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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
A heritage like no other – Mission Estate Winery Wednesday 12th March, 8pm Door Price: Members $6 / Guests $10
Reaching NZ shores in 1838, pioneering French missionaries founded a legacy. From their many accomplishments now interwoven throughout history came New Zealand’s first winery, Mission , in 1851. Their inspiration, a legacy, continues.
Today their vineyards span two of NZ’s best winegrowing regions; Hawkes Bay and Marlborough. Hawkes Bay vineyards in the Gimblett Gravels and Taradale focus on Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah; but also include small clocks of other varietals such as Semillon and Cabernet Franc.
Whereas, their Marlborough properties, perfect for producing cool climate wine styles, grow Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.
Mission Estate Winery established in 1851 by pioneering French Missionaries is New Zealand’s oldest winery and the birthplace of New Zealand wine.
Paul Mooney, our passionate winemaker since 1979, was trained by the Marist Brothers themselves, Paul imparts the very essence of Mission’s French heritage winemaking philosophy into both our Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough wines.
We consider ourselves guardians of our heritage and our land, and for more than 20 years we have been proud to be a founding member of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand. In 1998, we were also one of the first wineries in New Zealand to be certified with the internationally recognised environmental management system ISO 14001.
We start with 2024 Mission Estate Rosé as our conversation/entry tasting followed by:
2023 The Gaia Project Pinot Gris
2024 Mission Estate
2023 Reserve Chardonnay
2019 Mission Reserve Cabernet Franc
2020 Mission Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
2023 Reserve Syrah
SPECIAL NOTE: The door prize on tasting night is going to be something a little special, namely a bottle of Lanvin Brut Champagne NV. Ticket prices for this will be $2 each.
Elephant Hill, a Hawke’s Bay winery started by a German businessman in 2001, is up for sale, including its lodge, vineyards, winery and restaurant.
From Jack Riddell, a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today
Another Te Awanga winery is up for sale – with two of the area’s three vineyards now on the market – as Elephant Hill’s owner says it’s time to move on.
All of Elephant Hill Holdings Limited Group is on the market, which includes the owner’s lodge overlooking Cape Kidnappers, vineyards in Te Awanga and Gimblett Gravels, the winery, the cellar door, the restaurant, all physical assets and stock, the brand and an established distribution network both nationally and abroad.
But what chief executive Andreas Weiss says is the most important aspect of the sale is the team. “We are a small, high-performance team. I think we have the best people in their respective places.
You can’t find anyone better in Hawke’s Bay, and I’m very proud of that.” Elephant Hill was founded by businessman Roger Weiss and his wife Reyden in 2001 after they “fell in love with New Zealand and a piece of land on the beautiful coast of Te Awanga”, which was at the time an abandoned venison farm. The winery was then opened in 2008.
“I think we were quite successful in building a brand with a very high reputation,” Andreas said.
“Everybody knows Elephant Hill because of the passion and of the investments that we did here.”
Roger died suddenly in 2016. Andreas, his son, had taken up the role of chief executive at the company a year earlier.
According to Andreas, the company is on the market because it is time for the family to move on.
“[My parents] created the dream; they created the vision of Elephant Hill. Since my father died, my mother, she comes over here more to cry than anything else because they built it together.”
Andreas said he hopes to find someone who shares the same vision and passion for wine and the land as his parents did. “It is, I think, breathtaking and mind-blowing sometimes. I mean, I am just looking out from my office looking at the Bay, and it’s just a beauty.”
Since then, the winery has closed and reopened its restaurant, and hosted marathons, mass dog walks, and countless wedding receptions and long lunches.
Elephant Hill is on the market at the same time as Te Awanga Estate’s coastal vineyard and cellar door/restaurant. Executive officer at Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers, Brent Limm, said the sales multiple of vineyards in the area is more of a coincidence than anything else.
“The Te Awanga area is an important subregion of Hawke’s Bay producing a wide range of high-quality wines with a distinctive sense of place.”
Elephant Hill and Te Awanga Estate’s neighbour Tim Turvey from Clearview Wines agrees, saying the subregion is still the most enviable area in Hawke’s Bay in which to grow wine, “especially chardonnay”, and the vineyards have the accolades to prove it.
At this year’s New Zealand International Wine Challenge, Clearview won a double gold for its Reserve Chardonnay 2021, while Te Awanga Estate’s won the trophy at London’s International Wine Competition for Best Red Wine of Show in 2015, and Elephant Hill’s 2019 Salome was awarded the highest score by respected UK-based Master of Wine Rebecca Gibb in her 2022 New Zealand white wine report.
The Albarino Brothers – Ant Saunders, Ollie Powrie and Shaye Bird – have launched their Gisborne 2024 Albarino wine. Photo / Richard Brimer
The Albarino Brothers launched their Gisborne 2024 Albarino wine at a function in the city yesterday.
