Wine of the year 2009: Forrest The Doctors Riesling 09, Marlborough – So what if it only came runner up in the values category? 09 being a year of recession it only fits that my favourite wine of the year is affordable and immediately drinkable. This wine is such a step up from previous vintages that it seriously blew me out of the water – and is text book off dry, low alcohol (that is Germanic) Riesling. Clean, fresh and pure. Green apple, pear, stony minerality and just a hint of floral meadow honey and honeysuckle. Just beautiful!

PS. Sorry this post is a little late - I couldn't decide!

Wines of the Year: 2009

Overall I have had a pretty crappy year… lets hope 2010 is a hell of a lot better but I’m not going to go into that BS here and now. Overall have tasted a lot of kiwi stuff – some truly amazing but very little foreign stuff so will concentrate on Kiwi stuff other than the import category. How’s that?

Sparkler of the Year: Highfield Elstree Cuvee 2005, Marlborough – beautifully rich and developed with a slight nutty oxidative note but refreshing acidity.
Runners ups: Forrest Bubbles for Beth, WineBoom

Import of the Year: Bodegas Hidalgo 'Jerez Cortado Wellington' Palo Cortado 20 Years, Jerez – Fucking awesome sherry – from a solera over 220 years old and only $100 – piercing acidity, nutty umami flavours… complete and pure.
Runner up: Pichon Barton 04

White of the Year: HaythornthwaiteGewurtztraminer Auslese 2009, Martinborough Terraces – Breathtakingly different but at once classical approach to Gewurtz – beautifully spicy rose turkish delight and lychee with smokey bacon fat – what stood out about this wine was the lovely textural element and balance – sweet, rich and luscious without being alcoholic and amazing acid structure.
Runner ups: Urlar Pinot Gris 07, Ostler Pinot Gris 08, Herzog Sur Lie Sauvignon Blanc 08

Red of the Year: 2008 Valli Waitaki Pinot Noir, Waitaki – this wine will make the region! Amazingly pure, refined, earthy Pinot Noir… so exciting.
Runner up: Bilancia La Collina 06, Craggy Range Le Sol 07, Escarpment Kupe 08

Sticky of the Year: Crater Rim Dr Kohl Riesling 08, Canterbury – pure as the driven snow Gold Kap auslese style Riesling… stunning!
Runner up: Schubert Dolce 08, Johner Noble Sauvignon Blanc 08

Value of the Year: Iron Hills Syrah 07, Northland – amazing quality for a $20 wine…
Runners Up: Pencarrow Pinot Noir 08, Forrest The Doctors Riesling 09

Beer of the Year: Moa Barrel Reserve Imperial Stout, Marlborough – 2009 was undoubtedly the year of the IPA but this rich, powerful Stout took me by storm! I have a love hate relationship with barrel aged beers (often the oak is too powerful and rides over the beery malt and hop notes – sadly I was not lucky enough to try the Barrel Aged Armegeddon) but this beer just hit the nail on the head with nice oaky vanilla notes giving the coffee, chocolate notes even more structure… Brilliant!
Runners Ups: Epic Armegeddon, Invercargill Smokin’ Bishop & Yeastie Boys PKB

Producer of the year: Urlar, Gladstone – have not had one of their wines that haven’t been pure, varietally driven bliss.
Runner ups: Escarpment, Valli, Millton

Wine of the year will be announced tomorrow!

Twitter Tasting Notes: 17 June 09 – 07 January 10 (most recent notes first - unless they are about the same wine)

08 No. 8 Syrah by Rod McDonald, HB - bright fruit, anise, baked earth... very impressive and great price!!! E

Trinity Hill 09 Arneis, HB - rich, textured, savory and spicy... best NZ Arneis I've tried by far!!! E

Man O War 09 Sauvignon Blanc, Waiheke - very clean, pure focused... grass, chalk and dried mint... VG

Very impressed by main divides new lhr pg pokiri - lush but amazingly clean, focused acid- very exciting stuff E

havin a glass of peggy bay aria riesling 08-pure, rich and textured... Hay, camomile and oil E

tasted, ok drunk @seresinestate 's Sun and Moon Pinot Noir last night - voluptous bright fruit, taut tannins and acidity... infaticide! E

Drinking moa 5 hop barrel reserve. Very woody. Not sure yet...

