WOW today we showered! YIPPEEE... listen unless you have lived like us you don't understand what a luxury a HOT shower is. THis morning we decided that enough is enough and we paid the 30NZD for an offical camper site. Expensive but we won't do it often. So we got our shower and scrubbed all the grime off!
After a short smiley rest from being clean again. We set off on the wine tasting route. There are SO many places to visit. We tried just a few:
Wither Hills (bought the Sauvignon Blank-Rarangi 2007-special bottle) 32NZD. Delicious light fruit flavours that linger in the mouth a little longer without the acidy after taste. Although I was tempted by their Chardonay which had a creamy flavour to it which I liked.
MUTA - liked them but not enough to buy any. We were more impressed with the Rose here than the other wines.
Kathy Lindsky wines: Amazing wines. ALL of them. It was hard to choose a favourite and at least 30NZD a pop we had to choose... We choose the Gewurztraminer 2006 Gold medal winner. It was the best wine I have ever tasted (having indeed drank quite a few hehe). It had a hint of a rose flavour to it which made it really unique. This was both our favourite wine.
Mahi: Nice wines but I was not impressed enough to buy. They made their wines but buy the grapes from others.
Gibson Bridge: Delicous Pinot Gris which we took. A little family owned vinyard with alot of charm and great taste.
We learned quite a bit on this tour. For example, did you know that any frost on a growing vine is like death? Some of these vineyard have helicopters on standby in case they need to pulse out the mist fog and frost. That is not a cheap expense! Although the grounds in NZ are great for growing the crazy weather patterns make it difficult. This is why NZ wines are so expensive - they are smaller companies with MUCH more risk.
For any chilled wine - hold the glass at the stem - not the main body of glass. Otherwise you are warming the wine with your body heat. Flavours will be lost otherwise.
The wine glass swirl - ever wonder what that is for? I have thought it was a bunch of snobby acting. Well it actually has purpose can you believe? You must swirl the glass strongly and a but quick. This will allow the scents of the wine to rise within the glass. Allowing you the pleasure of another sense by which to experience the wine. You can capture the scent like -the oaks, citrus, fruitiness - 80% of taste is in smell after all! WOW who knew!
Watching the wine fall at the edges of the glass - this is related to the alcohol quantity. There should be many vine branches which are smooth.
Swirling the wine thru your mouth and lingering - Well your tongue has different areas which focus of the different tastes (bitter,sweet,sour, salt). This ensures that you attain the WHOLE flavours offered by the wine. With this you can taste the more subtle flavours which are offered by the grape which you would miss if skulled.
Wines that are barrelled: Not all wines are barrelled in oak casks. These casks are about 1100NZD each (ouch). This depends mainly on the grape itself. The Sauvignon grape for example is tastey & smooth without any assistance, so it doesn't require extra help or need extra time sitting in the barrells. Hence why great to drink even when it is very young. The other grapes, pinot or Chardonay often need to be casked in the oak to ensure that the flavours of the grapes are held and enhanced.
Screw tops vs Cork bottle: By tradition many of us think that the cork bottle of wine is the classy and better wine selection. This was true in the past. However they now know that the screw tops actually help preserve the original intended taste of the wine much better. Because the cork can rot, or bits break off, also the wine can take from the cork the extra woody flavour which sometimes is NOT wanted at all.
After this day we were ofcourse hammered. However much more in the know of wine and a lot more respectful of the process plus we found which wines we have a tendancy for.
White wines are still our fav, I can even do a good Chardonay now but we sure do like the great bottle of red...
Ciao for now
