When wines are out of balance

Very recently I sampled two wines that essentially were true to the label - a Chardonnay and a Gewürztraminer.   Both undoubtedly contained (by law) at least 85% wine fermented from the stated varietal.  So far, so good.  However these wines were both totally out of balance. 

Someone not very experienced with wines may have bought them as an experiment and been put off ever buying a Chard or Gewürz again.

Wine judges, will tell you that an award-winning wine is one that is in harmony with itself.   Factors in the mix are qualities such as: fruit and other flavours, acidity, residual sugar, minerality, oak ageing, maturity, youth, tannin, length of palate, alcoholic strength, intensity and complexity.

The Chardonnay was a Hawkes Bay 2012 from a medium sized producer and cost $NZD 22.00  As a youngster you can’t expect much maturity, so it was pale gold in colour.  On the nose – not much.  Crisp apple, citrus, hardly any oak.  In the mouth – acidic, wimpy and light.  Dominated by grapefruit flavours and very little discernible oak influence.  Short finish – all gone from the palate in 5 seconds.  

The Gewürztraminer was from Marlborough and a 2012 at $NZD 24.00.  One the nose – floral overload of roses and geranium leaf.  In the mouth – like drinking perfume and totally dominated by the rosewater flavours.  Otherwise, no balancing acid or residual sugar, with a watery light mouth feel.

In both cases, the winemakers got it wrong.  These are medium to highly priced wines, widely available in supermarkets, and the average wine punter has been let down.
As always, wine buying is a gamble if you can’t try before you buy. 

 

Phil runs the best Auckland wine & food tours for sure.

Wine Writers of New Zealand launches

 

In my capacity as sometime wine scribe, and for my sins, I have been invited to join the newly formed WWNZ – Wine Writers of New Zealand.  To my knowledge, this is the first formal wine writing association in NZ. 

 

The formal objectives are, broadly: to uphold a high standard of wine journalism, to encourage professional development amongst members, to provide members with a common voice, and to  deliver workshops, meetings, talks and tastings. 

 

Jane Skilton MW

Founding members also include Jo Burzynska AIWS, Michael Cooper ONZM, Emma Jenkins MW, Yvonne Lorkin, Jane Skilton MW, Cameron Douglas MS, Charmian Smith, John Hawkesby,  and Neil Hodgson. This is a really exciting development for New Zealand wine writing, and of course, I’m delighted to be on board with such a bunch of luminaries.

 

The launch was held at the Roxy restaurant in Fort Street, a suitably a (ahem) colourful area for a bunch of wine writers to launch their club.
The AGM was combined with a tasting of wines from local wine importers Dhall & Nash (www.dnfinewine.com)  a specialty fine wine importer supplying mail order and ‘on premise’ - that’s trade talk for licensed restaurants and cafés. They are a relatively new company, founded by Puneet Dhall and Brandon Nash.

 

Michael Cooper ONZ

 

The wines were in three flights of 6, including wines from France, Spain, Italy, USA, Chile, Argentina, and Australia.  They were all pretty stunning, but here’s a few highlights:

 

Billecart Salmon Brut Champagne NV France $160.00 This is a mouth-filling sparkler with a creamy texture and flavours of peach and nectarine with a hint of toast.

 

Alphonse Mellot Pouilly Fumé 2011 Loire France $45.00
From the home of Sauvignon Blanc – pale gold in colour, with a fruity but not acidic palate of white peach and apple.

Rene Mure Gewürztraminer 2011 Alsace France $28.50

Not much on the nose, but I caught a hint of lychee fruit.  However on the palate it really opened up with sweetness and flavours of crystallised ginger, lychee and sweet spices.

 

Domaine Albert Ponelle Mersault 2010  France $70.00
Chardonnay is the grape variety here.  Floral aromas and lengthy flavours and of peach and nectarine with a hint of spicy vanilla oak.

Cillar Des Silos Crianza 2008 Spain $39.95

Garnet red colour, with medium tannins, pot pourri aromas and flavours of black berry fruit with a hint of savoury spice.  Crianza reds have to be cellared for a minimum of two years by Spanish law.

 

Santa Ana La Mascota Malbec 2010 Argentina $28.50

A prime example of why South American Malbecs are so popular. Aromas of sultanas and black cherry, with ripe palate of chocolate, blueberry, and spice.

 

Cypres de Climens Barsac 2006 France $65.00

Barsac is very close to Sauternes, the fabled sweet wine from Bordeaux made from grapes affected by ‘noble rot’ – a fungus that extracts the water and intensifies sugar in the berries.  Orange gold in colour with intense sweet flavours of macerated dried fruit and honey.
 

Chambers  Rosewood Vineyards grand Muscat NV Rutherglen Australia $95.00
Rutherglen Muscat liqueurs are legendary, and this is a good example.  Deep brown in colour, very sweet with aromas and flavours of molasses, sultanas, and toasted nuts.

