Sandihurst in Hong Kong and Macau...

Coming to a cinema near you...

Move over Bottle Shock, Sideways, A Good Year, A Walk in the Clouds and any other wine related film of recent times, New Zealand film The Vintners Luck is about to be released in a month or so.

According to the NZ Film Commission, The Vintners Luck, based on the novel by Elizabeth Knox, 'is an irresistible story of love, wine and angels set in early 19th century France. It tells the tale of an ambitious young peasant winemaker and his lifelong relationship with an angel as together they grapple with the sensual, the sacred and the profane in search of the perfect vintage.'

Getting Tough....

I moved up a level of toughness the other day when my cousin Luke posted me a pair of Xtratuf boots from Alaska. A real surprise and coincidentally they arrived on September 1st which was Random Act of Kindness Day in NZ. They may look like ordinary gumboots but in fact they are quite an uber-boot as a quick look at the Xtratuf website will attest. Super comfortable and apparently the footwear of choice in Alaska (there is even a 'sneaker' version). Im imagining it gets a little cold in Alaska which is probably why the sole is so thick and insulated. Ive road tested them already in both the winery and the vineyard and they've passed with flying colours and as a side-bonus they make me taller as well. Thanks a million Luke.

Degustation at Rotherhams...

Sandihurst, together with Black Estate, have teamed up with Rotherhams, one of Christchurchs top fine-dining restaurants, for two Degustation dinners this month (Sept 22 and 23). Heres the menu. Get in touch with Rotherhams directly or phone 03-3415142 to book a table.

Fresh baked bread roll served with spicy butter.
Sandihurst Gewürztraminer (Canterbury/Central Otago) 2008.
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Tajo's Farm's ostrich carpaccio rocket oil, aged balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese,toasted pine nuts, wild berry sorbet.
Sandihurst Riesling (Waipara) 2004.
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Mild creamy garlic soup, éclair filled with brie cheese mousse, wild watercress oil.
Sandihurst Pinot Gris (Canterbury) 2008.
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Baked fillet of Akaroa salmon, salmon caviar, fresh fettuccine pasta, cream,chardonnay and fennel sauce, wilted spinach.
Black Estate Chardonnay (Waipara) 2007.
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Wild rabbit terrine, dried fruit compote, red currant jelly,toasted brioche, micro greens.
Black Estate Pinot Noir (Waipara) 2006.
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Beef fillet topped with spicy plum marmalade, parsnip mash,steamed Swiss chard, pinot noir and dark berry glaze.
Sandihurst Pinot Noir (Canterbury) 2006.
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Caramelised lemon tart, berry compote, vanilla bean ice cream,citrus and riesling sabayon.
Black Estate Riesling (Waipara) 2008.
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Looks delicious, See you there.

Its here...

A nervous time of the year to be a grape grower as the first flushes of new growth get exposed to the elements. Stay away Jack Frost.

Our IWC Gold, worth noting again...

The International Wine Challenge awards dinner has just been held in London, where trophy winners were announced. Medal winners were announced in May and, as I may have already reported, the Sandihurst Central Otago Pinot Noir 2007 was awarded a GOLD medal, one of only a handful of NZ Pinot Noirs to do so.

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The judges comment was - Bramble fruits and berry perfume. Attractive and complex palate with fresh fruit and minerality. Good balance and lingering sweet fruit on the finish with a great potential to develop with age.

Singapore...

On his two week tour of Asia Hennie is now at the last stop before winging his way back to reality. He's in Singapore conducting tastings and visiting our agent Louis Chin of Marama Valley Wines.

Final day at the Expo in Hong Kong...

A great success, enjoyable and rewarding. A big thank you to Omtis and all involved. Heres a shot from the final day of the Expo. From left to right, Mr Raymond Nip, Hilda Lam, Hennie Bosman, Connie Li and Mr Adrian Sank. Well done everyone.

A toast to the Omtis Team...

Thank you for all your efforts and hard work

Mr & Mrs Lam (Delightful Cellars Macau), Hennie, Phillip K S Chu, Agnes Lam, Connie Li, Mandy Mok, Hilda Lam, Mr Raymond Nip, Maybo Wang (all Omtis)

Mr Raymond Nip, Mr Lam (Delightful Cellars Macau), Hennie, Mr Adrian Sank

Double Happy...

The Omtis-Sandihurst team (l-r)- Omtis Wines & Spirits Sales and Marketing Manager Mr Raymond Nip, our very own Hennie Bosman, Omtis Company Manager Mr Adrian Sank

NZ's Cellar Door...Open for tasting....

Day Two of the Expo and Hennie prepares to deliver his seminar/tasting - a four wine tour through the aromatic South Island of New Zealand. Participants tasted the Sandihurst Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008, Sandihurst Canterbury Riesling 2006, Sandihurst Waipara Pinot Gris 2008 and Sandihurst Central Otago Pinot Noir 2007.

