Looking Back – Forrest Wines with Carlos Rojas Stiven, March ’23

The Forrest Range
The Forrest Range

This was an evening of tasting grape varieties from around the world but produced right here in NZ.

Adding to this international flavour was our presenter Carlos, who was born in Chile and came to NZ in 2010, and now resides in Marlborough with his wife and daughters. Carlos informed us that Forrest is now second-generation owned and operated and that they loved working with many different grape varieties.

As a reminder of the wines we sampled during the evening:

  • The Doctors Riesling 2021 – German style wine
  • Forrest Albarino 2022 – Spanish/Portuguese grape variety
  • Forrest Chenin Blanc 2022 – French/now South African grape variety
  • Forrest Gruner Veltliner 2022 – Austrian grape variety
  • Tatty Bogler Pinot Noir 2020 – Burgundy French grape style
  • Forrest Lagrein 2020 – Piedmont Italy grape variety
  • Forrest Botrytised Riesling 2018Forrest has approximately 150 ha of grapes plants in Marlborough, with additional plantings in the Waitaki Valley, with the latter having limestone ground, similar to Burgundy conditions.
Visit Forrest
Visit Forrest

70% of their Sauvignon Blanc goes overseas each year, with 100 cases to Waitrose per year!

Notably, most of their Forrest Botryised Riesling, with a honey/marmalade taste – is made for and sold to Air NZ. So when COVID19 hit NZ, the unwanted stock was stocked by NZ based stockists – a bonus for the NZ public.

There were 15 orders from Club members for this tasting, evidence of just how much this tasting was enjoyed by our members.

Thank you to Carlos and Forrest Wines for your support of our club.

Looking ahead – Victoria tasting, Forrest Estate

Victoria, Australia tasting with Keith Tibble, February 2023

A well-kept secret of the international wine scene, and certainly the most diverse wine-growing state in Australia, is Victoria. [Wine Folly]
A well-kept secret of the international wine scene, and certainly the most diverse wine-growing state in Australia, is Victoria. [Wine Folly]
Something about Victoria suggests that it is easily accessible to members directly from Melbourne when they travel, the state flies under the wine radar, and there are several other sub-regions of significant note, such as Mornington and Rutherglen and along the Murray River, so this will be an evening different from the South Australian wines that we have had previously.

March – Forrest Estate

One not to miss out on. Wines continue to impress after more than 30 years.

April – tbc

Check your next newsletter for details.