Summer Holiday
Lovely to be back in NZ holidaying in the Bay of Islands, spent a week or so at Bland Bay swimming with dolphins and avoiding the odd shark. Great wines, great weather, great seafood, great friends and family! Yep – great stuff.
Blending 2009 wines
Tasting blends for some of the 2009 Wild Rock is bloody exciting, although for many in the industry this is business as usual – for me it’s better than Christmas!
Experiencing the tastes of the various components and understanding what the winemakers objectives are to bring them together in a marriage of harmony encouraging the individuality but not allowing any one part to dominate – it’s truly cool.
The 09 Pania suggests subtle canned peaches, complex oak, malolactic creaminess, toastiness, clean balanced finish – a seriously Moorish wine.
The 2009 looks to be positioned between the big bold up front 2007 and the more refined subtle classy 2008. Yesterday I tasted the individual oak puncheons (500 ltr barrels) and got seriously different oak flavours– Mercury puncheon was really complex and dynamic with toast, popcorn, and sandalwood vs others with coconut and charred earthly influences. Today with the blends all combined you get to appreciate the individual make up which joins together to provide a balanced dynamic complex array of flavours comfortably merged together.
Shot big time by Cupids Arrow 2009! The bouquet was mind blowing with strong cherry fruit sweetness and heavy herb, slate and oak notes. Massive!
Angels dust 2009 will satisfy anyone in search of the reserve. This wine showed huge plum flavours and distinctive blue flowers (lavender/violets) with firm tannin (which will be shaved off down the track). It’s remarkable that the different vineyards Gimlett Gravels and High Country Estates (only 3 barrels from High Country Estate vineyard) which we bring together from the Hawke's Bay Region provide such different influences. Gimlett is more black fruit, black pepper and blue flowers and High country is white pepper and red fruit.
Gravel Pit Red Merlot Malbec without trying to sound repetitive another blinder! With a warm year and with the rain stopping on queue we have a smooth layered sexy red on our hands. Tasting the Merlot separate it was silky and smooth, rounded and full and then trying the Malbec separately I got toasted coppery mocca, charred effect with nutty biscuity flavours and hints of anise – together …ahhhh perfection. #wine
Cheers
Ash - The Wild Rock Guy
