2007 Te Mata Estate Awatea Cabernet/Merlot (Retail)

Based on some of the press coming from New Zealand, the Hawkes Bay wine region has aspirations of matching Bordeaux in terms of the quality of the Cabernet blends they produce. Aim for the stars to clear the trees I say. RedtoBrown have been impressed with the wines we have tried from Hawkes Bay in the past, and at the entry-level, the Awatea is one of them. What stands out primarily with the Awatea (and also its TeMata big brother, the Coleraine) is its relative 'New World' austerity and restraint. There is sometimes balancing act between restraint and lack of fruit flavour/diluteness, though that is not an issue for this wine.

The Awatea (40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 38% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot) has a slightly herbaceous nose with capsicum and tobacco, though a pretty blueberry scent dominates. It is medium bodied, no more, and savoury.
An understated entry gives way to blackcurrants and medicinal herbs on the mid palate. Some more tobacco pops up on the finish, along with a prominent herbaceous bitterness (which may divide opinion, but I was a fan). Tannins are very fine and chalky, and the oak is subsiding a bit from when I first tasted it (yet not overpowering the fruit).

In summary, an elegant, restrained wine that may lack the oomph of some of the Aussie versions I know and love, though has enough weight to support its fine boned structure. I would like to try this wine with 5-10 more years of bottle age.

Rated

RRP: $45
ABV:14%
Website: http://www.temata.co.nz/

2008 Grasshopper Rock Pinot Noir (Central Otago, Sample)

Grasshopper Rock focuses on Pinot Noir and nothing else. The winery has an 8 hectare Pinot Noir vineyard located in the sub-region of Alexandra in Central Otago. Alexandra was actually the first area to have grapes planted in Central Otago in the 1860s. However, as areas like Gibbston and Bannockburn gained popularity and attention in the past couple of decades, it became something of a forgotten sub-region.

Alexandra is arguably the Southernmost wine region in the world, and as such could be considered a marginal wine growing area. However, it is evident that some very good wine can be made from this area, provided the winery has given some consideration to its site selection. Talking to one of the co-owners, Phil Hanford, finding the right location was the first and most crucial step for Grasshopper Rock. The single site that was selected (vines planted in 2003) has a north facing aspect on a gentle slope that receives suitable sunshine and has a warmer microclimate compared to surrounding areas. This careful site selection is already paying dividends. RedtoBrown have tried the first two vintages of the Grasshopper Rock Pinot, from 06 and 07, and have been suitably impressed. The 08 continues this good form.

The nose was initially quite meaty with hints of forest floor, though quickly opened up with aromas of cherry, some sweet oak, and musk. In the mouth the wine has a nice sweet-savoury balance, with cherry, herbs, and a touch of spice. It is medium-bodied (in Pinot terms), has a nice yet unobtrusive acidity, and finishes long and dry. There is a tiny touch of alcohol heat on the finish, though this is a minor quibble. It still needs a couple of years before it starts drinking at its best. A very nice wine that compares favourably with some of its more expensive New Zealand brethren.

Details
Rated:


RRP: $35-$40 AUD
ABV: 14.0%
Website: www.grasshopperrock.co.nz

Face-Off: Right Bank – Merlot Blends: 2007 Blue Poles Allouran, 2006 Alluviale Merlot Cabernet Franc, 2005 Chateau Corbin Montagne Saint Emilion

“No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any f#cking Merlot!”

This classic quote from the movie Sideways probably sums up the attitude of Red to Brown towards Merlot up until a couple of years ago. Given that we’d only been exposed really to entry level Australian and American Merlot, I’d say it was an understandable attitude. More recently, as we’ve had the opportunity to try some Merlot blends from Bordeaux and Hawkes Bay in NZ, we are starting to look at the variety quite differently. Of late we’ve even had a few Australian Merlots that have been impressive. As such we thought we’d put Australia, NZ, and France to the test in a Right Bank Face-Off.

Given the scarcity of Australian merlot blends we reckon we did pretty well in lining up 3 wines at similar price points and from similar vintages (both in terms of age and quality).

The Chateau Corbin was a wine I purchased in Paris for 15 Euro (about $A22) and is from the much hailed 2005 vintage in Bordeaux. Montagne Saint Emilion is a satellite district to the famed right bank commune Saint Emilion.

The Alluviale from Hawkes Bay in NZ costs $30 NZD ($A24) and 2006 is meant to be a good but not great vintage. We’d had the 2007 Alluviale previously, and it is a beautiful wine. Unfortunately we couldn’t get our hands on an ‘07 for the night, so the ’06 got the call-up.

