels in Turangi. We didn’t even get close. Further obscure examples have since
followed including a South African Pinot Noir, a Queensland Chardonnay and a Cabernet
Sauvignon from Tasmania. We called a temporary truce. The truce was broken by Carol
and even Peter was not allowed inside knowledge of the wine’s origin. Lizzie headed
off to the Northern Hemisphere and insisted it was a Gewurstraminer from Alsace.
Peter knew it was a Riesling from Gisborne. I thought I recognised the wine and said
nothing until asked the region of New Zealand it came from – Southern Lake Taupo
to be precise. Yes, indeed the wine was a fine Pinot Gris from Omori Estate. Peter
hadn’t recognised his own wine. This is not at all uncommon amongst wine makers who
often don’t recognise their own creations in a blind tasting.
So why not have some fun on winter evenings playing the wine options game with friends
at home. You will learn a lot about wine but be warned – it can bring out the competitive
streak in the male so insist that it’s simple – say just New Zealand wines.
It’s time to visit Carol and Peter. Now where did
I put that bottle of Ehrenfelser from the Okanagan in British Columbia?
Obscure Wine Online
www.foodandwine.com/articles/tongue-tied-about-the-worlds-best-wine-values
www.caros.co.nz/
www.barossa-region.org/wine/Obscure-wine-recommendations.html
www.obscuritycellars.com/wines.htm
www.vinography.com/archives/2006/12/jack_the_obscure_tasting_wines.html
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Let’s Go Wine Tasting
Albany Buzz — August 2007
 NO SHERRY • NO BUBBLES • NO BUSES. This
appears on a sign outside a prestigious Hawkes Bay winery. While possibly a little
direct, the message is clear – we only want people here who are serious about tasting
wine – and I agree with this sentiment. I was once caught between a bus load of tourists
and the free sweet sherry tasting table at a vineyard. I have never seen such animation
from the over 70s as they trampled over me to get to the pre-poured glasses with
not even so much as an excuse me. Be warned – oldies can be vicious, and I still
bear the scars! However, don’t let this, put you off one of life’s most pleasurable
experiences – a leisurely tasting of wines in a particular district – commonly known
as following a wine trail. By following some elementary and unwritten rules, you
will get the most out of your half or full day of tasting. And Rule Number One is
obvious – avoid wineries with large tourist buses parked outside.
A popular way of visiting a series of wineries
is to find a local tourist operator who takes small groups around selected wineries.
This has two advantages – you are not drinking and driving and the operator is nearly
always well informed and has good relationships with the behind-the-counter
staff. Lizzie and I are rugged individualists and prefer to strike out on our
own. Recently we were in Marlborough with good friends Jan and Vaughan. He seemed
non-plussed when we suggested that we would be going to six wineries before lunch.
‘We’ll shouldn’t drink that much’, he said. ‘We won’t be’, I replied. The secret
is to share one tasting glass per couple and to only taste the wines you want to
taste. One little sip is all you need to assess the wine and we tend to stick to
wines that are the speciality of the district or the vineyard – such as Sauvignon
Blanc and Pinot Gris from Marlborough, Chardonnay and Cabernet blends from Hawkes
Bay etc. Vaughan was impressed with our discipline and after six visits, he suggested
that there was still time to fit in another two or three before lunch and still remain
well below the limit.
If you do want to taste a flight of whites, start
with the lighter and aromatic wines first and move on to the more acidic and ‘bigger’
wines. If the behind-the-counter staff know their stuff (and they mostly really do),
they will probably pour wines in the following order – Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris,
Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and finish off with an oaked Chardonnay. If tasting reds,
start with the Pinot Noir, followed by the Merlot, Syrah, and finish with the Cabernet
blends.
No winery will want to give another a bad wrap
so take a positive approach. We always say, ‘If you were taking some friends around,
where would you take them to taste some interesting wines’? An emerging trend is
for wineries to charge a small fee (refunded if you purchase) for tasting a flight
of about 5 wines ( eg 3 whites and two reds). This is good for two reasons
– it takes away any obligation to buy that you may feel, and by paying a little more,
it often allows you to taste their top-of-the-range wines – not normally offered
for tasting.
Winery staff in New Zealand in general, are well
trained, and in many cases you can be lucky enough to be talking to the winemaker
or vineyard manager. By showing a keen interest, asking intelligent questions and
offering praise, they will open up and you will be rewarded in kind – often with
a special tasting of a special wine. It’s really just a case of human nature. They
are passionate about the wines they make and they enjoy you being passionate about
them too.
Unlike much of Europe and California, New Zealand
and Australia are blessed with vineyard restaurants of a very high standard. So what
better way to finish your wine trail than to sit down with a full glass of wine previously
tasted and enjoy that romantic lunch at the home of the grape. It really does taste
best in its natural setting.
Wineries with Restaurants We Like:
www.ascensionvineyard.co.nz (Matakana)
www.sileni.co.nz (Hawkes Bay)
www.clearviewestate.co.nz (Hawkes Bay)
www.saintclair.co.nz (Marlborough)
www.amisfield.co.nz (Queenstown)
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Terroir – A Sense
of Place
Albany Buzz — July 2007
 Toni Paterson,
an Australian wine-maker and Master of Wine, stated the following when referring
to Australian Sauvignon Blanc: “I often find myself thinking, why buy Australian
when I can get more flavour, character and expression from one produced by our Tasman
cousins.” She is naturally talking about our world-famous Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.
It is instantly recognisable and has a sense of place.
The French call it ‘terroir’ (tair
wah). In simple terms, a terroir refers to a group of vineyards in a region that
share the same soil type, weather and similar grape types that give the region a
distinct personality. The French take this a whole lot further than the simple geographic
definition and will add almost anything supporting their local terroir concept including
row spacing, root stock, pruning techniques and even local wine-making philosophies
and historic influences imparted on the vineyard by previous generations. Cynics
might say that this is a clever commercial ploy to give a region an edge over others
producing wines of the same type. And it is hotly debated in New Zealand with some
wine-makers believing that modern techniques have made the terroir concept redundant
– their undoubted abilities can produce a wine true to a style or a grape no matter
what the district.
Recently I asked myself the question,
if terroir is fraud, then why do I prefer wines from certain regions in New Zealand
and Australia over others? My answer was simple. After years of imbibing, I believe
that certain wines from certain regions, although individually distinct from each
other, have a definite personality – a terroir – a sense of place. So risking the
wrath of the anti-terroirists, I bravely share with you my NZ/Aussie wine region
preferences.
Semillon: Hunter Valley. No other New World region comes close. Made without any
oak treatment, this crisp and lean when young wine, gets better and better with age.
At about 10 years it becomes a deep gold and complex wine, quite nutty, and even
oily with an almost kerosene-type flavour. An acquired taste, and not for the faint
hearted.
Sauvignon Blanc: Marlborough. This
goes without saying. I enjoy the pungent nose and the over-the-top flavour. Please
don’t dumb-it-down with oak and malolactic fermentation. Stick to stainless steel.
Chardonnay: Hawkes Bay. Big, bold and complex and some subtle oak is what it’s all
about. I hope this un-oaked nonsense goes away soon.
Riesling: Clare Valley/Eden Valley. Clare Valley (1 hour north west of the Barossa)
and Eden Valley (bordering the Barossa) are cooler climate areas that produce robust,
minerally and long lasting wines that knock the socks off most New Zealand offerings.
If choosing a NZ variety I go with Martinborough and Central Otago.
Gewurtztraminer: Gisborne. This region produces elegant and soft Gewurtzaminer right
through to rich and complex mouth-filling examples – all with distinctive and pungent
aromatics.
Bordeaux Blends (Cab Sav, Merlot, Malbec, Franc etc) Hawkes Bay. Wonderful rich and
complex offerings that are getting better every year. For a straight Cabernet Sauvignon
I can’t go past an aged Australian Coonawara number as it seldom ripens in NZ.
Syrah/Shiraz: Hawkes Bay/McLaren Vale. Gimblett Gravels region is producing some
classy Hawkes Bay stunners. Shiraz from McLaren Vale is the voluptuous and mouth-filling
expression of grunty Aussie shiraz.
Pinot Noir: Central Otago. I prefer the forest floor and barnyard of Central Otago
Pinots. They seem to have more compexity than the more feminine and fruit driven
examples from Martinborough and Marlborough (I’m sticking my neck out here!).
And Finally: Pinot Gris. I just don’t know the answer. There is no discernable New
Zealand style emerging that I can tell. Do we even need a style? If you regard Alsace
as the benchmark for Pinot Gris – oily, complex, lush and with wonderful aromatics
– then there is probably no better example than Nevis Bluff from Central Otago.
The terroir versus the wine-maker debate will only be resolved over time and I suspect
that geography and topography matched to grape variety, will in the end, win out
over the cult of the wine- maker. If I’m wrong, well so be it. I will have had a
wonderful time trying to discover this sense of place.
Websites:
www.wineanorak.com/terroir2.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terroir
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Shall I Wear a Silly Nose?
Albany Buzz — June 2007
 Anyone who keeps an eye on supermarket wine specials will
probably not be surprised to know that they sell between 65%-70% of all wine purchased
in New Zealand. The other interesting fact is that the average price that wine shoppers
are willing to pay is increasing, with most growth in the $10.00 – $15.00 range.
Recently I read a wine column bemoaning the fact that quality wines such as the Church
Road range were being marked down severely by supermarkets and this was devaluing
the Church Road brand in the eyes of the public. Not so I say – this is socialist
rubbish – let the market prevail. Supermarkets have huge purchasing power and if
they can screw down the price from the supplier, then so be it. And it’s really good
for we consumers. In the words of Richard Riddiford of Palliser Estate “The best
bottle of Palliser Estate is the last one sold”.
Supermarkets are masters in the art of temptation. A small number of weekly
specials at below cost are often offered to get us in the doors. Luckily for
me, I am only tempted by the wine specials and my deliberately cultivated ignorance
of all things culinary and household essentials means that I will only go inside
a supermarket to hook into those sometimes fabulous wine deals. Recently I sat
up in bed with a start as an advertisement in the paper stated that the
Saints range was being offered at $9.95 at a local supermarket. Recommended retail
for this range is in the vicinity of $20.00 Saints is part of the vast Pernod-Ricard
empire which, in New Zealand, includes Montana, Stonleigh and Church Road so they
can’t be all bad – and they’re not. The Saints Gisborne Chardonnay is always
good – a smooth lively wine with some good chardonnay grapefruit and buttery
flavours. The Saints Hawkes Bay Cabernet/Merlot is always reliable, quite gutsy
and true to the blend. The quaffing cellar had recently suffered an unfortunate attack
from friends and three dozen wines were needed.
On the way out to the car with my three cases, I did an almost unheard of thing –
I checked my docket. Even though maths was never my strong point, it seemed
clear that the total price paid for three cases at $10.00 each should equate to $360.00.
This was way more – $540.00 to be exact. I had not read the fine print – one dozen
case only at the give-away price and all further cases at $17.50 per bottle. While
I waited to return my two cases and receive a refund, I innocently asked
what was to stop me putting on a silly nose and making two further trips from
the car and purchase them separately. “You wouldn’t even have to do that sir’, was
the reply – “just go to a different checkout each time”. “So can I do this right
now?” I asked. “Not really sir, we would recognise you”. “Even with a silly nose?”