That should have been @thedarlingwines - 09 savvy b has lovely chalky gooseberry and white flowers. Clean and textured! E

Going Kasuda tasting in my head... 14 mindblowing mines - favourite has to be the 08 Martinboro Syrah barrel sample #Kasuda #Parehua #Wine

Drinking 08 Pahi and Kiwa - @LarryMcPinot Single Vineyard wines... Very sexy and so different... will blog when I have tried Te Reuha

09 Haythornthwaite Gwtz Auslese, Martinboro - a true find, rich but crisp! Spice and bacon. NZs finest Gwtz? P

Had a beautiful 01 Martinborough Vineyards PN last night en magnum - mature, seamless and understated... just beautiful!!! E

Had a bottle of 07 Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah from the Gimblett Gravels last night... two words: Glorious Infanticide!

06 Dry River Syrah, Martinborough - inky w super spicy rasined nose. Muscular with amazing tannin structure. Beautifully floral - Baked. P

Tried 08 Ata Rangi Pinot today - very Ata Rangi - seemless tannins, very aromatic and mineral driven. E!

Very impressed by the Urlar (pronounced Arr-Lar) Pinot Gris from the upper Wairarapa - sexy texture and great weight. Bone Dry!@

Had an 09 Ata Rangi Lismore PG from Mboro - bright pear fruit, clean acid ballanced with moderate RS. V focused! Love to see it in 5 yrs.

Lucky to taste an 08 Kupe by @LarryMcPinot last night - much more refined than other vintages this young but full of both Larry + Vineyard!E

Stunning 04 Pichon Barton - chocolaty, coffee and blackcurrant - perfect with @amiemccarron's coffee vanilla lamb and fresh porcinis P

Popped the first bottle of SteamPunk IPA #1 - not bad but still a little raw and edgy. #steampunkbrewing

Just had a bottle of the new 05 Highfield Elstree Bubbly - crisper than I remember but great as ever...

drinking 07 Black Barn Hawkes Bay BF SB - bright lemon and lime with creamy meal oak - a little thin in the mid palate and ends short. Nice

just smelt a wine with so much bret it smelt like a used condom #dirtytastingnote

Dada 1 looking stunning! Graves look-a-like

Zephyr 08 marl gwtz- a classroom full of 16 year old girls

Drinking @WINEBOOM - nice if odd. Very rich spicey oily Pinot Gris underneath... Fizz (carbonated version) highlights the crunch of the wine

Have been drinking Iron Hills 07 Syrah over the last couple of nights, from Northland - its poised, aromatic and muscular with nice funk.

Green Man IPA - DOA - no hop flavour at all just boring pale ale malt.

Drinking 3 Boys IPA – yum

Had 06 Seresin Rachel last night - svelt and moody with dark fruit, stony earth and soft but tightly wound tannins. Extremely sexy stuff.

had a 2nd go @ @epicbeer armegeddon 2day. Very tropical- passion, papaya, pinapple and sherbert with dried hay notes. Also tried Emersons Jp

Epic Armegeddon IPA-Yum! Rich malty flavour profile with powerful but ballanced bitter english hops and hints of tropical fruit underneath.

been drinking 07 Y Chave Croze and 07 Bilancia Syrah. Both great but Bilancia more French than French!

Vincent Dureuil-Janthial 06 Le Meix Cadot Rully 1er Cru VV - hint of flint, peach and praline. E but flabby.

08 Coopers Creek Arneis - below average.

http://twitpic.com/9v5u8 - Akarua 'Gullies' PN 07, Bannockburn - light and earthy with beautiful florals and thyme. Effing good.

tucking into an Invercargill Brewery Pitch Black Stout - yum: smooth and delicious!

