A Pinot From Across the Main Divide

I thought it was about time got back on with my blog, I've only written a hand full of pieces over the last 18 months, despite tasting numerous wines, and what better way to start off again than with a Pinot Noir from New Zealand.

Main Divide, apart from being the other name of the Southern Alps on New Zealand's southern island, it is also the name of the winery from the Donaldson family, the other being Pegasus Bay, who make some stunning wines, but that's for a later post I feel.

In it's beginning, fruit was bought in from local growers as required, then in 1997 the decision was made to change Main Divide into a "quality focused brand". In order to achieve this they began working much closer with growers who they felt would produced top quality fruit, and from sites that expressed regional and varietal characteristics. By working closely with the growers they are able to promote their beliefs in sustainable viticultural management, organic techniques, low crop levels and minimal handling of fruit.

Within the winery they employ gentle pressing the use of wild fermentation, malo-lactic fermentation and to clarify by settling. By employing all of these techniques through the whole process this allows enables them to produce some absolutely stunning wines with great fruit flavours and a depth not found everywhere.

The 2010 Main Divide Pinot Noir has an opaque ruby colour in the glass, not something you tend to see with Pinot Noir very often, this comes from the use of oak barriques from selected artisan Burgundian coopers, where it is matured for 14 months. You get aromas raspberries, blackberries and black cherries, with hints of sweet spice and smoke coming through. On the palate you get the flavours of all the fruit, the sweet spice seperates itself out into cinnamon and liquorice with hints of smoke intermingled in between all the fruit and spice. The tannins ripe and juicy, balanced out with just enough acidity to make your mouth water and help all the flavours linger for ages.

I have to say this for me is an absolutely stunning Pinot Noir and one of my favourites, it's not your typical fruit bomb style you get from many New Zealand producers, it has much more complexity and depth which they get from the use of burgundy coopers. You can find this wine online and from most good independent wine merchants

A Pinot Noir from New Zealands Finest - Felton Road

I love Pinot Noir especially from Central Otago in New Zealand, and none more than those produced by Nigel Greening and his team at Felton Road. The vineyard was founded in 1991 after extensive research by Charles Elms as to which were some of the best vineyard sites in the region, resulting in  the Bannockburn site at the very end of Felton Road being identified. The sites have been managed by their own viticulturist Gareth King and his team, who have also been farming all the sites from 2002 onwards using organic and bio-dynamic techniques, and being awarded in 2010 the full Demeter certification for all three sites.

The organic compost they use, is made from waste produced in the winery, straw and organic cow manure. They are meticulous at managing the canopy and the number of bunches on each vine to ensure optimum fruit quality. Irrigation is used towards the end of the summer, but soil moisture levels are monitored carefully, with water only being applied when required to maintain the water levels in the soil. By employing all of these techniques, they really do produce some of the best fruit for their winemaker Blair Walter to use and produce his stunning wines with.

Within the winery Blair also employs a hands off approach to winemaking, allowing the wild yeasts in the winery to start the fermentation process, malolactic fermentation is also allowed to take place naturally. He even avoids fining or any filtration, to help preserve the wine's expression of each 'terroir'.

The Calvert vineyard site is located one kilometre to the east of the Elms site with north facing slopes, and has the soil type that first led the guys to this part of the region, deep silt loams. The vineyard was first planted in 1999 with several different Pinot Noir clones, with Chardonnay and Riesling being planted 2003.

The 2011 Calvert Pinot Noir, I have to say was absolutely stunning, I managed to find a bottle a little while ago on the shelf in a local wine merchants and I just couldn't resist. In the glass it had bright ruby colour, with wonderfully rich aromas of red berry fruit, leather and spice. These all came together in the glass with such great complexity and depth, the oak was perfectly integrated and balanced with the fruit, it had a wonderful acidity, soft/silky tannins and a length of flavour that just kept going on and on.

Would I recommend this wine, absolutely, actually I would go as far as saying that I would recommend any wines from Felton Road, they have a fantastic depth of flavour and complexity that is hard to find in wines from the new world while still keeping its identity of a New World wine.

TerraVin - A Tasting with Jascots Part 2

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. 

A Stunning Pinot Noir form Central Otago

If you’ve ever read my blog before you may have noticed that I’m a big fan of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc; however they do produce some fantastic wines from a lot more than just Sauvignon Blanc. Its cooler climate helps it grow some of the harder varietals, the ‘terrible enfant’, Pinot Noir, and with some great success.

 A family member had made a business trip to New Zealand and bought back some wine they tasted on a wine tour, very graciously they gave me a bottle of Chard Farm, Finla Mor Pinot Noir 2008. It had been stuck at the bottom of my wine rack gathering dust for some time when we decided to open it the other night.

Chard Farm was established in 1987 by Rob and Greg Hay, Rob had spent three years in Germany learning wine making, before heading back to New Zealand to look for land that emulated the great ‘terriors’ of Europe; Burgundy and Alsace. They found this in Central Otago, at the southern end of the south island, making it the most southerly, wine producing region. The climate is that of cold winters, and hot, dry summers, perfect for Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris.

