#438 This is what I want from New Zealand - Gladstone Vineyard

Christine Kernohan is not your usual winemaker.  Firstly, this "sprightly grandmother" worked in the computer industry and was also involved in agriculture industry research.  Secondly, instead of setting up in Marlborough and having an easy life making formulaic Sauvignon Blanc, she set up in the less trendy Wairarapa, and finally, she is from a nation that isn't known for its winemaking history, Scotland!  

Christine and her husband David took over the Gladstone Vineyard in early 1996 and their first vintage was overseen by Belgian winemaker, Jean Charles Van Hove.  Christine spent the next few years learning her craft before taking over as head winemaker with her own idea of what makes good wine.  Her style is not big and crude like a lot of Kiwi producers, she favours a much cleaner style of wine, not an old world imitator but certainly old world inspired!  Currently importing their products into the UK themselves, I tasted their range of wines.

The 12,000 Miles range is named after the distance between her birthplace and her adopted homeland.  This 'entry' brand shows her talent at producing forward drinking wines that can simply be opened and poured.  Winning a bronze medal at the New Zealand International show, her 2011 12,000 Miles Sauvignon Blanc shows green apple aromas, some subtle lime and a tiny amount of elderflower.  On the palate, there is a balance of minerals, citrus and some crisp apple once again.  With well balanced acidity this is a wine that Marlborough lovers will hate but Sancerre devotees should gobble up.  Very tasty.  89pts £11

It's sister wine, the 2010 12,000 Miles Pinot Noir is a wonderfully simple style of Pinot.  None of the big, sweet fruit leaping out at you that you would get from Otago, just some bright fresh cherries and a little vegetal backbone to the aroma.  The palate is fresh, well balanced and has a touch of sweet fruit coming through, but backed up by acid to keep it clean, an earthy element to give it structure and a bit of spice (white pepper maybe?) to jazz it up a touch!  A delicious wine.  90pts £15

The Gladstone Vineyard range of wines are a notch above the 12,000 Miles, and there is a quality shift that is noticeable.  The 2011 Gladstone Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc is a lovely wine, but I can't help thinking it just needs a year to balance out.  There is some attractive fruit - melon, mango and lime - coming off the nose and the palate has a bit of weight with melon pith and gooseberry coming through.  It is very well made but the acid comes to the fore just a touch.  It needs the time and it will be great. 90pts at least!  £13

I really liked Christine's 2010 Gladstone Vineyard Pinot Gris.  Some dried apricots, rose petals and pear shoot up your nose but it is the palate that pleased me the most.  It starts off with a bit of weight to the body, a tiny amount of sweetness with melon pith flavours and some white pepper.  You start to think 'oh no, it is going to be fat', but then the acid feeds in wonderfully to a nutty, minerally and beautifully clean finish.  This is a really good wine, precise and perfect.  93pts £15

Having liked the 12,000 Miles Pinot Noir, I hoped that the 2009 Gladstone Vineyard Pinot Noir would be fantastic and I was so pleased that it was.  I have not tried a better Pinot Noir from New Zealand in a long time and certainly not at this price.  It is a touch fuller than it's little sister, with sweeter cherries and some tart raspberry coming off the nose.  Plum with some savoury and spicy flavours emerge with an earthy element that is dark, yet not dominating.  Christine has managed to embrace the spirit of Burgundy yet keep the wine definitely Kiwi.  96pts £20

Finally, her 2008 Gladstone Vineyard Auld Alliance is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and a tiny drop of Cabernet Sauvignon.  I don't know if it was because I saw the McLeod tartan on the label or because of the name of the wine but my tasting note contained many Scottish ingredients!  Firstly brambles - lots of brambles - followed by a savoury, slightly black pepper and meaty aroma that could only be described as haggis, and then some cloves and a little treacle element.  The palate had pipe tobacco, some coffee and blueberries, followed by a vegetal, almost raw cabbage element.  Now I know these flavours and aromas don't sound that appealing when bundled all together but this wine was delicious. A massive nod towards the new world with its powerful fruit but by using Cabernet Franc she gets the vegetal structure that you want from a Bordeaux blend in the old world.  A lovely bottle of wine.  92pts

Christine Kernohan manages to keep one foot firmly in each of her homelands - European balance and structure with New World fruit and delivery. When wines of this quality are being made, expressing the unique terrior the country has, it frustrates me that New Zealand is trying to stop being the land of Sauvignon and Pinot by promoting other grape varieties.  All they need are more Scottish winemaking grannies.

 It frustrates me that New Zealand is trying to stop being a land of Sauvignon and Pinot Noir by promoting other varietals, when wines of this quality are being made expressing the unique terroir that this country has.  All they need are more Scottish winemaking Grannies.

