CHRISTMAS CHEER

We celebrated Christmas day with a bottle of Champagne. This was Louis Roederer Crystal 2000. It was a medium to pale gold colour, had a nice persisitent bead, a yeasty/bready nose verging on biscuity with a hint of lemon peel and a stern firm structure. The taste was rich and evolving becoming richer and creamier as it warmed in the glass but also finishing crisp and fresh.
We liked it.

OK, this was as one of the world's top Champagnes should taste like. What made even more special is that this wine was given to Lynn on her birthday nearly two years ago by her son shortly before he died. We have kept the wine waiting for the right time to open it. It was the right time.

COOKING

I watched Nigella Lawson making cocktails, soups and desserts earlier this evening.
Actually, I can't remember much about the dishes as I was just watching Nigella Lawson.
She is an incredibly beautiful woman. Her beauty though is not just 'skin-deep' and of course critics would say that she is now larger than life because of her appreciation of good food and wine. No, Nigella has a wonderful hedonistic appreciation of the good things in life and doesn't give a hoot about any critic's view of this. When drizzling a Stilton and cream topping onto a rich roasted vegetable soup she said " I know that this is very 80's but who cares" (or something like that). I like that.
As I prepared dinner (spaghetti Bolognaise for me and roasted potatoes, mini-sausages and peas for my visiting sister who thinks that spaghetti is way too exotic), I opened a bottle of Stonehaven Reserve Shiraz 2001 (Padthaway). Now this is a classic Australian wine but it was showing a bit of age. Still classy but getting a bit blowsy (aren't we all). In the best Nigella tradition I opened a bottle of 2007 Tempranillo (Altovela from La Mancha) and mixed it up with the Stonehaven. The result - sensuous and sinewy older Shiraz with robust and vibrant Tempranillo. Lawson would have approved.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

I would like the New Zealand wine industry to 'stick to the knitting' and do what it does best - make the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world, some of the most exciting Chardonnays and keep improving on the Pinot Noir offerings. We are still underdone in producing and marketing these varietals as well as the 'waiting in the wings' Riesling, Gewurztraminer and the Bordeaux blends.
Often too much resource is wasted on that godawful Pinot Gris and every now and then wine writers get all excited about emerging varietals like Viognier. Arneis is like this but perhaps has the advantage of being essentially an interesting enough varietal to justify experimentation and to be on offer from boutique producers.

The grape is Italian in origin from Piedmont in the north of Italy where it makes elegant white wines that have an almond and peach character. While it is made for white wine consumption it is mostly used as blending material with the more famous Nebbiolo red grape. Arneis generally tastes of pears, peaches and apples with a floral aroma and a slightly herbal edge. It often has the aforementioned almond character.

There are a few producers in the upper North Island growing Arneis and some interesting results have been seen.
Last night I opened a 2007 Kim Crawford 'Doug's Arneis' from Gisborne.
The wine was dry but had a fullness about it which came from the small amounts of Riesling and Gewurztraminer that have been added.
It had a beautiful pale green colour. There definitely was an almond character amidst the lovely floral aroma. The flavour was astounding - rich pears and peaches but with some nice citrus edges. With no oak ageing the wine was nevertheless full and powerful and almost chewy. It is well worth seeking out.

Now I hope that we don't get too excited about the prospects for Arneis and plant too much of it as has happened with Pinot Gris. I hope that it doesn't become a 'shelf-warmer' like Viognier, but I do hope that a few boutique producers continue to make some. I know that Kim Crawford is not a boutique producer. The brand is owned by Constellation NZ and produces hundreds of thousands of cases (mainly Sauvignon Blanc which is spot on), but the Kim Crawford viticulturists have traditionally kept in touch with very good growers like Doug and Delwyn Bell and manage to secure very small parcels of incredibly good fruit to add mystery and quality to their brand's offerings.

...WHERE EVERYONE GETS A BARGAIN

New Zealand must be the worst country in the world for retail sophistication.
Most differentiation between similar retail traders is on price. It is all price off, cheaper, on special etc. Just look at the stupid platform that stores like Bunnings operate on - "if you can find it cheaper elsewhere we will match the price". What crap. This ultimately means poor service because of reducing staff numbers or minimal wages paid (look at The Warehouse's current labour problem). It also means poor quality product as the cheapest produced items make up the bulk of the stock. Too frequent sales cycles is another problem. Kathmandu and Briscoes have given away franchise integrity by having 40% off sales. How can consumers believe that what they are buying is quality when this is the case and with the frequency no-one in their right mind would buy anything outside of a 'sale' period.
The wine industry has followed the same dreary path - lead by supermarkets. Now supermarkets set up the 'Wine Sale' concept a few years ago and found that there was a massive spike in sales. The frequency of the sales has increased to a point now when one of the chains is generally having a sale every couple of weeks. Once again anyone wanting to buy volumes of wine would be crazy to buy outside of the special cycles. The long-term result of this special ling though will be inferior product as wine companies will be forced to engineer the quality of the wine downwards to cut costs.

