I was in Marlborough yesterday, the Wairau valley to be more precise. The heat in the afternoon was quite amazing, I saw the mercury reach 29.1degrees celcius in the early afternoon near Renwick but heard that it had cracked 30 in a few locations.
It would behave to be the 50 or so barrel samples of Barolo followed by lunch, which consisted primarily of carne cruda or raw minced meat. Lunch at the Centro Storico in Serralunga D’Alba with Sergio Germano was so good I went back the next day. The Carne Cruda is prepared from a special breed [...]
No, it’s not another wine show debacle, but a new New Zealand wine producer. Fiasco wines is Marlborough producer and they have a blog. The name is interesting, and has caused a varied reaction with those who I have discussed it with. Members of the industry seem particularly amused by the name, those not professionally [...]
Below are a couple of images from the 2008 Barolo harvest fro Ciabot Berton
Aside from wine I’m partial to a little cheese. So I thought I should share with you one of my favorites and an oddity. Cheese of the Year Normally Munster is supreme as far as I’m concerned but this year it got knocked off its perch by the mighty Piedmont cheese, Castelmagno (pictured below at [...]
After quite some consideration trying to choose a wine of the year, I’m going to have to call this a three-way tie. More annoying is that you can’t purchase any of them in New Zealand and in the case of two of them, anywhere! The unfortunate thing is that two wines were barrel samples so [...]
Tasted yesterday or should I say consumed yesterday. It was a pleasure to try an older Meursault. Something that happens only rarely because of my “7-day rule”. Falling under the broad banner that is White Burgundy, this wine is produced form Chardonnay grapes grown in the premier cru vineyard of Goutte D’or which lies south [...]
A few of days ago I posted a note regarding a Paul Jaboulet 1993 Croze Hermitage Blanc from the Rhone valley of France. I had the good fortune to obtain six bottle of the wine. So I have been able to have a really good look at the wine. I noted in the last post [...]
Decanter reports that a recent study by Pricewaterhouse Coopers has shown cork to be more sustainable then screw tops and plastic stoppers.The I would suggest that it is perhaps, common sense that cork had the edge in terms of reduced enviromental impact. However the term “sustainable” is really starting to make cringe, with the way [...]
Last night I tried this interesting white wine from the Croze Hermitage appellation of the Northern Rhone Valley in France. Normally produced from the varieties Marsanne and Rousanne this 1993 Paul Jaboulet produced wine had the nutty, oily, mineral characters you expect from a 15 year old wine of this style. Normally they age well [...]
Yes, thats right. Australia produces better Sauvignon Blanc than New Zealand. Strangely New Zealand gets one back by producing better Syrah (Shiraz) than Australia. How do we know you ask? Well, it was the result of a wine competition known as the Tri nations challenge.
Christie’s first Hong Kong wine auction has yeilded a record price (I think) for a case of Chateau Latour 1961 of a a cool $1.32 million Hong Kong dollars. I make that about $313,000 New Zealand dollars or about $26,000 a bottle.