I asked. “Particularly with a silly nose sir, we don’t see this too often”. Needless
to say, the manager relented and I was given all the wine at the $10.00 price. So,
there you have it – supermarkets practise egalitarian socialism too – except when
they don’t.
The real point of all this is that if you keep a close eye on the specials you’ll
find wonderful bargains. The wines have not been devalued – they will taste just
the same as they did when they were at full RRP. Many classy marked-down wines abound
in the $10.00 – $15.00 range. In fact, this week I am off to my local New World to
buy the odd bottle of:
- Delegats Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at $8.99
- Rawsons Retreat (Penfold) Shiraz/Cabernet at $9.99
- Red Knot (Mclaren Vale) Shiraz/Cabernet at $11.99
- Vidal (Hawkes Bay) Merlot/Cabernet at ($12.99)
and I’ll probably lash out a bit on a couple of Penfolds Bin 28 and Bin 128,
reduced to the silly price of $20.00 – but I’ve saved so much already that I’d be
silly not to!
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SIMPLY SENSATIONAL
SYRAH
Albany Buzz — May 2007
 "Our most affordable Sensational
Syrah".
When winter is approaching, my wine taste changes
drastically. Gone is the Marlborough over-the-top Sauvignon Blanc, gone is the frivolous
Pinot Gris and out comes the serious Chardonnay, out comes the Eden Valley and Clare
Valley Reislings, the Aussie Shiraz, the New Zealand Cabernet Blends and best of
all — the fabulous Hawkes Bay Syrahs. Australians call it Shiraz but it is the noble
Syrah grape we are talking about, and in New Zealand, we mostly call it Syrah.
In France it is the only grape used for the famous Rhone Côte Rotie and Hermitage
wines. These plantings however are dwarfed by the massive plantings in Australia
with which we are so familiar. Syrah/Shiraz is a tricky wine to get right. It needs
heat to get fully ripe. When slightly over ripe and over cropped it loses its charm
completely and can be quite aggressive. When Australian vineyards get it right though,
it becomes a wonderfully dark blackberry and licorice flavoured spicy wine that lingers
on and on. The other extreme is when Syrah/Shiraz it is not quite ripe and it becomes
an unpleasant astringent mouthwash with a smell often described as burnt rubber.
Hawkes Bay (and the Gimblett Gravels area in particular) Syrahs really shocked the
Aussies in 2003 when they won the Tri Nations Wine Challenge with a best in the show
and overall class win and we have continued to do well in all further Challenges.
So what makes our Syrahs so special — and different? It seems that Hawkes Bay has
the climate to be able to ripen the grape without it getting overripe. We also give
our Syrahs the more elegant French Oak treatment rather than the often more astringent
vanilla flavoured American Oak preferred by the Aussies. Our Hawkes Bay climate seems
to bring out the best in our Syrahs and the best examples are classy, elegant wines
with spicy peppery bouquet and intense blackberry (and at times licorice) flavours,
all balanced out with subtle tannins.
The Royal Easter Show Awarded awarded four Syrah gold medals this year. I am well
aware that shows are not the be-all and end-all of judgement but the award winners
consistently get their Syrah together and three of them happen to be in my top five
or six. These were:
Esk Valley Reserve Syrah 2005 — about $30.00
Unison Syrah 2005 (my all time favourite) — about $37.00
Vidal Solar Syrah 2004 — about $40.00
Villa Maria Cellar Selection 2005 — about $30.00
Add the following to the list as they don’t enter shows:
Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Block 14 Syrah 2004 — about $35.00
Stonecroft Syrah (any year) — about $38.00
Te Mata Bullnose Syrah — about $45.00
Trinity Hill Homage Syrah 2004 — about $120.00 (Crikey)
Passage Rock Syrah 2005) (Waiheke Island) — about $50.00
Added up, this comes to $380.00. Good God I hear you say. Isn’t this a bit rich when
I can get a cheap Hardy’s Aussie number (please don’t) for $8.95 on special ? Yes
it is a bit rich, but how about shouting yourself one a month from now on and you’ll
quickly fall in love with our ‘hot’ new wine and be well on the way to financial
ruin. But all is not lost. As mentioned in a previous column, One Tree Syrah (a division
of Craggy Range) makes this wonderful wine for sale exclusively at Pack ’n Save and
New World supermarkets. And the price — about $15.00 — $17.00 This is a wonderful
example of Hawkes Bay Syrah at a give-away price that was recently given the 5 star
treatment by the highly respected Winestate Magazine. So light the fire and make
this winter the best wine time you have ever had by exploring and enjoying our simply
sensational New Zealand Syrah.
Websites:
www.unisonvineyard.co.nz www.villamaria.co.nz
www.eskvalley.co.nz
www.vidal.co.nz
www.craggyrange.com www.passagerockwines.co.nz
www.stonecroft.co.nz www.trinityhill.co.nz
www.temata.co.nz
www.capricornwines.co.nz/one.html
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You be the Judge
Albany Buzz — April 2007
"You don’t walk past the orange tree in bloom and yell out viognier!”
 It always makes you feel good when you see that three of your six favourite
New Zealand Hawkes Bay syrahs are among the 4 syrah gold medals awarded at the recent
Royal Easter Show Wine Awards. You immediately feel vindicated for all your years
of wine imbibing. Why didn’t I pick the other one? It’s quite simple really – my
other favourites come from vineyards that don’t exhibit at shows and I have never
tasted the other winner. How important is a gold medal then? To those who enter shows,
obviously they believe it is important, as it translates into lots of sales by impressing
the hell out of people who buy wine because of gold medals – and there are lots of
people who buy their wine this way. It also ensures that a guest will never criticise
a wine you open if you tell them it has ‘gone gold’. But how good are the judges?
On the whole, our wine judges do a great job but in the end, it is just their opinion
of that bottle of wine, on that particular day. The truth is that they have judged
probably hundreds of wines on that day and in spite of swilling and spitting, they
will have jaded palates. It is even rumoured that some wine makers deliberately make
‘show wines’ that will make a judge’s jaded palate sit up and take notice. Wine judging
is also mainly made by majority decision. Several years ago a Central Otago Sauvignon
Blanc was described by two judges as ‘exceptional’ and ‘the best I have ever tasted’.
The third judge said it was a faulted wine and should never have been allowed in
the show. It won a gold medal! So in the end, it is just a matter of opinion. If
you enjoy it then it’s a good wine.
Another thing that gets to me is the reliance we place on wine books. Our wine scribes
serve us well but by selecting our wines rated by them, using the 5 star system,
we are placing ourselves at the bottom of the tasting tree. Too often we select wine
on the number of stars awarded, go out and buy the wine, taste the wine, and then
read the comments to find out the flavours we are tasting. The descriptors wine scribes
use are often based on plants and animals that most people have never tasted or smelt.
Ben Canaider, a brilliant and witty wine writer recently summed this up in a Sydney
Morning Herald column when he said “ … it’s a one-way analogy, too: you don’t hear
people saying pinot! when they smell a violet. You don’t walk past the orange tree
in bloom and yell out viognier!”
Then there is the ridiculous 100 point wine rating system made popular by American
Robert Parker. How on earth can you judge a wine out of 100 points? How bad does
it have to be to for it to be undrinkable? Where is the cut-off point? I have never
seen a wine get under 80 points so maybe you are dicing with death at about 80. And
if they don’t award anything under 80, why don’t they just admit it is a 20 point
system? Robert Parker is equally loved and loathed within wine circles. But he does
have immense influence – especially with the American wine buying public. Anything
90 or over is going to be keenly sought after. So what does Robert Parker like? He
seems to like huge, big, alcoholic, over-the-top wines – most of which will tear
the insides of your mouth off. They make a statement but are almost impossible to
enjoy. What I am trying to say here is – it’s the wine drinker who is the most important
part of the tasting tree. This doesn’t mean you should not go to guided wine tastings
and read wine books to increase your knowledge of wines but remember it is you –
the wine drinker – who will make the ultimate decision on liking or disliking a particular
wine. Just take all writings, medals and judging systems with a grain of salt and
trust yourself, your sense of smell and your own palate. You may even find you sometimes
agree with wine judges, wine scribes and Robert Parker!
Highly Recommend Reading
The Perfect Glass of Wine by Ben Canaider. A rollicking, witty, insighful and generally
delighful book about Ben Canaider travelling around the world (including New Zealand)
drinking wine.
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‘cellarbrate’ HAWKES BAY WINES
Albany Buzz — March 2007
It’s 7am Saturday 3 February and we have a decision to make. Do we go to the Wellington
Sevens or to Hawkes Bay Cellarbrate? As Lizzie and I don’t feel like getting dressed
up as transvestites or naked chefs on roller skates asking women to show their wares
and win a balloon, there is really no contest. 11am found Lizzie and I, and good
friends Jan and Vaughan, stretched out on a rug at the Waikoko Gardens in the Hastings
Showgrounds, sipping a glass of award-winning Squawking Magpie Sauvignon Blanc and
listening to the laid-back sounds of Canadian singer, Mary Manon Merisier. This was
going to be a great day!
Cellarbrate is an alternative to the Harvest Hawkes Bay Wine Festival. Instead of
travelling around wineries on a bus or with a sober driver, 15 wineries provide tastings,
glasses or bottles at the same venue and what a picturesque venue it is — surrounded
by beautiful trees, a sound stage erected in the front, and sun shade areas provided.
The starring wineries were: Alpha Domus, Bilancia, Brookfields, Church Road, Clearview
Estate, Corbans, Esk Valley, Lime Rock, Longridge, Matariki, Squawking Magpie, Te
Awa, Trinity Hill, Wild Rock (a division of Craggy Range), Wishart Estate and the
Limburg Beer Company thrown in for good measure. Add the delicious gourmet food and
wonderful musicians to the mix and you can easily be convinced you have arrived in
paradise. We certainly thought so.
By about 2pm the venue had filled up to a comfortable 1200 people, all smiling, all
eating, all enjoying the music and sipping on glasses of wine. With 15 wineries offering
tastings of 6-8 wines each, we very quickly realised that it was going to be impossible
to taste them all so we decided to sample wines we were not overly familiar with.
My wine star-of-the-show was Bilancia 2001 Riesling (be-larn-cha, Italian for balance),
beautifully dry, minerally lemon and lime flavours and a fresh acidity to balance
it all out. And the bad news? It was a one-off only and no more is being made — more’s
the pity, it was sensational. Exceptionally talented winemakers, Lorraine Leheny
and Warren Gibson are Bilanca. Their small 6 hectare block is on Roys Hill at the
back of the Trinity Hill Winery. They also buy-in grapes from carefully selected
sites and produce a stunning array of red and white wines.
Lizzie’s star-of-show wine was Bilancia Reserve Pinot Grigio (Italian name for Pinot
Gris) with the 2005 Viognier a close second with its spicy citrus and stone fruit
flavours delighting her palate. For Jan, the crisp and dry Squawking Magpie Marlborough
Sauvignon Blanc was her stand-out wine and Vaughan found the Trinity Hill Viognier
strangely medicinal — and as a doctor, he should know.
Musically, One Million Dollars, an Auckland-based twelve piece band was the highlight.