 

Phil Parker is a wine writer and operates boutique Fine Wine Tours in Auckland.

French wines in New Zealand

While we owe the majority of today’s wine making legacy in NZ to immigrants from Croatia’s Adriatic coast, there has been a Gallic wine influence here from early days. 

As early as 1838 French Catholic missionary priests arrived in NZ’s far north.  By 1858, the missionaries moved to Hawkes Bay and vines were planted there to produce both sacramental and table wines. And Mission Vineyards holds the record for the first commercial sale of wine in New Zealand in 1870. Today Mission Estate continues to produce wines and is Hawkes Bay’s oldest winery.  We also have some local immigrant French wine producers, for example Daniel Le Brun, Domaine Georges Michel, and Clos Henri – all from Marlborough.

For most of us with a limited wine budget, French wine has been pretty well out of reach for many years.  Though French wine imports are still lagging way behind Australia, Italy, and South America, we are starting to see some medium priced wines from France on the shelves of our wine specialty stores.  Some of them even, Sacré Bleu!! Under screw cap closure.

This month, I decided to pick three random French wines from my local Glengarry wine outlet and put them up against three of my favourite New Zealand wines.  As I had expected, the French white wines were more mineral and less fruit led.  The French red, by comparison stood up well as a fruity, ripe and very good value.

It does depend on the individual palate, but to my tastes I’ll stick to NZ white wines.  On the other hand we should be aware that there are some very good value French reds out there that will give our Pinot Noir and Syrah a run for their money - if you’re keen to hunt them out.

 

Laroche De La Chevalier Chardonnay  2011 $18.00
This one is an unpretentious Vin de Pays d’Oc (wine of the country) from the Languedoc-Roussillon region in region of Southern France. A crisp and mineral style of Chardonnay with some light oak flavours and a hint of quince and apple. Restrained and elegant rather than the in-your-face buttery fruit bomb style that can emerge from Gisborne or Hawkes Bay.  

Bourillon L’Indigene Vouvray 2004 $49.00

A bargain that I picked up in bin-end sale, and standing up very well for a nine year-old wine.  Vouvray is an appellation from the Touraine region of the Loire valley in France, and refers to wines made exclusively from Chenin Blanc and is often oak aged.  Still some pineapple fruit flavours with subtle yet integrated oak flavours.  Very reminiscent of an aged Chardonnay. 

St Cosme Little James’ Basket Press  Grenache $22.00
Château de St. Cosme is located in southern France’s Provence region. Another bargain. I took a punt on this one despite the cutesy label that features cartoon characters in the vineyard.  This is an NV wine i.e. non-vintage; a blend of different years’ Grenache.  Extremely good value. Very soft, ripe and drinkable with black berry fruits and savoury flavours. 

Rimu Grove Bronte Nelson Pinot Gris 2010 $23.00
Winemaker and owner, Patrick Stowe comes from a wine family from Napa USA.  One of my favourite wineries to visit in Nelson. This wine is light, elegant and crisp with flavours of mandarin, marzipan and apple.

Dry River Martinborough Craighall Riesling 2009 $45.00
I pulled this one out of my modest cellar, just to see how it was developing. Dry River recommends putting the Craighall 2009 away for five to seven years.  Still lots of fruit flavours there – lime, grapefruit and white peach with a strong backbone of minerality and mouth-watering crispness.

Valli Bannockburn Central Otago Pinot Noir 2011  $65.00
A classic Central Otago Pinot that ticks all the boxes.  Very soft ripe tannins, with flavours of tamarillo, ripe black cherry, stewed plum and a hint of vanilla oak.

Phil Parker is a wine writer and operates boutique Fine Wine & Food Tours in Auckland.

Kim Crawford's new Organic Venture - Loveblock

Recently I was lucky enough to be invited to an exclusive gathering at the Auckland home of Kim and Erica Crawford, for the launch of their new Loveblock label.  Kim’s previous label, Kim Crawford has been absorbed by USA’s massive Constellation Brands wine company (which also owns Nobilo NZ).

The new venture is a labour of love for Kim and Erica, with Kim returning to his winemaking roots and also taking up organic viticulture for the first time.  Says Kim,” My aim is to deliver to you, in the bottle, what the grapevine produces. It’s not up to me to be so presumptuous as to what the soil says is right.”  To that end, Loveblock wines incorporate organic and stringent biodynamic winegrowing practices.

Kim Crawford

 

Loveblock Farm comprises 73 northerly hectares overlooking Marlborough’s Awatere Valley.  Also a further eight hectares have been purchased in Central Otago’s Bendigo region – named the Someone’s Darling vineyard.

