Topic: TN: Wellington Offline 9/11/00 (looong)
Author: Lu Stoddart, NZ
Date: Thu Nov 9 09:44:33 2000
Up on the board in record time, I''ll wager.
Not being Chris Coad, I''ll refrain from recording the entire night''s activities and stick to the wine consumed. Present to consume New Zealand''s finest were Sue Courtney, Lance Joe and partner Cassie, Rauno Engel, Mike Parker, and guests of honour Robin Garr and Jenise and Bob Stone, as well as your humble scribe.

All started with a bang at the Apollo Lodge where Robin, Sue, Jenise and Bob were staying, with a Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvee NV (Victoria), pale, fine of mousse and texture, with floral (orange blossom) and lemon notes tinged with yeast and brioche. A delicate, balanced wine, quite primary but with potential. B+. Following that was a pre-opened bottle of Margrain Late Harvest Chenin Blanc 2000, (Martinborough), for which the tag Late Harvest is most definitely a misnomer. Rich apple, pear, apricot, citrus with slight honeycomb. A wine with good length and weight, quite high acidity which needs to come together a little. A touch of botrytis and 20g/l residual (at 13.5% abv) is perhaps what made them call it Late Harvest. B. From there it was into riesling territory, with Felton Road Dry Riesling 2000 (Central Otago, 12.5% abv), which is every bit as good as the 1999. Complex nose of fruit and minerals, with apples, dried apricot, spice, minerals and smoke in wonderful balance with intense acidity. Long, rich-textured, exceptionally well balanced, and totally dry. Stunning juice, and if I could buy more, I would. A+. Every time I drink this wine I realise why I love Riesling.

From there, we met at the restaurant. Proceedings were opened with Cuvee Dom Perignon 1985, a rich but very subtle and well balanced wine with extremely fine bead, lovely brioche, toasted nut, citrus creme brulee character. Long, elegant, majestic wine which really deserves its place at the top. A+. A privilege to drink.
And onwards, taking a deep breath...
Fromm La Strada Riesling 1998 (Marlborough, 9% abv) Intense floral and mineral nose, with honeysuckle, lime, melon, slight toast, apricot hints. About 30g/l sugar, by my estimate. Again, this is intense, beautifully balanced wine with gorgeous length and focus. A.
Dry River Craighall Riesling 1989 (Martinborough, $10.5% abv). A very developed, complex wine with strongcaramel, honey, toast and spice notes with the baked apples and stonefruits which make up the core. About 10-15 g/l sugar, which has contributed to the caramelised character of the wine. Brevity on the finish, coupled with rather wacky acid makes this less than stunning, for me. B(+).
Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne 1995, (Victoria). Gorgeous peaches and cream nose, with creme brulee hints, burnt honey, ornage, mango, spices and smoke. Full, rich and creamy, it''s a big softie of a wine in the mouth, with lovely fruit, vanillin characters which would convince the newcomer that it''s seen oak (which it hasn''t) and oxidative characters just starting to add a little depth. Stunning wine, with exceptional structure and plenty of life ahead. A.
Clearview Reserve Chardonnay 1996 (Hawke''s Bay). Subtle nut and butter nose, with lemon and peach in the background. Still very primary in the mouth, it''s intense but not fat, with racy acids and good length. A wine with much more potential than shown tonight. A.

