WineNZ Summer 18-19 (1)

new products | releases
Clearview Estate Coastal
Pinot Gris 2018
Simon Nash:Pale bright, greener/lime.
Nice citrus, broad, juicy, lifted, clear,
good, crisp, zesty and expressive.
Matt Kirby: Red apple, pear. Nice weight.
Good balance.
Barry Riwai: White peach, apricot, higher
alcohol, spritz, but not overly hot. Long,
lime-flavoured finish.
Second cab off the rank was Clearview
Estate’s coastal pinot gris. This also
tickled the judges’ fancy and was marked
as a four star by the team.
To find wines of this caliber we need
to get away from the bargain bin at the
supermarket and buy on a winery’s
reputation and based on reputable
reviews.
These two Clearview wines are 5 and
4 star – the pinot gris not being far off
the top tier, yet they are not much more
expensive than some of the rubbish
being sold in supermarkets by the multinationals.
It does make you wonder.
$22
One of the joys of being involved with WineNZ
magazine is travelling to unusual places to visit wineries
and meet interesting wine people. For this issue I
visited Monsoon Valley winery in Thailand and tried
a range of their offerings. Having tried wines from
similar climates in the past (Vietnam, India) I didn’t
have high hopes, but Monsoon tries hard, as a 92
point score for one of its wines from a well-know
American wine critic indicates.
I entered a couple of their wines in the rose class, but
they failed to make it into the stars. However, the
colombard entered here didn’t disgust the judges.
Colombard is generally a cask wine in Australia and
doesn’t have a reputation for setting the world alight
in wine tastings. However, the judges saw some
merit in it and on a good day, with a tail wind,
it could have been close to three-star status.
$60
Monsoon Valley Buddhist Era
2560 (2017)
Colombard (wine of Thailand)
Simon Nash: Bright, nice lemon/
lime. Nice, quite creamy. Good acids,
clean, fresh, jazzy fruit. Quite lean
on finish.
Matt Kirby: Big gruner style. Apple
skin. Nice weight. Ash notes.
Barry Riwai: Limey green, some
creamy notes. Loads of freshness.
Bright green peppercorn. Good carry.
$A42
Flaxmore pinot gris
Flaxmore Moutere
Pinot Gris 2018
Ballandean Estate Wines
Durif 2016 Messing About,
Granite Belt
Simon Nash: Dark, quite dense,
bright, quite concentrated, nice
blackberry, soft, juicy, round,
grippy, a tad drying. A bit hot, but
promising.
Matt Kirby: Super dark and
concentrated. Massive tannin,
almost closed. Raisin and rum. Full
on.
Barry Riwai: Inky dark. Blueberry/
Mulberry on nose almost
impenetrable. Mulberry, vanillin
oak, very muscular wine. Sweet
oak spice. Super concentrated, but
not particularly revealing. Needs
time to open.
It was across the ditch for our next
entrant, but not to the familiar wine
regions of the Barossa, Hunter Valley
or Margaret River. A Queensland red
had caught the taste buds of one of our
readers who brought a bottle back from
his travels. The wine was a durif – known
as petite syrah in some locations, particularly the US. This
example was from the Granite Belt, a part of Queensland that
claims to have a good climate for wine, but not many people
outside the state take it all that seriously. That said, the judges
were intrigued and, while they weren’t certain what it was, they
gave it enough points for it to be a three-star wine.
Isn’t that the beauty of wine – trying something new and not
having any idea what to expect. The interesting aspects of the
durif had our three experienced judges chattering away like
schoolgirls.
Another newly released 2018 pinot gris was entered by
Flaxmore, a winery owned by Moutere couple Stuart
and Patricia Anderson. The pair have supplied their
fruit to the nearby Neudorf winery for a number of
years. While they continue to do so, they now also
produce wine under their own label.
The pinot gris submitted for this tasting didn’t score
as highly as the Clearview entrant, but would have
been comfortably three star, knocking on the door
of four star status. A good effort.
Simon Nash: Pale, bright, greentinged.
Nice, quite bready, almost
yeasty. Off-dry. With edgy fruit, good
finish.
Matt Kirby: Crunchy acid. Floral white
flower. Aromatic, a little phenolic.
Barry Riwai: Tutti frutti, orange
blossom. A little flowery. Clean finish
with drinkability.
$24
www.winenzmagazine.co.nz
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