A Tasting with Man 'O War from Wahieke Island New Zealand

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Sara Fogarty from Man 'O War wines, and taste through there current releases and a couple of library samples, so we could gauge how they will age. Now as the title suggests Man 'O War are based on Wahieke Island, New Zealand, in the Hauraki Gulf, east of Auckland on the North island.

The estate was originally 4 farms that were all purchased in the early 80's and combined to create a massive 4,500 acre estate in the north eastern corner of the island. Only 150 acres across 76 sites are under vine, and this is still a working farm with sheep, olives, fruit and your even able to get married at the chapel on the estate. Each of the vineyard sites has been selected due to it's facing, soil and microclimate for specific varieties, the one grape they don't grow though is Pinot Noir as they are too far north for it, they concentrate on the varieties from Bordeaux and the Northern Rhone for their reds. They also have a very interesting take on naming vineyard sites, with names such as Lunatics, Madmans, Asylum and Bitch just to give you an idea, and their wines as you'll see below.

Cliff's Vineyard

Ponui Island

Madmans Vineyard

                                                   

The vineyards started to be planted in 1992 by Matt Allen who is still Vineyard Manager today, the first vintage was produced 1996 and they didn't release any wine till 2006! Then in 2008 Duncan McTavish came on board as Winemaker having previously worked for Waipara Springs and before that Pegasus Bay (one of my favourite vineyards). The one thing that struck me the most during the introduction to the vineyard was the ethos of 'for the future', they are all about taking there time getting it right and making sure everything is in place for the future generations to continue and develop.

On to the tasting, we started with;

2013 Gravestone
This is a blend of 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Semillon, a classic Bordeaux blend, not usually one of my favourites but this one I really enjoyed. 20% of the Sauvignon and all of the Semillon go into pucheons to give the wine a touch more richness and some gentle spice while retaining the fruit and refreshing minerality perfectly balanced with the acidity.

2014 Valhalla
100% oaked Chardonnay, with 25% new oak, 5% Acacia and 70% old oak. This is a wonderfully big rich wine, with a lovely buttery texture that's cut through beautifully by the acidity as this wine does not go through maololactic fermentation. On the nose and palate you lovely hints of sweet spices, green apples and grapefruit folowed up with the touch of minerality.


2014 Bellerophon
This is Duncan's hommage to Cote Rotie, and is a cofermented Syrah (97%) and Viognier (3%), they ferment 30% in whole clusters and age it for 18 mths, 25% in new oak and the remaining 75% in ols seasoned oak. This is a pretty yet powerful wine, with lovely dark fruit, and hints of raspberry, violets and white pepper which all combined beautifully with the acidity and the tannins.

2009 Dreadnought (no longer available)
100% Syrah which 100% see's oak, 12% new for 11 months, giving you big rich dark fruit and lashings of white pepper,a lovely acidity and silky fine tannins. As all these combine it gives the wine a real savoury character which is lovely and lingers around on your palate for what seems like forever.

2013 Dreadnought (current vintage)
For this year 50% went into new oak and the other 50% went into old seasoned oak. This wine shows all the same characteristics as the 2009, it does have slightly more youthful character to the fruit and spice, the tannins while still fine are far more present and acidity has softened out as much as the 2009 but it's drinking fantastically now and will continue to develop over the coming years.

2014 Dreadnought (not released yet)
The only way to really describe this is that it's a slightly more youthful version of the 2013, needs time to integrate and soften out, but when it does, it will be pretty magnificent.

2010 Ironclad (current vintage)
This is their red Bordeaux blend, 39% Cab Franc, 30% Merlot, 18% Cab Sauv, 7% Malbec and 6% Petit Verdot, Yes this is a big old blend, but a pretty stunning one at that. With lovely fruit, spice and hints of minerality to it. Combined with soft and silky tannins contributing an almost cocoa texture to the wine, this is definitely a favourite of mine.

