This was
Henry’s first tasting as a tutor. Henry has worked here at Regional Wines &
Spirits for 2 years while studying for his Bachelor of Commerce degree at Victoria University. Hailing from the Hawkes Bay
and growing up with wine all around him he caught the wine bug at an early age.
Henry is keen to pass on what he has learnt and is keen to share this knowledge
in an informal way, so he saw this tasting as the perfect opportunity to do just
that. Supported by our Retail Manager Duncan Gillespie, he took people through
the basics of wine making and used the wines he had selected to show the
differences in wine making and viticultural work. Henry even jumped in the car and drove to the
Wairarapa and Hawkes
Bay armed with a video
camera to shoot interviews with winemakers and viticulturalists which he showed
on the night to give a ‘real’ feel for what he was talking about.
To show the
difference between the straight up wine making and the more hands on approach
Henry picked the Picton Bay Sauvignon Blanc 09 to go up against the Clos Henri
Sauvignon Blanc 08. Here Henry showed how a wine that has spent time in older
oak and has been lee’s stirred can develop distinctive characters setting itself
apart from those that spend the entire winemaking process in stainless steel
tanks.
To show the
impact of sweetness, acid and sugars in wine Henry chose Johner Riesling 09 and
Forrest ‘The Doctors’ Riesling 09. The Johner readying you for sweetness with
it’s aromas, but delivering a somewhat off dry wine and the Forrest showing a
wine with excellent balance.
For the
Chardonnay’s Henry chose two by winemaker Grant Edmond. He showed the Redmetal
Chardonnay 09 to demonstrate a fruit driven style and the Sileni ‘The Lodge’
Chardonnay 08 to show a wine that had spent time in oak barrels concentrating
the oak characters.
For the Bordeaux styles Henry
went for the Thornbury Merlot 07 to show a single variety and followed it up
with the Instinct Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Malbec 07 to show how introducing
other varieties can add complexity.
Finally it
was time to look at how New Zealand
and Australia
handle the same variety in a very different way. The subtle raspberry
characters topped with the spice hints of pepper from Appleby Lane Syrah 09 was
tried next to the big juicy super ripe grunter that is the Thorn-Clarke
‘Sandpiper’ Shiraz
09.
At the end
of the tasting everyone voted for their favourite wine which ended in a tie
between Forrest ‘The Doctors’ Riesling 09 and the Appleby Lane Syrah 09. As a
tiebreaker everyone was then asked to vote for their favourite out of those two
wines which saw the Appleby Lane
as a convincing winner.
If you want
to learn more about wine in an informal atmosphere then keep an eye out for
Henry’s next tasting as it is sure to be a goodie.