Saturday, July 17, 2010

What A Tasting

A few days ago, I attended a pretty amazing tasting. These were the wines I tried:

Kumeu River Chardonnay 2007
Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay 2006
Kumeu River Coddington Chardonnay 2006
Marchand&Burch Chardonnay 2009

Marchand&Burch Mt. Barrow Pinot Noir 2009
Marchand&Burch Shiraz 2007
Howard Park Abercrombie Cabernet 2008

Te Mata Awatea Cabernet Merlot 2008
Te Mata Coleraine Cabernet Merlot 2008
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels Syrah 2008
Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels The Gimblett 2007

Jasper Hill Cornella Vineyard Grenache 2008
Jasper Hill Georgia's Paddock Shiraz 2008
Jasper Hill Emily's Paddock Shiraz 2008
Jasper Hill La Pleiade 2008

Kalleske Old Vine Grenache 2008
Kalleske Eduard Shiraz 2008
Elderton Command Shiraz 2006
Huntington Estate Block 3 Cabernet 2004

Interestingly, despite good standard, the Chardonnays could not match the red wines, which showed more complexity and were simply more interesting.

Three stand-outs for me: The 2009 Marchand & Burch Mt. Barrow Pinot Noir was brilliant. The wine has great finesse, and the sour kirsch flavours carry through to a fine finish backed by silky tannins. The 2008 La Pleiade stood out because it had good fruit concentration, but was not heavy (French influence?). And finally the new 2008 Kalleske Eduard Shiraz is quite a profound wine. Maybe a bit sweet for some, but great texture and elegance, and a long finish. Having said this, I would have happily drunk any of the tasted wines, if you had brought a bottle along.

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