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Recent Tastings
Most recent at the top

Star ratings are my own personal ratings for the wines tasted.
RRP in NZ$ at time of tasting unless stated otherwise.

Absolutely brilliant - Gold or Trophy here!
Above average - excellent value for $$$.
Average - everyday drinker / quaffer.
Below average - a few faults evident.
Poor - not enjoyed at all.
Swill - Won't be drinking that again!

Charles Wiffen (12 August 2006).

Had a nice hour or so chatting to Charles at the Riccarton Liquorland on Saturday - we tasted a range of his Marlborough wines: the 2004 Riesling, two Sauvignons, a Chardonnay, a Merlot, a Pinot Noir and finished off with the 2003 Dessert Riesling. It was nice being able to talk to Charles about his wines, his involvement in the industry and to be able to sample his wines.

I liked all the wines: The Riesling had wonderful citrus in the nose and on the palate while being slightly off dry. The 04 Savvy is drinking really well but has lost the fresh new savvy "zing', while 05 Reserve savvy was a very classy wine which will improve with another year or two.

The Chardonnay was a well made wine, fruit driven nose with oak and malolactic treatment not overpowering the mineral / fruit characters on the palate. The Merlot was a lovely ruby colour, stone fruit, hint of chocolate and spice. The Pinot was dark coloured with a floral and berry nose, cherry and plum fruit characters on the palate with a long finish - I had a second taste while Max rung up my total.

Pick of the tasting was the Dessert Riesling - golden straw, ripe apricots and peach nose and luscious in the mouth with creamy stone-fruit and wonderful length. Yumm!!!  Thanks Charles..... for the "special prices" below too...

Charles Wiffen Marlborough Riesling 2004 ($16)
Charles Wiffen Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2004 ($15.50)
Charles Wiffen Marlborough Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2005 ($26)
Charles Wiffen Marlborough Chardonnay 2004 ($19.50)
Charles Wiffen Marlborough Merlot 2003 ($19.50)
Charles Wiffen Marlborough Pinot Noir ($20.50)
Charles Wiffen Marlborough Dessert Riesling 2003 ($26)

Plantaganet Wines (2 August 2006)

Recently had the pleasure of an evening with Richard Robson, Chief Winemaker at Plantaganet Wines in Western Australia. They are located at Mt Barker, about 350 km south of Perth - more information on their website http://www.plantagenetwines.com/

Richard gave us to a little background on Plantaganet's history, terroir etc and his experience in the Barossa with Yalumba and others and during 2003 in the Rhone. He brought some but not all of their range as he stated, "NZ makes excellent Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir" so we skipped those and tasted the Chardonnay, Merlot, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the Omrah and Plantaganet labels.

All were very well made and good value for money wines especially the Omrah range all being under NZ$20: even at $30-40 I thought the Plantaganet range was very well priced for the quality of wines tasted. Check out their website for tasting notes of these and their other wines.

Deutz Marlborough Blanc de Blanc 2002 ($35)
Plantaganet Omrah Unoaked Chardonnay 2004 ($18)
Plantaganet Omrah Merlot 2003 ($19)
Plantaganet Omrah Shiraz 2002 ($19)
Plantaganet Omrah Shiraz 2004 ($19)
Plantaganet Shiraz 2002 ($44)
Plantaganet Omrah Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 ($19)
Plantaganet Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 ($32)

Riccarton Cellarmasters Wine Options (19 July 2006)

What a great night! Max pulled together some interesting and unusual wines for our wine options night - we were gong to be in teams of 4 but a lower than expected turnout meant we ended up in pairs instead.  Allan, Liz, Glenys and I went as the "Vinoptomists" and wore "rose-ay" coloured glasses and a name badge with a "VIN" number.

Max had arranged the evening with excellent questions on each of the wines we tasted blind and had brilliant prizes of hampers and bottles of wine for the clever buggers... We won the door prize but were way out of the running for getting the most questions right - that honour was taken by Alastair.

Hats off to Max and team for yet another really fun and informative evening - Cheers Max!!!

The wines in order of tasting were...

Marc Bredif Vouvray Chenin Blanc 1989 ($75)
Stonecroft Gewurztraminer 2005 ($25)
Gisselbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris 2004 ($29)
Will Schaeffer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Splatlese 2004 ($50)
Carrick Pinot Noir 2003 ($39)
Baltasar Tempranillo 2003 ($27)
Petaluma Shiraz 2003 ($43)
Montes Alpha Syrah 2003 ($35)
Wynns Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 ($27)

Lace Fine Wines (5 July 2006)

Peter Cunningham showed us a tasty smorgasbord of wines from their portfolio with some fabulous boutique labels from Australia and New Zealand. The emphasis was on reds, including some of the teeth staining variety and a remarkable fortified that notorious wine critic Robert Parker Jnr. gave 96/100.

Cullen Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon 2004 ($34)
Te Mania Reserve Chardonnay 2004 ($28)
Unison Marie's Vineyard Merlot 2004 ($23)
Irvine Springhill Merlot 2004 ($20)
Pirramimma Shiraz 2002 ($30)
Pikes Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 ($30)
NV Chambers Muscadelle (Tokay) ($32)

Kahurangi Estate (7 July 2006)

Greg Day director of Kahurangi Estate and  Rodney Lang his SI distributor presented a line up of some of the nicest Nelson whites I have tasted for a while. Kahurangi is Te Reo (Maori) for precious jewel, which sums up this boutique little label from Nelson. They have some of the oldest Riesling vines in the South Island planted by Herman Seifried in the 1970's.

The rieslings were stunning complex wines especially the aged ones. The winemaker, Daniel Schwarzenbach has wealth of experience in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France.

Kahurangi Estate Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2005 ($18)
Kahurangi Estate Nelson Gewurztraminer 2004 ($19)
Kahurangi Estate Nelson Mt Arthur Chardonnay 2004 ($22)
Kahurangi Estate Nelson Mt Arthur Chardonnay 2005 (tank sample N/A yet but shows promise)
Kahurangi Estate Nelson Riesling 2002 (N/A)
Kahurangi Estate Nelson Riesling 2003 (N/A)
Kahurangi Estate Nelson "Heaphy Series" Riesling 2004 (N/A
Kahurangi Estate Nelson Riesling 2005 ($18)
Kahurangi Estate Nelson Pinot Noir 2004 ($25)

All images by JB © 2006 unless cited as otherwise.