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There was a good turnout for this tasting. The tasting was characterised by good wines, good presenter equals a good night in spite of the bad weather. Lisa thanks the club for a great tasting and commented that they had received good orders from the club.
Indeed, by our reckoning, this was the second biggest group of orders from a tasting. Just shows that even on a wet winters night a good presentation and good wines will succeed. Thanks to all those who attended and ordered.
We had better not leave it too long before we invite Clearview back. Remember too, that if you are in Hawkes Bay, a visit to the winery and a meal at the red shed are well worth the effort.
We had 48 confirmed and paid people a week before the dinner, but sadly we had two late cancellations on the morning of the dinner. Generally, members liked the venue even though the stairs were challenging for some. Several attendees thought, and the committee agreed, that there was not enough food. The general feeling was that the food was of a good quality but sparse and that the quality did not relate to the price charged. It was suggested that we maybe should have charged a little more to get more food. It was decided to feedback to the restaurant about the dinner. Other than the issue of the food, the committee felt that the evening was enjoyable.
For future dinners, your committee thinks we should encourage people to mingle and chat more while the bubbles are served. To accomplish this we would, where possible, prefer to serve the pre-dinner drinks away from the tables.
A highlight of the evening was the presentation to Cecilia of her life membership.
Established in 1989, Clearview Estate Winery, Hawke’s Bay and its iconic ‘red shed’ restaurant enjoys an established, leafy coastal vineyard setting near the historic landscape of Cape Kidnappers.
Sit, under the blue umbrellas or amongst the vines, while you explore the comprehensive seasonal menu from the winery restaurant featuring fresh and creative dishes making innovative use of Hawke’s Bay produce.
Besides grapes, the estate also grows avocados, olives and citrus trees along with a culinary herb garden to supply the restaurant’s kitchen. Enjoy our estate grown, award-winning wines including the iconic Reserve Chardonnay or our Cabernet-Merlot blends – Old Olive Block & Enigma.
More fabulous Hawkes Bay wines to enjoy. You would be silly to miss this one. More detail next month.
25 people attended the AGM. The meeting was not prolonged and quickly dealt with the issues at hand. It was, as ever, followed by a good supper with a great range of items. The wine wasn’t bad either. The tray of mixed club sandwiches was a hit again this year. Sausage rolls were a good substitution for the cheerios this year.
Cecilia in 2009 in her President’s role.
Matters discussed at the meeting including the possibility of co-opting a member on to the committee for a short time or for a specific task and having certain jobs, such as the newsletter editor, as ex-officio. The current committee was returned unopposed.
And a highlight was the passing of a motion that Cecilia Parker is made a life member after many years contributing in a number of roles. Congratulations Cecilia.
Unison Vineyard is a Family Estate at the heart of the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing District in Hawkes Bay. It was established in 1993 and specialises in fine wines.
Due to the consistency over the years in high-quality fine wines, Unison Vineyard has been rated by Jancis Robinson (Concise Wine Companion) as one of 28 up-and-coming producers worldwide “… whose success seems most obvious to me at the beginning of the 21st century …” – the only winery in NZ which has received this accolade.
Unison Vineyard is a Family Estate run by professional husband and wife team Philip and Terry Horn. Joining them are the boys, Luke and Oliver together with cats Olive and Pip. More detail next month but this is sure to be a great tasting.
A ghastly night weather wise and a long list of apologies through autumn ailments meant that the turnout for this tasting was a little lower than we had hoped for. Despite that, those who braved the conditions enjoyed an excellent presentation and some great wines. Simon Bell and Craig O’Donnell from Macvine International presented for this tour around Europe. The tasting was a little different from the usual but was done with great style and enthusiasm. The wines presented were not necessarily well-known wines from Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. Simon and Craig enjoyed the evening and expressed a keenness to return in the future.
The tour included the following wines:
Andre Delorme Methode BDB (France) Pazo Cilleiro Albarino (Spain) Bernard Defaix 2015 Cote de Lechet Chablis (France) Cantina Terlan Lagrein (Italy) Dourthe No 1 Rouge (France) Alpha Zeta “V” Valpolicella Ripaso Superiore (Italy) 1994 Burgermeister Lauer Drohner Hofberger Riesling (Germany)
What a great evening with Mark and Susan. A nice blend of where they have come from and an outline of where the business is going now. Their business in Martinborough has taken an upturn with the introduction of platters at their tasting room. This has guided them into the tourism area and is looking very promising for them.
To recoup on the wines we started with the Rose 2017 as the quaffer. It is a dry style rose but with huge fruit sweetness and flavours of strawberries and raspberries. That was followed by the dry Pinot Gris and the two drier Gewurtztraminer’s. After a break we tasted the 2012 Pinot Noir, followed by the Reserve Pinot from 2013, which was a superb wine. It won a gold medal from the Air NZ Wine Awards. We then finished with the sweet Auslese Gewurztraminer 2013 (Pamela) that is a luscious wine.
Some good orders which was very pleasing for Susan and Mark. There were two things following from the evening. With harvest fast approaching there is often a need for pickers. If you are interested please let them know. Secondly, Haythornthwaite will give Club members a 10% discount at the tasting room. Give it a try, a trip to the Wairarapa, a platter and a tasting of some really nice wines. What more could you want?
Our summer has been truly magnificent this year and so was this tasting. What better way to celebrate Valentines Day than through “a love affair with wine”. The committee has thanked the presenters for this tasting and for their preparation that went into their offering. It was a varied line up with both well-known wines and boutique wines. Each presentation offered a different slant on what was presented. It appears that a bit different is popular with our members. The only issue was with the pacing of the evening as there was not much space between each presentation. It was a great night with the chocolate being a highlight. Feedback from the attendees has been very positive.
Just to repeat the selection went something like this.
