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There was a good turnout for the Club’s AGM with 33 Club members attending.
Agenda items were quickly dealt with and once the AGM ended, members enjoyed wines from the club’s cellar. These were augmented by a donated 2019 Confidencial Rose from Victor Kattenbelt at Confidant Ltd and a vertical tasting of 3 Felton Road Rieslings donated by a club member. All 4 wines were very much enjoyed by everyone present.
A big thanks to all Committee members for the food supplied, as well as to the 2 donors of those wines.
There are AGM details on our website if anyone is interested in full details, including the President’s report and the full Financial Report to come.
This last year has been extremely challenging, yet the club was able to hold several events to celebrate its 40th anniversary. All were very successful, and the committee was very happy with the levels of member support at those events and tastings in general.
I’m sure our President, Murray Jaspers, will refer to these in his report at next week’s AGM.
The last item of that AGM is General Business and that is often the time that your committee will look for feedback from attendees.
Please use your time this week to reflect on our club and when that last item arises, please be prepared to give your views:
On what has been good
On things that you feel could be improved or done differently
Even give feedback on new directions or ideas that you would like the incoming committee to consider.
Remember our club succeeds because of all of our involvement in it.
My wife hosted a party for many of our old friends, some of whom we hadn’t seen for years.
Everyone was encouraged to bring their children and grandchildren along as well.
All throughout dinner, Emma, my wife’s best friend’s four-year-old granddaughter kept staring at me. This beautiful little girl could hardly eat her food for staring at me.
I checked my shirt for spots, felt my face for food and patted my hair in place, but nothing stopped her from staring at me.
Finally, I asked her, “Emma, why are you staring at me so?”
Everyone at the table had noticed her behaviour also, and the table went quiet, waiting for her response.
Little Emma said, “I just wanna see how you drink like a fish.”
Anne Megget & Wayne Kennedy with 27 bags of wine bottle screwcaps for Kidney Kids
The following appeared in the Independent Herald for the last week of April.
Members of a local wine club have been collecting screw caps off wine bottles for the last year and have amassed 27 bags full.
As each bag holds approximately 1300 caps – this is a lot of wine! (Remember 2020 was not a normal year), and that is a lot of metal not going into the landfill.
Vice President Anne Megget collects the caps from members, friends and neighbours, and when her cellar is overflowing with bags Treasurer Wayne Kennedy comes around with his trailer and takes them to Wellington Scrap Metal for recycling and this year they raised $215.40.
The Cellar Club is a Wellington-based social group that focuses on learning about and appreciating wine. It has been in existence for 40 years and provides wine education and experience through monthly presentations at the Community Centre Hall in Johnsonville.
Contact can be made through the website or to Anne.
Postscript
Wayne recently provided a plastic bread bag fill with wine tops and neck labels. The latter is also aluminium and equally collectable. Being retired he decided to check out just how many bottles had been consumed. The bag weighed 556 grams and contained 167 tops and 107 neck labels. The problem was Lynne was nearby and not being a wine drinker, she asked ‘what was the likely value of the wine consumed?’, to which he replied, ‘Using an $18 average bottle cost, about $3000! But it was more than a year’s worth!’ he pleaded. Lynne just smiled and, as she walked away, said there was a lot more wool coming.
But having done this weighing, and looking at the money raised above, he thinks the club collected close to 50,000 tops and even if we were to use a cost of $15 per bottle consumed, that’s $750,000 of wine drunk by the club, friends and neighbours.
One final point
Those neck labels on wine bottles will aluminium tops are 1.3 times heavier than the tops, so are well worth collecting. Just be very careful and work away from yourself as you attempt to remove one from the bottle.
