Sustainable, restorative farming, letting the fruit do all the talking
What a fabulous evening for everyone who attended. With an entertaining presenter and wines made in the Alsatian style that were different, for our tasting pleasure.
While the wines were above our normal price range, people enjoyed the different wine styles and orders were healthy. This is encouraging to your committee. Their cost to members was offset by a generous discount and the waiving of the delivery fee. Thank you Luna Estate for your support and
great tasting.
A reminder of the wines we tried on the night:
Luna Brut Rose a delightful welcoming wine for the evening
Luna Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2023 a blend of two very different blocks from Bue Rock Vineyard
Luna Estate Pinot Gris 2023
Luna Estate Pinot Meunier Rose 2024
Luna Estate Eclipse Chardonnay 2023 mature vine fruit used for this drop
Luna Estate Blue Rock Pinot Noir 2021 a blend from both of their vineyards
Wednesday 13th August, 8 pm start
Door Price: Members $12 / Guests $15
Sustainably farmed, gently handcrafted
“We look after our land and soil, employing regenerative and organic farming principles and practices across both of our vineyards.
Sustainable, organic principles drive our farming processes, and in the winery, we let the fruit do all the talking.
Properties are at:
Blue Rock Venue/Vineyard – 284 Dry River Rd, Martinborough
Luna Estate Cellar Door & Eclipse Restaurant – 133 Puruatanga Rd, Martinborough
“We are proud growers and wine producers, turning all we grow into delicious produce using our own winery. This is truly what it means to be an Estate.
90% of winemaking happens on the land. Our careful practice in the cellar ensures that the unique character of our vineyards shines in your glass.
Skillfully grown fruit, minimal handling and patience are the three main ingredients in our wines. No animal products used.
Our people are our greatest asset. Call in to our cellar door and restaurant, visit our winery or vineyard, or chat to our admin team and you’ll find a diverse group of passionate individuals who love what they do. At different times of the year, you might find admin staff in the restaurant, winemakers in the Cellar door, or hospitality staff out in the vineyard.
Whatever needs doing, we’re there supporting each other to make sure that our guests enjoy the very best of what we have to offer.
We won’t lie, it’s a lot of hard work, but we make sure to find time for fun and enjoy regular team get-togethers. Supporting our employees to live rich and fulfilling lives outside of work is just as important, and we ensure our staff have a good balance between work and play.
Call in and see us one day – we’d love to see you”
Move over France … there’s a new kid on the European wine-making block and it might just be a little too close for comfort, writes Fiona Whitty, & explore
the Wine Garden of England.
Believe it or not the United Kingdom is emerging as an exciting force in the wine-making industry, producing bottles that even the fussy French sometimes prefer.
In a now-notorious taste test among Parisien restaurateurs three English sparkling wines were pitted against three elite Champagnes. The English challengers came out on top.
And last year the UK’s biggest wine producer, Chapel Down, headed to France’s Champagne region under the guise of the literally translated Chapelle en Bas to put their own fizz against a top local brand. The result? A staggering 60% preferred the English version.
Now in a further nod to the quality of English sparkling, French Champagne giant Taittinger has hopped across the Channel and snapped up land near London – recently producing their first-ever non-French fizz.
There are some 700 vineyards dotted around England and Wales, blossoming thanks to warmer weather and, in some areas, chalky soil similar to that in the Champagne region.
And the county of Kent, southeast of London and where Domaine Evremond is based, is arguably the perfect place to start a wine discovery. It has more vineyards than anywhere else and garners a fantastic reputation, particularly for its sparkling.
Kent is dubbed the Garden of England thanks to its fantastic fruit growing. But viticulture fans could start by diving into the Wine Garden of England, a small band of esteemed vineyards that offer great experiences and fun events – and sometimes even top-class restaurants and accommodation.
We’ve etched out an itinerary below. As public transport in rural areas can be limited, hiring a car is best once you’ve caught a 55-minute train from London to Canterbury in the heart of Kent wine country. Companies generally offer automatics as well as manuals.
So, with the autumn harvest well under way, designate your driver and start popping open those Kent corks.
DAY ONE
Once off the train, get a feel for beautiful Canterbury. Its magnificent cathedral and city walls are testament to its 1400-year-old history.
For your first tasting, swing by Corkk, a shop and wine bar where two-thirds of its stock is home-produced, much of it from Kent.
Enjoy a tutored wine flight, a glass of a wine of the week or a sample from its vending machine-style wine taster, which allows you to buy small measures from 10 different wines.
Staff will be delighted to guide you … they’re experts at Britain’s best specialist retailer, as nominated by viticulture bible Decanter.
Afterwards motor over to Simpsons Wine Estate for a vineyard tour followed by a tutored tasting.
It’s run by Ruth and Charles Simpson, who had already built up an award-winning vineyard in France when they spotted England’s potential and started up in Kent 12 years ago. Their Derringstone Pinot Meunier is deliciously crisp and fresh.
For some shut-eye head to the Pig at Bridge Place. The Pigs, a small but perfectly formed band of hotels, have become a national institution, revered for their character, warm service, sustainability and support for local produce.
This one doesn’t disappoint, with quirky lounges, roaring fires, wood panels, roll-top baths and antique furniture. Late afternoon cake hour with help-yourself homemade cakes and tours of their extensive kitchen garden are additional treats.
You’ll see the latter’s fruits in much of the restaurant’s menus, mostly sourced within a 40km radius – like its roasted squash starter and lemon sole with foraged sea buckthorn.
Its drinks menu reflects the same ethos; its own Piggy Fizz was made in nearby Sussex and there are over 30 other English wines available, many from Kent.
