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 Weekend of Antipodean Wines on Tasting

This weekend we're going to have quite the selection of wines on tasting from Australia and a great new Pinot Noir from New Zealand.

The Pinot Noir we're going to have on tasting is the 2014 Ward Valley Estate from Marlborough, this wine is produced by the same guys who produce the Snapper Rock wines that we stock, James Leary and winemaker David Coulston and is produced in tiny quantities, only 250 cases!

 I first came across this at last years London International Wine Fair, and I've managed to grab a couple of cases of this stunning vintage before they move on to the 2015.

This has that lovely pale bright cherry red colour to it, with amazing aromas of red berry and red currant fruit. On the palate these come through wonderfully with a real savoury character it that combine perfectly with a touch of acidity and very soft elegant tannin's, that just produce a stunning glass of wine and even more so when you find out how much it costs. For this weekend there will also be a special introductory offer, so don't miss out!

We'll also have a selection of Australian wines imported by the guys at Aussie Rules on tasting, with the Reverend V wines, Richard Hamilton, Riposte and the one I'm really excited about, the Mornington Peninsular Chardonnay from Dexter. These wines unfortunately won't be in stock for this weekend but we will be taking pre-orders and again there will be a special offer on them as well.

A Ranch of Many Rabbits - 2011 Rabbit Ranch Pinot Noir

New Zealand Pinot's, if you hadn't already guessed produce some of my favourites wines, and these guys are no exception. The Rabbit Ranch are based in Central Otago, where they grow some of the best Pinot Noir grapes in the world (in my opinion) due to it's cool climate and similar terroir to the mighty Burgundy, the home of the Pinot Noir grape.

The vineyards which had been planted at the turn of the 1900's was the last attempt to get rid of all the Rabbits that had taken over the estate. After the second world war, the vineyard had fallen into disrepair, until Warren and Betty McGreagor  decided to replant the vineyard and breath a new life into the estate. Today apparently the Rabbits still run wild throughout the vineyard, in the fields of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc vines that they grow.

The 2011 Pinot Noir has a very pale ruby red colour, with some tiny hints of brick around it's rim, on the nose there is that lovely red berry fruit you expect to get from a NZ Pinot Noir, but then you start getting little hints of spice and smoke, and you start to see a much more complex wine. All of these came through on the palate with the spice and a savoury character dominating the almost sour cherry fruit, which when combined with a lovely refreshing acidity and a tiny amount of very soft tannins, it created a really enjoyable glass of wine. The other really nice thing about this wine, is that it is a red you chill. Put it in the fridge for half an hour or so and as it warms it in your glass it becomes very perfumed and aromatic, and dare I say it, even more enjoyable!

A Dinner with TerraVin from New Zealand

A few weeks ago I had an invite to meet several of the investors in TerraVin, a boutique New Zealand winery from Marlborough, for dinner at the newly opened Four to Eight restaurant in Covent Garden. I remember meeting Mike Eaton the former wine maker and tasting their wines a few years back at a Jascot's tasting, there was one particular wine that really stuck in mind, and that was the Te Ahu an oaked Sauvignon, which shouldn't be, but was stunning. Since the last time I encountered there wines, they have handed the wine making reigns over to Gordon Ritchie, who had previously been a winemaker at Seresin.

On arrival we were served a glass of the 2013 Sauvignon Blanc, which had all those typical New Zealand characteristics of Gooseberry, Green Pepper and Citrus, but with a much more rounded/softer acidity to it. We then moved on to the 2011 Chardonnay, now this wine is wild fermented and then aged in oak for 18 months, it is then all blended together and spends another three months in tank before being bottled. It had a lovely creamy texture with touches of butterscotch and vanilla, there was a hint of baked apple in the background, combining with a soft but plentiful acidity.

Next came the wine that I really wanted to taste again, the Te Ahu, it was also served with a cream of celeriac soup, which was just beautiful, and had an earthy character that worked so well with the flavours of this wine. You had apricots with some citrus, you also had in there some kind of almond/nuttiness which worked with the fruit perfectly and you had this soft and silky acidity which just brought it all together perfectly. The wine has this earthy character to it that worked with the soup perfectly.

With the main course we were served two of there Pinot Noir's, the 2011 and the Eaton Family Vineyard 2010. The 2011 was delicious, very typical New Zealand Pinot, lovely red cherry fruit, with a touch of smoke and spice mingled in with it, and a lovely acidity that's not to tart, but just enough. The 2010 Eaton Family however was another notch up, more depth in each of the flavours wonderfully soft and silky tannins, I have to say this was my second favourite wine of the night behind the Te Ahu.

And finally for desert we had the 2012 Late Harvest Pinot Gris, which the 3 bottles apparently had been flown over especially just for this dinner as it's not available in the UK. This was lusciously sweet as you would expect, but it had this wonderful acidity that just cut through the sweetness perfectly to show flavours of white peach, citrus and honeysuckle which were just stunning, only a shame that we won't be able to get it over here!

A Little Beauty from New Zealand - A range of Single Vineyard Wines

The other week I called into the SITT (Specialist Importers Trade Tasting) at the Royal Horticultural Society, and I had the pleasure of meeting Fleur McCree who is the owner of the boutique New Zealand winery Little Beauty. They are based down in the Waihopai Valley, Marlborough, and produce a range of single vineyard varietal wines from Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Reisling And Pinot Noir.

Fleur has bought in Eveline Fraser, who used to be head winemaker at Cloudy Bay to make her wine, and she really has done a fantastic job with them. Throughout the vineyard they employ sustainable growing techniques, have installed a sophisticated irrigation system and an advanced climate monitoring system to ensure they get the very best fruit possible. In the wine making process they use wild ferments and mature there wines using French oak from Fleur's favourite Burgundian coopers, all of these wines are produced in very limited quantities

Now for the wines;

2010 Single Vineyard Dry Reisling - had some lovely aromas of citrus, lemon and lime with a touch of floral honey suckle, a nice and refreshing acidity which just combined stunningly.

2013 Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc - grapefruit with a touch of gooseberry coming through and a hint of basil which surprised me, plenty of acidity but not overly tart and very enjoyable.

2012 Single Vineyard Pinot Gris - this was light and delicate with some lovely floral characters and a touch of citrus, a hint a vanilla spice and again a perfectly balanced acidity.

2010 Single Vineyard Gewurztraminer - this wine had aromas of sweet oranges, rose and clove, a soft elegant acidity which all worked together beautifully.

2013 Single Vineyard Pinot Noir - lashings of dark berry fruit, raspberry, and smoke, it had a savoury character to it as well with soft and silky tannin, only one word that can describe it, stunning.

Picture Courtesy of Little Beauty

They also produce a small range under the Black Edition label from Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir which are produced in even smaller quantities and are really a notch above there Single Vineyard range and are absolutely glorious, but think I'll save these for another post.

These wines really do match up to there name of Little Beauty, if you get the chance to buy or order a bottle in a restaurant then I would definitely recommend that you do, I really was bowled over by how good they all were.