I managed to get around to 70 wines, though probably not the 70 I initially wanted to taste. A poorly stocked tasting was to blame, though the wines I ended up getting to where all of such a high standard of quality and interest that I left satisfied.
The main caveat here is that I was a man on a mission and really churned through the wines. 70 wines in 2 1/2 hours is speed tasting at its best – and worst. Some of the more subtle styles get missed, nuances overlooked, unusual or brash styled wines get attention etc etc. Thus I would take the scores below with a grain of salt.
The quality though was truly brilliant. So many gold medal quality wines (There where 60 gold medals awarded!) made this tasting incredibly enjoyable.
My highlights:
– Kiwi Syrah: For immediate attraction the Hawkes Bay Syrah’s in particular where simply stunning. No surprise why NZ took the Shiraz trophy (again).
– Blends over straight varietals – If ever there was a case for the power of blends then it resided here. Lean Cabernet & boring Merlot in particular served to emphasise the value of a good blend. The NZ Bordeuax Blends & South African ‘bitsa’ blends showed this to great effect.
– ‘Other Red Varietals’ – South African Cab Franc, Aussie Grenache, Kiwi Malbec. Lots of interest here. Good to see.
The notes:
Paradox Marlborough Pinot Chardonnay Sparkling NV
Brilliant. Dry Champagne like, creamy yeasty. Classic palate, a little obvious sweetness but such a complete wine. Class Winemaking. Very good Champagne style. Excellent stuff. 18.5
Quartz Reef Chauvet Pinot Noir Chardonnay Sparkling 2003
Developed yeast & mature fruit nose, if a little overworked. Creamy nose, doesn’t transfer onto lean, hollow acidic palate. 16.7
Vic Williams Selection Marlborough Chard, Pinot, Meunier Sparkling 2002
Toasted, burnt, nutty butter & yeast nose. Heavy, caramelised palate. Overworked and heavy. 15.0
Yarrabank Late Disgorged Sparkling 1999
Developed yeast & mature fruit nose. Very complex, layered palate. Lovely lightness to the palate, though surprising hole in the back end. Very good. 17.8
Mt Difficulty Target Gully Riesling 2007
Big, perfumed nose of intensity, lovely succulent sweet palate, if a little broad. Good stuff. 17.5
Neethlingshof Gewurtztraminer 2008
Lovely Gewurtz perfume, flabby, rounded palate. Great spiciness, but flabby. 16
Frogmore Creek Iced Gewurtztraminer 2007
How this ended up with the aromatic whites is beyond me (for the record, was entered into the dessert wine class). But an interesting early aside. Volatile. Big, very sweet, very long palate. Did I mention big? Its enormous. Time will give this legs i think. 17+
Astrolabe Discovery Awatere Sauvignon Blanc 2008
Perhaps the most classically pungent Kiwi Sauv I have had in ages. Herbaceous, tomato leaf meets gooseberry, spicy nose. Palate is dry, long & very well defined. Classic stuff. 18.8
St Clair Pioneer Block 6 ‘Oh! Block’ Sauvignon Blanc 2008
Laid back and rounder after the Astrolabe. Subdued, sweaty nose, quite rich, round palate. Subdued all round. Classy, but lacking slightly in this company. 16.8
St Clair Wairau Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2008
Spicy, yet reduced and compact, the proof here is all in the palate – long, layered and again spicy it is very well built on the palate. Needs some time in the bottle. 17.5+
Cape Point Sauvignon Blanc 2006
An impressive Loire inspired white, this retains its herbaceous Sauv aromatics with a punchy, defined palate with very clever yeast influences. Layered, complex, crisp and interesting. 18.5
Steenberg Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2005
Muted, nose cream, crushed ants with a spicy if mono dimensional palate. Bland. 15.5
Cape Mentelle Wallcliffe Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2006
A monolithic white that I found more than a little overbearing at present. Tight, oak & cream nose with a slightly sulphurous pong. Creamy long, layered, powerful palate with noticeable heat on the finish. Slightly awkward on its own. Power +. Wine for the future. 16.8++
Ken Forrester FMC Chenin Blanc 2007
Honey, musk and oak on the nose. More honey & lemon on the palate. Heavy handed oak masks the fruit but there is a polish to the whole package. Time again required. 16+
John Forrest Collection The White 2007
Light, fragrant nose with some honey, whipped butter and some melon on the palate. Unusual blended white that seems to have grapes from every corner of NZ in it. Interesting & attractive. 17.3
De Bortoli Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2007
No questions about the quality here – Steve Webber has nailed it. A restrained, reductive, cabbage & asparagus nose that’s more Sancerre than Yarra. The palate is very clever, layered & complex with nuances of creamy flavour throughout the palate. Very good. 18.5
Rijks Private Cellar Chenin Blanc 2006