This Pinot Noir had a pale ruby colour, with great fruit aromas of red cherries and raspberries, with a hint a sweet spice, Vanilla and Cinnamon coming through from the back ground. That’s exactly what you got in your mouth when you tasted it, first the fruit, then from the background you got the sweet spice which just combined beautifully. With a reasonable amount of acidity, that cut through the fruit perfectly, making your mouth water and helping to let the flavours linger for that little bit longer. With barely any tannin left, this was again absolutely perfect; I have to admit I was stunned by just how enjoyable this was to drink.

If you hadn’t of guessed, yes this is a wine that I’d definitely recommend, it's available in the UK from Must Wines Ltd and New Generation Wines Ltd, but that doesn’t stop you from looking out for other Central Otago Pinot Noir’s, hopefully they’ll be as enjoyable as this one.

A New Zealand White that's not Sauvignon Blanc

Having written quite a few reviews on New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, most people could be led to believe that this is the only grape they grow, which is not the case. With the climate being much cooler than their Australian neighbours, they don't do so well with growing the likes of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. They do grow with great success Pinot Noir, Merlot and Chardonnay, producing some absolutely stunning examples of these wines.

I know this isn't the right bottle!

Having reviewed Villa Maria’s Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc, I thought I would also review there Private Bin East Coast Chardonnay 2008, and the fact that a friend bought a bottle with them when they came to dinner the other week made it an ideal opportunity. The wine itself has been allowed to go through Malolactic fermentation, and certain parcels of the blend have also received some oak ageing, to add some depth and complexity to it.

On pouring the wine, it had a bright lemony gold colour with reasonably pronounced youthful aromas of Peaches, Pears and strangely enough, wet wool, which isn’t as bad as it sounds. On the palate you got the fruit coming through with eucalyptus/medicinal flavours following. It had a good level of acidity that worked very well with flavours making it a well balanced wine with just the right level of oak.

This was not a bad wine, it was well balanced, not over oaked, with a short length of flavour making it an enjoyable drink, but would I recommend it? If you like your new world Chardonnays then you’d enjoy this, but personally and for the price I’d rather go for their Sauvignon Blanc.

A Stunning New Zealand Pinot Noir

I was looking for a bottle of wine to go with dinner the other night and I came across a little gem that I’d forgotten all about. The wine in question was bought for me as a present a couple of years ago and was a bottle of Villa Maria Marlborough Reserve Pinot Noir 2002. As you’ve probably realised from previous posts I’m a big fan of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but I’ve never really tried many of their reds, so now seemed as good an opportunity as ever!

The guys down at Villa Maria have spared no expense in producing this wine; firstly the fruit is all hand harvested, destemmed and crushed in open-top fermenters. While undergoing fermentation it is hand plunged, then after being allowed to go through Malolactic fermentation, it is moved to French Oak barrels to mature for 14 months before being bottled.

On pouring the wine there was quite a bit of anticipation as to what we were going to be drinking, and what we got, had definately been well worth the wait. The colour was a beautifully deep ruby colour, even though it was eight years old, I’d been expecting it to be more tawny than ruby.

On the nose there were these wonderfully pronounced aromas of plums, dark cherries and a touch a spice, predominantly clove. To taste you got all these flavours come through layer after layer with a touch of cocoa to finish it off. Their was a good level of acidity combining with fine silky tannins, creating a beautifully balanced wine with fantastic flavours of fruit and spice.

Is this a wine that I’d recommend, how can I put this, YES. I’ve only seen 2006 and 2007 in the shops lately, but if they’re as good as the 2002, then they are definitely worth buying and cellaring for a couple of years.

Another Great New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

I know I’ve posted several reviews of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc’s, but as I’ve already stated, it is one of my favourite wines, and you can never get enough of what of you enjoy. This one is from Villa Maria and is their Private Bin Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009; the Marlborough region is at the northern most part of the southern island and is where most of the good Sauvignon Blanc hails from.

On pouring this one, you noticed the almost water white colour, I'd say it was along the lines of apple white. It had the classic subtle aromas of gooseberries with some tropical fruit coming through in the back ground and a touch of grapefruit added into the mix. On the palate, again you got the flavours of gooseberries with the grapefruit really starting to come through with some vigour. It also had a good amount of acidity which really made your mouth water, while not being too tart. The other thing you noticed about this wine was that the flavours really lingered around on the palate, combining all these together gave you a really beautifully balanced wine, which was such a thoroughly enjoyable and refreshing drink.

I know I've said this a lot, but it is a very good wine, as you would expect from the guys at Villa Maria. At around £9 a bottle it's a good buy, better than the Shelter Bay wine I also tasted earlier in the year, not that that was a bad wine at all!

A Classic New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

I was in my local Sainsbury’s recently, when I spotted that they had Shelter Bay New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 2009 on a half price offer, at only £4.99, and me being me couldn’t resist in buying a bottle or two to enjoy at home.

As you may have realised from previous posts I’m a big fan of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and I didn’t want to waste the opportunity to get it on my blog. Coming from the Marlboro region at the northern end of the southern island, this wine showed why we all love this wine so much.