Our Del Mundo tasting in April was a premium European tasting with Lucas. The wines we indulged in were:
Terra Serena Prosecco DOC Treviso Brut – Italian
Tonon Prosecco Conegliano Vablobbiadene Extra Dry DOCG – Italian
2017 Great Five Pinotage Reserve – South African – first released in 1945
2010 Camilo de Lellis Biferno Montepulciano/Aglianico Trebbiaio DOCG – Italian
2016 Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG – Italian
2012 Estola Gran reserve Tempranillo Cabernet – Spanish
2008 Faustino First Tempranillo – Spanish
Del Mundo Wines – April 2021
Lucas’s presentation was lively and informative, and many attendees were surprised to learn that in Italy and Spain there are strict rules around what can be labelled reserve. Requirements vary on a regional basis, though essentially, they have to have an extended period in both the barrel and the bottle before being released.
Typically, wines at the higher end of the spectrum are aged for many years. While Chianti has to be aged for a minimum of two years, Amarone, which we tasted on the night, can only be released after four years. A grand reserve has even more stringent requirements. For a Spanish wine to be labelled as a Gran Reserva, the law requires that it be aged for a minimum of five years, with two of those years in an oak cask or barrel.
Other tidbits we picked up during the evening:
Del Mondo means ‘of the world’
Prosecco means ‘path through the woods’
In 2009, Italy Prosecco was recognised as a geographical indication (GI) by Italian law (in the same vein as Champagne in France) and the Prosecco grape variety was renamed Glera
Tempranillo was first planted in the year 800, given Royal assent in 1100
Tempranillo is also the world’s third-largest crop
The Great Five Pinotage Reserve was first released in 1945
The opportunity to try labels we were unfamiliar with made for an interesting time and the Faustino, which normally retails for $105, was a special treat.
Note from Editor
A big thanks to all Club members for mucking in and helping set up the tables & chairs, etc for our last tasting. The JCC has explained that the Fijian group present when we arrived had got their dates mixed up for their bookings and they (JCC) have given us a rent-free evening for our troubles.
This event is a Martinborough school fundraiser event and was held on Saturday 20th March, with participants able to choose their distance, either 10 or 21kms, as well as whether they wished to walk or run.
This was a well-organised event and was followed by live entertainment and prize-giving in Martinborough Square.
This event not only provided a lot of fun and an opportunity to see a little more of Martinborough’s landscape, but it also had the added novelty of the entry fee encompassing wines for you to taste at the many ‘water stops’ along the way.
If you want to know more or want to plan for the next event, I would recommend you go to and keep a watchful eye for the date of the next event.
Here are some photos of this year’s event to whet your appetite.
In this article Sophie Preece has canvassed feedback from around NZ and besides the obvious comment evident in the articles heading, it is interesting to note how early picking started in some areas.
Sadly, the article leaves you wondering where this will leave bottle prices. One can’t help thinking that demand from both inside and outside of NZ, when yields are low and quality high, will inevitably lead to a rise in prices. Heaven forbid it follows the housing price model.
Hawkes Ridge owner & winemaker Douglas Haynes with a small range of his wines.
Douglas Haynes with the assistance of Anne Boustead presented a well-received tasting last month and a great turnout. This was an exciting evening, with some very different expressions of wine varieties on hand to taste. Interestingly this vineyard also has its own brand of olive oil. Hawkes Ridge Wine Estate is a family-owned, boutique winery located in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. The wines we tasted were:
Cest Beau Rose: The introductory wine. This was a non-vintage Viognier base with both Tempranillo and Semillon that was late harvested in the Moscato style
Deux Blanco 218: A Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon 50/50 blend that was entirely barrel fermented where the grapes were picked early
Viognier 2020 was also completely barrel-fermented. Viognier is Douglas passion and this Viognier did not disappoint.
Rosado 2020 is a 100% Tempranillo rose being entirely stainless steel fermented and aged. This wine was one of the highlight wines of the evening.
Pinot Noir 2014 was a surprise wine from Hawkes Bay with an interesting back story. The wine was aged in French oak for 10 months and just bottled before Christmas 2020
Syrah 2014 had classic Syrah characteristics of dark berry fruits with coffee, chocolate and subtle spice
Grand Reserve Tempranillo 2015: This is Hawkes Ridge Winery’s premium wine. It was another highlight of the evening. The wine was only bottled in 2018 and should cellar well
Late Harvest Viognier 2016 is one of three late harvest/noble wines that Hawkes Ridge Winery produce. This wine was bottled in 2018 and although very rich, it was true to Viognier’s varietal characteristics.
