Wines of NZ

March 31st
Waiheke Island

Paradise.  Pure paradise.  Waiheke Island is a 45 minute ferry ride from Half Moon Bay (the fabulous harbour down the road from us).  Of course, it isn't cheap to get there but just knowing a beautiful island is only a short ferry away adds to the allure of this amazing city!

We had a gorgeous day for it as well.  The day really started when we waved "ciao" to the kids and wonderful babysitter Ashleigh and bolted for the ferry!  That was 12 noon --

Views of Waiheke Island as we cruised into harbour on the ferry...

Sealink Ferry...

More views from the ferry...

Yet more views from the ferry!!!

When we arrived on the island, we took a free shuttle into a little town.  We bought a bottle of wine, went to a beautiful beach and ate a picnic lunch.  Feeling fully relaxed, we got on our yellow tour bus and went to vineyard #1...

The beach we had our picnic lunch on...

Another view of the beach...

The yellow tour bus!

 Kennedy Point Vineyard & Olive Grove   www.kennedypointvineyard.co.nz
Charming, intimate, delightful.  Had we known about the location, we might've arranged to meet the tour here.  Turned out it was a short walk up from the ferry at Kennedy Point!  We all have filed this fact in our brains for another day... The vineyard was very small and completely organic, with three cows on the land to provide the fertilizer!  We tasted three or four wines (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir & a Syrah). They all pleased the palate... They also produce olives and we were able to snack on bread and a variety of oils. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and gracious - great start to the tour!

Naughty Ben, trying to knick the grapes!!

Obsidian Vineyard   www.obsidian.co.nz
We then got back on the bus to get to our second vineyard, which was nestled in a valley with hills all around.  It had a great atmosphere to it.  "Mr. Kitty", the fat vineyard cat, schmoozed amongst us until the little vineyard dog chased her away.  We didn't think she could move that fast...  The wines here were lovely too.  I didn't have a 'cheat sheet' to write notes or remind me about what we tasted, so I don't recall the exact wines we had.  Sorry!!  Suffice to say, we really enjoyed this place, we tried a couple more wines than at the previous place and all of them were decent and enjoyable!  Our hosts were fabulous - no complaints!

A view of the covered vines

My personal server John - bringing me my taste of wine #1!

One of our gracious hosts - married a Canadian woman from NS!

Saratoga Estate   www.saratogaestate.com/
Our initial reaction to arriving here was more of a WOW feeling.  Everything seemed right - it had character, it was buzzing with people, the scenery was beautiful.  The vineyard was much larger scale than the first two we visited - impressive machinery was on display throughout, and it even had a vineyard kitten (orange tabby that nearly came home with me).  However, I have to say our tour guide didn't come across as particularly enthusiastic about us being there and the wines we were given to taste really weren't that good.  What should've been 'icing on the cake', the perfect place to end the tour, was disappointing.

Regardless of the last vineyard, the day was absolutely brilliant and I wouldn't hesitate to do something like that again, or recommend to anyone to do this!  What would make the experience all the more enjoyable would be to spend a weekend in a "bach" (as they call cabins here) by the beach and leisurely tour around the island. Paradise. Pure paradise!!

January 20^th

Central Otago...

On our way to Dunedin, from Queenstown, we made a detour through Clyde to visit two vineyards highly recommended by Ben.  

Two Paddocks:  Two Paddocks is owned by the actor Sam Neil.  It was a very quiet and peaceful vineyard, a great place to eat our picnic lunch before sampling the liquid treasures!  We were greeted by a lovely young Irish woman who talked about the vineyard, the history, etc… We enjoyed three wines: (i) a Reisling which was delightfully fruity but dry.  We liked it so much we bought a bottle!  We also loved the two Pinot Noirs; (ii) the Picnic Pinot which was made with younger grapes – it was light and exceptionally drinkable; and (iii) the Two Paddocks Pinot (their premier wine), made with older grapes - exceptionally drinkable… not too heavy but more body to it than the first. 

Two Paddocks

Two Paddocks tasting counter

The view from Two Paddocks

Black Ridge: We left Two Paddocks very satisfied and went to find Ben’s all time favourite vineyard.  We only sampled their two Pinot Noirs, one from younger grapes (Conroy), one from more mature grapes.  The Conroy was not as notable as the second one but they were both really wonderful reds.  

Black Ridge's Cellar Door

The tasting counter...

January 16^th

Lake Wanaka...

Rippon Vineyard, Lake Wanaka:  Lake Wanaka was beautiful from every angle, and the angle from Rippon Vineyard was no exception.  Perhaps it was the best view!   

