Some of your committee attended, by invitation, a Wine Fair at The Wellington Club on Tuesday 24th June. The evening showcased the rich diversity of NZ’s wines and their distinctive winemakers from boutique producers across the country. And introduced most of us to a number of the smaller vineyards from Central to Matakana.
If you would like to Google some of the vineyards or hear more about them, these were the vineyards at the evening:
- Schubert, Martinborough- est. in 1998
- Hans Herzog, Blenheim – planted in 1996
- Te Motu, Waiheke Island – est. in 1999 – the oldest family-owned vineyard on the island
- Puriri Hills, Auckland – set up in 1996 – they make red wines in the French style
- Rock Ferry, Blenheim – set up in 2005 – organic new world wines [10 varieties]
- Valli, Central Otago – est. in 1993
- Dragon Bones, Waitaki Valley, North Otago off-grid – est. 2005
- Organised Chaos, Clive, Hawkes Bay
- Mon Cheval, Waipara
- Zenkuro Sake, Central – est. 2015 – rice and yeast are imported from Japan, they want to change the public perception of how to drink this
Corofin, Blenheim - Gillman, Matakana – est. 1998 – they make unapologetically only red wines
- Julz – Collaboration Wines, Hawkes Bay – est. 2010
The evening was an interesting sampling from some great vineyards, with above average priced wines that were discounted for the evening. It was nice to be able to talk with the growers/wine makers about how they produce the product and about their differing views on terroir etc.