If you love Blood Sweat and Tears, Chicago and jazz-funk music then they will certainly
press your button. All in all, the inaugural Cellarbrate was a huge success. It was
brilliantly organised, the crowd were appreciative of everything and not one spot
of litter was to be seen. Make sure you put it on your February calendar for 2008
— it’s a must if you love wine, fine food and great music.
You will have noted that not one red wine has been mentioned. This was easily remedied
as we concluded our day at the award winning Vidals restaurant in Hastings and we
were delighted to find that the stunningly big and smooth Vidal Soler Syrah from
Gimblett Gravels could be bought by the glass. Treat yourself in 2007 with at least
one bottle of this wonderful New Zealand Syrah. You deserve it.
Websites.
www.cellarbrate.co.nz
www.squawkingmagpie.co.nz
www.bilancia.co.nz
www.trinityhill.co.nz
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Don’t You Just
Love Holidays!
Albany Buzz — February 2007
 Lizzie
and I were planning a wonderful start to our trek south to Cromwell for Christmas
— a fabulous mixed platter lunch and some excellent award-winning wines at Marlborough’s
Saint Clair vineyard restaurant. So what were we doing on the Interislander turning
in large circles in Wellington Harbour? Finally, the Captain of the ferry gleefully
announced that the swells in Cook Strait had stabilised and we were going out. Stabilised
they had — at 9.6 metres. Most of our fellow passengers lost a lot of weight during
the next two shuddering, spray covered hours, and as the bar was closed, we couldn’t
even have what was certain to be our last wine on this earth. But survive we all
did. The sun was shining in the Marlborough Sounds and the sea was strangely calm.
We must have looked a little white around the gills, for the friendly patrons at
Saint Clair all sympathised and encouraged us to try several glasses of the superb,
award winning, lush and tropical fruit driven St Clair Wairau Reserve Sauvignon Blanc.
“This will do the trick”, they said. It did.
Feeling ‘reflushed’ we decided on two further tastings before getting a well-deserved
rest in sunny Blenheim. As usual we were very impressed with the Kathy Lynskey Chardonnay
and Castro Reserve Pinot Noir. Both are big wines which will reward you with cellaring.
Most of all we were totally knocked over by the 15 Rows Merlot. This must be the
best Merlot to come out of Marlborough and probably the South Island — a sturdy and
complex wine, beautifully made in true Kathy Lynskey style. Bladen Wines in Conders
Bend Road was our next call. What a wonderful friendly cellar door this is. We were
guided through a wonderful tasting by owner Dave MacDonald — a man with a passion
for his wines and a wonderful sense of fun. Bladen is a small vineyard and you won’t
see Bladen wines in normal wine stores but if you are wanting something unique to
impress your friends, you can order via the website at www.bladen.co.nz We loved
the gewurtztraminer, pinot gris and riesling. The Bladen show-stopper was the 50/50
Merlot/Malbec 2004 blend. 15 months in French oak, and no filtering has ensured a
rich wine that just lingers on and on.
Our wine maker son in Cromwell turned up trumps. Lashings of the finest French rieslings,
gewurtztraminers and pinot gris were consumed on Christmas Day followed by Grand
Cru Burgundy (Pinot Noir). Such was my confusion at the end of the day that I invented
a new wine. A finest Burgundy blended with Robert Parker’s Oregan Belles Soeurs Pinot
Noir was the result. What did it taste like? I haven’t a clue!
On the way back north we stopped at Flax Cafe at Mapua Wharf (near Nelson) for a
wonderful lunch. We tried a stunning pinot gris from Nelson winery Rimu Grove. So
good was this that we visited the vineyard and were delighted to meet Patrick Stowe
— ex Napa Valley, who proves that passion makes great wines. His Pinot Noir 2004
was just simply the best Nelson pinot we have tasted for some time (www.rimugrove.co.nz).
Cook Strait was like a mill pond on the way back — swells of a minuscule 6.5 metres.
We just couldn’t work out why many people looked so green. “Whimps”, said Lizzie.
But all good holidays come to an end. In my case it was running a wine tasting at
Omori Estate vineyard beside Southern Western Lake Taupo (www.omoriestate.co.nz)
Of the sauvignon blancs we tasted, the tasters’ preferences were equally divided
between Wither Hills and Esk Valley. And a final word about the Wither Hills scandal
in a tea cup — I was assured by many South Island wine makers that the making of
separate and different batches of the same wine is NOT standard practice in the industry
in spite of the claims by Wither Hills. Don’t hold it against Wither Hills however.
What ever batch you buy, you’ll be drinking one of New Zealand’s classic sauvignon
blancs.
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Surviving
Christmas Without Breaking the Bank
Albany Buzz — December 2006
 There are so many depressing things about Christmas —the main one being
that it comes around once a year. The other big depressant is that the women of the
household write incredibly long lists about all the things that have to be finished
and completed by Christmas. Why a particular garden must be replanted, the decks
water blasted, and the spare room painted by Christmas always defeats my male logic.
Why can’t this be done on Christmas Day itself? Come to think of it, this would be
the best way of avoiding overeating and escaping the snide remarks of the mother-in-law.
The only thing I like about Christmas is the fact that I can get into a wine at a
sensible hour of the day — about 5am when the children (or in our case, grandchildren)
wake up for their presents. This early start to wine imbibing will get you through
the day — trust me on this! It is obvious however that it is going to cost you heaps
and as Christmas is ridiculously all about goodwill where none exists, you will have
to pour all the family members copious amounts of wine as well. The trick is how
to do this without breaking the bank. I have a simple recipe to share with you.
At 5am, pour a glass of bubbly for the family. There are tons of supermarket bargains
at give-away prices. Montana Lindauer Brut (made from chardonnay and pinot noir grapes)
is a particular favourite of mine. At under $10.00, this is a really classy wine
that consistently tops an under $20.00 pre Christmas South Island wine makers bubbly
tasting, year after year. Another little trick too is to put a little shot glass
of peach schnaps into the glass before you pour. This will put that troublesome family
member into a high old state of never-seen-before bonhomie by 7am and almost guarantee
‘she’ will go to bed by 9am. Oh happy day!
It’s now 10am. The bacon and eggs and strong coffee have gone down a treat so it’s
time to bring out the rose or even the first sauvignon blanc of the day. You will
not want to be seen as a cheapskate, but rather as a man of sophistication and vinous
knowledge who has made a special effort to locate unusual wines to share with family
and friends. Only you will know the truth. Your pre Christmas task is locate wines
of substance that no one has seen before, thus making comparison with supermarket
and well-known wines impossible. This is easily done just by sitting in front of
your computer with a credit card at the ready. I use several highly reputable online
wine sellers (there are many others) for this.
www.blackmarket.co.nz has a ton of wonderful wines at bargain prices. For example,
when I last looked at the site, there were chardonnays, sauvignon blancs, merlots,
bubbles, cab sauvignon blends all available in the range of $8.95 — $11.95, many
exclusive to Blackmarket so they won’t be recognised.
www.corporatedirect.co.nz is another bargain wine site. Wishart Hawkes Bay Ranchmans
Red Merlot at $9.95 and Holmes Settlers (Nelson) Pinot Noir at $11.95 are two easy
to drink and true to their grape examples of this.
At www.finewineonline.co.nz you can find the Red Metal Paint the Town Red, Merlot
Cabernet Franc at the crazy price of $13.95. This is a sophisticated red made by
Grant Edwards, the talented winemaker for Sileni in Hawkes Bay.
To take the guesswork out of all this, I highly recommend sending an email to Colin
Rennie at: colin@corpdirectwine.co.nz and you will receive emails of Colin’s latest
selections. We have never had a dud in over 3 years of using this service. This boy
knows his stuff.
It’s now late at night. The children and their broken toys are in bed, and the relatives
have all gone home. This is truly the best part of Christmas. All were impressed
with the wines you chose and the two dozen empty bottles you are clearing away don’t
even depress you because they cost so little. As you contemplate the glorious 364
days ahead until the next Christmas fiasco, get out that special bottle of Unison
Syrah that you have hidden away, and really enjoy it with your household list maker.
That's what I'll be doing.
Happy Christmas and see you next year in the Buzz.
Websites.
www.blackmarket.co.nz
www.corporatedirect.co.nz
www.finewineonline.co.nz
email:
colin@corpdirectwine.co.nz
www.unisonvineyard.co.nz
www.omoriestate.co.nz
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A Cautionary Tale
Albany Buzz — November 2006
 I definitely felt like a wine. My golfing partners were still convulsed
at my 13 attempts to get out of the bunker and I was shouting. This was no burden
as all the wines were from Palliser Estate in Martinborough and Managing Director,
Richard Riddiford, was about to give we tournament golfers a talk while we sampled
his fine wines. Richard is a straight up and down, pragmatic sort of a guy, a good
speaker, and with a belief that the best bottle of Palliser wine is the last one
sold. His message was simple. If you are ever thinking of planting a vineyard — don’t.
He explained the cold hard facts laced with some laconic humour but the message was
plain none the less — only fools and hopeless romantics plant vineyards. And yes,
that was just what Lizzie and I were about to do. We were shocked. Being hopeless
romantics, we have ignored his advice. Although in our defence, when he heard that
we were under the total guidance of our Central Otago wine maker son he did say that
we would, in the end, have no worries — so we went ahead.
So how did it go? I was once told that a definition of jet boat racing is standing
in a shower and ripping up $100 notes as fast as you can. The definition of planting
a vineyard is exactly the same except substitute the word shower with paddock. Large
earth-moving machinery dug lots of huge holes. Soil scientists poured over samples
from these holes. Our son and his friends conducted midnight hocus pocus rituals
of spreading some sort of cow manure by the light of a full moon and waving sticks
(I’ve never asked about this). And the result of all this? Eventually we had about
12,000 pinot noir vines on many different phylloxera resistant rootstock planted
in a little under 2 hectares in Bannockburn, near Cromwell in Central Otago.
But do we have any wine? Of course not. Good things take time says the tyrant who
masquerades as our son, and nothing will be picked for another three years (two have
already passed). Meanwhile both Lizzie and I get older, but we are now gripped by
a fierce determination to stick around to see the first vintage. But there are some
benefits. You get accounts — accounts for posts, accounts for wire, accounts for
the leaky dam, accounts for irrigation systems, accounts for sprays, accounts for
mowing and accounts for other things which always arrive after you thought you had
paid the last account for the year. And then you find that several hundred vines
have not survived the first year and that this frost-free site has just been attacked
by Jack himself which will set about 10% of the vines back another year. As a farming
friend said to us, “welcome to the wonderful world of agriculture”.
But let’s look to the future in an optimistic way. The concentration of vines is
such that a normal tractor can’t be used and a specialist narrow gauge tractor will
be needed eventually. A small price to pay for this wonderful wine to be. And we
have registered a name. This was a ton of fun as another vineyard owner tried to
register the same name but in lower case letters. The upside is he didn’t succeed.
The downside is we panicked and spent heaps registering the name also in the USA
and Australia before we realised that we’d never have sufficient wine to export in
any case.
So there we have it all you little romantics out there. Investing in the share market
is less risky and more profitable and a basic savings account is looking decidedly
sensible. But are we having fun? Of course we are. That inimitable human spirit is
a powerful motivating force and when we are in the Old Folks Home, we will be the
only ones receiving regular boxes of fine Central Otago pinot noir. And the name?