A much more interesting SA Chenin. Yeasty, flor like nose. Its almost a Champagne nose in fact. Creamy, complex, honeysuckle palate that is both light, crisp and mouthfilling. Great stuff. 18
Dombeya Haskell Chardonnay 2006
Creamy nose with a clever oak fruit balance. Restrained palate builds power as it goes. Slightly oak driven palate, but good quality modern Chardonnay. 17+
Paringa Special Barrels Pinot Noir 2006
Special by name, special by nature. Big, full, rich, chocolate oak meets briary fruit + stems nose. The palate is ultra polished and unquestionably new world, but such a smooth and impressive mouthful of Pinot. Very very good. 18.5
Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 2007
Stemmy, ‘dirty Pinot’ nose. Meaty, bretty character derails palate slightly. Some appeal, but that bretty character is distracting. 15.5
Meerlust Pinot Noir 2004
God the Meerlust wines where impressive. Serious nose – Wild heady, undergrowth, barnyard, fruit, spice. Brilliant nose – stemmy, maturing Pinot fruit. The palate has an excellent meatiness to it with layers of flavour. Complex and delicious mouthful of Pinot. Bottle age really helped this I think. 18.7
Bouchard Finlayson Galpin Peak Pinot Noir 2006
Sweetly raisined fruit. Drained, simple round palate. Harsh end. No. 14
Tucks Ridge Buckle Vineyard Pinot Noir 2006
Slightly hard nose with a firm, stalky palate. Somewhat over and underripe. I think this will blossom in the bottle however. 16.9+
Clonakilla Syrah 2006
To be honest I was a little disappointed by this – though it probably really needs some time to come together. Very bright red colour. Perfumed, exotic nose that is more Pinot than Shiraz. Meaty, spicy restrained palate is rather simple at present. Very pretty. Hold 17+
Esk Valley Reserve Syrah 2006
And here started a tremendous line of Syrah. Can understand why NZ took out first second & third in this category – consistently excellent quality. Pepper, dark chocolate and coffee beans on the nose, with a savoury palate of meaty fruit. Immediate appeal – its quite soft and more of a medium term wine I think. Lovely stuff. 18
Passage Rock Reserve Syrah 2006
A much more dense wine that had hidden depths that weren’t immediately obvious on the nose. Restrained red fruit with a deep, dark savoury palate that leapt up in tannins after the silky Esk Valley. Beautiful dark chocolate character again shown here. Very very good. 18.5
Quoin Rock Simmonsberg Syrah 2005
Hammy sweaty, quite Rhonish nose, with that floral, yet meaty nose of sweet berries & earth. Medium bodied cranberry fruited palate that is savoury and sweet, all at once. Again very good. 18.0
Church Road Reserve Syrah 2006
Much more obvious and , dare I say it, Australian, than the other Kiwi Syrah. Light, roast beef nose, seems fleshy, upfront & simple but still attractive and very drinkable. I think this may just be a little too polished. Nice tannin to finish. 17.3
Paxton Elizabeth Jean 100yr old Shiraz 2005
Welcome back Shiraz! This is classic South Oz Shiraz and a great counterpoint to medium weight Syrah. Deep, dense, supercharged nose. Sweet oak and fruit amalgam, mixed seamlessly together here. Perfectly balanced big Shiraz. Excellent. 18.3+
Sacred Hill Deerstalkers Syrah 2005
A very black peppery nose. Lovely Syrah varietal nose. Slippery, hammy, meaty palate seems slightly mono dimensional, but that nose is tasty. Good. 17
Trinity Hill Homage Syrah 2006
This has an almost Central Victorian Shiraz decadence to it. Dense sweet berry nose that seems driven on the nose by oak. The palate though is beautifully layered & textured – crammed to the gils with sweet fruit. Very new world again, but also undeniably attractive. 18.5
Vidal Reserve Syrah 2005
Pierneef La Motte Shiraz Viognier 2006
Big heavy bottle, its a big modern red that is so very Australian. It could be from the Yarra or Canberra. Still, its a very charming Shiraz Viognier that avoids any apricotty overt Viognier characters. Pretty fragrant nose. Showy. Dense & meaty palate. Modern. Clever. Young gun. 18
Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Meaty, forward, red fruit nose, with bretty meatiness. There is something very acrid on the palate here. Bad bottle? U/R
Rustenberg Brampton Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Herbaceous, very Cabernetish nose. Graphite, cedar, dark chocolate nose. Long linear palate. Quite high acid, finishes with some bretty hammy-ness on the back. Hold the ham, take the wine. 17
Guardian Peak Lapa Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Huge. Sweet dark chocolate & loads of oak. Its large, but still the palate feels quite lean and well balanced. Moss Wood Cabernet meets Balnaves Tally. Very very modern. 17.3
Is this a Parkerised South African Cabernet? Very dark colour. Stinky, sulphury with an intensely dense nose of ripe fruit. The palate is concentrated, very new world-ish & plush. Crowd pleaser. 17.5
