Wine Age

Decanting and the right glassware. Yes it makes a difference

The one drawback about buying a great wine is that you usually have to cellar it (read wait) for a number of years before its worth drinking.

Old good wine = great wine.
This requires patience....... Not my strongest virtue.

So all the more reason that I would be amazed at the 10 x 10+ year old wines I've had in the period of about a week - it's been completely crazy and reads more like something that perhaps a wine writer might be exposed to, and I feel very fortunate.

So what makes an older wine so great? Many have described this, but I like the words of Hugh Johnson, the well know wine writer -

 "It always takes me a few sips and a silent pause, my nose deep in the glass, to focus and find the measure of the highest quality. Description involving currants and tobacco and tar and strawberries are rubbish when you meet the sheer rightness of great claret reaching maturity."

So, here's what happened in a week:

1. 2002 Vintage Moet Champagne 

2. 2002 Simon Bize & Fils Latricieres Chambertin Grand Cru - an amazing burgundy which went superbly with an amazing Beouff Bourguignon.
3. 2002 Chateau Pichon Longueville - an equally amazing Bordeaux that tasted devine.
4. 1996 Penfold's Grange:  This is the grand puh bah of Australian wines - it is coveted by wine collectors around the world (Mehran take note!) and 16 years has been kind to this wine.  This was rated at 97 points by James Halliday. It had been well decanted and drank as beautifully as one might expect.
5. 1996 Grant Burge Meshach Shiraz: This has got to be close to the top of the list of Aussie favourites (we recently also had a 1999).  A sensational example of what you can expect from cellaring a good Aussie Shiraz.
6. 1999 Vidal Reserve Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon - a magnum of New Zealand unctuous delight which was drinking beautifully.
7. 1993 Coldstream Hills Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon - James Halliday's winery.  The master himself.

8. 1997 Cranswick Botrytis Semillon from New South Wales.  Yummo with dessert.
9. 1995 Stonyridge Larose Waiheke Island Cabernets.  Just stunning.  This is an iconic New Zealand wine and it was amazing to see what all the fuss is about.  We've recently bought some 2008. Patience........
10. 1987 St Nesbit Bourdeaux blend - cabernet high.  (The 87 was cabernet, their newer wines are merlot high) I have only recently been introduced to this cult NZ wine and what a treat.




Aged wine....well what good is it without the matching company and food?  Wine was designed to go with food and all of these were.

Jambon Persille

A number of these were served with the most amazing French dinner with some friends who have recently returned from a trip to Burgundy. Marge is a fabulous cook and we were treated to Jambon Persille (ham and parsley terrine) and Boeuf Bourguignon.  Apparently these are served ad nauseum all over Burgundy and one can quickly get a bit too much of these dishes.  (Well, I will be more than happy to put myself to the challenge one day when I make it to Burgundy myself!) As New Zealand's current wine option champs,  Marge and John know a thing or two about wines and the food and wine matches were sensational.

Le Beouf Bourguignon

A beautiful and delicious almond tarte

A few more of these were brought out at Pinot Plus at our regular monthly lab night ... watch this space - Lab Night is about to celebrate 2 years.  This is the ultimate monthly get together over food and wine.

The Larose was brought out by Curt during a Tuesday night dinner at the Pitts.  You have to say that's a bit of a surreal wine to bring out on a Tuesday - almost a bit philosophical - Curt, I still think you should check out "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom.

The St Nesbit was tasted on a Saturday afternoon at a tasting and led to an amazing food and wine experience later on that I will have to get to on another day.....

Matakana: New Zealand's Hunter Valley?

View of Omaha and surrounds from OBV vineyard

Matakana....maybe it's even New Zealand's up and coming Sonoma county....  Ok, that might be a stretch, but wouldn't that be fabulous.

Matakana is only 42 minutes door to door from our Auckland home (according to the new GPS), so it was a no brainer to rent a bach at nearby Omaha Beach for the weekend with some friends as a quick winter getaway.

So......The ingredients of a worthy wine/food country region according to me:

Fresh, seasonal, locally grown produce:
High marks for Matakana.  It's compulsory to visit the Matakana Market on a Saturday Morning.  I got the most amazing winter carrots and root vegetables and some buffalo mozzarella, from which we made dinner that night.  There are also the roadside honesty boxes, which don't have a lot of press outside of New Zealand - it's a bit of a novelty to live in a place where people trustingly leave food and a box full of cash on the side of the road!

A view across Matakana Market from Matakana Market Kitchen

Food: 
The choices are starting to increase, but this is where a huge opportunity lies in my opinion.  Sonoma/Napa really does have the edge on this, but I guess they've been going a lot longer.  Will we ever have a French Laundry or Cyrus (or even Girl and the Fig)?  Who knows, but what we did have wasn't too bad.

Worth a visit: Matakana Market Kitchen. As the name suggests, it's right at the market, so it was the perfect place for brunch. The coffee is good and the menu has some non standard dishes.  I had the Welsh Rarebit which was made with a number of locavore ingredients.  Absolutely yummy.

Welsh Rarebit, Matakana Style

The coffee went down well......

OBV Vineyard for a lunch platter: Talk about a spectacular setting, overlooking Omaha and the coast.  The platter was interesting, but the scenery was really the main attraction.  A notable mention goes to the nice glass of their Montepulciano.  They are onto a winner here.

OBV Vinyard

Other places we didn't go to this time, but which deserve a mention:
Sawmill Cafe in Leigh - this is a bit of an institution which serves good pizza and nice bistro food.
Ransom Wines - great platters to go with some up and coming wines.  I particularly like their 'K Syrah'.
Plume:  Haven't been here but it's getting a lot of good reviews, so might need to put this on the list for the next visit.

Wine:
The wine needs a bit of work before it's at the level of some of New Zealand's other wine regions.  There are a few pockets of brilliant individual wines, but by and large, it's pretty average. Wineries worth keeping an eye on other than OBV and Ransom as above: I do like some of the Hyperion, Heron's flight and Ascension wines.  The big daddy is the Bordeaux blend of Providence. Their wines are in the +$200 range, so more of a special occasion wine and it really is a stunner.

Arts and Crafts:
Well, an honorable mention must go to Morris and James, who do the loveliest pottery.

But...
The piece de resistance for Matakana is its proximity to the coast.  Get your veggies, grab some food and then take a walk along some of New Zealand's most beautiful beaches.  Last weekend we even saw two whales.  I have not really done any whale watching to date, so this was a real treat for me.  It turned out to be a mum and her calf who were splashing around just of the coast.  Allister and I watched them for over an hour, it was just magical.  Attached is the link from the paper the following day.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10829911

Omaha Beach at Sunset

Sea Shells by the Sea Shore.... Omaha

 So I guess we'll watch this space on Matakana.  It certainly is nice to watch it develop and become the Auckland playground.

Dinner of locavore ingredients -
roast vegies and watercress from the market