Schist Face®. When we revealed the name to an American friend she said “You know
what that sounds like don’t you”. Really! With this in mind we are now working on
some marketing strategies and offer the following slogan for your consideration:
If you can still pronounce the name of this wine — you need another bottle!
Great Wines to try:
Kemblefield Zinfandell
Greenhough Reisling
Websites:
www.palliser.co.nz
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Wine Price =
Wine Quality — Or Does It
Albany Buzz — October 2006
 How
true is the statement that ‘price equates to quality’? Recently I started to research
this idea — starting with women’s make-up. My unscientific one woman survey asked
the following:
Q: What is the best make-up product on the market?
A: I don’t know?
Things were not going well. I would have to get more searching.
Q: Can you name some expensive brands?
A: Dior; Lancome; Estee Lauder.
Q: Are they any good?
A: I don’t know?
Q: Do you use any of them and why?
A: Some — because I feel a bit posh (And to think I’m married to this woman)!
Q: Are they any better than cheaper brands of make-up?
A: Probably not.
It was time to abandon the survey before I fell into the familiar abyss that is women’s
logic and from which there is no escape. But at least I had established a base-line
to apply to wine.
As a wine drinker, do you think that the most expensive wines are the best? The answer
is yes and no. Some expensive wines are really good but conversely, so are some less
expensive and even some relatively cheap wines. Winestate Magazine — the highly respected
Australia and New Zealand wine buying guide, recently published a Hawkes Bay regional
tasting. As far as price versus quality, the results were very revealing to say the
least. To illustrate this point, consider the following examples.
Syrah (Shiraz)
Trinity Hill Homage Syrah 2004 (5 stars)
— a wine with concentrated and bold flavours and tons of finesse. Price: $125.00
One Tree Syrah 2004 (5 stars) (Capricorn Group and sold in New World and Pak ‘n Save)
— concentrated fruit, big and gutsy, ripe flavours and very appealing. Price: $17.00
Both of these wines are drinking well now but will continue to develop for many years.
Chardonnay
CJ Pask Declaration Chardonnay 2004 (5 stars)
— great fruit, beautifully intense, delicious now but worth cellaring. Price: $35.00
Kemblefield Distinction 2004 (5 stars)
— rich, complex and balanced. A mouthfilling hearty and assertive style. Price: $25.00
Sileni E.V. Chardonnay 2005 (4 stars)
- clean, alive, not bossy, well worth cellaring and a wine of class. Price: $70.00
Dessert Wines
Alpha Domus Leonard Late Harvest Semillon 2005 (4 stars)
— a robust botrytis style described as a delightful wine. Price: $17.00
Sileni E.V. Pourriture Noble Semillon 2004 (4 stars)
— a rich, complex, clean and perfectly balanced wine. Price: $32.00
I’ve saved the best for last — two great Aussie Shiraz blockbusters.
Penfolds Grange 2001 (5 stars) Price: $500
Wolf Blass Platinum Label Barossa Shiraz 2003 (5 stars). Price $175
- all I can say is ‘Crikey’.
Obviously there are many factors to be taken into account and the above examples
are not a fair test by any means — but they do make you think. The wonderful thing
for wine drinkers is that because of the huge strides in our viticulture and winemaking,
every year the gap in quality between the cheapest and the most expensive wines,
is getting less and less. Trust yourself. Shop around. You’ll be surprised and delighted
at the money you can save and still enjoy a fine wine. The difference that you pocket
can be used to upgrade the ladies of the house from Maybelline to Estee Lauder —
and won’t they feel posh!
Websites:
www.winestate.co.au
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The Emelda Marcos
Factor Applied to Wine
Albany Buzz — September 2006
 Women love shoes. I have constantly been amazed at their ability to collect
the blighters — dozens and dozens of them. This morphs into hundreds of them. They
never wear out (because they are never worn) and they increase in direct proportion
to the amount of wardrobe space that is allocated to them. It is what I call the
Emelda Marcos Factor — the former president’s wife who squandered the entire GDP
of Indonesia in the pursuit of collecting shoes. Lizzie loves shoes too and is living
proof of the Emelda Factor. I’m not entirely blameless in the collecting business
either — except I collect wines. I call it cellaring — and I believe, a much more
noble profession than collecting shoes. While my cellar is of modest proportions,
it certainly has enough wines to last me through a flu pandemic or any future possible
alcohol tax increases that may be proposed by the Progressive Party — and, it really
gives me great pleasure.
It wasn’t always like this however. My first attempt at a cellar was in the mid 70s
and consisted of about 25 bottles of mainly Aussie reds from the Coonawarra and a
couple of Hawkes Bay Cabernets. A few friends arrived to go to the beach. It started
to rain. We played Trivial Pursuits instead and I never knew that so few could drink
so much. All 25 bottles were consumed. It was heartbreaking and I gave up the idea
of cellaring for many years.
Here are some simple rules about cellaring wines:
1 Only a small percentage of wines will improve with age. If it is an awful young
wine when you buy it then it will be a really awful old wine when you get around
to drinking it.
2 Reds in general will cellar better than whites but many good Hawkes Bay Chardonnays
don’t hit their straps for at least 4yrs.
3 Buy at least 3 bottles of the wines you want to cellar.
4 Choose a dark, dry, reasonably cool and vibration free part of the house where
there is a daily and seasonal temperature stability.
5 Read reviews from the experts about cellaring potential.
6 Store bottles sealed with natural cork on their side.
7 Bottle turning is an urban myth.
8 Aim to put in more than you take out!
Before you cellar a wine, ask yourself what do you want to achieve by cellaring this
wine. Bordeaux blends (cabernet/merlot/syrah/malbec etc) cellared over several years
(the best for over 10 years) will gradually mellow out and become softer and smoother
to drink and loose that often aggressive tannin effect. I always try to cellar at
least 6 of a wine that I believe has potential. This allows you to try one every
9 months or so to check its progress. It will have changed! This is the exciting
thing about having a cellar. You will discover when that the particular wine is at
its peak. This is when you drink it. Or do you? It may even get better — this is
the chance you take. Pinot Noir is a funny old thing and illustrates this point.
Many Central Otago pinots have this really enjoyable ‘party in your mouth’ taste
after about 9 months in the bottle. After that they start to sulk for at least a
year and then they are away again. I couldn’t have found this out without a cellar.
Even really cheap and cheerful wines cellared by mistake have absolutely surprised
and delighted me when they were discovered some years later.
Now back to this shoe thing. As Lizzie’s collection has increased, so has my cellar
— well cellars actually. I now have a quaffers cellar to protect the good cellar
wines from late night sieges by friends. On Lizzie’s advice, my good cellar has been
also moved to make access more difficult after having a few. Who knows where this
Emelda Marcos behaviour will lead. I’ll keep you posted.
Websites on Cellaring:
www.yourlifechoices.com.au/17/072.php
www.microsoft.com/athome/winecellar.mspx
www.winepros.org/consumerism/cellar.htm
www.winesociety.com.au/filearchive/13/settingupcellar.pdf
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Bluffers
Guide to the Office Party
Albany Buzz — August 2006
 Quelle horreur as the French would say. Christmas is fast approaching.
Being male, I naturally hate Christmas. It means that my Virgo has started to write
lists already, and resist as I might, it is impossible not to contemplate the horror
of it all — the being nice to family once a year and the endless Christmas cards
with snowy scenes that arrive from long forgotten friends and acquaintances. The
worst of course are those Word document, clip art potted histories of the year letting
us know that little Sharleen passed her grade one ballet exam and that Jason has
finally given up his habit of chewing the pillowcase.
And it gets worse. The low point of the season is the office party where disparate
groups of people with nothing in common (apart from work) start off with uncomfortable
conversation, consume far too much wine, far too quickly, so the time honoured broom
cupboard can be brought into play. The trick here is to know what to talk about until
the broom cupboard incidents begin. Wine is a great topic — you can talk about it
as you consume it. So here we go — a bluffers guide to what we will probably be tasting.
Sauvignon Blanc: Words to use include zippy acidity, passion fruit, green apple,
tropical fruit, cats pee, capsicum, gooseberry, herbacaceousness, grass and Marlborough
should roll off the tongue. Best in the world should also be mentioned.
Pinot Gris: Very fashionable, peachy aroma, no discernable New Zealand style, stone
fruit, pears and spice flavours, sweet, dry, known as pinot grigio in Italy, delicately
floral, mildly floral, weighty, light, rose petals, mutation of pinot noir. Just
about anything goes!
Gewürztraminer: Pronouncing it correctly is an impressive start: g verts tra
meaner. The most pungent white wine, difficult to grow, spicy, heady aromas, vibrant
lychees, lemon, peach, ginger, weighty yet delicate, lingering finish, honey, perfumed,
Dry River from Martinborough, I always recognise it.
Chardonnay: Always dry, austere when young, crisp, fresh, fruity, stone, citrus and
tropical fruits (take your pick) ripe, buttery, rich ages well, Hawkes Bay, too much
oak, I like the unoaked style is a trendy thing to say, mouth filling, Helen Clark.
Shiraz: Trust the Aussies to call it this, really syrah, blackberry, black current,
black pepper, thyme, licorice, oak, smoky, tar, NZ syrah more, spicy, and peppery,
often blended with cabernet, Gimblett Gravels, Craggy Range, Trinity Hill, Stonecroft,
Unison, Te Mata Bullnose — just about anything in the earthy, peppery will do, use
elegant for New Zealand Syrah, overripe for some Aussies.
Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Franc/Malbec Blends: A tricky one this. Check back of bottle
to find what’s in it and how much — then try to identify: Merlot - blackberry, plum,
green olive, silky, good mouth feel. Cabernet Sauvignon - distinctive black currant
aroma. When aged it develops nuances of cedar, violets, leather, or cigar box and
its typically tannic edge softens. Hard to ripen, Hawkes Bay. Malbec — brings colour,
tannin and complexity.
Pinot Noir: Just about anything goes here it’s so trendy. Cherry, strawberry, raspberry,
mushroom, rosemary, cinnamon, peppermint (a bad thing), black currant all the way
through to barnyard will do. Central Otago is worth a mention, feminine for the cheapies,
I’m thinking of planting some.
Swat this up and you should be able to bore the socks off anyone. If all this fails,
an ‘I really like it’ should suffice.
Websites:
www.winepros.org > select Wine 101 > Wine Varietal Profiles
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I'll Have a Glass
of Groovy
Albany Buzz — July 2006
 One of the most exciting things about writing about wine for
the Albany Buzz is the way the Editor insists that Lizzie and I travel the world
in search of fascinating wine insights for the column (our expense claim is on its
way Sally!). We are currently in Las Vegas and the daytime temperature for the last
few days has been about 43 degrees — and yes that’s hot, not unlike stepping into
a blast furnace. Surprisingly you can get great food in Vegas and also great wine,
but like everything else in this Disneyland for adults, it costs — a lot.
If you are after cheap quaffers, the supermarkets off the strip have plenty of ‘Fighting
Wines’ at low prices including Kendall Jackson (that name again). But if it is something
drinkable you want then you will have to go to one of the ‘recreated’ restaurants
in the large casinos. By recreated, I mean that the restaurant is a cloned in style
and cuisine from an already established and well-known restaurant in another American
city — say Boston or New York. So here we both are at Mandalay Bay Casino, seated
in the stylish bar of the Aureole Restaurant enjoying the air conditioning and looking
at a four storey high laminated glass and steel structure which rises out of the
floor and towers (yes it is a tower) above us. This is the Aureole wine cellar and
contains 10,000 bottles of red wine — well nine thousand, eight hundred and sixty
five bottles to be exact. It is climate controlled to keep the wine in optimum condition.
