Following on from my last post, A
Wine Tasting with Jascots, there was one vineyard that I felt deserved a
post of their own, TerraVin.
Based in Marlboro, New Zealand, which if you’ve ever read my blog before you’ll
know that I’m a huge fan of New Zealand wines, I did however nearly miss them,
as while I enjoy drinking them I’m always on the look out for something
different to write about. These guys however have managed that, and I’m glad that
Ben from Jascots insisted that I try them, I also had the pleasure of meeting
Mike the winemaker from TerraVin and really get an understanding of what he was
trying to create with his wines and the attention to detail he put into them.
They had three of there wines on show for us, two Sauvignon Blanc’s and a Pinot
Noir.
The first we tried was there 2009
Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc, which was a very typical Marlboro Sauvignon Blanc to
be honest, loaded with green fruit aromas and flavours, the tart acidity which
you’d expect, but not to over powering, they combined well and produced a well
balanced and enjoyable wine, it was exactly what you’d expect.
They also had there 2009 Pinot Noir,
which really was quite beautiful, plenty of red fruit on the palate with great integration
of oak going to produce a more meaty/smokey flavour to it, great fine tannin
and just enough acidity to make your mouth water, the flavours lingered for a
long time. This was a stunning example of great Pinot Noir, well balanced and
enjoyable, would go brilliantly with something such as bar-b-que’d meat or
roast lamb.
For me though, the star of the
show was there 2009 Te Ahu, which again was produced from Sauvignon Blanc, not
that you’d have known without being told before hand. This wine spends 11
months maturing in oak before spending a little longer in the bottle before
release. I know most people say Sauvignon Blanc doesn’t like being oaked, but
done well, it can produce an absolutely stunning wine, as with this one. The
initial project started with just five rows of vines and has expended row by
row over the last couple of years, combine this with low yielding vines you can
see how they only produced 250 cases in total.
On the Palate you get some real
crisp green fruit flavours, but that’s where its similarities stop with other
Sauvignon Blancs, you also get a real creamy/buttery mouth feel, more what you’d
expect from an oaked Chardonnay, there was a touch of Vanilla and a little
minerality in there as well. It had a tiny amount of acidity, but just enough
to cut through the rich mouth feel, combine this and the flavours together and
you a wine that the only way I can think to describe it as breathtaking.
Would I recommend there wines, in one word,
absolutely, they show great flavours and characteristics across all the wines
they produce, but if you can find a bottle of Te Ahu, don’t hesitate or think
about it, just buy it, there will only be 100 cases to reach our shores.
