Central Otago Procrastination
Claudine Earley24/03/2010 9:54:00 a.m.
ON St. Patrick’s Day I avoided the Irish shenanigans and instead headed down to The Boat Shed to a tasting of Central Otago wines.
First up was a tutored tasting of pinot gris, riesling and pinot noir from the seven sub-regions of central. Our guide, Paul from Prophet’s Rock, had plenty to say on the topic of riesling and how he wishes it were more popular.
The general consensus was that wine-lovers avoid riesling as it’s too tricky to tell what you’re buying: is this riesling going to be sickly sweet or so dry it brings a tear to the eye? One wine retailer suggested winemakers introduce a residual sugar spectrum to the back label. This way there’d be no more nasty surprises.
I meant to go home after this master-class to finish my teacoll assignment, but the wine was so good I sloped next door to the trade tasting. Vowing to try only a few new wineries, I started with a vertical tasting of Black Quail Estate pinot noir, picking the rich and chocolatey ’07 as my favourite.
Then I moved on to the palate refreshing Domain Road savvy, one of only two non-Marlborough savs awarded a gold at the Royal Easter Show. It’s well worth a try – complex gooseberry and passionfruit flavours with the added bonus of being texturally interesting.
My pledge to stick to new wineries came unhinged when I stopped at the cheese table. There I met Ingrid from Saddleback Café in Ohariu Valley. She said I had to try the Mt. Difficulty chardonnay. So off I trotted, only to find myself mesmerised by the line-up.
My faves at this table were the bone dry rosé and the chardonnay with its alluring aromas of burnt hair and buttered popcorn. I could have sniffed it all day. It was too much for one gent from a swanky downtown restaurant however. After one sip he screwed up his nose and tipped it out. What a waste.
Time was flying and I still hadn’t tried all I wanted to. Luckily the sympathetic chap from Three Miners gave me some samples to review. His Pinot Noir 2007 ($30) is instantly appealing, combining a fragrant floral/cherry bouquet with mouth-filling ripe cherry flavours and supple tannins. Sydney International Wine Competition awarded it a blue-gold, which means this wine is super with food.
Wine of the week: Three Miners Pinot Gris 2008 ($22) has funky honey mead aromas with underlying pear notes that open up in the mouth to taste like nashis. Flavoursome enough to enjoy on its own, yet with a dry complexity that will complement food.
I finished my teacoll assignment the next day with 3 minutes to spare.
First up was a tutored tasting of pinot gris, riesling and pinot noir from the seven sub-regions of central. Our guide, Paul from Prophet’s Rock, had plenty to say on the topic of riesling and how he wishes it were more popular.
The general consensus was that wine-lovers avoid riesling as it’s too tricky to tell what you’re buying: is this riesling going to be sickly sweet or so dry it brings a tear to the eye? One wine retailer suggested winemakers introduce a residual sugar spectrum to the back label. This way there’d be no more nasty surprises.
I meant to go home after this master-class to finish my teacoll assignment, but the wine was so good I sloped next door to the trade tasting. Vowing to try only a few new wineries, I started with a vertical tasting of Black Quail Estate pinot noir, picking the rich and chocolatey ’07 as my favourite.
Then I moved on to the palate refreshing Domain Road savvy, one of only two non-Marlborough savs awarded a gold at the Royal Easter Show. It’s well worth a try – complex gooseberry and passionfruit flavours with the added bonus of being texturally interesting.
My pledge to stick to new wineries came unhinged when I stopped at the cheese table. There I met Ingrid from Saddleback Café in Ohariu Valley. She said I had to try the Mt. Difficulty chardonnay. So off I trotted, only to find myself mesmerised by the line-up.
My faves at this table were the bone dry rosé and the chardonnay with its alluring aromas of burnt hair and buttered popcorn. I could have sniffed it all day. It was too much for one gent from a swanky downtown restaurant however. After one sip he screwed up his nose and tipped it out. What a waste.
Time was flying and I still hadn’t tried all I wanted to. Luckily the sympathetic chap from Three Miners gave me some samples to review. His Pinot Noir 2007 ($30) is instantly appealing, combining a fragrant floral/cherry bouquet with mouth-filling ripe cherry flavours and supple tannins. Sydney International Wine Competition awarded it a blue-gold, which means this wine is super with food.
Wine of the week: Three Miners Pinot Gris 2008 ($22) has funky honey mead aromas with underlying pear notes that open up in the mouth to taste like nashis. Flavoursome enough to enjoy on its own, yet with a dry complexity that will complement food.
I finished my teacoll assignment the next day with 3 minutes to spare.
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