And this is only the start — they have another unseen back-up cellar which contains
74,000 bottles of red and white wine. You might say that this seems a little over-the-top
— even excessive, but hey, this is Las Vegas.
As Lizzie and I obviously had some serious drinking to do, we asked for the wine
list. The wine list is in fact an easy—to—navigate computer tablet. Select white
or red, select a country, select red or white, select the variety, and hey presto
— some of the best wines in the world are revealed before your eyes. I was feeling
dizzy already and I hadn’t touched a glass. Several years ago I heard about a particularly
interesting Austrian white wine called Gruner Vetliner (grew-nah-vet-lean-er) but
had never been able to locate any. And there it was. A sign! There was only one problem
— if I ordered the Gruner Vetliner, I was not going to see the wine angels at work.
The wine angels receive your order from the computer tablet, and equipped with an
intercom, printer and wine bottle holster, they shimmy up the tower on a pulley system
— retrieve your wine, shimmy down again, and give it to the wine waiter to bring
to your table. This we wanted to see. We were assured that many red wines would be
ordered and so very soon we got to see the wine angels (often blond) at work. This
experience has put a whole new meaning on the word angel. It was indeed a spiritual
experience!
Back to the Gruner Vetliner. My best try at describing it is to imagine a cross between
a Pinot Gris and a Reisling with some Gewertztraminer flavours thrown in for good
measure . You detect white pepper and spice and its lush and mouthfilling texture.
It is a tight wine with a lowish acidity. It is a great food wine when grown in heavier
soils, and changes to more aromatic wine when grown in lighter soils. If you have
never heard of this wine — take careful note because some of our flying winemakers
(NZ winemakers who fly frequently to Europe to do off-season vintages) are getting
more and more fascinated with this wine. It has even been predicted that (in time)
it will become New Zealand’s most famous white wine and a welcome respite from Chardonnay,
Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris— however why you would ever need a respite from these
is totally beyond me. Anyway the meal was great — Lizzie ‘invested’ a massive $5.00
in the casino afterwards and naturally lost (as she has done all week) and I went
to bed dreaming of angels.
And the GROOVY bit! Americans are very pragmatic people, and confronted with the
word Gruner Vetliner, they simply tasted it, looked at the unpronouncable name and
christined it Groovy — and it is!
Websites:
www.aureolelv.com
www.winepros.org/wine101/grape_profiles/gruner.htm
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New Zealand Sauvignon
Blanc
Albany Buzz — June 2006
 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc put New Zealand on the world wine map. How
could you not take notice of it? It is certainly highly distinctive and wine lovers
seem to be evenly divided into two camps — we love it or we won’t go near it. For
me, I have gone through three distinct phases. It probably introduced me to big flavoured
dry white wines which I loved, tired of for a while, and now I’m back fully in love
with the variety all over again.
The first thing you notice about Sauvignon Blanc is its piercing smell — a sort of
grassy herbaceousness - tropical fruits, gooseberries, freshly cut grass, asparagus
and even ‘cats pee’ can all be evident in the aroma. Some of the most famous Sauvignon
Blanc is from France and is called Sancerre — taking its name from the famous northern
Loire Valley town. This big (for France) zesty in-your-face style was the template
for the Marlborough region where the twin blessings of climate and soil really brought
out its unique character. So well did Marlborough do this style, that is is said
that we out-Sancerred Sancerre. In fact since the 1980s, the wine producers of Sancerre
have looked to New Zealand as a model, experimenting with picking grapes at different
levels of ripeness and some oak treatment to give their wines some more character.
Our most famous Sauvignon Blanc is of course Cloudy Bay —found in wine stores throughout
the world (a comforting memory of home when travelling). For me, Australia doesn’t
seem to get Sauvignon Blanc quite right and it can become quite oily if grown in
very warm areas. To be fair however, it must be said that the Adelaide Hills region
— a cooler climate, are producing some stunning examples at present.
One of the best ways of learning about a wine is to invite friends around for a shared
tasting — say three to five tastings poured into glasses for each person to make
their own evaluation. Never be frightened to say what you think, taste and smell
in the wine. It is an intensely personal thing. In the presence of ‘people who know’
their wines, I have often been heard to describe a wine as ‘I like it’.
Marlborough is of course not the only region that does this variety well. Hawkes
Bay, Martinborough, Nelson and even Otago produce some challenging and interesting
examples. Why not try and get bottles from several regions for the tasting? Are there
any obvious differences between the syles of the regions? Remember though that Sauvignon
Blanc is not meant to be subtle — although you may notice a Hawkes Bay Sauvignon
Blanc is quite restrained — elegant even when compared to a big Marlborough mother.
Most Sauvignon Blanc is made to be drunk when young although some oak treatment,
added semillion, wild yeast and even malolatic fermentation is tried by wine makers
to make a more complex and elegant wine. Why bother I say — lets just have the full-on
stainless steel fermented variety.
There is another Sauvignon Blanc secret that is worth sharing. After a delicious
meal with friends, we often open a dessert wine. Lizzie and I have discovered that
a small glass of Sauvignon Blanc, served instead of the ‘sticky’ will really clean
up and freshen the palette.
Some Favourites:
Martinborough: Craggy Range Te Muna Road, Nga Waka,
Alana Estate, Atarangi , Palliser Estate
Hawkes Bay: Te Mata Cape Crest, Awarua Terraces, Clearview
Marlborough: Cloudy Bay, Allan Scott, Wither Hills, Craggy Range Avery, Grove Mill,
Hunters,
Isabel Estate Montana Reserve …
Nelson: Neudorf, Seifried Winemakers Collection
Otago: Peregrine, Rockburn, Kawarau
Website:
Visit: www.winepros.org/tasting-notes/020610nz-sb.htm
for some tasting notes that will let you see how the Americans react to 12 of our
sauvignon blancs. Happy tasting till next month.
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Air New Zealand
Promotes Our Wines With Style
Albany Buzz — May 2006
 Once-upon-a-time
I always tried to be out of the country during 'New Zealand Music Week'. Being a
blues based jazz funk sort of a guy I found a whole week of meaningful and angst
ridden lyrics just too much to take. Imagine my horror when they changed this to
'New Zealand Music Month' so now we have to suffer all of May listening to this dark
and introspective New Zealand thing for three weeks longer.
Thank God for New Zealand wines then. They are not dark. They are not angst ridden.
They are not introspective. They are in fact just bursting with exuberance. These
traits are especially evident in the fruit driven style of most of our wines that
has made the world sit up and take notice. Add to this the skill of our viticulturists
and our wine makers and you have a recipe for happiness.
So how does Air New Zealand fit into this rosy picture? Very well indeed as it turns
out. The very exuberant and fruit driven styles of our wines are the very traits
that are taken into account when selecting wines for the aircraft environment. These
wines ideally must have an appealing fruit driven bouquet and a good acid structure.
These are the wines that appeal on overseas flights. Ask for a wine on Air New Zealand
and you will get a New Zealand wine. Gone are the days when our cultural wine cringe
would mean that mostly Aussie reds or whites would be offered — they're all ours
and we have every right to be proud of them.
In Economy (Pacific Class) you are most likely to get a Montana Merlot or Montana
Chardonnay but there's nothing wrong with this. But it is in Premium Economy and
Business Class that the New Zealand wine star begins to shine brightly. Just run
your eyes over this selection:
Sauvignon Blanc:
Goldwater Estate, Montana Terroir Condors Forest, Whitehave and Wither Hills — all
from Marlborough
Chardonnay:
The Chardonnay selection boasts Lawsons Dry Hills, Matakana Estate, Villa Maria and
Witters Reserve.
Pinot Noir:
The Pinot selection features grove Mill, St Clair Doctors Creek, Villa Maria, and
the delectable Peregrine made from Cromwell and Gibston Valley fruit.
Blended Reds:
These get even better and include two of my favourites — Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels
Merlot and Esk Valley Merlot/Cabernet/Malbec. Add to this Hatton Estate Carsons Cabernet
Franc, two Mission Syrahs and the always-stunning Vidal Estate Syrah and you are
by now beginning to cheer.
If this is not enough, after you finish the meal you can choose between Canterbury
House Nobel Riesling, Church Road Nobel Semillion and Forest Estate Botryised Riesling.
Having John Belsham of Foxes Island Wines and the incomparable John Buck of Te Mata
Estate as wine consultants means that their wines are excluded from the selection.
More's the pity. But hey — I think we are winning with what they have chosen.
Well done Jim Harre (Air New Zealand In-flight Service Director) and the two Johns
for such a stunning collection. And well done Air New Zealand for taking this collection
to the world. Which brings me back to New Zealand Music Month — stay on the plane!
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Wine Glasses
Do Matter
Albany Buzz — April 2006
 Remembering anything at primary school, apart from exciting happenings
behind the bike sheds, is a very tall order. One thing however sticks in my mind
— a science lesson on taste and smell. Our teacher had us all blindfolded and chewing
on raw potato while smelling something else such as a cut up apple. The remarkable
thing about this was that apart from the texture, we really did believe we were eating
apple. It taught us just how important the sense of smell is to how we perceive taste.
So how can we apply this to wine?
Being a cheerful cynic at heart, when I was told
that the shape, size, thickness and even the rim of a glass can make a huge difference
to how we perceive a wine, I was very sceptical indeed but was willing to check out
this preposterous claim. I was poured a half glass of Clearview Chardonnay in two
distinct glasses — the standard ISO tasting glass we are all familiar with and the
Riedel white Burgundy (Chardonnay) glass. To my astonishment, they were as different
as chalk and cheese. In the Riedel glass the wonderful mix of stone-fruit and citrus
flavours fairly leapt out of the glass. In the ISO tasting glass, in comparison,
it became a mean and very ordinary wine — something that Clearview Chardonnay is
certainly not.
Being on a roll at this point we experimented with a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.
Poured into the ISO tasting glass, the Sauvignon Blanc exhibited all the grapefruit,
lemongrass and capsicum flavours and acidity well known to us all. In the Riedel
Chardonnay glass it made the wine taste — well — just awful. We then poured Chardonnay
into a Riedel Sauvignon Blanc glass. This made the Chardonnay simply taste mean-spirited
and bitter. I was really learning that matching a wine to a specifically designed
glass really does matter. Now we matched the Sauvignon Blanc wine to the Riedel Sauvignon
Blanc glass. An amazing thing happened. The shape of the glass minimised the strong
acidity of the wine and brought out fruit and mineral flavours I had never smelt
or tasted before, much more so than the ISO glass — and we hadn’t even started on
the reds yet!`
Anyway I think you get the point. Wine glasses matter. Riedel glasses are expensive
so If you are on a budget, opt for Spiegelau glasses at a fraction of the price and
every bit as good. They are so good in fact that Riedel has bought out Spiegelau.
You don’t cry for as long when someone breaks a Burgundy (Pinot Noir) Spiegelau glass
compared to the inconsolable grief you experience when this happens to your Riedel
Burgundy glass.