The Blue Poles Allouran is $25 a bottle and is from the fantastic 2007 vintage in the Margaret River. Blue Poles is one of the relatively few wineries in Australia that produce Right Bank style, Merlot dominant blends.

All three wines from $20-$25 AUD and all from good to excellent vintages. We tasted them single blind, and then enjoyed them with some slow roasted Venison afterwards. So how did we go?


Wine 1 – 2006 Alluviale Merlot Cabernet Franc

Red: The wine was a vibrant crimson colour and reasonably transparent. The nose was fragrant, with red fruits, hints of cherry and plum, along with some more savoury notes. The palate was juicy, with some nice sweet fruit on the front palate before turning savoury with a hint of sourness through the finish. Some nice spice, good tannins and persistence of flavour. Decent length.

Brown: Aside from the notes above, I found a bit of inoffensive greenness on the palate, and a bit of mocha/chocolate on the back palate. A refined and elegant wine that had a very nice nose and good length.


Wine 2 – 2007 Blue Poles Allouran

Red: This had a deeper, purpler colour. A beautiful and interesting savoury nose. There was a hint of sweet, red fruit but the more prominent aroma was a lovely savoury smell which reminded of frying lightly salted mushrooms. The front of the palate is surprisingly sweet (in a good way) given the nose. It is mouth filling with nice drying tannins, and lovely hints of those savoury, mushroom flavours flowing through the long finish. A nice level of complexity to the wine and should age well. My favourite of the three.

Brown: To anyone reading this who does not like the smell or taste of mushrooms, rest easy – you will still love the 07 Allouran. Personally, I did not get the mushroom in a glass vibe from this wine (just kidding Red). Compared to the other wines, the Allouran was sweeter on the nose and palate, though only in a relative sense; this is a restrained wine and not jammy in any way. Given the blind tasting, and my relative inexperience with this blend, I assumed this could be the Bordeaux wine (cultural cringe kicking in?). Chalk that one down for experience – it was Australian and a clear favourite for me on the night.


Wine 3 – 2005 Chateau Corbin Montagne Saint Emililon

Red: A similar darker, purplish colour to the Allouran. The wine had an aromatic, sweet nose of berry fruit and oak. On the palate it was the lightest of the three wines, being also a bit dilute. It has some pleasant berry flavours and very light tannins. Ok length. A nice wine but my least favourite of the 3. Given its colour, and sweet nose of clean fruit and oak I confidently predicted that this was one of the New World wines! How wrong I was.

Brown: This is not a bad wine. However, like Dorothy finding out the Wizard of Oz was just an ordinary human, my naive wine tasting mind was (predictably?) brought back to earth with the knowledge that a true entry level Right Bank Bordeaux Red is not going to necessarily blow my socks off. Another lesson learned on the wine journey.
This was considerably more dilute than the previous wines. It had pleasant fruit on the palate, a bit of plumb and also a hint of vanilla. It finished with average intensity and was sweeter on the nose than in the mouth. If I picked this up for its French retail price, it would be a good wine. If I were to pay double the price as an imported wine I would not be happy.

Summary – A nice collection of wines and an interesting Face-Off. The Blue Poles was our favourite being the most enjoyable, complex, and cellar-worthy. It was also the only wine to provide a bit of Face-Off controversy, with Brown finding the nose to be more sweet-fruited compared to the others (while still acknowledging the savoury notes), while I thought the nose was predominantly savoury (while still acknowledging the sweet fruit). One interesting thing was how well all three wines performed as food wines. They all complemented the food and a wine like the Chateau Corbin gained extra appeal in this context.

In a Merlot blend Face-Off in which we pitted an Australian wine against a Hawkes Bay and a Bordeaux I wouldn’t have expected the Australian wine to show itself to be the most savoury and complex of the wines. A great achievement from Blue Poles, and hopefully more wineries in Australia follow their lead; firstly, by taking Merlot seriously, and secondly by blending Merlot with Cab Franc and Cab Sav as they do with the great wines of the Right Bank in Bordeaux.

Brown: All I have to add is that it is promising to try two new world wines based on Merlot that were superior to their equivalent French cousin. There is a long way to go, though the regions (Hawkes Bay) and wineries (Blue Poles) focusing on this style are already showing signs of success. An interesting and educational tasting. Thanks to Red for providing the slow roasted venison, which complemented the wine nicely.