Ollie Powrie, Shaye Bird and Ant Saunders are three friends connected through wine. They are not at all related.
The men conceived what they describe as a “passion project”, a wine using 100% Gisborne-grown Albarino grapes. The 2024 version is a historic first for the trio.
“We’re all passionate about the quality and potential of the wine,” they said. “It’s a crisp, refreshing and tangy dry white wine that has already been described as the ‘it’ wine for this coming summer.”
A wine industry spokesman said the Albarino grape variety had an affinity to Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay regions – sharing characteristics with the variety’s native home in northwestern Spain and Portugal.
“The slightly warmer nights are perfect to tame the natural high acidity of the variety, and having evolved in a marine climate, the grape is very resistant to humidity and rain coming in from the ocean.”
Powrie said: ”All said and done, this means that Gisborne was an ideal place from which to source a world-class wine.”
Gisborne grapegrowers Doug and Delwyn Bell played a role in the development of the Albarino variety in New Zealand more than a decade ago.
The Albarino Brothers launch was held at Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club.
Membership is at the top of mind for your committee. We want to encourage all members to seek out new members and to help you do this, we are currently preparing a small handout for you to use when explaining who we are and what we do. This will not only highlight what a great value proposition we are, it will also mention our range of activities and promote our closeness to both the Johnsonville train line and the bus station.
Please remember to promote that as a bonus for potential members, our meetings are held in close proximity to both the Johnsonville Train Line and the bus station.
The committee is formulating a short pamphlet for anyone who wants one to hand out to explain our Club a little bit.
Thanks again
Thanks again to everyone who helps with the tables and chairs at the start of our evenings and taking the same down after the meeting. Also taking the tables contents, spittoons/water & jugs/cracker plates, back to the kitchen.
Happening again, 7-8 June at TSB Arena in Wellington: NZ’s Largest Wine Celebration | Winetopia Events 2024. Go into their website to purchase your tickets if you want to attend.
New Routine
It was great to have everyone help with the tables and chairs at the start of last months’ meeting and taking the same down after the meeting. Also taking the tables contents: spittoons/water jugs/cracker plates back to the kitchen. Could we please continue this new routine.
Reminder
We can’t arrive to do the setting up activities any earlier than 7:30pm as we interrupt the cleaner(s) schedule, the cleaners are in the hall until 7:30pm.
What a brilliant evening! Organised by Wayne and hosted by Michelle Fraser from Clearview, a wine judge in her own right, plus with an extensive knowledge of viticulture and wine making.
Due to illness and holidays, we had only 27 attend the evening, but book your diaries for next year, as this may be repeated with next year’s Gold Medal Winners!
Michelle filled the evening with knowledgeable tips about the different growing regimes, different classes of grapes, the different way grapes are treated/processed, i.e. in stainless steel or oak barrels, skins in or out; plus her sayings that kept us laughing:
ABC – Anything But Chardonnay
Pinot Gris – Puma wine, younger girls juice
Chardonnay – Cougar wine, older women’s juice
Gewurztraminer – how to says this: Girls Get Meaner
She gave us updates on what some of the bigger personalities in the Hawkes Bay area are now doing, with Gordon Russell now in retirement, until he decides what his next project will be. However, his daughters are now up and running through their new brand Three Fates.
This was an evening that was full of surprises, and to those of you who couldn’t make it, the below wines that we tasted are available from New World, The Good Wine Company, and other NZ locations.
Lindauer Special Reserve Rose NV -Gold Trophy from a female wine maker, Jan DeWitt.
2022 Leefield Station Gewurztraminer -Double Gold Trophy for Champion Gertz this is owned by the same family who own NED wines.
2022 Brancott Estate Letter Series O Chardonnay – Double Gold Trophy for Champion Chardonnay + Champion Wine of the Show again a female wine maker, Laura Kate Morgan
2021 Daisy Rock Reserve Pinot Noir – Gold Medal
2021 Esk Valley Artisanal Hawkes Bay Malbec Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon – Gold Medal sadly Esk Valley is now more, so snap up this one if you like Bordeaux style wines.
Hosted by Michelle Fraser, Clearview Sales Manager and occasional Wine Judge
Wednesday 10th April, 8 pm Start Door Price: Members $14 / Guests $18
Please remember your tasting glasses
Immediately after the Gold Medal Winners from the New Zealand International Wine Show were announced last October, your club set out to acquire 3 bottles of 7 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 5 that were trophy wines, one of which was also the overall Champion Wine of the Show.