We make do at home with Riedel/Spiegelau Pinot
Noir, Chardonnay and Bordeaux (Cab/Merlot/Franc/Malbec blends) glasses. We also have
a set of Spiegelau tasting glasses which we use for aromatics such as Sauvignon Blanc,
Pinot Gris, Gewurtz and Riesling. What then is the use of the run of the mill ISO
tasting glass? Very useful in fact for both reds and whites. The amazing thing about
the Riedel/Spiegelau glasses is they bring out the very best of a good wine. Put
an average or just a quaffer into them and they will destroy the wine completely.
Use the ISO tasting glass if serving up quaffers — they disguise a multitude of sins.
Websites:
www.riedel.com
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We Wouldn't Clean
Our Drains With This
Albany Buzz — April 2006
 The concept of ‘Flying Wine Makers’ is recognised by the wine-making
community internationally. Originally started by young Kiwi and Aussie winemakers,
it is the name given to the now common flight of these winemakers to the Northern
Hemisphere to make wine after the Southern Hemisphere vintage is completed. Everyone
benefits from the interchange of knowledge and experiences and there is no doubt
that our youthful wine industry would not have matured so quickly if this cross fertilisation
of ideas did not take place. Increasingly, this interchange works the other way with
many young French and German winemakers making the trip south to help with the New
Zealand vintage.
Lizzie and I were entertaining her old boss and his lovely lady for the weekend and
had opened several wonderful Otago Pinots the previous night. We had really done
very well indeed and I decided, in the interests of cellar conservation, that a rough
Aussie red was the way to go for the BBQ. We were quietly sipping our Jackman Ridge
when the phone rang. The Otago vintage had just finished and we were told that two
French winemakers were coming to stay with us — and soon — they were at the top of
our hill, two minutes away. Our son is like that — highly organised and believes
in plenty of notice!
Louis and Paul were delightful young men but I could tell they were not particularly
impressed with the Jackman Ridge. I tried to explain it away as a Monty Python wine
joke we were playing. They didn’t understand Monty Python either. As a house wine
night was declared I announced that I had some Cote du Rhone. They seemed to cheer
up. Wines from this area can be a little iffy unless you really know what you are
looking for. They are all Grenache and/or Syrah except when they are not — if you
see what I mean. Louis had the first sip and declared that as Frenchmen we wouldn’t
even clean our drains out with this. I replied, ‘how are we to know? First you bomb
the Rainbow Warrior and then you send us your crap wines.’
Understanding wines of the Rhone is always fraught with difficulty. In terms of quality,
wines of the Northern Rhone coming from appellation such as Hermitage and Cote Rotie
are of superb quality but as a general rule — steer clear of the wines of Southern
Rhone — the stuff that Louis was drinking. Cote du Rhone is now almost the generic
name given to wines from the arid and windswept vineyards of the south — in fact
many people believe it stands for French wine. All of the best stuff is bought by
negotiants and blended with the Syrah dominant Northern Rhone wines. But back to
the Louis problem!
I have always been fond of Grenache and my fondness for Syrah and Shiraz (same thing)
goes without saying. My fondness for my house wines is entirely based on cellar preservation
so I came to the perfect compromise. Let’s pour Louis and Paul a decent house wine
— Rhone style — and made in Australia. There is only one wine that matches the bill
— d’Arrenberg The Stump Jump. This wine is great. This wine is cheap. Unfortunately,
wine scribes have been recommending this wine lately and if you guys buy it, the
price will escalate from the on-special $9-$12 we have been paying for the last four
years. It really is a great wine. It’s a Rhone blend of Grenache and Syrah and it
is made by the ever-so-funky d’Arrenberg winery of McLaren Vale. A meal at their
restaurant is a must! Even Louis agreed that you certainly wouldn’t want to clean
your drains with this!
Websites
www.darrenberg.com.au
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Zinfandel
— Trick or Treat?
Albany Buzz — March 2006
 Zinfandel has been commonly called 'that American wine'. And so it was
thought of for years — that is until recent DNA profiling has found it is none other
than the Italian Primitivo (or a genetic clone of it). In a stunning and unusual
bout of anti-protectionism the US Alcohol, Tobacco, Tax and Trade Bureau may be about
to declare that Primitivo and Zinfandel can both be used on wine labels. Wonderful
news this for the Italians!
But what is Zinfandel really like? At its best it is a luscious fruit driven wine
with forward flavours of wild blackberries and raspberries. The taste is rounded
out with licorice, briar, cinnamon and black pepper lifts. At its best it is every
bit as good as a top cabernet and unlike a cabernet, the flavour is already there
so you don't have to wait. Because it reaches its peak so early, Americans in the
know will order a 'Zin' in preference to a cabernet at a restaurant. Zin-lovers are
absolutely fanatical about the wine and it has a cult following — especially in California.
Top Zins, from top producers in the Sonoma. Alexander Valley, and Russian River areas
of Californa will never disappoint. They are simply great. Beware though — Zinfandel
badly produced from over-cropped vines can be little better than a jug wine — and
is in fact the main ingredient of cheap American jug wines.
One of my favourites comes from Ridge Vineyards where 75-100 year-old vines are named
after the field they have come from. These fields have mixed grape plantings to complement
the zin such as petit verdot and some other varieties. This whole mix is used to
produce the wine. Ravenswood of Sonoma and Alexander Valley is also regarded as a
top and consistent producer of quality Zinfandel.
But what of New Zealand? Do we grow it here? Yes we do but in very small quantaties.
Kemblefield Estate and Stonecroft of Hawkes Bay both produce stunning examples of
this wine. Look around for these wines and you may agree with Peter Saunders who
thinks that Hawkes Bay may be on to something for the future, as with its elegant
and mouth-filling syrah. But that's another story.
— Russell Allan
Availability: Ridge. Scenic Cellars Taupo. www.sceniccellars.co.nz
Ravenswood. Wine Direct Newmarket www.winedirect.co.nz
Websites:
www.ridgewine.com
www.ravenswood-wine.com
www.kemblefield.co.nz
www.stonecroft.co.nz
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Getting Screwy
Albany Buzz — February 2006
 Have you ever been brave enough to send a bottle of wine back to the
kitchen or the cellar with the wine waiter? It’s taken years but we now all know
that we can’t send it back because your wife has suddenly decided that she doesn’t
like the grape variety she professed to like last week and we have even learnt that
small bits of cork floating in wine doesn’t mean it’s corked. So why would we send
it back? Apart from cork failure, meaning the wine tastes like vinegar because of
oxidisation, it’s cork-tainted — that’s why!
What is cork-tainted wine? Without going into scientific detail, it simply means
that the cork has reacted with the wine and the wine now tastes musty or mouldy caused
by a chemical produced called TCA. The terrible thing about cork taint is that you
can’t tell without opening the bottle. It may not even be that bad. You just know
that the wine is disappointing, musty and dull. With fully-blown TCA taint you will
think you are drinking damp cardboard. Once you have tasted TCA you will be forever
be able to recognise it — even by its smell. Now when I go to open that special bottle
I have been cellaring for several years I suffer from one of the worst syndromes
known to man — TCA anxiety. What percentage of wines are corked? The best estimate
is about 5% or perhaps even more in a ‘bad cork’ year.
The best case of waiter/owner TCA anxiety I witnessed was in a restaurant — not too
far from Albany about a year ago. We ordered a bottle of Pepperjack Shiraz — a good
mid range Aussie, a bit of sweet shiraz fruit, some subtle oak, soft tannins — in
fact a good concentrated ripe flavoured shiraz. I know the wine quite well. It was
corked. Much smelling and tasting took place and the waitress said she’d ask her
husband if indeed it was corked. We waited with baited breath. “Yes, he says it is”,
she said. “What a shame”, I said — and really meant it because of my TCA anxiety
problem and the knowledge that I had several Pepperjacks at home. I asked if we could
have another bottle of the Shiraz. “No”, she said. “Why ever not”, I asked. The reply
was “It might be corked too”. There is no refuting women’s logic, and logic it surely
was. I tried to assure her that there was a 95% chance that it was not likely. In
fact I lied a bit and told her that there was less than a 1% chance and than asked
what she was going to do with the other bottles. Finally our waitress relented and
we all enjoyed a new bottle (and the next).
So has the cork had its day? Probably not, but our adventurous New Zealand wine industry
has embraced the screw cap (Stelvin Closure) with great enthusiasm, as too has Australia,
with California and Canada not far behind. The cork after all was a new technology
embraced by the French a few hundred years ago as a way of preventing unscrupulous
wine merchants in the New World (USA) watering down the wine in the barrels (the
old technology) before it was sold. The cork simply ensured that wine the French
winemaker exported, reached the New World in the condition it was intended.
The debate between corks and screw caps still rages. When one of our finest wine
houses — Villa Maria, puts all of its premium wines under screw cap, then one has
to conclude that they know something. I come down firmly on the screw cap side of
the debate. The wine does age — gracefully. If you can, taste a screw cap and cork
version of the same year and grape variety, you’ll immediately taste the difference.
The great advantages of screw cap wines for me is it has cured my TCA anxiety and
prevents uppity wine waiters shoving a cork under your nose to smell. Who ever does
this I ask? Now we all have the opportunity to get our own back. When the Stelvin
enclosed wine is opened at your table, simply look slightly accusingly at the waiter
and say, “Excuse me, but did you know this wine is screwed?”
— Russell Allan
Websites:
www.beringerblass.com.au/brands/pepperjack.asp
www.feltonroad.com/news/stelvin.asp
www.adwnz.com/Pages/wines/faults.html
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Kendall Jackson
and the Back Scratcher
Albany Buzz — January 2006
 Our small southern Lake Taupo paradise has 180 permanent residents. This
swells to over 7000 people from Christmas to the end of January so every year Lizzie
and I run away — to anywhere. Apart from escaping the holiday makers, it is also
cheaper to run away as the constant visitor count takes its toll on our modest wine
cellar. So Christmas Eve at 4.30pm finds us sitting at the Mai Tai Bar of the Royal
Hawaiian beside the beach of Waikiki watching the thousands of beach goers fighting
for their square inch of sand on which to place a towel. This is really getting away
from it all!
It’s idyllic really and we don’t even seem to mind the ukelele and steel guitar bands
dressed in Santa Claus hats singing Frosty the Snowman, I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas
and Santa Claus is Coming to Town — America’s contribution to Christmas carols. All
that is missing is a wine. We ask the ‘wait person’ what whites do they have. “The
house Chardonnay Sir and the Kendall Jackson”. “What do you recommend?” “The Kendall
Jackson Sir.” My last brush with Kendall Jackson was in 1984 and introduced me to
the taste of jug wines — also known as ‘fighting wines’ for very good reason! The
KJ philosophy was to blend wines together from all over the show and leave some residual
sugar. This made the KJ brand an instant hit with Americans, who at the time, were
more wedded to cocktails and bourbon rather than wine. This is 2005/6 so it’s time
to give KJ another chance. The Kendall Jackson wine empire is simply vast with vineyards
all over California and overseas including Tuscany, Chile and Argentina. Top Kendall
Jackson wines such as the California Grand Reserve Chardonnay are quite superb but
at $7.75 a glass I suspected that this would not be the wine we would be drinking.