Palliser Estate Martinborough Pinot Noir 2006

Note: Apologies - Red to Brown has accidently bumped this post to the top of the pile. Now that it is here, I will note that you can find this wine at some of the bigger shops for closer to $30 than $50. Ready to drink right now and a step up on some of the $25-$35 New Zealand Pinots in the lower price point. Brown.

I could get used to this wine. Pinot Noir is ascendant in Sydney, and Australia generally. The differences in demographics of the people attending (particularly average age) at Pinot-only tastings when compared to general or Shiraz/Cabernet tastings are stark. In short, a large percentage of the Sydney pretty young things dig Pinot. Though Red and I do not fit into the pretty young thing category (at all), we are both gaining an increasing appreciation of Pinot as it becomes more common and more affordable/value for money (look out for the next ‘Face Off’ which will involve a double blind tasting of several examples of this variety from Australia and New Zealand).

The Palliser has a nice deep crimson colour, even after a few years in the bottle. The nose is sweet with a slight vanilla scent. In the mouth the wine is rich and full flavoured, the fruit is more red cherry and plum than strawberry (with some mushroom on the finish). There are moderate tannins, French oak that supports, but does not overly dominate the flavour profile and nice length to the wine. Palliser have managed to balance this wine very nicely to avoid the fruit overtaking the show, yet have avoided any grassy, sour or bitter flavours in the process. I could easily sit down with a glass of this on its own, or match it with a range of foods (for some reason this wine makes me want to tuck into a hot bowl of the wild game ragu I once had in Cortona, Italy– not that I need a glass of wine to desire such a dish!).

The winemaker recommended drinking the Palliser on release or in 1-3 years. This appears to be a common suggestion with their Pinot. Thankfully, the wine (approaching 4 years on from bottling) is still in fine form, and the fruit flavour and tannin levels suggest that it is still drinking well now or for a few more years at least.
I am looking forward to comparing Martinborough Pinot with some of the best Australia has to offer (Mornington, Yarra, Tassie). With my parochial tendencies numbed by a blind tasting, I fear I may succumb to the charm of a wine such as this.

Red’s Xmas Eve – Bellussi Prosecco, 2008 Grosset Watervale Riesling, 2006 Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir

Christmas eve was a wonderful family dinner, with a mixed plate of fresh oysters, prawns, and tuna and salmon sashimi for the entrée, and then a prawn gnocchi for the main. Would love to tell you more about the food but this is a wine blog. Stay on message they always say. Suffice to say the food was beautiful.

Now to the wine . . .

Bellussi Prosecco di Valdobbiadene – $25 - My wife is a big fan of Prosecco so we kicked off the evening with this . . .
On the nose it had that subtle bit of yeastiness which I like. On the palate it had good fruit, a hint of pear, with a bit of sweetness, but from mid to back palate was dry, and you’d definitely put it in the dry style of prosecco. Very tasty and drinkable, and at $25 a bottle would happily purchase more.

With the seafood platter we had a 2008 Grosset Watervale Riesling ($35). A somewhat developed colour for an ’08, this is a wine that is dominated by lemon and lime flavours. Nice and juicy on the palate. Quality wine that will undoubtedly age, though also highlights to me my personal preference for the Eden Valley Rieslings. This wine had none of the floral nose and minerality on the palate that I love in my riesling. Not a criticism just my preference. If you love your Clare Valley riesling you'll certainly enjoy this.

With the prawn gnocchi we had the 2006 Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir ($80). I’m not someone who has drunk a lot of pinot noir (not compared anyway to what I have put away in terms of cabernet and shiraz), but I’m certainly coming around to the variety and starting to drink more of it. This wine has done a mighty service to that cause.

I’d say it’s the best Pinot I’ve drunk this year. It combines power and hedonism, with complexity and elegance.

Firstly it’s a dark pinot that foretells of the power and hedonism of the wine. Secondly it has a wonderfully aromatic nose. While there are descriptors I could mention, none of them to me stand out or are obvious, but rather all blend together to produce a wine that you could just keep on smelling (for the record I got strawberries, game/meaty aromas, and spice).

On the palate it is all class. It is silky and smooth, and while there is some sweetness on the front palate, the flavours are predominantly savoury. In fact the front palate provides the yum factor, while the middle to back palate provides a complexity of flavour that you keep coming back to. It has great length, structure, and tannins, and I’m sure it could age at least another 5 years.

I could feel a bit guilty having drunk it when it still had some ageing left in it, but it was just such a beautiful wine that I see no reason to feel that way. It was a superb way to finish off the night.


Red