Tag: Stonecroft

Posted on

The year in retrospec

Our year

It is usual at this time to review our year. As ever we began with our summer BBQ at the end of January. The usual excellent occasion and thanks to Derek for making his premises available. It is an excellent facility. Our first tasting was the Rosė tasting presented by Will Brunel-Morven from Maison Vauron. Rosės are becoming increasingly popular, particularly as a summer wine.March was the time for Ata Rangi and was followed in April by our Quiz Night. An enjoyable and fun occasion. As usual, May was AGM time, June highlighted Giesen’s Wines and July was dinner at Bistro 52. August had us enjoying Seifried’s offerings and then in September the interesting and unique Aged Wines tasting. October was Stonecroft and last month was the festive tasting of Spanish wines. A great programme which will be nicely rounded off by our December Dinner.

Spanish tasting

It is interesting to note that EuroVintage had great orders from the Spanish tasting, and were blown away by the response. Well done everyone.

Cheers
Robin Semmens, Editor

Related posts

Posted on

Upcoming events, Bottle a day

Upcoming events

Good grief, where is the year going? Much to look forward to however with Stonecroft next week and the November Festive tasting which will have Spanish wines as a theme. The December dinner venue is sorted and we will be going to the Cashmere Lounge in Khandallah. It is only yards away from the Khandallah train station if anyone is travelling from town.

Bottle a day

Now much has been written and said about the benefits, or lack thereof, in a regular glass of wine. While waiting for Winston to make up his mind you might need two a night. At long last however Wayne has found an oracle who deserves some attention. He reckons that a bottle a day does you no harm and indeed is probably good for you. Unsurprisingly not all the experts agree.

Cheers
Robin Semmens, Editor

Related posts

Posted on

Stonecroft, Hawkes Bay – October 2017

Stonecroft is a small, family owned winery making organic Gimblett Gravels wines in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. The owners are Dermot McCollum and Andria Monin, who live on the Roy’s Hill vineyard with their two children Emer and Oscar, plus Jasper the cat and Stanley the chocolate lab.

At Stonecroft, they seek to express through their wines the unique character of their vineyards and each vintage. The intention is to make wines which are intense, full-bodied, elegant and fruit-driven, but capable of significant bottle development. The ability of the wines to improve in the bottle has been demonstrated over more than 20 years, with many of the early examples still drinking well. Their total production is very small; with around 3,500 cases produced annually. Both the vineyards and the winery are certified organic.

Andria will be presenting on the night.  A tasting not to be missed.  More next month.

Related posts

Posted on

Seeing out the year, Woman power

Seeing out the year

Things are getting back to normal and it seems like we were never away. Although numbers were down due to the inclement weather last month’s Seifried tasting was a most enjoyable event. Seeing out the year we have the “Aging of Wines” tasting, Stonecroft from Hawkes Bay, a November Festive theme concentrating on Spanish wines and the Christmas Dinner. A great finish to the year, but surely it is not September already!!

Woman power

It is interesting to note that since September last year, and up to our October tasting next month, we will have had five wineries featured, the other meetings being dinners, a quiz night, AGM, and supplier presenters. Of those five three will have been supported by women presenters. Jane Hunter, Anna Seifried and in October Andria Monin from Stonecroft.

What an opportune time to highlight women in wine in New Zealand. The “In the News” section this month features a media release from New Zealand Winegrowers about the launch of a new group “Women in Wine NZ”. Women are having an increasingly significant role in the New Zealand wine industry, to the great benefit of consumers and the country alike.

Cheers
Robin Semmens, Editor