On pouring into the glass you get these wonderfully pronounced aromas of gooseberries and, I hate to say it, damp nettles (thank you Jilly Goolden)! On tasting, these aromas come through with great intensity and lasted on your palate for some time, with a good level of acidity this wine went on to be delightfully balanced and thoroughly enjoyable wine.

This is a classic example of how good New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc can, and should be. Would I recommend it, of course, even if it wasn’t on a half price offer, but that just goes to show how such good value it was. If you can still find any left at that price grab it while you can, I doubt there’s much left though!

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc on the Cheap

Lately there seem to be a lot of offers around for one of my favourite wines, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The amount of offers and the heavy discounting are quite unprecedented on these wines and led me to wonder if there had been an issue with the 2008 vintage.

Sainsbury’s is currently offering Oyster Bay with a third off, at a fantastic £5.99, to go alongside Makuta Bay and Nobillo which are on half price at £4.99. Sainsbury’s aren’t the only ones, Tesco’s also got Nobillo on half price, offering Wairau Cove on a similar deal, both coming in at £4.99. While at Wine Rack, you can pick up a 1.5ltr bottle of Vila Maria for £9.99, equivalent to £4.99 a bottle.

New Zealand had a bumper harvest in 2008, which made me wonder if this is what had affected prices. Decanter confirmed my suspicions. Due to 2008s abundant harvest many producers still had lots of full tanks and needed the space for this year’s harvest.

I hope the quality is of its usual high standard, but I think I need to taste a couple to be sure…any excuse! Will keep you posted!

Montanna Unoaked Chardonnay

We had the pleasure of being invited out for dinner last week, and I thought what better an opportunity to gather some more material for my blog!

The first wine I got the opportunity to taste was an unoaked Chardonnay from the Montanna winery in New Zealand. Now if you’ve read my blog before you’ll know I’m a huge fan of New Zealand wines, especially it’s Sauvignon Blanc. This was a wine I’d not tasted before, so was of great interest to me.

On pouring the wine, the first thing I noticed was the colour, which wasn’t what I’d expected from a New World Chardonnay. Actually the same went for the taste and aromas!

For a New World Chardonnay you’d expect it to be a lemon, gold colour, but this was more of a lemon green. The aromas and flavours were of crisp green apples and gooseberries, not the tropical fruit I was expecting! Along with the flavours there was a wonderfully refreshing acidity which made the wine such a pleasant drink.

This wine reminded me far more of an old world wine along the lines of a Chablis, just not as complex! But the real question, is would I recommend it?...Absolutely!

Kiwi World Domination!

Sorry I've not posted for a while....I've had an influx of visitors and too much wine! Hopefully most of which will make it on to this blog at some point! But anyway, back to today's proceedings.Having already commented on the rise of New Zealand wines popularity in the UK, I was thrilled to read one of the latest articles on Decanter online. Apparently even America has caught on to the delights of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Nobillo of Marlborough has become the number one selling Sauvignon Blanc brand in the US, taking over from Kendall Jackson of Napa Valley. This has come from an IRI sales survey for April, based on volume.

Joe Stanton, chief executive of ConstellationNZ said topping the US Sauvignon Blanc sales had been the company’s main goal since launching the brand six years ago. They have been meticulous in every detail of the packaging, choosing the more popular flint white glass rather than the more traditional French green glass bottle. They also bucked the trend putting New Zealand wines under screw cap and sealing the wine under cork.

Does this mean that a new benchmark has been set for Sauvignon Blanc? I’m not sure. Personally, I don’t think that it’s quite there yet, but I think many producers in the old world will be assessing what they are doing from the vineyard to the winery, to ensure that they are producing the best wine they can. After conquering the UK, and now the USA, the Kiwi’s seem to be out for world wide Sauvignon Blanc domination, and good luck to them! They really do produce some of the best examples of what Sauvignon Blanc is capable of!

Sauvignon Blanc or Bust?

I’ve always loved New Zealand wines; their Sauvignon Blanc is without a doubt my favourite, though they do produce some fantastic reds with their Merlot and Pinot Noir. So, for me this week’s news in Decanter was delightful! The UK public have finally caught on, but why now?

Traditional wine producing countries such as France, Italy and Spain, have all seen a recent downturn in UK sales. Whilst much of this can be attributed to the current economic crisis and strong Euro exchange rate; the 42% increase in New Zealand wine sales in the UK, in only 12 weeks, suggests there is more going on.

A good Sancerre will cost you between £18 and £20; where as a New Zealand equivalent will cost you a mere £13 in comparison. So, it’s definitely a cheaper option, something which is undoubtedly an advantage in the current market. Add to the price difference, the fact that for a long time New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has been considered better than its European counterparts, and I think we’ve uncovered the reason for the spike!

People tightening their belts is encouraging them to look at the things they buy, whether that be clothes, shoes, food or wine. Nothing is exempt. So if someone offers something of the same quality, but at a much lower price, its no wonder its selling like hotcakes.

Though I would love to see this continue, an article on The Times Online about the Decanter World Wine Awards, suggests that the 2008 vintage New Zealand wines are “evil, watery, grassy wines.” (Their words not mine!) I guess we’ll have to wait and see…..