2012 Ironclad
45% Cab Franc, 20% Merlot, 14% Petit Verdot, 13% Malbec and 8% Cab Sauv, you can really tell the reduction of Cab Sauv and increase in Petit Verdot on the nose of this wine. It has much more brighter fruit to it and the spice is very subtle in the background, but these will develop over the next couple of years, it has plenty of tannins so needs that little bit of time to help it soften out a touch.

I have to say these wines are delicious, not being a big fruit bomb style or full of dark sweet fruit, they have much more depth and complexity to them, which just helps to make them even more enjoyable and even better as they age, even just a little.

A Red From the South of France - Saint Chinian

I was sent bottle a bottle of the 2013 Cours la Reine Saint Chinian the other week, this is not an appellation that I know much about at all, other than it's from the south of France. It is apparently considered to be the oldest winemaking region within the Languedoc, and is split into two distinct sides, the northern part consists of mainly schist soil while to the south they are much more clay/chalky soil types. Around 70% of the vines grown are Syrah, Mouvedre and Grenache, they also grow Carignan, Cinsault and Lledoner Pelut.

This bottle is a blend of Syrah and Grenache and has lovely ruby/purple colour in the glass, on the nose it loads of red fruit with some hints of peppery spice coming through gently from the background. On the palate, the fruit came through as juicy dark berries with the spice coming through as pepper and clove. The tannins were soft, juicy and elegant, combined with just a touch of acidity that produced a really well balanced and extremely enjoyable wine.

The big question though is, would I recommend this wine? Yes I would absolutely, it's was lovely to drink on it's own and will go with food perfectly, and when it's priced at £9.95 a bottle, how can you go wrong!

A Provence Rose with a Touch of Hollywood Glam

I tried to avoid writing about this last year, actually I did pretty well at not writing about anything at all but that's a different matter, and that is the now infamous Brangelina rose, Miraval, mainly because I thought I was a bit of a gimmick, especially at £20-£25 a bottle. Also because I was a fan of it's predecessor Chateau Miraval Pink Floyd, which was a stunningly crisp and delicate Provence rose.

Château Miraval is located in the village of Correns, which is just north Brigoles in the south of France, and produces white's under the Coteaux Varois appellation, and red and rose under the Cotes de Provence. Another claim to fame is that one of it's previous owners, the French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier installed a recording studio in the Chateau where artists such as Sting, The Cranberries and even the legendary Pink Floyd all recording there.

Moving back to the present day and the Chateau is now owned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, wanting to produce the very best Provence rose they could, they enlisted the help of the Perrin Family from Chateau Beaucastel in the Rhone valley as their wine makers. This was actually quite interesting given that while the Perrin's bought an amazing reputation for producing wonderfulyl, big, rich powerful wines, they had never produced a rose.

For this amazing rose Marc Perrin, the winemaker has used a blend of Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah and Rolle, 95% of which was fermented in stainless steel to retain it's freshness, with the remaining 5% going in to oak barrels, which just adds that little bit more complexity.

In the glass it had this wonderfully delicate pink colour, with quite pronounced aromas of wild strawberries, fresh herbs, rose, citrus and a touch of steely minerality coming through. On the palate you got all the fruit right at the start with this wonderfully refreshing soft acidity, made first think of wild strawberries and cream. You then started to get the citrus and fresh herbs come through on the palate with a real sense of a steely minerality to the wine, which I have to say was just fantastic.

Well, what do I think of this wine, I have to say, to start with I did think it might be very much of a gimmick, but I have to take my hat off to Marc Perrin the winemaker and say, bravo. This is such a beautifully crafted wine with all the flavours and acidity beautifully in balance with one another, I can also see why it made it into the top 100 wines of last year. Which also leads me to say that if you see one, buy it, as I can't imagine it lasting too long!

A Gem from the South of France

Domaine Gayda (in the background)

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Domaine Gayda, they're based down in the Languedoc about 20km away from Carcassonne. Founded 10 years ago by Tim Ford and Anthony Record, on what was originally a sunflower farm. Having no established vines to use, they purchased some older vineyard plots from across the region giving them access to vines up to 80 years old.