And to help us present these wonderful wines to you all, we have invited Clearview Sales Manager, Michelle Fraser back to help us. You may recall that last year she mentioned that she has been a wine judge but she also comes with an extensive knowledge of viticulture and wine making, so is well placed to provide background and her take on each of our wines that we will be tasting.
The wines we will be tasting are:
Lindauer Special Reserve Rose NV – Gold & Trophy for Champion NZ Sparkling Wine
2022 Leefield Station Gewurztraminer -Double Gold & Trophy for Champion Gewurztraminer
2022 Brancott Estate Letter Series O Chardonnay – Double Gold, Trophy for Champion Chardonnay plus Champion Wine of the Show
2021 Daisy Rock Reserve Pinot Noir – Gold Medal
2021 Esk Valley Artisanal Hawkes Bay Malbec Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon – Gold Medal
2021 Trinity Hill Hawkes Bay Syrah – Double Gold, Trophy for Champion Syrah, Trophy for Champion Syrah & Predominant Blends & Trophy for Champion Commercial Red Wine
A name synonymous with leadership in wine, Sir George Fistonich
A name synonymous with leadership in wine, Sir George Fistonich has a history of success but has always operated with an eye on the future. In 2021, not content with retirement, Sir George embarked on a new venture: Fistonich Family Vineyards, fuelled by his passion for viticulture, winemaking, developing future talents and creating world-class brands.
Today, Fistonich Family Vineyards owns incredible vineyards across Hawkes Bay and Marlborough, including Cornerstone in the Gimblett Gravels and Ballochdale in the Awatere Valley. And on the horizon, Sir George is poised to unveil his flagship winery brand, crafted from his cherished Terraced vineyard site in Bayview, Hawkes Bay. It is a significant site for the New Zealand wine industry that Sir George himself meticulously planted over three decades ago.
Chief Winemaker Michelle Richardson is known for her extraordinary ability to translate the essence of a country, region, vineyard, or even a single row into the vibrant expressions in the wines she crafts. What is truly exciting for the New Zealand and Hawkes Bay wine scene is the winery restaurant and cellar door that will come in 2024. Envision sunlit patios stretching before you, overlooking terraced vineyards and the South Pacific Ocean.
As Fistonich Family Vineyards begins to build a diverse wine portfolio, the initial offerings are dedicated to providing a joyful and delicious range of crowd-pleasing wines. Among the first wines to be released are the Obliix and Forest Flower Collection wines.
As October rolls around, watch this space as Sir George unveils his flagship winery brand. This is an exciting new chapter in the legacy of Sir George Fistonich and his visionary contributions to the world of wine. As soon as the wines are ready in October, you’ll be the first to know and we’ll have them right here at Glengarry.
Wednesday 13th September, 8 pm Start | Door Price: Members $10 / Guests $14
Clearview Estate has grown and owner-operated since 1986: Tim Turvey & Helma van den Berg.
TIM TURVEY & HELMA van den BERG
Purchased in 1986, the neglected but historic Vidal’s No.2 Vineyard at Te Awanga, Hawke’s Bay, was set to become Clearview Estate. Tim Turvey, with business partner Helma van den Berg, took on the challenge of bringing it back to life. Together, they hand-grafted and planted the first vines in the winter of 1988. Clearview Estate Winery Ltd was established for the first red wine vintage in 1989, following experimentation in prior years. Chardonnay began in 1991 with the release of the first Reserve Chardonnay.
Over the next several years, Tim and Helma planted thousands of trees, including avocado, olive, bay, citrus, gums, and melia. And they didn’t stop there. Together, they expanded the vineyard by three acres each year, grafting and planting vines, ramming posts, running wires, training young vines, and, for many years, completing all of the pruning themselves.
Today, the business proudly remains owner-operated. Tim oversees the vineyards and works with chief winemaker Matt Kirby and assistant winemaker Rob Bregmen to create legendary, much-awarded wines. Helma manages the finance, restaurant, gardens and her extraordinary team. Steeped in history, Clearview Estate Winery Cellar Door and Clearview Estate Restaurant have become an iconic and awarded destinations for both locals and visitors from afar.
194 Clifton Road, Te Awanga, Hastings, Hawke’s Bay.
Reminder: At the August Monthly Meeting, for the first 10 minutes, we will hold an SGM to discuss and pass some small changes to the Club’s Constitution. Please ensure you are up to date with the contents of an earlier email sent on 21 July in relation to these changes.
Evening support
It was great to have everyone help with the tables and chairs at previous meetings and take the same down at the end. Also, take the spittoons/water jugs/cracker plates back to the kitchen. Could we please continue this new routine?
PLEASE NOTE: We can’t arrive to do the setting up activities any earlier than 7:30 pm as we interrupt the cleaner(s) schedule; the cleaners are in the hall until 7:30 pm.