Gladstone Vineyard Website

Gladstone Vineyard on Twitter

By Peter Wood with No comments

#437 Speechless - Ice Cider

It isn't often that I'm totally speechless when I try a drink, but it happened today.  Usually I love or hate something, think it is boring or want to yell from the rooftops how much I think it is tasty, but trying an Ice Cider today confused the hell out of me.

The Neige Premiere Ice Cider is a confusing wine.  Made from McIntosh and Spartan apples, it has a bright, fresh apple juice aroma, then with some muskier notes and a hint of apple pie pastry coming off as well.  The palate is similarly pleasant, with fresh apples, then slightly stewed fruit flavours coming off with a very clean, slightly tangy, drying cider like finish.  It almost has a touch of quince jelly as well.  I think it is a perfectly nice product.  88pts

The problem is why would you buy it?  Costing £22 to £25 for a half bottle, it is firmly in good Tokaji and Sauternes territory, so I can't imagine anyone buying it as a dessert wine.  If you want a sweet apple flavoured alcoholic drink, you could buy a 500ml bottle of good cider for a fifth of the price and if you just wanted a sweet apple drink, there is always apple juice to consider and you wouldn't be disappointed.

There is nothing wrong with this, I quite like it, and could see how it might be nice with a cheese board, but wouldn't ever consider buying a bottle as there are better products out there from the categories that this is trying, but not being overly successful, in inhabiting.

Neige Website

By Peter Wood with No comments

Housekeeping

Over the next week or so, I am attempting to update the part of this blog that contains my extensive number of tasting notes, so there may not be any posts until late January.  Then the tasting season begins, and there will be posts from tastings including importers Hallgarten, Wine Importers, Liberty wines and the annual pilgrimage I make to Manchester for the SITT event.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#436 Wine Web Watch - Michael McIntyre on wine snobs

Michael McIntyre, quite rightly, mocking the absurdity of the wine theatre in restaurants.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#435 A quartet of dishonest beer

Stella Artois, Heineken and Miller Genuine Draft.  Three mass produced beers, internationally available and made in the millions of litres every day.  If beer had a "tap water" category, these brands would be in it.  I don't say this with any disrespect to these beers, they provide thirst quenching beery goodness for millions of people every day and don't cost that much.  I enjoy a Corona on a hot summers day and when sitting in Copenhagen I found myself supping on a Heineken and enjoyed it tremendously.  They don't pretend to be anything other than what they are - honest, commercial beer.

Similarly, producers such as Mikkeller and Kernel make interesting, flavourful beers that not everyone will like.  Their small production lends itself to making different styles and therefore there will be inconsistency, either in quality levels, flavours or appreciation from the individual drinking the beer.  That is the point of these smaller brewers, they are honest, artisan beer.

And then there is the middle ground and this is occupied by Innis & Gunn.  A big producer (fourth largest in the UK), with aspirations of more, yet still producing beers with (and I quote from their website) "depth of flavour, complexity and mellowness".  I tried four of their beers and this is what I found out.

Innis & Gunn Original

Smells like Stella Artois that has been concentrated a little.  Confected sweetness with a little bit of soap coming off.  The palate is thin, with some soap, foam bananas with a bitter finish.  Really not a good beer.  72pts

Innis & Gunn Blonde

Light, floury with some more soap.  There is even more foam bananas on the palate with some light, pathetically weak flavours.  A really dirty finish which is strange for something that tastes of nothing.  68ptd

Innis & Gunn Rum Cask

Brown sugar, a dirty aroma with some burnt caramel aromas.  The palate is full of dark, bitter sweetness with a total lack of any form of complexity and depth.  It is as if someone has simply added terrible caramel to a bad beer.  Awful.  60pts

Innis & Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask

Like 'Tesco value Guinness', there is a terrible flowery aroma with some darker sweeter smells coming off.  The palate is unbalanced, reminds me of undiluted orange barley water.  There is a bitterness on the palate, a really long terrible finish that is both bitter, sweet and fat.  Awful.  66pts

The beers I tried were pretty bad.  I can forgive the rum and Irish Whiskey cask beers as they are simply point of difference beers that are pretty rotten.  The blonde is just dull, but it is the Original, the beer that I thought was the best of the quartet, that I dislike the most.  This beer is totally dishonest.  It is marketed as an interesting beer, well integrated and yet is anything but.  It is like the full fat version of a mass produced lager, like Stella Artois, but lacks any of the honesty that the Belgian beer has.  If they marketed this as a cheap beer with added flavour, I wouldn't object so much, but this is trying to be an interesting beer when it really isn't.  It is dishonest, and that is the problem.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#434 Six Questions with... Doug Nalle

Starting as a cellar worker in 1973, Doug Nalle's winery is on land that has been in his wife, Lee's, family since 1927.  A real family run business as not only is his wife an equal partner, their son Andrew makes the wine with his father and other relatives run the vineyard.  He graduated with a Masters degree in Enology in the late seventies, and served his apprenticeship at Balverne Winery, before taking full control of the company bearing his name in 1990.  His wines are small volume production, high quality wines, of which their Zinfandel is most famous.  

