Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Oud WWS wynproe lid Gerhard Smith presteer in OZ met pinot

n baie goeie well doneth aan ons oud stryder, Jumbo, daar in NZ, ek sien vandag dat hy laasmaand wine of the week gemaak het, by tannie Jancis Robinson nogals.Ek haal aan

…But if you are looking for a New Zealand Pinot Noir that is more serious than the norm but is not encumbered by too serious a price tag, check out Gladstone Pinot Noir 2009 Wairarapa at £15.50 per bottle in a mixed case from Lea & Sandeman. Wairarapa, like Martinborough, is in the well-favoured gastronomic hinterland of Wellington in the south east of the North Island and Gladstone has always impressed me. The wines have real depth of flavour, no jamminess, the structure to develop for another few years and some attractive liquorice and spice You are here: Home >> Wines of the week >> Rippon and Gladstone Pinot Noir
[Previous] [Next]Rippon and Gladstone Pinot Noir3 Jun 2011 by Jancis RobinsonFrom £15.95, $49.99Find Rippon wines All this week Monty Waldin has been treating Purple pagers to a welter of technical detail about current wine production in New Zealand for some of his favourite organic and biodynamic producers. A real role model and opinion former in this respect has been Nick Mills of Rippon Vineyard, whose progress on the vineyard founded as long ago as 1974 by his late father Rolf Mills, since Nick's many and varied experiences in Burgundy, I have been following with increasing delight.

The fact that the Rippon Vineyard, possibly the most beautiful and certainly the most photographed in the world, is relatively isolated on Lake Wanaka in the south of the South Island has meant that he has had to plough his own furrow, sometimes literally. With his mother Lois and other family members they are now fully committed to biodynamics and go specially to the distant coast to import seaweed and some marine influence, all, they believe, in tune with the land here and its origins. You can read several thousand words of detailed background courtesy of Monty in NZ profiles – Rippon. Soil, especially soil structure, is all to Nick Mills, who revels in the schist underpinning the slope illustrated here.At a recent tasting of around 70 summer wines from independent wine merchants Lea & Sandeman described here, I was particularly impressed by Rippon's current offerings. The Rippon, Mature Vine Pinot Noir 2008 Central Otago is a grown-up, sophisticated, antipodean riposte to red burgundy that, unlike most three-year-old Kiwi Pinots, is nowhere near ready. At closer to £30 than £20 for a single bottle, it is not cheap, but it is possibly the most complex Kiwi Pinot I have ever tasted – and certainly the driest and purest. This is a very different style from the flattering fruit bombs with which New Zealand Pinot made its international reputation. But it is not austere and curmudgeonly. I felt that it was almost flirtatious – again in a rather burgundian way – on the finish. 14% alcohol, mind.This is the style of Pinot Noir about which I will be writing in detail tomorrow – although in this case the provenance is even more unlikely: California. See Free for all and the FT tomorrow.

This wine, a blend from Rippon's oldest vines, is available from Lea & Sandeman in the UK for £29.75 for a single bottle, £26.75 if it is part of an assorted dozen. It costs more, NZ$54.50, from the vineyard itself and more, $49.99, from K&L in San Francisco but it should be of real interest to any Pinotphile.I'd like also to give an honourable mention to Rippon Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Central Otago, which again is quite unlike the Kiwi norm – not that Otago is known for its Sauvignon but I really appreciated this appetising, dry, lime-flavoured wine with 13.8% alcohol and much more depth than most. L&S charge £14.95 for a bottle of this in a mixed case.But if you are looking for a New Zealand Pinot Noir that is more serious than the norm but is not encumbered by too serious a price tag, check out Gladstone Pinot Noir 2009 Wairarapa at £15.50 per bottle in a mixed case from Lea & Sandeman. Wairarapa, like Martinborough, is in the well-favoured gastronomic hinterland of Wellington in the south east of the North Island and Gladstone has always impressed me. The wines have real depth of flavour, no jamminess, the structure to develop for another few years and some attractive liquorice and spice. In this case you can find the wine only very slightly cheaper direct from the winery website, run, like everything else, including a café and accommodation, by Glaswegain émigrés Christine and David Kernohan, who show real determination and ambition in everything they do – including tracking me down over breakfast in Martinborough once.

NOTULE VAN WWS-PROE: 19 JULIE 2011

Plek: Paarl

Voorsitter: De Bruyn

Tema: Cab is koning

Teenwoordigheid

Teenwoordig Verskoning
De Bruyn Danie
Tiny Hamer
Chops Piet
Etienne
Higgo
Rassie
Charl
Wilhelm
Jaco Gouws (gas)


Admin

• Charl se mosie dat as Piet nog een proe mis, hy uit die kring gelaat mag word is met ‘n volstrekte meerderheid aanvaar. Ter stawing is genoem dat Tiny op ‘n fiets opgedaag het en Higgo ‘n 150km round trip gedoen het, so ons moet hierdie manne se commitment salueer.
• Chops het versoek dat sy proe na September/Oktober oorstaan vir die reel van ‘n moontlike wegnaweek. Tiny is volgende in die ry so tans lyk dit na Donderdagaand 04 Augustus… maar Tiny om reelings te tref. Aangepaste proelys met datums aangeheg.






