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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