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Hennie with James Orr, HK R&B's senior sales manager

With Sharon-May McCrostie, NZ Trade Commissioner HK & Macau

Let the seminar begin

Gris-ly discoveries...

The line up from last nights Pinot Gris tasting held by Canterbury Winegrowers and hosted by yours truly. Despite its current in vogue status NZ actually only has a small amount of Pinot Gris planted, about 1500 hectares nationally. And wineries are making a range of styles with varying degrees of residual sweetness that can only be confusing to consumers. What should NZ do? Surely we have an opportunity to develop some kind of niche export market as we have done with SauvB and Pinot Noir. This issue has not yet been addressed.

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Eight wines in two flights. The first four - two Kiwi wines in Yealands 08 (Marlbourough), Villa Maria 08 (Hawkes Bay/Marlborough), with Land of Fire 07 (Argentina) and Corte Giara 08 (Italy), essentially to show that the big players can all easily make a low priced fruit forward pleasant wine. No need for us to go down that route. And should we really be encouraging this style (Villas wine had a Top100 Gold). For most small producers the answer has to be a firm no.
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Second flight - Greystone 08 (Waipara) - entry level to the top tier, dry but with great palate weight, Seresin 08 (Marlborough) - complex nose and palate, absolute standout wine, brilliant, Quartz Reef 07 (Otago) - tight and linear, almost like a top class chardonnay (in a good way!) and Rolly Gassman Reserve 04 (Alsace) - the chalk from the rest of the cheese, weighty, oily, moderately sweet, some secondary characteristics and fantastic length. All quality wines but all different in style too. At this level you start to see the use of natural yeasts, lees stirring, old oak fermentation and ageing, bottle maturation. These wines had TEXTURE, balance and a whole lot more going on than just fruit. Come on NZ growers and winemakers, this varietal is going to be big for us in an export sense, lets get it right.

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Nb - 7 of the 8 wines were under screwcap and 3 of them had slight reduction issues. Cause for concern?

Reminder...

The HK R&B Expo begins...

Another day in Hong Kong and the first day at this years Restaurant & Bar Expo. Hennie has again been meeting with various leading lights of the local wine and food industry. In photos below, international food and wine critic, judge and president of the HK Wine Writers Circle Maggie Beale, Peter Kwong, HK's top sommelier and wine lecturer, and Cornelia Francesca Maeder of Swiss Chocolate house Francesca.

Mr Peter Kwong and Cornelia Francesca Maeder

Hennie with Maggie Beale and Mr Thomas Lim

Tasting at the Conrad...

Its hard to appreciate the scale of Hong Kong if you haven't been there. High rise buildings and people everywhere you look and just a general constant buzz of activity that really makes HK stand out from other cities. And add to that the wealth of this gateway to China, so obvious and none more so than tto see the amount of luxury hotels and shops on the island. This morning Hennie presented the Sandihurst wine range to the staff at the Conrad Hotel, one of the best, just above Pacific Place in Admiralty.

Hong Kong ...Day Two...

Not only is Hennies trip to Hong Kong making me feel hugely nostalgic and envious (I used to live there) he is now proceeding to rub it in by sending back photo after photo of him wining and dining in various parts of the city, and its only day two!.

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Today Hennie was fortunate enough to meet with celebrated HK gourmet and wine expert Lau Chi Sun, the publisher and editor of Hong Kongs first magazine dedicated to wine, Winenow Monthly. Its great news as we attempt to raise our profile in Asia when someone of Lau's note is able to taste our wine. In a 2007 HK Whos-Who poll Winenow was voted best wine publication, being praised for raising wine consciousness amongst Chinese, and with Lau Chi Sun winning 'Best wine journalist' and being nominated in the category 'Most influential wine person' where his 'exceptional palate' was noted.

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Hennie with Lau Chi Sun

Sandihurst 2007 Central Otago Pinot Noir and Peking Duck

Hennie in Hong Kong...

A few snaps from Hennies current trip to Hong Kong. Food is quite central to life in Hong Kong and Hennie seems to have got into the swing of things with 4 of his first 6 photos that he has sent back relating to food. Stay tuned for further updates/photos about how Sandihurst wines are going in Hong Kong, the restaurant and bar expo and other important issues like Hennies ability in using chopsticks...

Pinot Noir reviewed...

Cameron Douglas from QuaffTV tastes the Sandihurst Waipara Pinot Noir 2007. You should too.

Springtime in the winery...

