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Hosted by Wayne Kennedy, Murray Jaspers and Michael Kuus
Wednesday 9th April, 8 pm Start
Door Price: Members $16 / Guests $20
Immediately after the Gold Medal Winners from the New Zealand International Wine Show were announced last October, your club set out to acquire three bottles of seven gold medal wines for us to taste this month. April was chosen to do this as that is a time of the year when the wine industry is busy with harvest, and thus many wineries are unavailable to present to us.
The beauty of doing this immediately that the announcements were made were two-fold. It meant that the wines were still available and more importantly it also gave us an opportunity to secure seven trophy wines, including the McArthur Ridge Southern Tor Pinot Noir which was the Champion wine of the Show.
Many of these wines are hard to come by now, so we are fortunate that your committee acted so quickly. All that remains is for you to attend and enjoy a great trophy tasting.
Please remember your tasting glasses
The wines we will be tasting are:
2024 Leftfield Pinot Gris, Marlborough
2024 Wairau River Estate Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough
2024 Sileni Advocate Grand Reserve Albarino, Hawkes Bay
2023 Bladen Eight Rows Riesling, Marlborough
2022 Kirrihill Regional Series Clare Valley Shiraz, South Australia
2021 Church Road McDonald Series Merlot, Hawkes Bay
The evening with Everything Pinot was a tippling success, with 37 people turning up for the Club’s own members to present to, plus a special guest for the evening’s last pinot – John Dawson with a whisky distilled in pinot barrels from Central Otago’s Lammermoor, ‘a farm to bottle distillery’: Lammermoor Distillery.
We tasted our way through the Club’s cellar after our opening pinot Waipara Hills Pinot Noir Rose’. Followed up with three 2017 Pinot Gris, from Peregrine Saddleback, Giesen Marlborough and Church Road McDonald series. The comparisons were quite distinct, and the discussion was good.
This was then followed by three 2016 Pinot Noirs, from Peregrine Saddleback Central Otago, Yealands Reserve Marlborough, and Russian Jack Martinborough.
On 13 March 2017, Bob Campbell MW spent the afternoon in Hawke’s Bay, blind tasting his way through a sea of 2014 vintage Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay, Syrah and Merlot Cabernet blends concealed in brown paper bags. Mr Campbell then selected the top 12 2014 vintage wines to represent Hawke’s Bay, only finding out himself on Wednesday which wines he had selected.
Bob Campbell was the second New Zealander, and is one of just over 300 people in the world to hold the Master of Wine qualification. Mr Campbell is an internationally acclaimed wine judge and is widely regarded as the New Zealand’s foremost wine educator.
Melisa Beight, Executive Officer of Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers Association Inc. said that the boards and members were thrilled that Bob Campbell MW had agreed to judge the 2014 Hawke’s Bay Vintage Collection. “This is the first year we have produced a Hawke’s Bay Vintage Collection and it marks a real milestone for the region. The Hawke’s Bay Vintage Collection will be judged by Bob Campbell every year from now on, with the top 12 wines representing the best of Hawke’s Bay being sent out to global key opinion leaders, so that they can make their own assessment.”
“The overall standard was very high indeed” declared Bob Campbell MW. “Clearly 2014 was a truly top vintage. A range of different Chardonnay styles added extra interest, and a degree of difficulty in choosing the ultimate winners. Syrah was stylistically more consistent as well as being the highest performer of the three classes. Blended reds were a pleasure to judge – all of the entries merited selection.”
The 2014 Hawke’s Bay Vintage Collection (in no particular order):
Vidal Legacy Chardonnay 2014
Te Awa Single Estate Chardonnay 2014
Bilancia Chardonnay 2014
Church Road Grand Reserve Chardonnay 2014
Villa Maria Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2014
Te Awa Single Estate Merlot Cabernet 2014
Craggy Range Te Kahu, Gimblett Gravels Vineyard, Hawke’s Bay 2014
Church Road McDonald Series Merlot 2014
Vidal Legacy Syrah 2014
Church Road Grand Reserve Syrah 2014
Sacred Hill Deerstalkers Syrah 2014
Craggy Range Syrah, Gimblett Gravels Vineyard, Hawke’s Bay 2014
About Hawke’s Bay Wine: Founded in 2006, Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers Association Inc. represents all wineries and growers in the region and its mission is to achieve international recognition as one of the great wine regions of the world.
