by Anto Coates
At the beginning of
July we had a bit of a get together to taste the Astrolabe wines over lunch at
Boulcott Street Bistro. Boulcott is my flavour of the month on the Wellington fine dining
rota after an excellent experience on my last visit, so I was looking forward
to continuing in the same vein with the excellent Astrolabe wines to keep us
hydrated.
The day began with
a tasting of two Astrolabe Rieslings: Grovetown and the Dry Riesling with some
Vietnamese style pork and lobster. Both wines
were excellent aperitifs, which it could be argued is riesling’s primary and
most beautiful function, and strangely enough, the Grovetown almost appeared
drier, even though it had 12 grams of residual sugar to the dry riesling’s 6.5.
The answer to this little riddle must lie in those famously tricky pH acid
levels with the Grovetown’s 12g of sugar offset by a sexy pH of 2.91, to the
Dry Riesling’s pH of 3.12. Nothing like a little wine geekery to work up an
appetite and so we moved upstairs to see what Rex had whipped up for us.
Flight one: Sauvignon Blanc
served with Black Watch Groper and Fennel Cerviche; Karengo salmon with
watercress; Chevre, grilled peppers on polenta; and Tropical Bluff Oyster
People who are firm
believers in believing firmly in things often say that all Marlborough
Sauvignon tastes the same. While I wouldn’t want to have lunch with such a
doggedly dogmatic person, it would have been nice to show them Simon Waghorn’s
range of Astrolabe Sauvignons to either disprove their assertion or confirm
their anosmia. The four wines were the Astrolabe Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
2010, the Astrolabe Kekerengu Coast 2010, the Astrolabe Awatere 2010 and the
Astrolabe Taihoa 2009. The first wine, the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2010, is
Astrolabe’s core business and an alarmingly consistent wine vintage to
vintage. The 2010 version shows a very
pale gold in the glass with a green tinge. The nose reminds me of vinyl
upholstery, think the Minis of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The lifted
aromatics also conjure up tropical passionfruit and even lime leading onto a
dry palate. The Kekerengu Coast
Sauvignon Blanc 2010 is a pale yellow gold and is somewhat prettier, with wild
flowers and a distinct aroma of salty oysters before a lingering finish. This
is simply a gorgeous wine and anyone who fancies seeing one of Marlborough’s southernmost
regions in action should look no further than the Astrolabe.
The Astrolabe
Awatere Sauvignon Blanc 2010 has a hard act to follow after the dizzying
heights of 2009, where it was perhaps the standout Sauvignon that Regional
offers (imho of course, an asterisk that could be fairly applied to nearly
everything written here). The 2010 is another fine effort, with the classic
Awatere sautéed red capsicum notes blending with more persistent acid structure
than the first two wines but balanced by excellent fruit sweetness.
The final Sauvignon
was the Astrolabe Taihoa 2009, a wine we stock at Regional largely due to my
enthusiasm for it. Those who appreciate barrel-fermented sauvignon blanc with restrained
oak application should do themselves a favour and buy this one. Simon Waghorn
says he was so worried about over-oaking he might have underdone it but for
mine it’s just right. The nose shows what I call roasted meat gravy mopped up
with sour dough, with hints of marmite or at least an aroma eerily reminiscent
of Mahi’s Boundary Farm Sauvignon Blanc 2009. It’s surely a yeast and barrel
aroma mixed with the sweet and sour tropical fruits of the savvy, but whatever
it is it’s gorgeous and as I am writing this I have decided to grab a bottle to
have with Japanese tonight.
Flight Two: Pinot Gris and
Chardonnay, served with roasted chicken breast with almond pesto, scallops,
pancetta and vanilla egg noodles
The next course was
paired with the Astrolabe Chardonnay 2008 and the Astrolabe Pinot Gris The
Rocks 2008. The Chardonnay is a lovely simple example of Marlborough
Chardonnay. No earth-shattering complexity but as you’d expect a well made wine
showing all the classic peaches, vanilla bean and soap (ok so maybe soap is not
classic chardy). The Rocks Pinot Gris was for me a little confusing, there were
certainly good bits, like the barrel-fermented aromas mingled with florals on
the nose, but the mealiness had been a tad over done, making it seem a little
like a chardonnay with a pink ribbon in its hair. On the whole, the group preferred it to the
chardonnay I think but I preferred the chardonnay’s sense of identity and
place.
Flight Three: Pinot Noir with
Evansdale Farmhouse Brie with porcini wafers and spiced cherries.
The Astrolabe Pinot
Noir 2008, a light ruby red, with a delicious pinosity that was reminiscent of
plums that are just under-ripe in summer, with that delicious hint of firmness
still to them. Simon pointed out one of the difficulties with matching cheese
with red wines like pinot is that the combination can often lead to a metallic
aftertaste, and it did indeed prove to be so, with the match not working quite
as well as could be hoped. This metallic thing is apparently usually more of a
problem with blue cheese and red wine, but the Evansdale Brie, while lovely on
its own, didn’t sit particularly well with the pinot. The pinot noir was
actually a revelation – we know the sauvignons are fantastic – but the pinot
showed excellent typicity and a range of berry fruits and earth that makes it
an excellent buy at the price point.
Finally a huge
thank you to Simon Waghorn and Boulcott
Street’s Rex Morgan – both the wine and the food
were outstanding and confirm both as the finest in their respective
professions. Also a thank you to those in the trade who made it along (even
though lunch at Boulcott is turned down by bereavement only) – it was a great
opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the quality and range of the Astrolabe
wines.