Bang on 5pm, just as the sun is going down, our Kendall Jacksons arrive. Describing
the first sip is difficult but we agree that it tastes like a lemon cordial slightly
watered down with some acid added. But what the hell — the hula girls are swinging
their hips to a frenetic drum chorus and we won’t make the same mistake again. We
ask the wait person what reds they have. “The house Merlot or the Kendall Jackson
Sir.” “What do you recommend?” “The Kendall Jackson Sir”. Again it is difficult to
describe but the closest we can get is raspberry cordial slightly watered down with
some acid and tannin added. What a night we are having! All good things come to an
end so it is back to our time share for a good night’s sleep.
Day two at 4.30 pm finds us back again at the Mai Tai Bar but we have hatched a very
cunning and deceptively simple plan — do what the natives do and drink cocktails.
For Lizzie — a classic Mai Tai.
1 oz. Dark Rum 1oz. Light Rum
1 oz. Orange Curacao 2 oz. Orange Juice
1/2 oz. Lime Juice Dash of Simple Syrup
For me — a Tropical Itch
1 oz Dark Rum 1oz. Light Rum
1 oz. Blue Curacao 1 oz Bourbon
2 oz Pineapple Juice 1/2 oz. Passionfruit Juice
Days three to eleven, 4.30 pm at the Mai Tai Bar — Classic Mai Tai, Pink Mai Tai,
Blue Mai Tai, Tropical Itch and Hawaiian Sunset Pink Beer. The Hawaiian music is
even beginning to sound great. We nearly buy a bottle of Kendall Jackson for $6.00
at the ABC Store. We are going troppo. Time to leave.
Day Twelve — on our deck at Omori and a Craggy Range Chardonnay has never tasted
so good. And the back scratcher? It comes as a souvenir with every glass of Tropical
Itch. I have a large collection.
— Russell Allan
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Real Men Do Drink
Rose
Albany Buzz — December 2005
 Rose is a summer drink. It should be a taste of summer in the glass,
refreshing, more—ish and I think it should be just a bit on the frivolous side with
a little bit of decadence thrown in for good measure. It should not be sweet and
it definitely should not be stupid. In spite of all the fun that a good Rose is,
it can still be worthy of comment and fun to guess what grape or grapes were used
to make it.
Rose is best known as the drink of southern France. The Rose wines of Provence are
made to be drunk on a summers day, refresh the drinker and at the same time, retain
sufficient of the grape flavour to satisfy a red wine drinker.
Rose can vary considerably in colour from a very light to a luscious dark and translucent
pink colour. It can also be known as Blush but this seems to be reserved for the
lighter-coloured Roses. There is no correct name however, and the Californians reversed
their falling Rose market by re-branding it as Blush — with spectacular results.
Rose is normally produced from red wine grapes with the juice having only a small
amount of contact time with the skins after the grapes have been crushed. The longer
the skin contact time, the deeper the colour the Rose will be. It is treated very
much like a white wine and fermented in stainless steel tanks although, that said,
occasionally it can also be given a little oak treatment to add interest.
In New Zealand, it seems that Rose’s time has come. Our innovative and vibrant wine
industry has latched on to this and are now producing some stunning examples of this
summer wine. When I choose a Rose I can’t go past any of the following:
Ata Rangi Summer Rose; Selini Rose; Redmetal Rose; Esk Valley Rose; Akarua Rose;
and my personal favourite — Unison Rose. Biased I may be but Unison Rose is made
from premium Syrah grapes with a touch of Merlot and Cabernet to add interest. It
is also worth noting that Unison Syrah caused a major stir at the recent Air New
Zealand Awards — get a bottle if you can. This Gimlett Gravels vineyard is going
from strength to strength.
My interest in Rose peaked this month when our neighbour, Peter Britnell of Omori
Estate (Southern Lake Taupo) arrived down with Rose produced from his first ever
vintage from his young Pinot Noir grapes. It was an exciting and also nervous time
for all of us as we poured the first ever glasses of Omori Estate Rose. Wow! was
all we could say. It had substance, a great nose, lashings of cherry and strawberry
flavours and a clean crisp finish — in fact it was stunning. It was a taste of summer
in the glass, it was fun and it was refreshing and had sufficient of the Pinot Noir
flavour to add substance and interest. Only 70 cases of this little beauty exist
in the world (actually far fewer if we keep on trying it) so if you are interested
in a Rose wine from an unusual wine region, contact: info@omori-estate.co.nz If you
are visiting the Omori, Kuratau, Pukawa area over Christmas, Peter hopes to have
a tasting room up and operating. Very exciting!
So have a great Christmas and add a little interest to your summer by serving Rose
for lunch time or pre-dinner drinks. I have checked with Liz and she tells me that
it’s OK for blokes to drink and enjoy Rose without having to get in touch with their
feminine side first. Oh, I nearly forgot — serve your Rose very lightly chilled.
www.omoriestate.co.nz
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Sideways,
Celebrities and Sam
Albany Buzz — November 2005
 The coastal drive between Los Angeles and Monterey is a joy that must
be experienced at least once in a lifetime — not only for its scenic beauty but also
for tasting the wine of the central Californian coastal region. The fun starts just
north of Santa Barbara where you head inland to the Santa Ynez Valley and the ‘cute’
small town of Los Olivos. Santa Barbara wine country produces a full range of both
red and white wines — all of a good to excellent standard but things have gone a
little wild up there and throughout the whole central coast region, because of a
film called ‘Sideways’. The (relatively) low budget film was a surprise Golden Globe
winner and has turned into a cult film for wine drinkers — pinot noir drinkers in
particular. Miles ( a failed writer) invites Jack (a minor actor) to sample wine
and play golf in a last fling before Jack is married. Jack tries to bed as many women
as possible and Miles tries to educate him about the joys of pinot noir. So what’s
happened? The place has gone crazy. Wine maps of the area are covered with bottles
labelled ‘As Seen in Sideways’ and everywhere you go there are people with video
cameras trying to shoot a ‘Sideways’ film for themselves. There is no room in the
Inn at Los Olivos (owned by Fess Parker, better known as Daniel Boone) and the local
restaurants have created special ‘Sideways Menus’. And what has this done for Pinot
Noir? The price has simply skyrocketed and it’s becoming as scarce as hens’ teeth.
Pinot noir grape growers can name their price and the unlucky growers of cabernet
and chardonnay will barely cover their costs for 2004/5. Wineries in the area who
did not feature in the film wish the whole silly business would simply go away and
the wineries who featured are now inundated with people whose sole wine education
is based entirely on the film and try to talk knowledgeably (and loudly) about pinot
noir.
This got me thinking about the cult of celebrities and what they do for wine. More
and more sports and film stars are making their own labels. In a recent ‘The Independent’
article, wine writer Richard Ehrlich takes a look at some of these wines. He concludes
that most of these wines by the likes of Sir Cliff Richard, Greg Norman etc. are
OK — not great but not bad either. Oliva Newton-John Coonawarra Cabernet does not
fare quite so well ( … ‘the overall impression is sweet, hollow and forgettable.’)
but our own Sam Neill’s Two Paddocks ‘The Last Chance’ Pinot Noir 2003 is described
as ‘drop dead gorgeous’ and a ‘world class’ pinot noir — the best of the celebrity
wines by far. Richard Ehrlich goes on to describe the wine as ‘a pure expression
of the grapes’s qualities, silky smooth on the palate with a multitude of enticing
berry flavours…’ Take a bow Sam Neill, viticulturists Stephen and Jim Moffitt and
winemaker Dean Shaw.
Further up the central Californian coast we visited Carmel — that town of celebrities
made famous by the ex-mayor Clint (make my day) Eastwood. They have a wonderful wine
store called Southern Latitude Wines which features Australian, New Zealand and Chilean
wines exclusively. And what can’t they get enough of? — Sam Neill’s Two Paddocks
wines! In fact they have sold out as the Carmelites have taken to Sam’s wine in a
‘Sideways’ fashion. So Sam — if you get to read this, please, please, please, send
lots of cases of Two Paddocks immediately or face the wrath of Clint!
Back in New Zealand, we are the lucky ones. We can get to buy Sam’s two premium wines
‘First Paddock’ and ‘The Last Chance’. Check with your local wine retailer first
or visit www.twopaddocks.com for a list of Two Paddocks sellers. If you have a friend
in California, — especially Carmel, send them a bottle and they will love you for
ever.
Websites:
www.losolivoscafe.com (Check the Sideways Menu)
www.twopaddocks.com (Visit Sam Neil’s Website)
www.rideauvineyard.com (My pick of Santa Barbara area)
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Penfolds
Bin 128, 138, 389, 407, 28! What on earth is this all about?
Albany Buzz — October 2005
 Penfolds is the iconic Australian wine label and their extensive range
is readily available in New Zealand — often at bargain prices in supermarkets. The
labels are familiar to us all — wonderfully old fashioned. Don’t however let that
put you off these consistent, powerful and finely crafted wines. What does tend to
confuse us all is the Bin Number system of naming these wines. If we buy a bottle
of Penfolds Bin 128, what on earth are we getting?
At the top of the Penfolds range is the famous Grange and at over $350-$400 a bottle
it prices itself out of our range for a pre dinner quaffer! At the bottom end of
the range there is the always reliable Rawsons Retreat series, often on special at
under $12.00. Recently I was asked to explain the Bin Number range and to my surprise
I found that over many years of wine drinking I actually understood what it was all
about. We all deserve to know, don’t we? — so here goes before senility sets in and
I forget this essential and life enhancing bit of information!
Bin 128 is a shiraz. It comes exclusively from the Coonawarra region of South Australia
and reflects the cooler climate of that region. It is fuller in style, quite pepper
and spice and the use of French oak makes it more elegant than many overblown Aussie
shirazs tend to be. Cellar it for 4-8 years and it will reward you richly — oh what
the hell, drink it now if you must.
Bin 138 is a Rhone style wine made from Grenache (69%), Shiraz and Mouverdre. These
grapes are from older vines planted in the famous Barossa Valley region. The taste
is of rich berry fruits, some chocolate, a little tar and some spice. Quite different
and will fool most of your friends at a blind tasting.
Bin 389 is a cabernet shiraz blend and is often known as ‘Baby Grange’ because it
is matured in the same barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange. The grapes
come from all over South Australia including McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Barossa Valley
and Langhorne Creek. This is a great wine and if under $30.00 on special — snap it
up and enjoy the mouth puckering cabernet tannins, blackberry and blackcurrant fruit
flavours. Great for cellaring up to 12 years.
Bin 407 (my favourite) is a straight cabernet sauvignon that is affordable. The ripe
fruit is mostly from McLaren Vale and the Barossa and is in classic cabernet style
with a long lingering finish. Great for cellaring although the wine is so good as
to make this difficult.
Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz is the cheapest of the Bin range and if you like warm-climate
Aussie shiraz, this is the wine for you. The 2002 vintage is a little beauty — every
bit as good as the 128 and at a fraction of the price. The grapes come from all over
South Australia and it is ready for drinking now but will reward you well with 4-7
years of cellaring.
Also worthy of mention are Bin 707 — the Grange equivalent cabernet sauvignon, and
St. Henri Shiraz. Both will break the bank but we all deserve that little birthday
treat don’t we!
Even though Penfolds is now part of the leviathan Southcorp wine empire, the Penfold
brand still means fine wines with skilful wine making and attention to quality at
all price points. Woolworths and New World have the Penfold range on sale every year
and the prices are incredibly cheap. Keep a look out and snap them up. You won’t
be disappointed. And think of the label as retro — it helps.