Rippon Vineyard tasting counter

The view from the vineyard - you can see Ruby Island!

Another angle of the view - SIGH!

Rippon Vineyard Venue

And along with a great view, the wines we tasted here were really great too.  This place was literally across the street from our campground - how convenient!  Unfortunately I did not take great notes here.  Sofia managed to find the one muddy area on the entire dry hill and slip in it. So, I spent some time in the bathroom cleaning her and her clothes up.  But…  suffice to say we enjoyed an Osteiner (hybrid wine – don’t ask me what that means) which we liked.  The Sauvignon Blanc was great too.  There was a Rose wine that I didn’t care for particularly.  Then we finished with two Pinot Noirs – a young and a mature, like most vineyards offer.  Enjoyable!

January 9, 2012

Wines of Marlborough…

Take out your atlas.  Find New Zealand.  Go to the south island.  Look at the northern part of the south island for a place called Blenheim.  For folks who like wine, this just might be wine heaven (although Ben will argue wine heaven is near his hometown of Clyde in Otago!).  I have no idea exactly how many vineyards there are – let’s just say there are lots!! Maybe over 70??  The terrain is lovely.  Green vineyards and cherry farms abound.  The land is sort of flat (for New Zealand) with mountains in the horizon.  It is actually a familiar feeling for me… I could almost be somewhere in the western Canada, except then I see the palm trees.

New Years Day 2012

The year started out bright and cheerful.  Our day in Blenheim was filled with laundry and reorganizing suitcases in preparation for our trip to Mistletoe Bay.   After the chores were done, we were able to squeeze in a visit to two vineyards. 

1.      Highfield:  The views from this rather upscale feeling vineyard were really something.  The kids played tag among the grape vines while we tried seven wines – Cuvée Brut (2011) which was gorgeous; two Sauvignon Blancs from 2010 and 2011 – lovely, lovely, lovely; 2009 Chardonnay – not lovely – I just don’t like Chardonnay; 2008 Pinot Noir – DELISH, with a hefty price to match; 2011 Rosé – nice but a bit sweet; 2011 Riesling – again nice but sweet (maybe this would be nice with some really sharp cheddar!).

Beautiful vineyards at Highfield's...

2.      Brancott:  I went through a phase long ago in Memphis where I would buy a Brancott Sauvignon Blanc quite regularly.  Some of the wines (e.g. Festival Block) we were able to taste are not available in the United States.  The two in particular that are not available in the US include Montana Festival Block Sauvignon Blanc (2010) and the Triplebank Awatere Valley Pinto Noir (2010).  Both very enjoyable.  The other three we tried included the Estate Showcase Sauvignon Gris (2010); Triplebank Awatere Valley Pinot Gris (2011) and a Rosé.  The wines were good, but I preferred those from Highfield a little more.  The kids had a blast at this place as there was a play area.  We found them pelting each other with plastic balls – all eyes intact, everyone laughing – not a bad way to spend part of the day!!

Enjoying the tastes of Brancott!

January 5, 2012

Keeping in mind there are four children in our current clan of eight, it makes it difficult to spend as much time touring and tasting the wines of the various vineyards.  The kids were troopers day 1 of wine tasting but of course, they weren’t thrilled when we told them our plans of visiting THREE vineyards.  The promise of ice cream and a visit to the local chocolate factory helped a great deal.

3        Cloudy Bay:  This place was really pretty, spacious, obviously used to crowds and pushing people through the tasting experience.  As we walked in, we could envision weddings being held on the large grassy terrace.  There was space for kids to play and one couple looked rather idyllic on their picnic blanket with their toddler running around.  We tried a “non-vintage” Pelorus (non-vintage meaning not from a particular year and made using a mix of grapes).  It was bubbly and dry.  A good start!  We then tried the Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc (2011) – very decent.  There were four others: Pelorus Vintage 2006 (bubbly and delish); Cloudy Bay Te Koko 2008 (supposed to be their outstanding wine – neither Ben nor I cared that much for it); Cloudy Bay Pinot Gris 2009 (OK but nothing unusual); and then the Pinot Noir (2009) which was (as expected) lovely.