John Forrest Collection Cabernet 2005
Super tight nose, obvious oak. Sappy palate that needs time (or some Merlot) to flesh it out. Nice & linear and very refreshing though. Will be long lived. 17.0+
The next five wines I had trouble marking down – classic red wines, all full of character & all showing obvious terroir influences. I can’t recommend them enough:
Buitenverwachting Cabernet Sauvignon 2003
An almost perfect mid weight Cabernet. Correct cassis nose, with just an edge of leafy red currant herbs. The palate is medium bodied, the story here is definition. Quite high acidity. A Cabernet lovers delight. 18.5
Stonyridge Larose 2006
My first experience with this Kiwi icon and definitely a good one. Refreshing leafy nose. Austere leafy palate. Long deep dark rippling black fruit runs through the palate, but its all kept behind a wall of excellent tannins. Minerals & coal. Wine for the future. Wine for the patient. Excellent. 18.5+
Benfield & Delamere 2006
Stuff the exxy Bordeaux, buy this instead. Lovely lifted fragrant Cabernet nose. The palate is cool & just ripe with an almost Pinotish femininity to it. Perfectly balanced, savoury red with some woody herbal characters to it that I don’t think everyone will appreciate, but to me they just signal this wines cellaring intentions. Absolutely brilliant. 19
SC Pannell Shiraz Grenache 2005
Steve Pannell is on a roll. His Neb picked up best wine at the Alternative Varietals Show last week and here his Savvy trumped the Kiwis & the Springboks to bring home ‘their trophy’. He even made an amusing speech. Talented family the Pannells! Anyway, this is such a good example of a somewhat overlooked style. Gamey Grenache on the nose, intertwined with gamey sweet fruit that just follows through onto the palate perfectly. Honest, varietally correct and so very drinkable. Well done. 18.5
Kaesler WOMS Shiraz Cabernet 2006
This came second in its category, but it had to be up their as one of my favourites for the day. Showcasing the classic Australian blend, the WOMS title refers to this wines character – a Weapon Of Mass Seduction. Archetypal Barossan red. Seductive oak and fruit melange leads into a palate that is almost perfect. Plushly oaked, plushly fruited with an almost seamless, hedonistic, seductive flow of red fruit. Delicious. 19
Unison Selection 2006
I am going to give this wine the benefit of the doubt – I’ve tasted the ‘standard’ 06 and its a goodun. However on this showing it was surprising soft, simple and one dimensional – sweet oak derived and upfront. Leave it in the cellar. 16.8+
John Duval Plexus 2006
I like the nose – the Shiraz component smells like Grange – lovely rich fruit & a dash of formic. The palate however is all primary, chocolate oak and upfront fruit. Its very polished, but I also felt that is was again too simple. 17.5+
Mills Reef Elspeth One 2005
Cassisy sweet fruit, chunky oak, big flavours. It a big, rich red with very sweet fruit, tending savoury on the back end. Nicely put together, but didn’t move me. 17
Red capsicum, very leafy nose but not green. The palate is similarly red fruited with a lightness and structure that is impressive, rounded out by proper fruit tannins. One for the cellar. 18.0+
Meaty, ‘animale’ nose. In fact its distractingly meaty & bretty. Still, underneath this its very polished with a great balance between tannins & fruit. Pushes the boundaries. 17
Church Rd Reserve Cabernet Merlot 2005
Immediately attractive, but backed up by class and style. Lifted, sweet, upfront fruit and oak, with still recognisable Hawkes bay terroir characters. Some might call this a show wine, but its a very well made, deliciously appealing modern red. 17.5
Another wine that you could stick in a blind lineup and convince people its a modern Bordeaux. Even the bottle and label are a French throwback. Perfect balance of ripe cassis fruits, a flash of cedary oak and long long tannins. New world doing old world damn well. 18.5
Mont Destin Passione Cab Shiraz Merlot 2005
Red & Black currant. Slightly dried out nose that leads onto a surprisingly full palate. Doesn’t quite connect nose & palate. Interesting wine and again quite drinkable though. 16.5
An unusual blend, this seems a little muddled – Meaty pepper of Shiraz meets leafy Cabernet and everything seems to have been separated in transit. Dry, savoury, disjointed & confused. 15.5
Alluring choc berry nose, its all quite forward and juicy, the palate is quite fleshy and rounded with a dried fig & purple fruited palate. Enjoyable. 17.5
Villa Maria Reserve Cabernet Merlot 2005
Is Villa Maria New Zealand’s Penfolds? There is such a house style in the wines (just like Pennies) and the winery reputation (and show record) is similarly glorious – except that one is still privately owned and going strong (Villa Maria), whilst the other is making great wines, but the brand is taking a battering at the hands of big business (Penfolds).