DAY TWO
Take a leisurely weave across the rolling Kent Downs countryside to Balfour Winery.
In 2007, their Brut Rose was the first ever English wine to win an International Wine Challenge gold.
Their new Winemakers’ Kitchen restaurant features dishes designed to complement their different wines, rather than the other way round.
Try pan-seared scallops in estate cider sauce served with Balfour’s Skye’s Chardonnay, followed by slow-roasted beef short rib with Luke’s Pinot Noir.
Save a bit of room and head over to Chapel Down, the UK’s biggest producer, for a tour followed by a tutored wine and cheese pairing, where you may discover how a creamy extra mature cheddar
suits the apple-freshness of the Kit’s Coty chardonnay.
In the shop, you can pick up a bottle of the Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvee 2016, recently named Supreme Champion – England’s best wine – at the WineGB awards.
Bed down at the Grape Escape, a cosy cottage based at another nearby vineyard, Biddenden – and watch the sunset over the vines from the wood-fired hot tub.
Kent’s chalky soil is similar to the Champagne region, making it ideal for producing sparkling wine.
DAY THREE
Stop off at the delightful Loddington Farm Shop – grab their Owlet juices made from fruit grown there – then enjoy lunch over at Bowleys at the Plough, a pub-cum-restaurant that dates to 1483.
Alongside a Kentish tasting menu try Bowleys’ own wine, made at the nearby Redhill Winery.
Afterwards, try one of the regular tastings at the Silverhand Estate, the UK’s largest organic vineyard where sheep graze between the vines to boost soil health and aid natural fertilisation and pest control.
For lights out try the Tickled Trout pub near Maidstone. Owned by Balfour Winery, the drinks menu includes several of its wines by the glass or bottle as well as tasting flights.
ON THE WAY BACK
Call in at Westwell, the Kent wine family’s quirky cousin. In autumn visitors can catch the odd supper club and – on most weeks – Pizza Fridays when a pizza van rolls up outside the fairy-light illuminated winery.
Don’t miss the Pinot Meunier Multi Vintage, a tongue-tingling fizz made without additives that recently bagged best innovative sparkling at the WineGB awards.
Make one last stop at the Tudor Peacock, a wine bar and shop in an old hall dating to the 14th century. Based in Chilham near the new Domaine Evremond winery, it offers samples of Kent’s finest plus talks and themed tastings in a stunning vaulted tasting room.
The idea of a blended wine isn’t news to wine lovers. Wines are individually made then mixed together to achieve the product you see on the shelf. Bordeaux wines are a combination of as many as five red wines to make one signature blend, and even non-vintage champagne is a blended wine where chardonnay pinot noir and pinot meunier wines are used to achieve a house style. In this instance, the blend undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle, giving the champagne its signature bubbles.
A lesser-known style of blend is the field blend. This wine is traditionally made from grapes that have been grown together and are then co-fermented. While a traditional blend is mixed in the winery after the fact, a field blend is created in the vineyard before the wine is made. With this comes a level of faith by the winemaker that they have put the right grapes together, and a certain unpredictability about the outcome. This is certainly a case where the vintage matters because the blend can change year on year, meaning you always have a different outcome.
Field blends are sublime, fresh and crisp with layers of aroma and flavour thanks to the multiple grape varieties that feature in the mix. I love this type of blend because I believe it is the ultimate reflection of terroir. It is a true expression of where the grapes are grown, as the focus is not on one particular grape and what that single varietal wine ‘should’ taste like. Instead, it’s a wine made from a mixture of grapes grown together in the same vineyard, reflecting what is truly special about that place.
Field blends are usually found in restaurants, as they are incredible food wines, or in specialist liquor stores. They are worth seeking out – I promise you won’t be disappointed.
28 Club members chose to attend this diverse and interesting pink evening, but those that did were pleasantly surprised by most of the wines tasted, educated and now appreciative of Rosés.
From when to drink Rosé, regional styles, and the variety of grapes now used for the various wines, from the opening bubbly, everyone connected with and enjoyed the tastings. Opening with a Toi Toi Sparkling Rosé, which comprised of a mixture of Riesling and Merlot, through to the last McArthur Ridge Lilico Pinot Rosé, the diverseness of the 21st-century Rosés was indeed on display. Rosé is a style of wine, not a grape variety.
The wines were selected from wine sites and supermarkets, which were below the $20 mark, so they can be purchased and enjoyed by everyone the next time they’re shopping or browsing the computer. The wines we sampled during the evening were:
Toi Toi Sparkling Rosé NV – Riesling and Merlot blend from Marlborough
2021 Giesen Estate Riesling Blush – from Marlborough and Waipara
2022 ME by Matahiwi Estate – Pinot Noir from Masterton this was thought to be the best value for money in wines
2021 Haha Hawkes Bay Rosé – Merlot and Malbec from Hastings and Bridge Pa this is a Bordeaux blend with added Cab Sauv and Cab Franc
2020 Left Field Moon Shell Moth Rosé – Arneis, Pinotage and Merlot from Hastings
2020 Middle Earth Pinot Meunier – a faux pas for the evening, turned out to be red! A Pinot Meunier – this was enjoyed by everyone nonetheless and will go on to be purchased
2019 Spade Oak Voysey Blonde Rosé – Tempranillo, Albarino, Syrah, Viognier and St Laurent from Gisborne – this was indeed Blonde! And was a special blend as this vineyard has been on-sold since this mixture was bottled
2019 McArthur Ridge Lilico Pinot Rosé – Pinot Noir – from Central Otago
What a fabulous evening for everyone who attended. With an entertaining presenter and wines made in the Alsatian style that were different, for our tasting pleasure.