Winter has been and gone it seems. The days are longer and warmer. And with that warmth the barrels of Pinot Noir in the winery have burst back into life with the telltale signs of malolactic fermentation. Bacteria are hard at work consuming malic acid and substituting it for a smaller amount of softer rounder lactic acid. They love the warmth though and when the wine hits around 15-18C they are at their happiest.

Out in the vineyard pruning is complete and budburst only a matter of days away.

Kellergeist...

Spotted in the winery this morning, the Ghost of Riesling present...

Sandihurst in Hong Kong...

The annual Hong Kong Restaurant And Bar Expo is being held in Hong Kong on September 1-3. At the invitation of Omtis, our agent in HK, Sandihurst Wines will be there. You will be able to taste our wines at the Omtis table and, in addition, as part of the World of Wine programme, Hennie will be presenting a seminar (430pm Sept2) on New Zealand wine, with a focus on the aromatic wines of the South Island. This will feature 4 of our wines, the 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, 2006 Canterbury Riesling, 2008 Waipara Pinot Gris and the 2007 Central Otago Pinot Noir. Hennie will also be showcasing the wines at various tasting events in Hong Kong and Macau during his stay. For more information you should contact Omtis. Stay tuned for more photos and reports.

In the news...

Two interesting stories caught my eye this morning. Mike Veseth, of The Wine Economist blog, has a very good piece on Steins Law and whether that applies to New Zealand wine. The basic premise of this particular law is that nothing lasts forever. Sounds feasible, you can read the full article here.

And over at Slate.com, a news site from the USA, there is an article about the current wine hoax/libel case fiasco that has enveloped respected UK wine expert Michael Broadbent. This is a story just crying out to be turned into a movie and Im sure we havent heard the last of it just yet given that people like Robert Parker were also duped. Read the article here.

Degustation Dinner...

Just a peek at the menu-wine matches from our recent weekend of Degustation dinners at Le Pot au Feu restaurant here in Christchurch. Chef extraordinaire Bono Beeler did a wonderful job and both evenings were a great success.

First Course

Mussel ragout with Sandihurst Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008

Second Course

Salmon Tartare with Sandihurst Waipara Chardonnay 2006

Third Course

Potato and Wasabi Creme with Sandihurst Waipara Pinot Gris 2008

Fourth Course

Pot-au-Feu with comparison tasting of Sandihurst Central Otago Pinot Noir 2007 and Sandihurst Waipara Pinot Noir 2007

Fifth Course

Spiced Crepe with Chocolate Sauce with Sandihurst Gewurztraminer 2008

Sixth Course

Pear Brioche and Goats Cheese Praline with Sandihurst Waipara Riesling 2008

The organ grinder and the monkey - which is which...

Just reading Victoria Moores article in The Guardian about screwcaps - not all they are cracked up to be, she writes. Reduction issues and wines with delayed development, fresh but boring. Interesting was a comment from the wine buyer Graeme Nash at supermarket chain Tescos where 60% of all wines they buy are under screwcap. That number looks set to rise as Nash explains .

We generally go for screwcap if it is available," says Tesco buyer Graham
Nash. "It's our preferred choice. Initially, the motive was to avoid cork
taint. Now it's also about keeping the wine as the wine-maker intended it to
taste."

I intended my wines to develop at a normal pace, in cork. Surely what he really means is that by opting for screwcap the wine lasts much longer on the shelves and there is less reason for the wine to be returned, both of which are great for Tescos bottom line. So coming ahead of providing customers with a range of fine wine is the motivation for profit.

Quite normal of course in a business environment. Which then got me thinking, who really started all this debate/issue over closures in the first place. Was it actually the winemakers who were sick of the problem of cork taint or was it in fact the big buyers at the other end who forced the change ?

Would you rather...

There is a lot of wine around these days, the choice is enormous. Wine can be a bit scary for a lot of people. A lot of people simply plump for what they know and what they know is highly likely to have been influenced by the constant and impressive advertising reaches of the large corporate wine companies. That's bad news for the small fry and I think the consumers are missing out too.

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The recent story about Nobilos Sauvignon Blanc becoming Americas biggest selling white wine is a classic case. Loads of press about the 'achievement', not much about the actual wine or the aggressive price cutting policy that got it there. You might argue that it has in fact downgraded the image of NZ Sauvignon in the US.

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There is no denying that these massive companies do make some good wines but for any wine enthusiast a wines interest/appeal should extend beyond the bottle. Real wine (as opposed to the corporate factory model) is handmade, its crafted from vine to bottle, its open and honest, it tastes different each year because nature delivers something different each year, its limited in stock, its regional, the people behind it are accessible and real, and there are no 'Show' wines. The list goes on.

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Real wine from real producers has a story behind every bottle. Take the time to find out and you will be rewarded. Guaranteed.

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Or as one person put it - You can get your meat from the supermarket but isnt it so much nicer to go to a butcher.