Quaffer – Pol Remy – Wayne
Aotea Sparkling Wine – Wayne
Landsdowne Pinot Gris – Robin
Spy Valley Gewürztraminer – Anne
Fickle Mistress Pinot Rose – Murray
Clearview Blush – Jenny
Dorrien Estate Lockwood Smith Sparkling Shiraz – Steve
Cashmere Lounge: Those attending, and they were plentiful, have indicated that the dinner was excellent. People enjoyed the evening with great food. If there was a drawback it was that the dinner was held over two rooms, however, lost seemed to be able to work around that and share stories and excellent wine. The dinner was well organised and the owner’s feedback was that we were fun crowd and he was rapt with the dinner. The special bubbles went down well. We are pleased to be able present this brand again at our February tasting.
January 2018 – Cellar Club BBQ
Not much to be said except to say it was another fine day and everyone seemed to enjoy the occasion. This continues to be a great venue for a gathering of this nature, the food was excellent, the wine very nice and the company superb. As always we give special thanks to Derek Thompson for making his excellent facilities available.
Wayne reports, Olé indeed. From arriving to Spanish music to being seated in a horseshoe and enjoying some tapas with the wines, this was truly a night with a difference.
The meet and greet wine was the very affordable Torres Sangre de Toro Rosado 2016. I’ve always liked this wine because of the red bull that hangs from the neck of each bottle. But the contents weren’t bad either with the Rose being a bright raspberry colour with good fruit flavour. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to try a Rose that was made from grapes we don’t find here in NZ, namely Carnena and Garnacha (known respectively as Carignan and Grenache in other parts of the world).
The first tasting wine was a delightful white sherry, Lustau Puerto Fino. It’s been quite a while since I’ve tasted this light dry sherry that is famous around the world, so I particularly loved the match with the Crumbed Olive tapas that showed the versatility of this wine when matched with salty briny foods. And Keith’s comments about Sherry’s famous solera system added to our appreciation of this wonderful wine style which seems to have fallen out of favour here in NZ.
Next to follow were the Vina Esmeralda Moscatel-Gewurztraminer 2016 and the 2013 Gran Vina Sol Chardonnay. The first was matched with a delicious Serrano ham and honeydew melon tapas which matched perfectly the wonderful floral aromas of the 85% dominant Moscatel grape. The Chardonnay was a nice addition to the whites being tasted. It was fermented in stainless steel with a third of the wine fermented and aged for 5 months in new oak.
I enjoyed the freshness of this wine and its lingering aftertaste, and given the tasting notes suggest that this is excellent with fish, paella and turkey, it’s hardly surprising that the match on the night with the warm Spanish shrimp dish was excellent.
Andria Monin presented for Stonecroft at this tasting. We pointed out at the time that Stonecroft donated the wines including quaffers and the main raffle prize. I have thanked Andria for presenting at the meeting, and in turn, she thanked the club for inviting her. She had an enjoyable meeting and was happy with the orders received. It was an interesting meeting, with a good flow telling the winery story since her last visit. The wines tasted included; 2017 Rose as a Quaffer; 2016 Viognier; 2016 Chardonnay; 2015 Serine Syrah; 2014 Ruhanui; 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon; 2016 Late Harvest Gewürztraminer. The Viognier was particularly popular for those ordering.
Well our tasting for September was certainly different and a great learning experience. It’s not often you get to taste 11 wines from the period 1974 to 1996. And to help judge these wines, Wayne had organised a novel rating system that required each table to come up with a ratings that were [4] Superb -aged perfectly, [3] Still enjoyable or has interest, [2] Drinkable but dying, [1] Dead – nothing to commend it to lastly, [0] In decay – not even going to taste this.
He had also arranged for John Saker to attend the tasting and he proved to be a valuable contributor to our discussions, using his knowledge and wine judging skills to highlight things that many of us might not have considered. He particularly liked the Aussie 1990 McWilliams Mount Pleasant Elizabeth Semillon which still had some structure, fruit flavour and mouth feel.
However, it was on the decline from its probable peak 7 or 8 years ago. But still, it did show how a white wine such as a great Hunter Valley Semillon could last. Of the other 10 wines tasted, there were two 1994 wines that attracted the most support, a Leconfield Coonawara Cabernet Merlot Cabernet Franc blend and a French Cordier Sauternes. Sadly 4 of the wines were rated as a 1 or zero. Whilst the oldest of these was from 1975, there were others from the 1994-1996 period that did not measure up. The 1975 had suffered from a leaking cork and had oxidised badly whilst two of the others were white wines that in all honestly , should never had been cellared that long [because of their grape and style].
Wayne’s biggest disappointment of the night, however, was the wine that had been stored in a very large bottle dating back to 1893. The providence of this wine actually dated back to the period 1980 to 1995 and had been stored in this old bottle for later tasting. Wayne had tried to find out more about this wine from CJ Pask who was reputed to have taken it from a barrel and stored it in the bottle for Richard Gooch to taste at a later date, but Chris couldn’t recall the occasion. In any event, this wine was one to be rated a zero, having unfortunately deteriorated to such an extent that no one was prepared to suggest what it might have included, even if the suspicion was that it was once a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and maybe some Cabernet Franc, all from young vines on the Gimblett Gravels.
In conclusion, whilst this evening may have lacked a standout wine that would make the tasting memorable, it did serve to be both educational and to serve as a warning. I think most members will have gone home and looked for those forgotten wines at the back of their cupboards or cellars in order to drink them before they start their inevitable decline into mediocrity.
A special thanks to Linda Caradus, partner to the late Richard Gooch. It was her wish to give the club these very old wines so that we could use them as a learning experience and they certainly did that. It was just a shame that overseas business prevented her attending the tasting and seeing the interest that the 11 wines provided.