Thank you to everyone who supported Hawk Ridge by ordering wines, as well as their olive oil which was on the order form, albeit not tasted. This meeting was great to start our tasting year.
Cellar Club members celebrating the club’s 40th-anniversary wine trip to Wairarapa Feb 2021
It was a brilliant day weather-wise, to travel via train, then bus to Martinborough. The three vineyards that were organised for us to visit, thanks to Gayl’s marvellous efforts, were Nga Waka, Tiwaiwaka and Grava/Alana.
We were divided into three groups, with each group assigned to two of the three vineyards to taste at – for ease of the smaller cellar tasting rooms, and the exuberance of the people attending.
Each of the vineyards was fully welcoming and at the Grava tasting room, if you asked, you could taste the Alana version of the wine being tasted, which was great if you were tasting with a partner.
Grava/Alana
At Grava/Alana where Lunar are the new owners, the vineyards brands are kept very separate. Grava has its vines on the Lake Ferry Road which has gravelly/alluvial soil and Alana’s wines are made from vineyards further in around Martinborough. The wines tasted were:
2018 Sauvignon Blanc – 12 months in oak/12 months in barrel fermented
2020 Alana Pinot Gris
2016 Riesling [also tasted the 2016 Alana Riesling]
2017 Alana Pinot Noir
2018 Pinot Noir
2017 Late Harvest – Sauvignon Blanc harvested mid-May
Nga Waka
At Nga Waka – where the new American owners are stuck in Nevada – the wines tasted were:
2020 Sauvignon Blanc – planted in 1988/89, the first wines made in 1993
2019 Chardonnay – fermented in oak barrels for 10 months
2019 Rose – from Pinot Noir grapes
2018 Pinot Noir
Tiwaiwaka
At Tiwaiwaka the tastings were conducted under the branches of a lovely oak tree. The wines tasted were:
2020 Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon Blend – an excellent surprise to start with 2019 Semillon
2018 Rose
2020 Chardonnay
2018 Pinot Noir
2019 Cabbage Tree Pinot Noir – the second favoured tasting for group B
2019 Merlot
Orders were good for all vineyards and many have been delivered directly to members already, with the delivery of the smaller lots being arranged by Wayne and Murray in the coming days.
The bus driver, Craig, was brilliant and was always where he was needed.
Coney’s
Tim Coney welcoming members for a tasting & celebration lunch
Our tasting and lunch at Coney’s was entertaining, with one of the owners Tim Coney regaling us with his stories of the vineyard, his band and his love of opera (which is where the musical names for the wines come from), and life in general in the Wairarapa.
To accompany the wines each table as served with a small platter of food. The wines tasted during this session were:
2020 Rallentando Riesling
2018 Riesling
2020 Ragtime Riesling
Piccolo Pinot Gris
2019 Foxy Lady Syrah Rose’
2016 Reserve Pizzicato Noir – a gold medal winner made to go with food
The lunch was well-received when served. The train trip to the Wairarapa and back was an added highlight for everyone, with many having never travelled that line before.
Thanks to Gayl and Wayne for your efforts in making this event such a memorable occasion.
Finally, if you are interested in viewing the various photos taken on this wine trip, they are on the club’s gallery page.
Our Club year started off in the same fabulous way that it usually does, with our annual BBQ held at Derek’s place – thanks, Derek!
Helped by the magnificent cooking done excellently by Richard and Wayne – as witnessed here.
Forty club members attended and the mixing, conversations, joviality and general socialising went down well.
Everyone enjoyed the fare of Salmon, Angel Bay burgers and sausages, together with the salads and desserts brought by the members. It was a proverbial feast that was needed to help soak up the huge variety of wines that accumulated on Derek’s outdoor bench. The 20+year bottle of Penfolds 389 was the highlight for many, but its presence did re-enforce the need for everyone to always take a small tasting at the annual BBQ and AGM.
The weather came to the party too with the sun unrelentingly beaming down on the gathering. A great time was had by all.