Website: www.penfolds.com.au
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Mwett — Not
Mow (as in lawn) Eh!
Albany Buzz — September 2005
 Champagne
— the genuine stuff from the Champagne region of France is not something I get to
enjoy very often but recently a member of the family had a milestone birthday and
scored a couple of bottles of the superb Marc Chauvet Brut Millesime — from the chalky
plains of Rheims. Another family member (who knows these things) gave us detailed
instructions on how to enjoy this drop which I’ll share with you:
‘All lipstick is to be removed as this takes away the bubbles. Look for a fine line
of delicate bubbles from the bottom of the glass heading to the top forming a pearl
necklace around the edge of the glass. In general, the finer the bubbles, the more
delicate the wine.’ Then she got serious. ‘You must look at the wine in the glass
and appreciate the bubbles. You then smell the wine, then swirl as you would a still
wine, then taste. Bear in mind that the more you swirl, the less bubbles you have’.
Does this girl know her stuff!
As the afternoon progressed I regailed the assembled with fond memories of a long-ago
visit to Moet & Chandon in Epernay — a Champagne town that is awash with the
stuff. Lizzie and I fronted up at the reception room which looked as though it had
stepped straight out of Vogue Magazine. There were several Brits in front of us and
they all went for the 1 glass tour. Being confronted with such meanness, we opted
for the 3 glass tour. ‘I’m really looking forward to my first glass of Moh Eh (Moet)
Eh’, I said. Politely but firmly — and in perfect English — the charming young miss
informed me that Moet is pronounced Mwett. She then went on to explain that Moet
is of Dutch origin, not French as is commonly thought.
The tour started with a video and then we meandered in stunned fashion though the
kilometres of cool chalk cellars beneath, which keeps the produce at a perfect temperature.
We were told that there were 96 million bottles of Champagne in the cellars — enough
to supply the world for three years. If that’s the case there must be a lot of very
rich and serious drinkers out there.
Finally we arrived at the tasting room. The Brits of 1 glass fame were ushered away
quickly — almost with indecent haste, leaving we two kiwis to really appreciate,
look, smell and swirl our 3 glasses. We also found out that the famous Dom Perignon
is made by Moet & Chandon but only if a vintage year is declared. As for the
rest of the afternoon? I overruled the visit to the laundromat and we sat at a sunny
sidewalk cafe and enjoyed another 3 glass visit.
And yes, there is a New Zealand Champagne connection. Marc Chauvet Champagne is made
by French winemaker Clotilde Chauvet. Once the winemaker at Rippon Vineyard, she
comes back to New Zealand every year to oversee the sparkling wine made by Quartz
Reef in Central Otago. The Chauvets (the family have been making Champagne since
1529) are joint owners of Quartz Reef along with iconic winemaker, Rudi Bauer. The
good news is that you can now get Marc Chauvet in New Zealand at specialist cellars
and wine stores — and for ‘real stuff’ it won’t break the bank.
Marc Chauvet Special Club is the top of the range and exceptional value at an RRP
of $78.00. It is a rich and mature wine with complex aromas and tastes of nuts and
dried apricot
Marc Chauvet Brut Selection at RRP of $65.50 is fresh and light and a great aperitif
wine.
QUARTZ REEF Chauvet Methode Traditionelle 2000. At RRP $39.95, it is best described
as weighty, full-bodied, racy, lingering and the most Champagne-like of New Zealand
bubbles.
Oh look — here come some friends. Time to open another Marc Chauvet and impress them
with my pronunciation of Mwett.
— Russell Allan
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Coonawarra
— Australia’s Big Red Centre
Albany Buzz — August 2005
 Those of us who remember the 70’s and the endless rounds of dinner parties
will recall our first taste of big Aussie Reds that the local publican had knocked
several dollars off because it wasn’t ‘chilled’! It is most likely that the big red
was cabernet sauvignon and that it came from the Coonawarra region and was probably
made by Wynns. The Coonawarra district of South Australia is just over the border
from Victoria. Being 400km south east of Adelaide and 450km west of Melbourne means
a special effort must be made to get there. Enjoying the delights of the Great Ocean
Road as you drive from Melbourne to Adelaide however, makes this wine pilgrimage
all worthwhile. This narrow 35km long strip of vines has over 24 winery cellar doors
making choice, discipline and stamina the only problems to confront the wine taster.
Coonawarra’s world-wide fame is based on its great stand-alone premium cabernet sauvignons
and the unique terra rossa soil of the district that helps produce these wonderful
‘kick ass’ wines. This rich red topsoil lies over soft, porus limestone with a water
table below. A favourable climate with sufficient rainfall, cool winters and long
warm summers and autumns completes the picture, elevating Coonawarra Cabernets to
legendary status.
The cellar door staff are friendly and tremendous promoters of the district and really
know their wines. Most cellars will also offer their premium wines for tasting which
will tempt you to buy a bottle or two. A special experience awaits at Hollick’s restaurant
where, over a delicious lunch, you can order glasses of 10-15 year old cabernets
by the glass. Most wine in New Zealand is drunk 40 minutes after purchase, so being
able to experience the sheer delight of an aged cabernet — the fruit, the subtle
oak and the fine tannins that have all come together — will be a defining moment.
You will then know just what Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon is all about.
A visit to the Coonawarra is not complete without mention of Wynns — the oldest and
largest winery in the region. Founded by John Riddoch in 1891 and purchased and replanted
by David Wynn in 1951, the Riddoch name lives on with the fabulous John Riddoch Cabernet
Sauvignon. If you win Lotto, treat yourself to this great wine ($75-$110 depending
on the year) or if this is too much, try the famous Wynns Black Label Cabernet priced
at about $26 (often less on special, so hunt around).
And we haven’t even mentioned the Coonawarra cabernet blends, merlot, shiraz, chardonnay
or riesling. You owe it to yourself to make this pilgrimage.
Conduct further research at:
www.coonawarra.org > Wineries
— Russell Allan
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Pinot Noir —
What's all the fuss about
Albany Buzz — July 2005
 Pinot Noir is considered by many to be the king of wines. To make a great
pinot noir is considered by wine makers to be akin to finding the holy grail. It
is also a capricious wine with problems attending it at every stage of its growth
and production. Even wines produced in years with identical growing conditions can
vary enormously in quality making pinot noir an enigma for growers, wine makers,
and pinot lovers alike.
The reputation and attention that pinot noir receives is based on the extraordinary
combination of fruits, herbs, spices, and forest floor it possesses plus great elegance
and mouth feel. While cabernet blends are all about power and weight, a good pinot
noir is all about creating a sensory experience on the palate and in the memory that
no other wine can produce.
The fame of pinot noir is due mainly to the Cote d’Or — the 50km x 1.5km stretch
of gently sloping hills in Burgundy (France) which is the only region in the world
(so far) to have had consistent success with the pinot noir. However, many regions
of New Zealand are fast gaining an international reputation with the grape. Jancis
Robinson, the world renowned wine writer and critic stated last month in the London
Financial Times, that Central Otago produces some ‘freakishly good’ pinot noirs.
It may be another generation (or two) before we know if our pinot noirs will rival
those of Burgundy. While we wait for our vines to age and our vineyard management
and wine making skills to gain even more confidence in producing pinot noir, let’s
enjoy some of these ‘freakishly good’ pinot noir gems.
Kawarau Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2003 from Central Otago exhibits all that is good
about a New Zealand Pinot Noir. Organically grown in Lowburn (Wanaka Road), and passionately
nurtured by Central Otago Wine Company’s talented wine maker Dean Shaw, it is a rich
and complex wine with black cherry, blackberry and blueberry fruit aromatics, a big
round richly structured entry and mouthfeel followed by a very elegant and lingering
finish.
Awarded 5* ratings by Bob Campbell MW and WinestateMagazine, this superb wine sells
at the bargain price of $36.00 from the Kawarau Estate website at: www.kestate.co.nz
It is also available at good wine stores.
Footnote:Kawarau Estate’s most awarded wine.
Kawarau Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2002, Gold — Air New Zealand 2003 Awards, Gold
— Liqourland Top 100, 93/100 Bob Campbell and described by respected wine writer,Peter
Saunders, as an exceptional wine, is still available in moderate quantaties at www.kestate.co.nz
— Russell Allan
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Craggy Range
— Much More than Wine
 Clive Woodward’s press conferences gave us all something to laugh about
but now he’s gone, the rain is constant and the traffic is worse than ever. A recipe
for the winter blues if ever there was one. What to do? It’s time to have a weekend
in Hawkes Bay where the sun does shine in winter. It’s time to follow wine trails,
time to taste superb wines, and time to discover Craggy Range Giants Winery.
Drive through Havelock North, follow Te Mata Road to the end (past Black Barn and
Te Mata Wineries), turn right, go down the hill and suddenly there it is — the spectacular
Craggy Range Winery in the Tukituki Valley under magnificent Te Mata Peak. Craggy
Range is no less spectacular — in fact it is the closest thing we have in size and
style to a Napa Valley Winery . The brainchild of Steve Smith MW and Terry Peabody
— a Brisbane based American businessman, Craggy Range is a massive investment ($65
million +) in the New Zealand wine industry. And yes, Craggy Range has simply raised
the bar — in commitment to quality, commitment to single vineyard wines, commitment
to matching the clones to the land and most of all — a commitment to terroir and
the belief that all great wines are ‘made in the vineyard’.
When you taste Craggy Range wines you immediately know that these wines are loved.
It is extraordinary that such quality has been achieved in such a short time. American
Robert Parker — arguably the world’s most influential wine critic, recently awarded
five of six Craggy Range wines scores of 90 points and over (a score of 90 + equates
to an outstanding wine of exceptional quality). Scoring 94 points was one of my favourites
— Le Sol Syrah. Grown in the Gimblett Gravels area, these grapes are from densely
planted vines and have a low cropping regime. Oak treatment, no fining and no filtering
ensures that Le Sol is a wine of enormous complexity and character that will keep
on improving for years (a New Zealand Grange in the making?). Le Sol Syrah is a fitting
tribute to Doug Wisor, the brilliant young winemaker recently killed in a tragic
kite surfing accident.
But wait — there’s more. A visit to Craggy Range is not complete without a wonderful
culinary experience at Terroir — the Craggy Range restaurant. Recently rated in the
top 13 winery restaurants in the world and by Conde Nast Traveller as one of the
75 hottest new restaurants in the world — a meal here is an absolute must. The food
is simple, well-priced and of the highest quality, as is the service. And naturally,
you will want to sample the Craggy Range wines by the glass — many of which will
be difficult to track down elsewhere as they sell out so quickly. Terroir is simply
top of the range and you will be reluctant to leave, so, here’s another suggestion.
Stay at Craggy Range!
Nestled amongst the vines (and only 50 metres from Terroir and the tasting room)
is the Cellar Master’s Cottage. This charming accommodation has 2 double bedrooms,
2 bathrooms, Sky TV, a cosy woodburner, lounge and kitchen facilities. Priced at
$350 per night for 4 adults, this is well worth considering for that winter blues-beating
weekend. As you sit on the terrace at Terroir, sipping the last of your wine, you
will congratulate yourself on making this wise choice. Who knows, you may even see
Sir Clive trying to cheer himself up.
— Russell Allan
Website: www.craggyrange.com.
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