Vineyards in La Liviniere

Today the whole estate is farmed and certified organically and they are also starting to grow other plants and crops to encourage biodiversity.

They have very comprehensive range from their entry level single varietal t'Air d'Oc and blended Flying Solo range, through the varietal Ceppage range ending with the fantastic Chemin de Moscou. I have to say the quality from start to finish is magnificent and i can't recommend any of there wines highly enough, but the one i really want to talk about is the Chemin de Moscou.

This wine gets its name from the road that leads up to the vineyards, and is produced using fruit from La Livinière, Latour de France, Calce, St Martin de Fenouillèdes, Tautavel & Brugairolles vineyard plots, which have some of the oldest vines that they own. It is a blend of Syrah, Grenache with a small amount of Cinsault added just for good measure, all are vinified seperately before being blended.

The Syrah is aged in new oak barrels for nine months, while the Grenache and Cinsault are put into 2nd and 3rd fill barrels for nine months, they will then blend the best barrels of each varietal before it spends a further 12 months in the same barrels.

The Chemin de Moscou is a big rich glass of wine, it has a wonderfully opaque inky/purple colour, with pronounced aromas of dark fruit, pepper, cinnamon with a hint of violets coming through from the back ground. On the palate you all of the aromas coming through with an added touch of minerality, which is just amazing, the tannins are big but not out of balance and there is just enough acidity to get your mouth watering and helping to make the flavours linger for ages.

I have to say this is just a magnificent glass of wine, and is testament to the wine making skills of Vincent, if you spot a bottle in your local wine merchant i would definately say to grab a bottle and give it go, especially when your having a barbeque.

A Red From The Rhone

This may only be me, but does anyone else ever find that after friends have been round for dinner, there’s always an odd bottle of unopened wine that some one brought round and never got drunk. Well this bottle is one of those!

I knew absolutely nothing about this wine other than what information I could glean from the label, the obvious was then name. La Tour de Marrenon 2010 Reserve, Ventoux, and is a blend of Grenache and Syrah. On close examination of the back label, I found that it had been imported by one of our leading supermarket chains and produced by Marrenon!

AOC Ventoux is a region located in the south east area of the Rhone, where 80% of it’s reported production goes to reds blended from  Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, and Carignan. With the whites coming from Clairette,Bourboulenc,Grenache Blanc, and Roussane, they also produce some Rose; the style is very much that of light and fruity, the minimum alcohol is 11%, this one came in at 13,5%.

In the glass it had a bright/youthful ruby colour, and quite pronounced aromas of blackcurrant, with black pepper coming through from them background. On the palate, again it had quite pronounced flavours of blackcurrant, with a touch of red currants thrown in to the mix, and then you got the peppery spice. It had quite a large amount of acidity with very little fine tannins, which didn’t really work for me.

Would I recommend this wine, it wasn’t really an inspiring wine, there was nothing wrong with it in itself, but it just didn’t set my taste buds alight, if I saw it on the shelf would I buy It, then the answer is no, but if someone did bring it around again I would drink it.

A Pair of Spanish Stunners

A little while ago I got sent two bottles of Spanish wine to review for the blog, for some reason, and I’m not quite sure why, but it’s not something I tend to drink very often or know a great deal about, I’ve only reviewed two Rioja's and a Cava for the blog; I haven't even touched on one of my favourite wines, Sherry!

 Vińa Pomal Reserva Rioja, 2005.

The Rioja region is in northern Spain where they are permitted to use Tempranillo, Viura, Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo to produce their wines, this one however is 100% Tempranillo. This wine will spend 18 months in American Oak with a further two years in bottle before its release; this is a requirement for the Reserva designation.