Now, for what I really want to say.
A week or so ago the National Wine competition results were published with details of the medal and trophy winning wines made available. A few years back these results were eagerly awaited by retailer and consumers. The retailer so as to secure the top wines and make good profit and to help leverage sales of other wines. Consumers to scramble to buy scarce and sought after product. Many years ago prices of trophy wines would inflate as some profiteering took place.
This year, as soon as the Gold Medal and Trophy wines were named several retailers (not supermarkets to blame this time) immediately advertised that the wines were on special at vastly reduced prices! How dumb is that? If we want to have a quality industry and to encourage winemakers to strive for the best this practice is self defeating.
Basically it is due to laziness and very pedestrian thinking. Retailers (of any sort) need to differentiate on all sorts of other things before price. Giving away margin is the simplest thing to do but ultimately the most costly as not only is the product being sold for less than it could or should be but brand franchise, store franchise and consumer loyalty are all put at risk.

MYSTERY WINE

Well its not a real mystery as to who drunk it - The Curmudgeon did and didn't save me a drop. The wine is/was Selaks Founders Reserve 2007 Hawkes Bay Chardonnay. This is from fruit grown on the Corner 50 vineyard that Constellation NZ own close to the Gimblett Road area known as the Triangle. Chardonnay from here is always ripe and full with a delicious stonefruit character (as opposed to the more grapefruit characters found in plantings further south. Constellation are sourcing all of their North Island Chardonnay from here and some other Hawkes Bay sites due to the consistency from year to year and the now mature vines.
The fruit for this wine should have been (if I had got to try it) rich with peach and butterscotch flavours offset by strong oak characters. The Founders Chardonnay is always heavily wooded. In its early stage the wood is quite dominant which I assume was the case here and not quite in balance (I hope Curmudgeon choked on the splinters). With time - possibly another 12 months the wood will integrate nicely with the fruit.

ELEVATOR WINE

CUB's (Foster's) new cheap wine brand 'Half Mile Creek' was created to compete with Hardys cheap ranges and to clear the lake of ordinary wine that they have on their hands.
Obviously a designer brand, it is pitched at the bottom end of the market. Winemaking input basically ceased as soon as the grapes were crushed and the stuff was in the tanks. From then on it is an accountants headache and the marketers responsibility. I don't know how much brainstorming went into the name choice but the cynic in me thinks that it went along the lines of this....
Accountant: We've got 10 million litres of this stuff. What are we going to do with it".
Production Guy: "Well, there's a creek a half a mile down the hill, why not just leave the valves open"
Marketing Guy: "Bingo!. Half Mile Creek. The punters will love it".

The marketing team then develop the label and write all sorts of crap describing the wines. They are careful not to ask the winemakers for input and so come up with descriptions like .."It has zesty, citrus flavours and a crisp, dry finish" - Yeah right.

They give the game away when even their own website, on the page dedicated to Half Mile Creek can only come up with : " Half Mile Creek is not complicated - it is an easy drinking wine that is good quality and affordable. The wines are made from the best, most popular varieties and have a focus on full fruit flavours and drinkability. The whites are fresh and vibrant while the reds are rich and warming.
Welcome to Half Mile Creek - where we pour everything into our wines.

Yes, I bet they do pour everything into these wines - sugar, sulphides, acid etc.

On a discussion website the marketers say about the brand "Half Mile was about taking out the confusion from the wine category and making it easier for people who have a small base knowledge of wine. With 5500 stockists selling Half Mile, the wine's drinkers don't necessarily have a great deal of expertise and tended to make their decisions on pricing and brand recognition".

CUB marketing director Steve Arthurson relaunched the wine in May with a substantial tasting program and a $1.1 million advertising campaign that gently poked fun at the snobbery surrounding wine - a direct pitch to those consumers who feel intimidated by wines in the upper price brackets but don't want to feel embarrassed at pulling it out at the barbecue.

This can be interpreted as "The schmucks we are targeting wouldn't know a good wine if they bit them on the arse so why not sell this stuff to them. We were only going to have to tip it out anyway".

2003 HAWKES BAY VINTAGE

One of my many readers has asked about the 2003 vintage from Hawkes Bay. This reader is obviously a little slow off the mark. Either that or he has been duped by supermarkets into buying old wine on special that hasn't sold previously due to inferior winemaking or vintage conditions. Sadly the latter applied in this case. 2003 was a difficult year for grape growers and winemakers in Hawkes Bay. Spring brought late frosts that destroyed a lot of grape potential and diminished the quality and quantity of the remainder. The warm summer looked promising but a wet Autumn (when the grapes are picked) negated the advantages of ripeness. Wet picking conditions give grape growers a double whammy. Humidity accompanies rainy conditions and encourages rot and fungal diseases of the grapes - imparting musty and unwanted 'honeyish' characters. Rain also gathers in the bunches and when harvested has a dilution effect on the juice from the crush reducing the intensity of fruit flavours.
Not all wine from this vintage was poor. The best wines stemmed from careful vineyard maintenance and there were some superb examples. Careful vineyard maintenance however means high input costs so these wines are expensive, Remember that I said late Spring frosts also reduced quantity so the best wines were also scarce. It is highly unlikely that our reader discovered an exceptional 2003 Hawkes Bay wine on special at his supermarket. Well done that reader though in feeling confident to ask the question. Keep those queries coming in folks.