Andrew Easterbrook

For the last two days, William, Hamish, Jake (William’s flatmate) and I have been travelling around the Hawke’s Bay wineries sampling the local produce.

Overall, today’s wine was significantly better than yesterday’s. I’ll give a brief but not exhaustive description of most of the places we went:

• CJ Pask had a good Merlot, but everything else was average
• Black Barn was a very nice winery, and had very knowledgeable staff. Their Chardonnay was above average (7)
• Te Mata claimed to have the best wine produced in NZ, the Coleraine. It wasn’t that great. But the Bullnose was very nice
• Craggy Range had flash buildings, nice but not brilliant wines, and the staff used scripted explanations
• Abbey Cellars had nothing that great
• Trinity Hill had live music which we listened to as we sat on the lawn. They had a very smooth easy drinking syrah (6.5), and a good viognier (7)
• Ngatarawa‘s Chardonnay was first equal for the weekend, a Glazebrook (8). Glazebrook also make a very nice Gewürztraminer, but I can’t remember what I rated it, only that it was very nice.

That was Saturday’s lineup. Nothing very impressive except the Glazebrook range. I was generally unimpressed with all of the Hawke’s Bay Pinot Noirs we tried, and even the Cab Savs and Merlot blends didn’t impress that much.

Sunday’s wineries were a big step up. The original plan was to go to the beach – we didn’t think that they would be open due to the Easter trading laws (post coming later). But much to our surprise they were! A couple of the places (out of a total of 9 today) we went weren’t very good so I’ll just leave them out.

• Alpha Domus had great staff, and an even better Viognier (8). Their 2005 Navigator (Cab Sav/Merlot/Malbec/Cab Franc blend) was amazing, probably a 8-8.5, and so was the 2000 Aviator. The Anthonius, a fortified Cab Sav was also very good, probably worth an 7.
• Sileni was where we found the best deal of the weekend: a $15 2007 Red Metal Merlot, 6.5. The Gold Triangle Merlot 2007 was also very good (7.5) and the Chardonnay was easily as good as the Glazebrook
• Te Awa had a good unoaked Chardonnay (for an unoaked Chardonnay), an even better oaked Chardonnay and a brilliant 2004 “Boundary” (Merlot blend, 8). Also a surprisingly good 2005 Pinotage which had an interesting taste, good length, mellow, soft, complex, 7.5. Their Zone 10 Cab Sav is also worth a mention, 7
• Stonecroft was also a good all-rounder, all wines were at least 6.5-7. The Zinfandel 2007 was an amazing 8.5, as was the Gewürztraminer, which I’d give an 8. The Gewürztraminer was a little bit sweet, not too sweet, but I think it’s more of a female drink (OMG SEXISM!), although a very complex and refined one, not a wine you’d drink quickly
• Elephant Hill had their Viognier recommended to us three times so we had to go. Unfortunately it was sold out. We had to settle for their Sauvignon Blancs (2007 was the best in my opinion, 6.5), 2007 Pinot Noir (from a Central Otago vineyard, 8), and 2008 Syrah (one to drink now, smooth, fruity, 7)
• Clearview was the second to last winery we went to. Good range all around, the 2007 Pinot Noir Des Trois (a blend from Central Otago, Waipara and Martinborough vineyards) was excellent, 7.5 and so was the 2008 Reserve Chardonnay. The 2006 Enigma and 2007 Reserve Cabernet Franc were also very good (both 7-7.5)
• Last was Beach House. The Chardonnay was excellent (8.5) and the others were lucky enough to get some (4 bottles!) before it sold out. Almost everything else was a 6.5 or 7 and the man staffing the shop was very friendly and knowledgeable

And here are a few random stats: we went to a total of 16 vineyards. Between the 4 of us we bought 17 bottles of wine. Jake bought 9, at an average price of $25. William bought 4 at an average price of $42.50. I only bought 1 (a $15 special, haha, that was really only $10 because the wine tasting fee was $5, and too good a deal to miss). Most places didn’t charge a tasting fee, except for Trinity Hill, Sileni, and Te Awa and they were all $5, waived if you bought a bottle of wine.