CLASSICS?

I went to a wine tasting last night the theme of which was 'Coopers Classics' being a selection of New Zealand wines that have been labelled as 'Classics' by wine writer Michael Cooper in his wine atlas.
As a group we taste these wines 'blind' with only the cellar master knowing the identity of each. The challenge for this tasting was to identify varietal, region and if possible the producer of each wine.

We always have a pair of pre-tasters (not tasted blind) before each tasting and this time it was a pair of Rieslings (also rated as classics by Cooper).
These showed the diversity in NZ winemaking and styles. Both were superb examples of Riesling at different ends of the spectrum. The first was Dry River Craighall 2007 from Martinborough. This was a mineral and rich Riesling, almost austere in its structure and finish. At 12.5% alc. it was rich and strong somewhat like an Alsatian wine.
The second wine was Felton Road 2008 from Central Otago. Also rich and full this wine had a lemon meringue character and finished sweet but with a delicious acid edge. The low alcohol (9.5%) gave it a Germanic character.
These two wines were faultless and a superb illustration of what NZ can deliver.

The next flight of 6 wines were all served blind.

First was a Chardonnay which I immediately thought was a good Hawkes Bay style. It was rich and round with good butterscotch characters. It turned out to be from Nelson and was Neudorf Moutere Chardonnay 2007, their top label. I rated this my second equal best wine of the night at 18.5 points (92.5 on the Parker scale). Oh well, at least I recognized it as a good Chardonnay.

The second wine I crashed and burned on. I (and others) thought that it was a Viognier. It was slick and almost unctuous. I guessed it as Gisborne fruit. It turned out to be Odyssey Iliad Chardonnay 2007 from Gisborne. I rated this my lowest wine of the night at 17.5 (88). Odyssey Iliad is the wine that was rated a classic and has dropped off the list. This may be a reflection of the difficulty in maintaining consistency year to year with Gisborne Chardonnay due to rainy harvest times.

The next wine I am pleased to say I nailed as being Ata Rangi Pinot Noir 2007 from Martinborough. This is a dense berry and herbal tinged wine. Firm with a slight medicinal character (microbiological?) this is a stunner. I rated it my top wine of the night at 19 points (95).

Next was a wine I guessed at Hawkes Bay Syrah. I thought it could have been Te Mata Bullnose or Craggy Range. It turned out to be the Te Mata Bullnose Syrah 2007. It had a sweet, caramel fudge aroma. It was a bit green and young but may develop into something quite good. I gave it 18 points (90).

Next was what I picked as a Merlot predominant Hawkes Bay red. I didn't have a stab at the brand but guessed it to be from the Villa Maria stable. This turned out to be correct as it was Esk Valley (owned by V/M) Reserve Merlot Cabernet 2005. It had a dense nose and a rich, plum pudding character. It was a bit light in the mid=palate but finished sweet and nice. I gave it 18.2 (91).

The last wine was very good. It was my second equal wine at 18.5 points (92.5). I correctly guessed it as a Hawkes Bay Bordeaux blend but was unsure of the label. It was Esk Valley 'The Terraces' 2004 Malbec/Merlot/Cabernet Franc. It had a lifted almost peppermint nose mixed with chocolate and a solid structure. Lovely.

This was a good tasting. Those who are familiar with serious blind tasting know that we can be very, almost overly, critical of wines when we are dissecting them and applying scores. Some of the best and most expensive wines in the world can be given low scores. When the same wines are tasted with the labels shown or with food, they can seem superb. These New Zealand wines, under harsh evaluation all showed up brilliantly to high silver or gold standard. They are 'Classics' and fortunately we have a lot more of them on offer.

GREAT WINE, GREAT DINNER - NO HANGOVER

We opted for Lanson Black Label NV starter and Henschke Hill of Grace Shiraz 1992 last night.
The Lanson was good as usual. It has some age on it (I bought it 2 years ago) and it is rounding out a bit - not oxidative but has a richer character than when it is first released. Lanson is one of the few non-malolactic fermentation Champagnes and when new is very crisp and fresh.

