With a number of Marlborough wines in the tasting today, please spare a thought for the wineries after the destructive earthquakes, for the losses and damage that they have suffered.
Wine losses are reported to be around 2% of production: that may sound small but equates to roughly 4 million litres or 5 million bottles of wine.
Worse still is that around 20% of their fermentation and storage tanks have suffered damage.
Wineries and steel fabrication staff are furiously at work trying to repair all the damage before the 2017 harvest. We wish them well.
Price: $17.30
Rating: Very good
Juicy Fruit gum, ripe pear and spiced apple lead the way. A drier palate than the nose suggests offering apple and spice: stone fruits growing with time. Fresh, crisp and nicely balanced: time brings sugar-topped grilled grapefruit and citrusy elements on the zingy finish.
A tidy wee package this.
Price: $28-30
Rating: Good to very good
A shy nose at first offering pear and fragrant soapy notes: time allows this to flesh out. Light but textural palate with stone fruit, apricot kernel and almond, with a creamy, lanolin-like note following, finishing dry. Aeration adds cooked apples to the mix as the wine builds freshness and grip.
The best may be yet to come here.
Price: $32
Rating: Very good
A ripe nose with sweet fruit and white flowers. More volume in the mouth with textural richness on a core of spiced apple, stone fruit/apricot and hints of cashew nut.
Noticeably spicy at first; this settles down nicely, steadily growing in interest as it fleshes out, with a whisper of sweetness balanced by freshening acidity.
Price: $20
Rating: Excellent
Hints of fruit sherbet and boiled sweets. Nice concentration. Richly textural with poached pear, stewed apple and baking spices: crisp acidity balances the sweetness with good carry of flavours through the palate.
A little fruit pith on the close adds another element as sweetness grows, bush honey ending the show.
Price: $28
Rating: Excellent
A fragrant nose hinting at talc and perfume. Creamy entry and mouthfeel with good concentration. Fruit sweetness but relatively dry on a nutty, stone fruit and stewed apple frame; a spicy undercurrent ever present.
A nicely balanced wine with lots of interest and rather appealing.
Price: $29.90
Rating: Excellent
Cider apples, blossom, almonds and a toasty hint. Voluminous in the mouth with a soapy texture and chalky phenolics, with apricot notes building. A completely different style, challenging perhaps for some, but full of richness and interest.
This grows in assuredness over time, showing marvellous length and depth.