And then came the reds...
Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 1998, (Central Otago). Very complex savoury nose with spice, mushroom, leafy tea and earth, underpinned with taut black cherry and tamarillo (thanks Sue :). Very primary, intense and a bit monolithic in the mouth, with really powerful fruit, strong tannin and high acid. Definitely one for the cellar, and it''s got some serious development ahead of it. Lovely texture, and despite the tannin and acid, it''s a pleasure to drink. A(+).
Grgich Hills Zinfandel Sonoma County 1995, (California, 13.7% avb, but see below...). Aery forward, arresting nose of spices, cassis liqueur (and a scent I''m told is Black Raspberry), as well as a smoky hint that Sue and I agreed was like cigar smoke. Intense, powerful and with great presence in the mouth, finishing with massive alcohol. I mean massive. I''d be willing to bet that a gas spectrometer would read this at 15% abv or higher. On the other hand, I''m told that Zin just goes into this high alcohol phase, where it just shows too much. Sue loved this wine, and thought it a fabulous match with duck, three mushroom sauce, walnut oil and fig with beetroot chutney. I was more enamoured with the scents of old pinot noir...
Two versions of Ata Rangi Reserve Pinot Noir 1989 (Martinborough) were served. The 89 vintage was a goodie, and Clive Paton (foolishly?) allowed Peter Rumble to blend a barrel of his own out of the reserve Pinot Noir harvest. Clive vinified, aged and bottled his lot, Rumble vinified, aged and bottled his lot, and here we are ten years on seeing what difference there is. The wines are, understandably, very similar, both showing real signs of their age and approaching senility, with dusky, faded and slightly bitter cherry fruit as their core. Clive''s was a little paler, murkier and more oxidised, with less fruit showing, but more old-leather, loam, leafy complexity. Rumble''s was a little moreintense, with higher acidity and some left-over tannin, and a distinctive marzipan-like character to the fruit, along with leather, spice, earth, mushroom, caramel sort of notes. If I had to pick one, I''d go with Rumbles; it''s got a bit more going for it at this stage, and I don''t think it''s any less savoury or complex, but I think that both these wines would have been better two or three years ago. It goes to show; NZ pinot noir has a long way to come. As I understand, opinions were fairly evenly divided over which was better.
After that fiasco, another pinot was introduced, this one in the prime of its life.
Martinborough Vineyard Resreve Pinot Noir 1994 had a lovely intense, floral, perfumed nose with rose petals, violets, aromatic cherry fruit, spice, earth. In the mouth, it''s open and just starting development, with really intense fruit on a strong savoury backing. High acid, firm tannin, long finish, this is a wine with another 5 years in front of it. It''ll be a real pleasure to see how this turns out. A+.
Now for the lone Aussie red...
Warrenmang Grand Pyrenees 1998, (Victoria) A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz and Cabernet Franc.
Massive blueberry nose, with eucalyptus oil, varnish, and a little bit of good ol'' Aussie VA. In the mouth it''s plush, really rich and opulent, with seemingly infinite quantities of blueberry and cassis fruit. Soft on the frontpalate, really low acid, but there''s some real tannin here, which brings things back into balance and should provide for some mid-term aging. Lush and lovely. A-.
The duel of the two great NZ Cab blends...
Stonyridge Larose 1987, (Waiheke) is a blend of 79% Cabernet, 15% Merlot and some other stuff, which I don''t remember. It''s surprisingly youthful and bright-coloured in the glass. Lovely old dusty nose with tobacco, old wood, smoke (cigar smoke again, or is that the smokers in the next room?), a bit of earth, cassis and dark plum. In the mouth it''s strange, a little prickly and Jenise throws up the word "frizzante" which is pretty much correct. Closed tighter than the nun''s proverbial, but the spritz lightens eventually to reveal sweet cassis fruit, tobacco and tea, herbs, earth, and a pallisade of acidtity and tannin like the Great Wall of China. It seems unlikely the fruit will outlast the tannin, but who knows? Maybe it''s just in a hole. Maybe this was a bad bottle? A-.
Stonecroft cabernet/Merlot 1991 (Hawke''s Bay). No idea about proportions here. It''s got another tight, dusty nose with tea and earth and tobacco, blueberry, blackberry and creme de cassis coming through stongly after a bit of work. In the mouth, there''s still plenty of fruit, with the classical backdrop of bordeaux notes. It''s surprising how much this tastes like bordeaux, actually. Rich, smoky characters follow through the palate, and it seems more supple and a little more approachable than the Larose, then a big defensive barrier of tannin comes down. Pretty hard stuff on the finish, but if this ever fades, there''ll be some really lovely wine behind. A.

All in all, a great night was had by all, at least all who spoke tome, except Robin, who was suffering somewhat from Economy Class flight conditions and had to leave early. Something to do again soon, methinks!

Cheers all,

Lu