The 1992 Hill of Grace was stunning. This wine is 17 years old and still very rich and alive. It had a deep crimson colour suggesting a much younger wine. The aroma was very fragrant and almost heavy with cherries and blackcurrants. The taste was very fruity suggesting a wealth of dark fruits (plums blackberries and cherries. There were no rough edges to it and the soft tannins made for a lovely full finish. No wonder people pay so much for this wine. The current sell price for the 1992 is between 400 and 500 dollars.

Her Indoors excelled with the meal. I like simple foods and opt for Schnitzel for special occasions. Often buying good schnitzel is difficult and we don't like to opt for the milk-fed veal variant. H.I. chose a piece of beef fillet which she sliced thinly and coated in egg, breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. It was delicious and very, very tender. I won't waste time trying to buy schnitzel from now on. I will buy the best piece of fillet and slice it very thinly like she did.
For dessert H.I. mad a Napoleon cake (layers of pastry and sponge cake with jam (cherry) and cream in between. Scrumptious.

No hangover this morning - a mark of both moderation and good wine.

ITS MY BIRTHDAY TODAY

I won't have a cake with candles because of the fire risk but Her Indoors is cooking a special birthday dinner for me.
I will raid the wine cellar for some delectables. Possibilities are - Roederer Champagne for starter and either Sassicaia or Hill of Grace for main. We have some nice sweet wines but probably won't open one with dessert as its a bit over the top. If we do it might be an Inniskillen.

Berrocca for breakfast.

THE WIZARDRY OF OZ

The Australian wine industry has taken a hammering recently after a decade of greedy corporates over planting programmes. These were to chase high volumes and market share particularly in the UK but unfortunately the targets were supermarket specials and promotions and ultimately cheaper sales. The over supply has led to falling grape prices and an unsustainable vineyard industry which is now resulting in growers selling up and moving on. That's the bad news. The good news is that Australia still produces some of the world' s nicest wines. Sure, we have had a flood of over-engineered jammy Shiraz and blowsy Chardonnay but at the top end there are some very affordable gems. Over the last couple of years I have moved away from drinking Australian wines, preferring NZ and European styles. Last night we opened a 2001 Saltrams No. 1 Shiraz. As I was decanting it (into my magic silver funnel), the wonderful aroma of mint, berries and sweet oak floated up. Beautiful. We took the wine to a BYO seafood restaurant in Herne Bay (disappointing - I had a beans and rice dish!). It was everything that the aroma promised. Structured but with an elegant finish. Rich but not porty. This was a truly delicious wine. When we got home we decided to open another Oz red (there were 4 of us), and chose a 2000 Rosemount Balmoral Syrah. The McLaren Vale shiraz was quite different from the Saltrams Barossa Shiraz. It was firmer, more solid and definitely more 'Rhone-like' The Saltrams had sweetness and drinkability , the Rosemount was more for savouring. Both wines punched above their weight and I am now looking forward to further plundering the cellar.

FIRST CATCH YOUR FISH

Here is a great recipe for freshly caught trout that I used when fishing years ago. When I say recipe, it wasn't from a book or anything it was just kind of instinctive.

1 trout (any size)
salt
pepper
lemon juice
butter
wine
foil wrap
fire

First catch your trout, clean it, lay it on foil,rub with butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, squeeze a lemon or two over it, add a splash of wine, wrap it up and put on a BBQ or fire. Cook it. When cooked eat it.

Complicated I know but it works. I cooked this somewhere near the Tongariro River back in the mid 70's. I had gone on a fishing trip with Chris and Sue Prowse and I think Robert Prowse (Rob, do you remember?). We went to a spot Chris knew of beside a tributary stream off the Tongariro. It was about 10 minutes from Turangi. One evening I caught a medium sized trout which we cooked. I also caught a large trout, the stuff of legend but had it stolen. When I put it on the bank and went back into the water to try my luck again, I had my back turned to it. Something (a noise or a sense) made me turn around and I saw that my trout had gone and I saw a ferret (stoat or weasel) disappearing into the bushes with it in its mouth. It must have been a strong little animal as the trout was huge (and got bigger with the re-telling).
When I went back to the camp the others didn't believe my story (philistines). They were lucky that I shared my other trout with them. The wine was probably a Penfold's Autumn Riesling which I remember as being delicious.
It was also on this trip that I discovered the benefit of very cold running water. In the morning while boiling water for tea/coffee I managed to spill a boiling pot over on my arm. I immediately plunged it into the nearby stream and kept it in there for ages. The water was so cold that I could that I lost feeling in my arm but when I finally withdrew it I had no pain or blistering.