The Marlborough vineyard produces Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Chenin Blanc, plus a few unusual varieties such as Tempranillo, Gewürztraminer, Muscato and Saint Laurent.  The Someone’s Darling vineyard is dedicated solely to Pinot Noir.

Distribution is almost exclusively in the USA though Terlato Wines International.  Wine doyen, Anthony Terlato was in New Zealand for the launch and I had the privilege of interviewing him the day before.   

Tony Terlato

Tony Terlato is called ‘the Father of Pinot Grigio’ for introducing Italian Pinot Gris to the American market in 1979.  He is very impressed with the Loveblock range and will be importing Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. 

 

 

Loveblock Pinot Gris 2011 $23.95
Flora aromas with a delightful soft palate of poached pear, quince and a hint of Turkish delight.

Loveblock Gewürztraminer 2011 $23.95  
A medium sweet style with flavours of melon and spicy ginger cake, but with a clean slightly crisp finish.

Loveblock Bone Dry Riesling 2011 $23.95
A tiny 1.4 gram per litre of residual sugar (compare that to a can of Coke at 150 g/L).  Yet, surprisingly soft on the palate, with flavours and aromas of apple sauce, lime and honey.  Clean, dry finish.

Loveblock Sauvignon Blanc 2012 $23.95
Crisp and racy typical Marlborough style, with flavours of stone fruit, fig and tomato leaf. 

Loveblock Pinot Noir 2011 $33.95
My personal favourite out (of a great line-up).  Smoky spice aromas, with a glorious ripe, full palate of summer red fruits, with black cherry and mushroomy savoury hints. 

Phil Parker is a wine writer and operates Fine Wine Tours in Auckland.

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Wine Writing - Someone Has To Do It

I have always enjoyed writing, and over 30 years have had a rollercoaster ride in freelance journalism, including a winery travel guide book, The Mad Keen Wine Buff’s Road Trip (Random House2008) and two regular wine columns along with the odd feature article in daily papers.

Problem is – most wine writers are regarded as total tossers by the general public.

And not without good reason. There is a tendency for us to wax poetical about the aromatic and metaphoric virtues of wines in way which alienates the average drinker –i.e. somebody with a neck and a thirst. And to be totally honest, after three glasses of anything, subjectivity goes out the window because, well, wine contains alcohol.

This very fact is sadly overlooked by nearly all wine writers, who would rather say, “Subtle oak nuances flirt with the nose, while crème brulée and tropical fruit flavours predominate, and a symphony of citrus notes play on the mid-palate before a sunset of honeyed vanilla,”  than “This is a Chardonnay which will get you totally rat-arsed after two bottles.”

But then, most of your mates could say that, if they were intelligible – and it would neither be terribly interesting, amusing nor informative. So as a writer you are rather stuck with having to say something descriptive about the wine. But there is a standard vocabulary based on the Aroma Wheel (see: Google) developed at the University of California at Davis by professor emeritus Ann C. Noble. The good professor has obviously spent many an hour drinking good wine and analysing the aromas and flavours thereof.  This is extremely helpful when you try to describe in print how you interpret a particular wine and distinguish it from others. Each grape has its own flavours and characteristics just as a Granny Smith differs from a Braeburn apple, or a raspberry tastes different to a boysenberry.

Writers do have to try to convey something in print which evokes the very subjective experience of a glass of wine (or two). I always think it's akin to writing about music - trying to nail the ethereal in a pithy phrase.

Which means this article can now segue effortlessly into some comments about a few great wines I have tasted lately.

Matwhero Grüner Gisborne Veltliner 2012  $27.00

Grüner Veltliner originates in Austria and is still a pretty experimental variety in NZ.  Kumeu’s Cooper’s Creek winery were the first to produce one back on 2008.  This is a complex wine, just off-dry with some tropical fruit aromas, with a slightly herbal and citrus mouth-filling palate. 

Dry River Martinborough Pinot Gris 2011  $73.00
Delicious and drinking really well right now.  Golden in colour.  Aromas of pineapple and apple juice, a medium sweet palate of poached pear and honey with crisp citrus finish.

Waimea Estates Nelson Dolcetto 2011 $25.00
Another fairly rare grape variety – this one hails from northern Italy.
Dark and opaque, this is a full-bodied red style with black berry fruit and plum flavours. Spicy and earthy, it has firm tannins indicating it would cellar well for 3-4 years.

Heron’s Flight Matakana Sangiovese ‘Unplugged’ 2011 $25.00
Boutique north Auckland producer Heron’s Flight grow just two grapes – Dolcetto (as above) and the famous Tuscan red Sangiovese.  ‘Unplugged’ refers the fact that this wine spent just 2 weeks in oak – letting the ripe fruit speak for itself.  Lovely ripe black cherry flavours, floral aromas and ripe tannins make this a soft, too-easy to drink medium bodied red. 

Phil Parker is a wine writer and operates Fine Wine Tours in Auckland.