A
s the year draws to a close, I thought it
would be great to share what the Tairua
Wine Club has been up to throughout
the year! The Club meets monthly at Shells
Restaurant in Tairua –wine tasting paired with
a fantastic courses prepared specially by Chef
Nathaniel Blomfield.
Most recently in September, we were privileged
to have Misha and Andy Wilkinson (shown
above) present a stunning array of wines from
Misha’s Vineyard
located in Central Otago’s
Bendigo region. While Misha’s early aspirations
of ballerina stardom may have failed when she
grew too tall, nothing failed with the range of
wine we tried that night. With expert winemaker
Olly Masters on board, all the Misha’s Vineyard
wines ‘performed’ with distinction.
Wine of the night was the 2012 medium dry
Limelight Riesling, with a tightly fought contest
for second between The Starlet Sav Blanc
and Dress Circle Pinot Gris. With three Pinot
Noirs to sample, members were spoiled for
choice, with Verismo living up to its stunning
reputation – their 2010 Verismo Pinot Noir
picked up a Gold Outstanding medal at
the 2013 International Wine and Spirit
competition in London where only 2 medals
of this calibre were awarded!! (Note how
Misha’s theatrical background is revealed
through the choice of names for the wines.)
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
We started off in February with a visit from
Heather Stewart of Marlborough’s
St Clair
Winery
showcasing their Pioneer Block range.
Their Gruner Veltliner is a lovely textural wine
with flavours of peach nectar and orange
blossom which had a lovely lingering
finish. The wine of the night was the
Block10, 2012 Chardonnay. Our
members loved this wine, worthy of its
gold awards from Air NZ Wine Awards
and the NZ International Wine show.
In March, we tasted wines side-by-
side from
Tiki Estate.
This was an
excellent exercise between the Tiki
Estate and their Single Vineyard
wines. Tiki uses fruit from Central
Otago, Marlborough and Waipara,
so we tasted the regional
variances with their Pinot Gris
and Pinot Noirs. Wine of the
night was the very elegant Koro
Central Otago Pinot Noir with its
bright red fruit and spicy
aromatics.
April’s Wine Club was the much anticipated
visit from Hawkes Bays winery,
Elephant Hill.
Cold Beer // Wine // Spirits
RTDs //Non-Alcoholic
Presenter Steve Olley was very passionate about
his product – with good reason! Three wines
vied for wine of the night with the stunning 2011
Chardonnay just winning over the Le Phant
Blanc (a mixture of Viognier, Pinot Gris and
Gewurztraminer) and the Le Phant Rouge – a
classic blend of Merlot, Malbec, Cab Sav and
Cab Franc. Also special was Elephant Hill’s
Viognie, which has since picked up 5 stars from
both
Winestate
and
Cuisine
magazines.
Babich Winery
was on for May, with a tightly
fought contest between the 2011 Hawkes Bay
Irongate Chardonnay and the off-dry 2011
Marlborough Cowslip Valley Riesling. Both wines
have been well awarded by the wine industry,
and it was easy to see why upon sampling.
The Riesling had great acid balance, was crisp
and lingered in the mouth; and the Chardonnay
was great on the nose and offered the palate a
luscious and textured mouthfeel with members
pining for more!
Aromatic fans were in heaven in June
when the delightful Anna Flowerday from
Marlborough’s oldest boutique winery,
Te
Whare Ra
, paid us a visit. I have always
rated the wines from this winery and was
not disappointed with what we sampled.
This time, four wines competed for top
honours with the 2012 Gewurztraminer
just holding off the juicy 2013 Sav Blanc,
the finely structured 2013 Pinot Gris and
the fabulous 2013 Dry Riesling. Anna got
us thinking when she asked to liken their
wines to a famous person … fancy having your
chardonnay described as an Anna Nicole Smith!
Having to top Anna Flowerday’s presentation
in July was Marlborough’s larger-than-life Brian
Bicknell from
Mahi Winery
– with his two
Chardonnay offerings triumphing over another
Gewurztraminer! Brian had a wee surprise for
our members when he offered up 8 different tank
samples of Sav Blanc and then got the tables to
blend their signature Sav’s for judging. Seriously,
there are a lot of people out there who shouldn’t
give up their day jobs!
In August Olivia Herbert came to present wines
from Central Otago’s
Amisfield Winery
. Club
members did a side-by-side tasting exercise
with wines from the Amisfield and Lake Hayes
range. The 2012 Amisfield Dry Riesling was the
stand-out performer, with the barrel-influenced
Amisfield Pinot Gris coming in second.
With two more Wine Club meetings yet to come
this year, I want to thank Chef Nathaniel and his
team at Shells, who month-after-month deliver
delicious food matches and terrific table service.
Christmas is looming – an opportune time to
buy some of these wines, suitable gifts for those
important people in your life! And keep your eyes
on the
Cuisine
stand for offerings of top rated,
newly released, 2014 vintage wines to try.
Golddiggers will also be stocked with
holiday gift boxes – sure to
please!
Gary Barker, Wine Club organiser (right), recaps
a successful evening in September with Andy
and Misha Wilkinson of Misha’s Vineyard (at left),
located in the Central Otago region of South
Island unique in the use of fabric fences to block
winds that rail down the river valley (above).
DISCOVERING GEMS with the
TAIRUA WINE CLUB
Elegant design instills all aspects
of this Hawkes Bay winery.
by Gary Barker
Manager of
Golddiggers in Tairua
26
COROMANDEL LIFE LATE SPRING/HOLIDAY