08 Te Whare Ra Gewurtz, Renwick Marl - amazing focus, light dancing rose with a hint of vanilla - kero + phenolic weight with searing acid.

05 Forrest 'The Doctors' Bubbles 4 Beth Sparkling Syrah + Malbec, Marlborough - actually pretty good! Bright plum, spice, good acid. crisp!

Drinking last of bubbles for beth - am tiddly... must be good - haven't emptied a bottle of wine with two of us in ages.

Tried Greenhough 08 Apple Valley from Nelson - good acid and fruit - nice wine

Drinking 07 Te Mata Woodthorpe Chardonnay - miles better than 07 Elston. Clean, fresh, great acid. YUMMO

@PegasusNZ last Mayhem - and I'm glad I'm drinkin it now - hops are falling out... Nice and malty tho!

Just sold the last bottle of 03 Craggy Range Doug Wisor Pinot - Te Muna Vnyrd, tasted beautiful last night. Intense, floral + earthy!

Advertising!
You will notice the new ads up on the site – I am now part of the Palate Press Advertising Network and will also be contributing to Palate Press in the new year. For more information on advertising on winewanker.co.nz and many other sites contact them through the website.

2008 Martinborough Insight Series by Escarpment
Over the past few nights at Parehua it has been a pleasure to open some pre-release bottlings of Larry McKenna’s Escarpment Martinborough Insight Series Pinots for our guests and the tasting panel.


08 Kupe – Te Muna Road
Kupe is Larry McKenna’s flagship pinot grown on his now 10 year old vines on Te Muna Road – previous vintages (particularly 03 and 05 – I haven’t tasted 06 yet) have been massive, muscular wines where this is one of restraint. It has beautifully perfumed black dorris plum fruit with taut, savoury tannins and earthy intensity. Easily Grand Cru quality and I would love to see it again in ten years! E

On a side note we also served a couple of bottles of 03 Kupe which had been cellared at Escarpment – the wine was glorious and still looking very young – it will go longer that the 2010 date mentioned on the Escarpment website. Here are more comprehensive notes on the 03 from early 2008.

To contrast against the relative youth of his vines and the Te Muna sub-region character, in 06 and 08 Escarpment have released three other wines, all from 20+ year old vines on the terraces that surround the village of Martinborough. Before 06 they have been released under their vineyard name and under the names Moana (now Kiwa) and Voyager (now Pahi). All three wines are incredibly different even though the vineyards are so close to each other and the wines have been made in similar ways – as well as this they also have Larry’s Escarpment signature.

08 Kiwa – Martinborough Terraces
Kiwa, grown on the deep alluvial gravels on Cambridge Street comes off 27 year old ungrafted clone UCD 5, 6 and 13 vines. It is the more feminine of the series – beautiful sweet fruit and a structure that relies more on crisp, focused acidity that it does on tightly wound tannin as in the other wines. It is a more frivolous*, up beat, jazzy wine. A real dancer!
*I am not saying that the wine is any less serious than the other wines – it is a fine wine in its own right!

08 Pahi – Martinborough Terraces
Pahi is grown just down the road from us at Parehua on heavier soils in the McCreanor Vineyard at the intersection of New York Street West and Princess Street – they are 27 year old vines planted entirely in the 10/5 clone of Pinot Noir on their own rootstock. This was the first of this collection of wines I tried when we opened it in the Restaurant. It is a heavy, muscular wine – unmistakably new worldly – spicy, meaty, earthy and rich. I describe it as a kind of old school pinot – structured tannins and very savoury rather than fruit driven. E

08 Te Reuha – Martinborough Terraces
This is the last wine we tried and was Te Rehua – 20 year old vines grown on a very sheltered gravelly site on Huangarua Road with varied clonal material. This is a dark horse with driven black cherry, plum and almost-a hint of blackberry fruit overlaid onto a tightly wound tannic frame with intensely smoky cigar and ash notes. Seductive but way too young! E

Vineyard shots on the way!