Wynproe

Agtergrond

Die kring ken mekaar al ‘n wyle en proe wyd so De Bruyn wou eerstens in die manne se koppe inkom en het die onregverdige vraag gevra van “wat is jou gunsteling kultivar, die een wat jy laaste in jou lewe alleen op ‘n eiland sal drink?”
Heelwat manne het vir Chardonnay gegaan (Rassie, Jaco en Tiny), Chef de Cave/Wilhelm vir Champagne (hoor hoor), Charl vir Pinotage, Higgo vir Riesling, Etienne vir Noble Late en Chops vir Shiraz.
Die voorsitter wou ‘n “case study” doen om te bewys dat, ten spyte van one night stands met verskeie kultivars wat kom en gaan, Cabernet Sauvignon koning is en bly. Cab is die Jacques Kallis van wyne: lekker stewig, kan verouder, klassiek en elegant, veelsydig en tuis en geliefd op elke kontinent.

Die doel van die proe was om te kyk na Cabernet se veelsydigheid (beter op sy eie of versny, en indien versny met watter kultivar) en ook sy aanpasbaarheid in terme van terroir en pryspunt.

Die proe

Cabernet het inderdaad sy vele fasette gewys met kommentaar wat deurlopend positief was en gewys het dat goeie Cabernet se struktuur en ruggraat onontbeerlik is vir sekere topwyne.
Die hele spread was daar met die koel klimaat wyne wat “pencil lead”, speserye en sigaar geure gewys het en wyne met elegansie en verouderingspotensiaal. Die meer moderne style het vrug en hout in oorvloed gehad en die eksotiese oorsese nommers het als van capers en Brett tot vye en teer gewys.

Styl: twee versnitte, naamlik Cathedral Cellar Triptych (versny met Shiraz, Merlot en Tannat) en KWV Orchestra (versny met Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot en Malbec) het beste gewys. KWV is sans MD maar kan nog wyn maak!
Die Allesverloren Cabernet het baie goed gehou vir ’n 2003, en dan het die Chileense Nuwe wereld styl Cabernet en die Libanese first growth Chateau Musar (versny met Grenache, Carignan en Mourvedre) gevolg.

Terroir: Die plaaslike wyne bly steeds meer bekend en geliefd met Kusstreek/Wes-Kaap/Swartland bo-aan die lys. Waar Triptych en Allesverloren se druiwe egter ook van warmer areas afkom, is Orchestra en Black Oystercatcher (Elim) definitief ook besig om die mark te groei vir ”groener” en meer elegante styl wyne. Van die oorsese wyne het Caliterra se ”single vineyard” Cabernet die beste gevaar... skoon, Nuwe Wereld wyn met tipiese swartbessie/koeldrank geure. Chateau Musar en Torres het ook goed gevaar hoewel daar verdeelde opinies was tussen die wonderlike sexy geure van die wyne en feit dat vlugtigheid en Brett op van hulle opgetel is.

Prys: die groep kon nie geflous word met Tall Horse (R35/bottel) wat ingegooi is nie; wel ’n eerlike kommersiele wyn met hoe suiker maar het gesukkel teen die manne met meer klas (soos Paul Adams... nie my gunsteling speler nie… wat vir Kallis probeer uitboul). In terme van waarde vir geld het die Triptych en Allesverloren goed gewys asook die Chileense Caliterra.

Tellings:

So het die wyne gemiddeld gevaar met afgeronde/geskatte rakprys en oorsprong:

Wyn Oesjaar Gemiddelde Punt
1)KWV Cathedral Cellar Triptych: Wes-Kaap, Suid-Afrika (R120) 2009 16.8
2)KWV The Mentors Orchestra: Kusstreek, Suid-Afrika (R250) 2009 16.5
3)Allesverloren Cabernet Sauvignon: Swartland, Suid-Afrika (R80) 2003 15.1
4)Caliterra Tribute single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon: Colchagua vallei, Chile (R110) 2007 15.0
5)Chateau Musar: Bekaa vallei, Libanon (R200) 2002 14.8
6)Torres Gran Coronas Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon: Katalonie, Spanje (R120) 2006 14.5
7)Black Oystercatcher Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot: Elim, Suid-Afrika (R90) 2007 14.2
8)Tall Horse Cabernet Sauvignon: Wes-Kaap, Suid-Afrika (R35) 2010 13.7


Gevolgtrekking:

Moenie Cab as die alpha male van rooiwyn geringskat nie! Jonk of oud, versny of enkelkultivar, warm of koue klimaat, enige plek in die wereld... bring it on, Cab gee struktuur en leiding vir die topwyne in die wereld.

Cheers en groete,
De Bruyn