What marks the Nalles out from other producers is that their wines are always lower alcohol, with levels around the 14% mark, enabling Doug to show elegance in varietals that may not be normally known for that quality in California.    

I asked Doug six questions...

What is your first memory of drinking wine?

At home at the age of 14. My mother enjoyed a glass of Lacryma Christi now and then and so did I. My dad was a good ol' Kentucky boy who preferred Jim Beam.

What do you think is going to be the biggest challenge for Californian Wine in the next couple of decades?

With climate change, warmer nights have lowered acidities (not a good thing in my opinion). Non-irrigated vineyards have fared better. Many newer vineyards are dependent on irrigation. With imminent water shortages winegrowers may be forced to limit irrigation which could, ironically, improve wine quality.

If you had to make wines in a different country, which would it be and why?

New Zealand, especially Hawkes Bay region which is similar to Sonoma County where, exposure, soil and proximity to the Pacific Ocean allow for myriad microclimates.

Aside from your own wines, what do you like drinking?

Champagne, Cru Beaujolais, Bert Williams' Pinot noirs, dry Alsatian Rieslings.

Describe yourself in three words.

Introspective, self-motivated, irreverent.

Name three people, real or fictional, living or dead that would be guests at your dream dinner party, and what would you be drinking?

Jesus of Nazareth, Chairman Mao, William Shakespeare. We'd start with water which Jesus would transform into a 1955 Krug Jeroboam. I'd ask Mao to choose a Burgundy (what do you bet he knew the difference between Corton and Chambertin?) and Bill his favorite grog; then we'd go straight to a magnum of 1959 d'Yquem. Wouldn't much matter what we ate. Maybe some sashimi and Belgian fries for ballast.

By Peter Wood with No comments

#433 Top of the plonks - my top 5 wines of 2011

Two thousand and eleven has been a year of much change.  The Tasting Note has been honoured by Robert Parker gracing its pages, I went to Italy and experienced the beauty of Friuli and I've been exceptionally fortunate to have tried some outstanding wines.

Here are my top five.

FIVE: 1959 Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs
A tasting with a group of friends gave me the opportunity to try this wonderful wine.  I know that adding some younger wine isn't exactly a fair playing field for all the other wines, but it just tasted so good! Off gold colour, a rich, oxidized nose with baked lemon, toffee, salt and smoke.  A little peach sponge cake emerges with ripe citrus and a rye bread element on the palate.  With a little 1996 Blanc de Blancs added, it livens everything up, bringing balance and some bready notes.  95pts (with the younger wine added)

FOUR: 2009 Taylor's Vintage Port

The launch of the 2009 vintages from Taylor's Fladgate allowed me the opportunity to try young Taylor's for the first time.  The 2009 vintage was exquisite.  Balance and beauty, rarely seen in such a young port.  Up front baked meat aromas with a bit of leather, mint and oriental spice, leading to sweet, jerky aromas.  Polished fruit, quite closed, with cassis, cherry and a lot of cocoa and tobacco dusted over the top of it.  A stunning wine, young yes, but one that will become legendary.  96pts

THREE: 1972 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage La Chapelle

A 'bring a bottle' dinner had this generous donation from a friend, and after anticipating it to be past its best, we were astonished that it was the wine of the night.  Really sweet chocolate, lovely fruit and a little mint and cherry coming through.  A very pretty aroma.  The palate is super, simple fruit, a touch of spice and some earthier elements.  There is black pepper on the finish.  A beautiful, elegant wine.  97pts

TWO: 1975 Schloss Johannisberg Grunlack Spatlese
A masterclass of wines from this great producer showed two wines that will live with me forever.  The first, an 'entry level' wine from a terrible vintage forty years ago demonstrated how good German wine can be even when everything is conspiring against it.  The second was this gem, initial Chlorine up front but then beautiful lemon and lime aromas, leading to peach nectar, pork fat and more lemon.  A sweetness up front on the nose, with rich honey, lemon marmalade and lime zest.  Fresh throughout, despite its age, and a few sherbet notes dusting the charred lime finish.  Staggering.  99pts

ONE: 1990 Salon

The same tasting that I tried the 1959 Pol Roger at allowed me to try, what I think, is the first wine that I've ever given 100 points to.  It was my perfect Champagne - simple as that really!  Baked citrus with lots of sweet herbs, white peach, some honeydew melon and fleshier fruit flavours.  A lot of rich, dark fruit, more concentrated citrus with layers of flavor evolving.  Tropical fruit, then graphite, then toasty flavours and finally dry bitter elements.  Wonderfully complex, beautifully balanced and delicious.  100pts

By Peter Wood with No comments