Craft Cider…

The summer of 2009/2010 is definitely the summer of cider! I know I’m not the first to call it and we can be pretty certain that I won’t be the last! Both Macs and Monteiths have recently released cider brands which I just thought I’d offer my opinion on some of the craftier ones available on the market at the moment!

Poppy Cider by Moa Brewing Company, Blenheim ($7 for 375ml)
Poppy rocks in at 9.5% ABV but is able to hold it – it is a blend of apples and pears fermented in used chardonnay barrels which gives it a slightly oaky, almost winey flavour. It has a creamy, bead with a hint of secondary yeast character overlaid by a pronounced pear flavour – it is bone dry with only the ripe fruit element to give it sweetness. Really sexy and deliciously adult!

Weka Apple Cider by Moa Brewing Company, Blenheim ($3 for 330ml)
This is the little sister to Poppy much as the Weka Lager is the little Brother to Moa Original. Likewise is a blend of granny smith and pears which is aged (rather than fermented) in used Chardonnay barrels. It rocks in a 4.5% ABV with about 28g/l residual sugar but this is more than balanced by clean fresh acidity.

Nally’s Cider by Invercargill Brewing, Invercargill ($3 for 330ml)
This is a longtime favourite from the deep dark south… it’s a crispy, crunchy and relatively dry drink with only a hint of sweetness – it has a pronounced granny smith apple flavour.

Camla Farm Cider, Dunsandel ($10 for 600ml)
This is a pretty cool cider – Camla Farm have released more traditionally styled ciders in the past (bone dry, still and very powerful) which is not a style I know much about unfortunately but this is a little bit more commercial but nevertheless totally unique product. It is crisp and spritzy with nice sweetness and an intriguing almost fejoa like character. It comes in a bottle big enough to share between two without generating too much of a hangover so I’d recommend a bottle at every picnic and BBQ this season.

Settling in...
Here are some photos I have taken setting in to Parehua - I have been very priveleged to be able to open some stunning bottles.

This is the Palliser Om Santi Vineyard - or the view from my office!

Just some wine we opened for a little dinner last week!

More wine...

And an intentionally blurry (yeah right) aka arty photo of the wine room... YUM!

And me tasting wine in the best place to try it - the vineyard!

Grant Taylor Winemaker Reply to my post on 2007 Valli Waitaki Pinot Noir

Hello Jules,
No the wine isn't going through a phase, that was the Vintage,
tiny tiny berries and a very high stem to berry ratio, It is not typical at all, there is such are such strong similarities running through the 2004, 06 and 08, like siblings in a family with the same two parents that siblings should have, but the 2007, well it was like a milkman of a completely different ethnic background snuck in for the night.

Or why I love the internet!

2007 Valli Waitaki Valley Pinot Noir

We had somewhat of a rare wine night last night - one of my two bottles of Grant Taylor's Valli 2007 Pinot and a bottle of 07 Seresin Chiarascuro (another post altogether). 07 was a shit year in the Waitaki and as far as I can tell (and I spent 18 months up there) Grant was the only dude who made wine that year... and not much at all. He made one barrel which at the most is about 300 bottles or 25 cases of wine... at the most. I think the reality was about 20 cases. It also means that blending is more or less out of the question - technically you could blend up to 15% of wine from other grapes/regions/vintages but thats not really the Valli style.

What about the wine then? Well individual to say the least and reminded me very much of John Forrest's 03 Waitaki Pinot when I first tried it here... I wonder whether it will turn into this? Or something like it? It was certianlly very different to any of the 06s or 08s I have tried.

It was, to put it bluntly, a monster. A characture of central otago pinot. Massively fruity with earthy dark cherrys, thyme and lavender and muscular spicey oak. I don;t usually like this style of wine but it pulled it off... That said the wine may well just be going through a funny stage and come out of it in 6 months, a year... who knows? I'll tell you when I open that other bottle! E