Our very special thanks to Greg Hay for venturing to Canterbury to spend an evening presenting the Wines of Peregrine Wines in Central Otago.

“Greg has been involved in the Central Otago wine industry for 21 years now, starting back in 1986. Many things have changed during this time other than the passion to produce the best value for money wines coming from this region.

Whilst it was more likely to find Greg in the vineyard a few years ago, the most likely place to track him down now is either on a plane or on the phone making sure the Peregrine wines are getting out to those who deserve them most.” source: http://www.peregrinewines.co.nz/winery/people

Greg is a great presenter and very passionate about what he does. Not only did we get to taste some of the the wines, but Greg shared with us a great deal of background about Peregrine, the brands Peregrine and Saddleback and the conservation support provided, we also got a little insight into the stunning new winery building. http://www.peregrinewines.co.nz/building

Wines tasted on the night were:

Peregrine Riesling 2006 (dry), Peregrine Rastasburn Riesling 2006 (off dry) and Peregrine Charcoal Creek Riesling 2007 (lucious and sweet), three completely different Rieslings each with it’s own unique character.

We followed these with the Peregrine Pinot Gris 2007 (stunning wine Air NZ serves this in Business class) and Peregrine Chardonnay 2006 (a blend of old and new world styles) which I really liked.

Lastly we tasted the Peregrine Pinot Noir 2006 and the Saddleback Pinot Noir 2007 - the quality of Peregrine’s pinots are as always exceptional and both these pinot’s showed that.

Tasting notes for all the wines are at http://www.peregrinewines.co.nz/cellardoor/wines - Click on each wine to see detailed notes etc.

Thanks again to Greg for taking the time to come and speak to us - we would certainly welcome him back again in the future.

http://www.peregrinewines.co.nz/

Ross Moloughney provided us with a great range of interesting wines form the Hancock portfolio.. and very generously a magnum of red and a couple of other bottles as raffle prizes which were very much appreciated as were the great discounts provided on the night.

Ross is also a great teller of tales and had some great ones about people he had met in the industry and some of his personal stories of his wine experiences in Australia and New Zealand.

Wines on the night were:

Lake Chalice Rosie 2007
Waipara Hills Riesling 2007
Ti Point Riesling 2007
Fallen Angel Sauvignon Blanc 2007
Jules Taylor Pinot Noir 2007
Kim Crawford SP Rise-n-Shine Pinot Noir 2006
Cable Bay Five Hills Merlot 2005
Lake Chalice Sticky Beak Late Harvest Riesling 2006

My fave was the Jules Taylor Pinot Noir - I had the 06 at the Casino recently and loved it even at $9.50 a glass. Don’t forget to post a comment on your favourites or anything else you might like to note….

Thanks Ross for a great night and we would welcome you back to do more from your portfolio anytime.

Websites to visit:

http://www.lakechalice.co.nz/
http://www.fallenangelwines.com/
http://www.tipoint.co.nz/
http://www.julestaylor.com/
http://www.waiparahills.co.nz/
http://www.kimcrawfordwines.co.nz/
http://www.cablebayvineyards.co.nz/

Cheers, JB

Tasting on Tues 5 Feb with Bruce from Eurowines. Interesting mix of N.Z. European and Spanish wines with a Seresin Olive oil taste in between the whites and reds.

Simonnet-Febvre Cremant de Bourgogne Brut NV from Chablis in France - non descript methode 80% Chardonnay / 20 Pinot Noir - lost the bubbles in a few seconds - could have been the glasses though.

Willm Reserve Riesling 2006 from the French Alsace - dryish (7gms/l RS) Apricot / limes / apples but I think this is too young - needs another couple of years.

Wairau River Marlborough Riesling 2006 - nice Riesling - typical stone fruit and citrus, clean mineral acidity - again needs more time - preferred this over the Willm.

Torres Gran Vina Sol 2006 from Pendes in Spain - 80% Chardonnay and 20% Parellada, a variety I’ve never heard of - fermented separately and 6 mths lees aging then into Limousin oak. A bit flowery in the nose, but the fruit flavours (peach?) and oak balance well. Not my kind of Chardonnay though!

Te Mata Estate Woodthorpe Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2006 - nice wine as usual - great fruit concentration and oak balanced well, hint of Malolactic from barrel fermentation and lees - elegant finish, nice weight in the mouth.

Stonecroft Serine Hawkes Bay Syrah 2005 - lovely dense colour, almost ruby but lighter it’s Aussie cousins. Black berries and plums - velvety tannins - ncely balanced wine.

Torres Nerola Syrah 2005 again from Penedes in Spain - 80% Syrah / 20% Monastrell (Mouvedre) more raspberries and cherry in this one - mix of oak barrels contributing toast, mocha and vanilla. Nice wine….