Anyway, I digress. This is a show pony of a wine that really satisfies – it has the power to back up the fragrant choc berry nose with a dense palate and fine tannins. It crams alot of flavour & extract in there, but you can’t argue with the winemaking finesse – it finishes tight and dry. Well done, again, Villa Maria. 18.5
Esk Valley Reserve Merlot Cabernet 2005
It was interesting to taste this straight after the Villa Maria, as they definitely share some DNA. Cassisy berry nose that perfectly correct, but its the plush palate that is the story here – a long, chocolatey flow of pure 70%+ cocoa chocolate and good drying tannins. This will get even better with time and seemed to have just a smidgen more depth than the Villa. Another good Kiwi Bordeaux Blend. 18.6
Rust-en-vrede Estate 2004
An aloof, herbaceous, dusty and quite secondary wine with a nose of soft cheese, raspberry & mushroom. The palate is high toned & leafy with some sour fruit that hits mid palate. Its complex, rustic & ends with some very dry tannins. But its also quite stylish and I think it will live for a while. Interesting+. 17.3
Crossroads Talisman 2007
Seven secret varieties – just like the Colonel. Opens with a stink. Very approachable for such a young wine. Blackberry & oak on the nose, its densely constructed with layer after layer of luscious fruit. Simple & quite juicy at the moment, but will get better. Sexy. 18.0
Another interesting Meerlust wine. Twigs, dark plum and intense sour fruit. Arguably its underripe, but the slightly stewed fruit and long palate is still very drinkable. Should flesh out over time too. Good. 16.
Yarraloch Stephanie’s Dream Merlot 2005
It takes a while to get going, but gradually a fragrant, minty & eucalypt edged nose surfaces. The palate follows this with red fruit & a hint of cabbage. Its good cool climate Merlot for sure but it would be a mucher better wine with some Cabernet. 16
Meerlust you’ve done it again. Lovely dark plum fragrance with a palate density that shows fully ripe Merlot at its best. Its quite rich, but with a herbal edge to it. Again, very impressive and one fine Merlot. 18
Woodlands Merlot 2006
This smells and tastes like anything but Margaret River Merlot (maybe Yarra). Pepper, Rosemary and Roast Beef, but backed up by some Merlot juiciness. Savoury, lean palate. Give it 5 years and it might really surprise. 17
Perfumed cherry – thats what this lovely fresh wine smells of. Its a distinctive and quite appealing nose & the fragrant red fruit is varietal expressive+. Lovely curranty palate. Meaty finish. Its quite a lovely wine. 18
Mint, lamb & Rosemary. Distinctive, unusual and crying out for food. The palate has lovely layers of fruit. It feels hand made and lovingly produced. Excellent tannins to boot. Really surprisingly good! 18.5
Definitely a product of the vintage, this has a stemmy, woody and slightly hard nose, but its also really refreshing. The palate has high acid and is quite confronting in its dryness, but its also again very fresh. Interesting stuff. 16.9
Round of applause for Chester Osborn and the rest of the team – this is the best ad for the delights of Grenache I have had in ages. Candied, light, bright fragrant fruit – its quite fun and fresh on the nose, but the palate is more serious, with lovely red fruit and great balance. Mid weight, tarry and generous. Delicious. 18.5
Tamar Ridge Kayena Botrytis Riesling 2006
I may be the only person that doesnt like this wine – it won a trophy here. Sweet, muscaty nose but there is a slightly unattractive musty mould character on the nose that smells like excessive mould to me. The palate feels light but simple. 15
Trinity Hill Noble Viognier 2007
A big obvious juicy mouthful of fruit, with gobfuls of apricot, caramel and some tropical fruit. Surprisingly well balanced back end. Yum. 18.5
Waterton Dessert Riesling 2007
Sweet, lifted, honey & apricot nose. Ripe full, fat palate that is unctuous, but there is also a bizarre off flavour on the back palate. What is going on with these stickies? 16
Terravin Noble Sauvignon 2006
Herbs on the nose, rubber on the palate. Its like chewing on a rubber band. Maybe there is something wrong with me….. 15
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Comment
A Tour De Force! Speed tasting indeed! Well done on getting this up on the web so quickly…