On pouring you had a deep ruby/purple colour and pronounced aromas of red cherries and red currents, coming through from the background you got some really nice sweet spice, predominantly liquorice. It had just the right amount of fine tannins with just enough acidity to make you mouth water, combine this with the aromas and favours and you got a well structured wine with an interesting complexity to it.

Scala Dei Cartoixa Priorat, 2005.

Priorat is situated in North East Spain, and covers an area of around 19,783h, of which around 5,000h are under vine, compared with a region such as Rioja which has around 49,776h. This gives you an idea of how small a region it is, all the vines are planted on terraced slopes between 100 – 700m above sea level. They are permitted to use Garnacha Tinta, Garnacha Peluda, Carinena, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah in the blend, with yields much lower than is actually permitted.

In the glass it was a much deeper ruby than the Rioja, with pronounced aromas of dark fruit, cherries and plums and loaded with the sweet spice of cinnamon, their was also a touch of minerality coming through from the back ground. You got all of these on the palate coming at you wave after wave; it had wonderfully juicy tannins and great acidity helping to let the flavours linger in your mouth for a long time. This was a stunningly well balanced and complex wine that I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to taste.

Both of these wines were beautiful with great flavours and structure that if you get the opportunity to try them, then I’d definitely recommend them, but my favourite was hands down the Priorat, as it was for the friends I had round to enjoy them, it was just absolutely stunning.

A Trip Round the South of France with Seabright and Seabright

The other week I had the pleasure of being invited to Seabright and Seabright’s Languedoc and Roussillon tasting at the Maison de la Region Languedoc-Roussillon. They specialise in regional wines from across the whole of France, sourcing from small producers and lesser well known appellations. On show for this tasting were wines from eight producers across the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the south of France.

There were some fantastic wines from across the region at all price points and styles; here I’ve just picked out a few from the day that really caught my eye.

Domaine de la Tuilerie Celebration Viognier 2009, this had wonderfully pronounced aromas of Stone fruit with floral notes coming through. These all come through on the palate and lingered for some time, combine these with the good level of acidity and you got a very nice and enjoyable drink all for £7.95.

Domaine Morin-Langaran Cuvée Prestige Blanc 2009, this is produced from 100% Roussanne and had a bright lemon/gold colour with aromas and flavours of stone fruit. The flavours lingered around for some time, combine these with a great level of acidity that really made your mouth water. All this produced an excellent wine coming in at £12.95.

Chateau de la Tuilerie Eole Rouge 2007, this is made from 100% Syrah (Shiraz) and had an opaque purple/red colour, with the aromas of Dark cherries and Blackcurrants, coming through from the background you then got a cigar box aroma which was just stunning. These all came through on the palate layer after layer with great complexity, the level of tannin was perfect, didn’t over power the flavours at all. There is only one way I could describe this wine, Stunning, but at £26.95 you wouldn’t expect anything less.

Domaine de Cabrol Vent d’Ouest 2006, a blend of Cab Sav, Syrah and Grenache, with aromas of Jammy Forest fruit’s, Cassis and Cedar. These all came through on the palate, with the Jammy Forest fruit being the most pronounced, matched with just the right amount of tannin; you got an excellent wine for £13.95.

Chateau de Mattes-Sabran Cuvée Chevreuse 2007, a blend of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache, you got aromas of Dark fruit with a touch of spice coming through. These came through on the palate beautifully, well balanced with the tannins and again for £13.95, excellent.

Château de Segure Fitou 2007, from the Mont-Tauch cooperative in the Pyrenean foothills; this is a blend of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah. With a wonderfully deep ruby colour, and aromas of Dark fruit and Cigar box, on the palate these came through in waves which rolled over your tongue beautifully. With just the right amount of fine tannin, this was an excellent, well balanced wine, which is well worth its £16.95 price.

There were two other wines that caught my eye, both excellent wines with lots of Red Fruits in them, but it was their labels that really made them stand out.

It was a fantastic afternoon tasting my way around the south of France, all of these and many more great wines are available to order from Seabright and Seabright.