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 This
evening we celebrated the wide range of excellent wines from New
Zealand.
We started the event with Brent Fraser,
who briefly covered the history of wine making in New Zealand
and then led us through the tasting of our wines. The wines were
very kindly donated by the New Zealand Consulate, whom we greatly
appreciate!
Our
reception wine was the Lindauer Brut NV.
It is made from pinot noir and chardonnay grapes that are grown
in Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and Marlborough, and matured on it's
lees for 18 months. It had a biscuity and citrus aroma and flavours.
The bubble was small and elegant.
We
started our tasting with five different white wines. The first
wine, the Waipara Hills Sauvignon Blanc
2006 comes from the famous Marlborough region on the South
Island. It is 100% stainless steel fermented. This wine was lemon
in colour. It had a big herbal, gooseberry bouquet. There was
high acidity with gooseberry and citrus flavours. A wonderful
bone dry sauv blanc. This wine worked well with the lobster canape
and the smoked steelhead canape. The second wine was the Seleni
Semillon 2003. This wine comes from the Hawkes Bay region
on the North Island. It was deeper lemon in colour compared to
the sauv blanc. There were petrolly, citrus, burnt match, and
apple aromas. On the palate it had a nice round mouthfeel, with
an apple and"oaky" flavours. The oakiness is a characteristic
of the semillon grape which evolves in the bottle as the wine
ages, eventhough this wine is 100% stainless steel fermented and
has no oak aging.
We then enjoyed the Spy Valley Pinot Gris
2006. These grapes come from the Marlborough region on
the South Island. This wine was aromatic with pear, tropical fruit,
stone fruit and perfumy aromas. On the palate it had nice fruit
and light acidity on the finish. This wine also went well with
the brie and grape canapes, and the curried lamb croustades.
The next wine was an aged Framingham Riesling
2000. These grapes also come from the Marlborough region.
True to being an aged riesling wine, this one was golden in appearance.
The characteristic petrol aroma of an aged riesling was also there,
as well as some apple aroma. There were flavours of oak, apple,
citrus and petrol, and finished dry. This wine went well with
the lobster canapes, the smoked steelhead canapes and the curried
lamb croustades.
Our last white wine of the evening was the Matua
Gisborne Chardonnay "Judd Estate" 2004. The grapes
come from the Gisborne region of the North Island. This is a top
tier chardonnay from Matua. This wine had melon, pear, sweet spices,
butter, oak and vanilla aromas. It had a round mouthfeel, with
some spice, oak and apple flavours, and a long finish. This wine
went well with the lobster canapes.
We started our red wines with the Waimea
"Spiny Back" Pinot Noir 2006. This wine comes
from the Nelson district on the north end of the South Island
near to Marlborough. This is a small wine producing region so
not much reaches Canada. The wine had a very light red appearance.
The bouquet was primarily of strawberries and raspberries, typical
of many New Zealand Pinot Noirs. It had a light body, with strawberry
and red cherry flavours. This wine went well with the steak tartar.
 The
Mt. Difficulty Pinot Noir 2005 was
our next wine. The grapes come from the area of Central Otago
on the South Island. This area has the most continental climate
of all areas in New Zealand. Pinot Noirs from this region are
very highly regarded around the world. This wine was medium ruby
in appearance, and had smoky and strawberry aromas. On the palate
one enjoyed strawberry and black cherry flavours with some spiciness.
Brent suggested that this wine needs 3 years before reaching it's
potential. The steak tartar and the curried lamb croustades went
nicely with this wine. Our last red wine of the evening was the
Ngatarawa "Glazebrook" Merlot/Cabernet
2005. This wine comes from the Hawkes Bay on the North
Island. This wine was deep ruby in appearance. The bouquet showed
cassis, black cherry, plum and mocha. The wine had a round mouthfeel
with a sweet finish and smooth tannins. One enjoyed black cherry
and plum flavours. As with the Mt. Difficulty Pinot Noir, this
wine also went well with the steak tartar and the curried lamb
croustades.
 Tasting
Selection
Our favourite white wine was the Spy
Valley Pinot Gris 2006.
Our favourite red wine was the Ngatarawa
"Glazebrook" Merlot/Cabernet 2005.
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