CHARDONNAY CONSUMPTION INCREASES BY ALMOST 100%!

....at our house. Her indoors has gotten over the Pinot Gris craze and rediscovered Chardonnay. This is good news in that I no longer mistakenly pour myself a bloody Pinot gris from that bottle in the fridge but but bad news in that there is rarely any Chardonnay left over to put in the fridge. Fortunately though there are plenty of good wine deals going with Chardonnay at the fore to enable us to 'trade-up' for the everyday drinking version. Over the last couple of years I have waited for the supermarket wine sales to stock up on good wine offerings. I know that this is kind of against my principles in that the same supermarkets are destroying our wine industry (see previous post 'Mea Culpa' , but the bargains (if approached selectively) are there to be had. Now, due to looming wine surpluses, the self-same greedy supermarkets and the number of wine companies desperate to move stock, the bargains can now be found on the wine Internet sites and in wine retailers. Recently I have bought some very good Chardonnays at vastly reduced prices from non-supermarket sources.

First example is 2007 Te Mata Elston Chardonnay bought from Caro's in Parnell. This is one of New Zealand's top Chardonnays and invariably 'delivers'. I bought this for about $24 a bottle. Normal price is $35 to $40.
(A sideline to this brand is that about 10 years or so ago we went to Iguasu in Parnell for Saturday afternoon tapas and ordered a bottle of Elston. It was corked. We ordered another and this was corked. We ordered a third and this was also corked. I concluded that a poor batch of corks (not Te Mata's fault as they pay top dollar for the best) led to a discrete batch of wine being contaminated. TCA (the chlorine compound that leads to 'corkiness 'in wine) is very pervasive and will contaminate anything surrounding it. If a piece of cork is suspect it will contaminate the other corks in the bag. When wine is bottled the run is done using corks from the one bag or container. This means that it is usual to see 'corked' wines being run off the bottling line close together and often to be in the same carton. Iguasu staff, to give them credit, uncomplainingly replaced each bottle until I called a halt and switched to another brand. This meant that 1. they understood TCA taint, and, 2. they had confidence in Te Mata as a brand. A reliabe wine company guarantees to replace corked or faulty product.)

Second example is Matua Valley Mathesons Chardonnay 2007. I bought this from the internet supplier 'The wine Importer' for about 13 dollars a bottle (normally about 23 dollars). This is a meaty, woody and big Chardonnay that is worth the $20+ tag and a veritable bargain at $13.

Third example is Pencarrow Chardonnay 2007 Chardonnay purchased fom Glengarry at $9.90 a bottle (normally about $19). This is a great bargain. Good Martinborough Chardonnay from a top producer (Palliser) that is fresh, vibrant and very, very drinkable.



The bargains won't last forever as when wineries run out of their expensively produced wine that they are forced to sell at ridiculously cheap prices they will engineer the newer vintages at lesser costs and subsequently at lesser quality. They will do this to meet the demand retail prices.

Buy judiciously (feel free to ask me for advice).

THE WINE BORE 2

Maurice had a wine collection. Maurice was into hoarding. Maurice pontificated about it. In truth Maurice was boring.
Have you ever been on the receiving end of a (one-sided) discussion of a wine cellar and the treasures lying therein? Wine bores are good at telling everyone about the great wines that they have had or that they have in their cellar. Often though the wines in the cellar are 'not ready to drink yet' and the wines drunk no-one else seems to have been present to remember the occasion. A wine bore treats wines like a stamp collection- carefully looking at the label before putting the precious bottle back. If being hosted by a wine bore you are likely to be regaled with stories of the world's great wines whilst being offered a 'precocious little' Spanish or Chilean number that the host 'discovered. Keep me away from them please.