Large wine tasting bar at Cloudy Bay

Kids enjoying the large garden swings

4.      Hunter’s:  Whatever intimacy lacked at Cloudy Bay was made up ten fold at Hunter’s.  The woman giving the tasting was extremely knowledgeable, personable, didn’t rush, etc…  She had many stories to tell about the vineyard’s history: Ernie Hunter was a young man with a dream of making the best wine in NZ and exporting it to the world.  Shortly after winning a prestigious wine award in Europe (to the French and German’s disbelief) he was killed in a car accident at the age of 37.  His wife Jane, who had grown up in a wine-making family, took the helm and made sure his dream came true.  As for the wine: there were a great many to taste (too many for me – I will highlight most but not all from their tasting list).  In a wine book, the “must try” was their Reisling .  We did try it and found it was on the drier side for a Reisling and very citrusy, as were most of their white wines (something about the soil and their grapes). I thought it wasn’t half bad.  Then came a non vintage “MiruMiru” (Maori word, translates to “bubbles” which seems to be the Kiwi word for ‘champagne’) – lovely, not overly bubbly and dry; Sauvignon Blanc (2011) which John really liked; Chardonnay 2009 (why did I bother?!); Gewurztraminer 2010 which was very different, a spicy wine; and a couple Pinot Noirs (2010 & 2008) – both very different and both very lovely.

The intimate Hunter's tasting table...

5.      St. Claire Vineyard:  Our last tasting venue offered only four tastings (thankfully!) and we later relaxed on their terrace with a cheese plate and glass of Sauvignon Blanc.  The St. Clair wines that you might find in North America include their Vicar’s and Premium range.  They are blended wines.  The Pioneer wines are made from a single grape and these are not exported.  We started with their Reisling (sweet); Premier Block Sauvignon Blanc which was, as the lady said, very passionfruit driven; Pinot Noir (Reserve) which was good; Merlot – after the Pinot I wasn’t too keen.  I think the last two were Pioneer wines that are not exported.  We also learned from our host that the Pinot Noirs in Marlborough are very different to those found in Otago.  This of course isn’t surprising – we look forward to testing them when we head south as Otago is known for their Pinots!   

Enjoying a glass of sauvignon blanc & cheese/pate platter...

January 8, 2012

After the wet weather moved in and forced us to pack up at the Little Kaiteriteri  beach, we began our drive back to Nelson.  Ben took us to a vineyard he and Lisa had visited years back, which proved to be simply idyllic and the wine matched its charm!  

6.      Neudorf Vineyard: Our tasting host was a hockey fan (yeah??) originally from Minnesota.  We started with two Rieslings that were actually very good.  The Brightwater (2010) was dry; the Moutere (2010) was sweeter, but finished surprisingly dry.  The Maggie’s Block Pinot Gris (2011) was dry and very enjoyable; the Moutere (2011) Pinot Gris was unlike any Pinot Gris I’ve had – hard to describe but it was perhaps stronger, sharper than the usual light taste.  The Sauvignon Blanc (2011) neither impressed nor disappointed – it lacked that je ne sais quoi!!  But the Pinot Noir selections were wonderful.  Tom’s Block (2009) was the cheaper of the two; Moutere (2010) was more expensive with the grapes grown in clay soil.  Lisa and I were both driving so the boys each enjoyed a glass of the Tom’s Black Pinot Noir as we retired to the covered terrace with cheese and bread – a great way to spend the latter part of a Sunday afternoon!  

What first greets you at Neudorf...

Our American wine tasting host

Children being seen but not heard!! 

January 9, 2012

We did it! We squeezed one last vineyard in before leaving Blenheim.  Although probably not our favourite, it was a only five minutes from “home” and a great reward for the housecleaning we’d just finished! 

7.      Wither Hills Vineyard:  Right away I noticed the label on the wine bottles as very familiar.  Without a doubt I have seen Wither Hills wines at home.  The tasting started with Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc (2011).  John called it bland – I think perhaps it was just smooth and light.  Nothing outstanding but completely drinkable.  Next was the Rarangi Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc (2010) which was completely different from any Sauvignon we’ve tasted!  The wine host showed us a soil profile that these grapes grew in and it literally looked like pea gravel! It was very earthy and only available in specialty stores and restaurants.  We tried the Chardonnay but I regretted it immediately.  I just can’t speak kindly to them.  I don’t like them.  I guess I keep hoping I might find one I like.  The Wither Hills 2011 Pinot Gris was surprisingly sweeter and fruitier than what I am used to, while the Reisling (2009) was drier!  The Reisling had a very strange smell (or bouquet), almost petroleum in nature, which turned me off. But we were assured it is quite nice with food.  Finally we had the good fortune of enjoying their Pinot Noir from 2009, 2008 and then finally 2006.  All varied quite a bit, with the last one exhibiting more body, more tannins.   I learned that their Sauvignon Blanc wines are blended to ensure consistency year to year, but their Pinot Noir wines vary greatly from year to year.

When I go to Buster's or Joe's in Memphis, I usually head straight to the New Zealand wines as I'm rarely disappointed!  Rumour has it that the best NZ wines are never exported... I look forward to finding out!