Finished off with a Lustau Pedro Ximenez Sherry - licorice / black / raisins / sweet as…. Delicious.

Olive Oils from Seresin were Organic Extra Virgin: Plain, lemon and lime infused - wonder if the pepper finish and sharp flavours hadn’t dulled the palate for the reds though.

Just added a page with a list of the wine currently residing in the cellar.

Just spent a weekend in Marlborough for a friend’s wedding and while we were there visited a couple of vineyards for a taste and to take a few nice bottles home. We especially picked wineries that we had not visited previously and I thinks we chose well - the boot was pretty heavy on the way home…

Stopped at Kaikoura Vineyard for lunch on the way up but didn’t buy any wine there - Savvy was nice though with the platter although the food wasn’t as exciting as last time we were there.

Through Seddon and over the new bridge, right turn up the Redwood pass road led us to Vavasour where we tasted some great wines from the Vavasour, Dashwood, Goldwater  and Clifford Bay labels. Our picks were the Vavasour 2003 Awatere Valley Riesling (Gold ANZ 2006) , Vavasour 2007 Awatere Valley Sauvignon Blanc (Gold ANZ 2007) and the Clifford Bay 2006 Marlborough Riesling (Gold Top 100 2006).

Next day we visited Framingham Estate and of the wines tasted there loved the 2006 Marlborough Montepulciano and the 2003 Marlborough Dry Riesling. On to Nautilus Estate and a couple of standouts there - 2006 Marlborough Pinot Noir and the Winemaker’s Selection 2007 Sauvignon Blanc.

Next stop was Domaine Georges Michel - I have only tasted a few of this label but I remember that the Sauvignon Blanc was a well made wine - picks of the tasting were three in the La Reserve series - 2003 Chardonnay, 2004 Pinot Noir and the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc.

Hadn’t been to Hunter’s Wines for years so at the last minute decided to stop in there. Has changed a lot since my last visit, but the wines were as delicious as ever - grabbed a 2003 and 2005 Kaho Roa Winemaker’s Selection Sauvignon Blanc and a bottle of the 2006 Sangiovese , one of only 100 bottled… they also make a 2005 Brookby Road Sauvignon Blanc / Chardonnay blend which will be an interesting wine to offer to friends at some stage …

So that was the end of the Marlborough visits (apart from the Makana Chocolate Factory - yummmm. A brief stop in Waipara at Mudhouse on the way home to CHCH and another tasting - the Mudhouse 2007 Marlborough Sauvignon and 2006 Waipara Hills Waipara Riesling being our picks there - a couple of bottles of the now discontinued label, Le Grys 2004 Marlborough Pinot Noir clear-skins found their way into the boot too - well at $10 a shot who wouldn’t - and it  turned out to be a bloody good drop too!

Overall a fantastic trip - BTW the wedding was great too. JB.

Not much happened over the holidays - I was too busy having fun and eating and drinking to do any blogging, but it’s 2008 now so off we go.

You will see that most of the pages from NZ Winelinks have been migrated across to the blog, a few more to come and it will be complete. The NZ Winelinks site will cease being and the URL / Domain will point here instead.

Cheers

JB

Hi all you visitors.

What do you think of the new look NZ Winelinks Blog? I’m gradually shifting the whole website, www.nzwinelinks.co.nz to this blog site and eventually the site will be no more - the domain will point here instead. I have a couple of other things happening too.

Have a look at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/bartlettsnz where I have started cataloguing my collection of New Zealand Wine-related books, and also at the New Brighton Club Wine Section’s Blog at http://newbrightonwineclub.blogspot.com/

Cheers

 JB

Recently attended 2 tastings at Cellarmasters - Top 100 - a selection of the Gold Medal winners (10 whites and 10 reds) followed by another evening  where we were able to a taste of all the Top 100 Trophy winners.

When I get some more time I will post the list and some tasting notes. In the meantime here is the sie with all the winning wines. Top100

Back at Cellarmasters now for the usual Wednesday Tasting. Braddon picked 9 wine for us to try blind, some we couldn’t pick.

Omaka Springs Marlborough Pinot Gris 2006 ($1 Church Road Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2006 ($20)
The Crater Rim Central Otago Pinot Noir 2006 ($29)
Domaine Esparanza Cabernet Sauvignon / Carmenere ($12)
Serenata Nero D’Avola Sicilia 2006 ($14)
Climbing Orange Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 ($20)
Thorn Clarke Shotfire Barossa Shiraz 2005 ($26)
Bremerton Langhorne Creek Selkirk Shiraz 2005 ($2 Lincoln Ice Wine (Semillion  / Gewurztraminer) 2004 ($22 - 375ml)

All great wines but the Serenata completely stumped everyone - My picks of the night were the two Aussie shiraz - just love the stuff…