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2017 Bragato Wine Awards – a single vineyard wine competition

A 13 strong judging team is gearing up to review over 500 wines entered in this year’s Bragato Wine Awards. The twist on this year’s Awards is that all wines entered must be single vineyard wines, a first in the competition’s 23 year history.

“We’ve worked hard in past few years to enable the Bragato Wine Awards to evolve into a single vineyard show”, says Ben Glover, Chair of Judges and Owner/Winemaker of Glover Family Vineyards. “The Bragato Awards are focused on recognising that exceptional grape growing is the foundation of making wines that express a true quality of place.”

“By making the shift to a single vineyard show we’re allowing our industry to express the Turangawaewae of their distinctive sites. This change highlights the Bragato Awards as being truly unique among New Zealand wine shows.”

Australian judge David Stevens-Castro will add an international perspective to the 2017 judging team. Mr Stevens-Castro is currently a stage two student in the Institute of Masters of Wine programme, the Wine & Beverage Manager at IHG’s Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise, and owner of PAIRED Media.

Judging of the 2017 Bragato Wine Awards will take place over 16 and 17 August at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland. Trophy winning wines will be revealed at the New Zealand Winegrowers National Romeo Bragato Conference in Marlborough, held from 30 to 31 August. Competition results can be viewed from 1 September on www.bragato.org.nz.

Additional information:

  • The Bragato Wine Awards are held each year as part of the New Zealand Winegrower’s National Romeo Bragato Conference.
  • The Awards recognise that exceptional grape growing is the foundation of making wines that express true quality of place.
  • For more information visit www.bragato.org.nz

Judging Team:
Chair of Judges – Ben Glover
Judges – Rod Easthope, Francis Hutt, Jeremy MacKenzie, James Millton, Helen Morrison, Simon Nunns, Barry Riwai, Liz Wheadon
International Judge – David Stevens-Castro (Australia)
Associate Judges – Hannah Burns, Jordon Hogg, Lauren Swift

For further information please contact:

Ben Glover
Chair of Judges
Bragato Wine Awards
029 520 8288
ben@zephyrwine.com

Or

Angela Willis
Manager – Global Events
New Zealand Winegrowers
021 552 071
angela@nzwine.com

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A tour of Italy – Part 2

Glengarry’s Sunday ramblings of all things vinous, grain and glorious. A tour of Italy – Part 2 comes from The Sunday Sediment Issue 6.

Sicilia

The largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily boasts the greatest number of wineries of any Italian region. Leading light on the island is the fortified DOC wine, Marsala; so brilliant for cooking and superb when served with a hard cheese like Pecorino. While there are some impressive DOC wines here, there is also great value being offered by top quality producers making very good IGT wines from native varieties.

The South

Dino Illuminati

Generally, the south of Italy is all about value and generous, forward wine styles. Abruzzo is located on the coast north and east of Rome, the region home to Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. Historically significant as the place the vine first arrived in Italy from Greece, Apulia (or Puglia) is located in the middle of the heel of Italy’s boot. Known as a large volume producer, there are now top-rated DOCG, an impressive 25 DOC zones and a chariot-full of great Italian foods.

 

Italian Sparkling

Italian SparklingProduced largely in the north, Prosecco is the current high-flier of Italy’s respected sparkling wine industry. In 2009 it was awarded DOCG status, that important ‘G’ on the end adding a rock-solid guarantee to the quality of the wine. Franciacorta is both a highly-rated DOCG area and a sparkling wine with a huge reputation, produced a la champagne, but with even more stringent aging requirements than its French cousins.

Grappa

The Italians have been perfecting their heady spirit known as Grappa since the Middle Ages. A unique concoction produced from grape pomace (the skins, pulp, seeds and stems left over after the juice has been extracted for winemaking), Grappa began life as a coarse, home-made drink enjoyed by farmers after a hard day’s work. From these humble beginnings it has evolved into a highly refined spirit. By EU law, Grappa must be produced in Italy, without any added water, from fermented and distilled pomace. To produce it, the pomace is heated in a bain-marie (also known as a water bath or double boiler) to create steam, which is forced through a distillation column. The resulting colourless, filtered distillation can be enjoyed immediately, but the finest Grappas are aged in glass or wood, which changes the colour and adds complexity. Flavours, too, can vary considerably depending on the origin of the grape pomace, the blending and the aging process. Great post-prandial, or added to espresso.

Read more in the Glengarry Wineletter – #232 August 2017.

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Science says wine and cheese make you fit and smart

If you needed another excuse to have some cheese with your wine tonight, we are hooking you up!

Because it turns out that cheese may not be so bad for you after all…

A recent study by the Global Dairy Platform, Dairy Research Institute and Dairy Australia has found that consuming cheese doesn’t increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

“There’s quite as widespread but mistaken belief among the public that dairy products in general can be bad for you, but that’s a misconception,” Ian Givens, a nutrition professor at Reading University told The Guardian. “While it is a widely held belief, our research shows that that’s wrong.”

And red wine, in moderation, can help your heart and your brain, according to a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.

The study showed that when wine residue passed through the gut it has the ability to prevent cells from dying, and therefore delay potential neurodegenerative diseases.

Good to know!

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July is Mid-Winter Dinner Month!

The Committee was looking to arrange the always-popular Cuba Street Bistro once again. But as the saying goes, the best laid plans of best-laid men oft gang awry. The building’s owner decided the chosen date would be a good time to undertake earthquake strengthening so the evening had to be scrapped.

However do not despair! Bistro 52 has been selected as the replacement. This is located in Lower Cuba Street and the Club has been there previously – and it very good it was too. The venue has been booked for Wednesday 19 July, with a 6.00pm start for a 6.30pm ordering of your meal. You will be welcomed with a glass of bubbles! Attached to this Newsletter is a Payment Advice for June 2017 (for both the dinner and your subscriptions). Price for the dinner is $52 per person including corkage – it’s BYO of course.

Note the date – this is a week later than the Club’s usual meeting evening. It’s the first week of the students’ new semester and they are still finalising the menu, but they have never let us down before!

This looks even now as though it will be a definite winner!

Payment Advice for June 2017

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2017, Upcoming events

2017

As always we commenced our festivities for this new year with the BBQ at Derek Thompson’s house. On the agenda for the year we have Ata Rangi, and after the success of the last quiz evening, we have decided to try it again.

Upcoming events

Your committee is working on options for the latter part of the year, but these will include the AGM in May, the mid-year dinner in July and the second dinner in December. As a definite, we have Seifried’s from Nelson booked in for August and other projects. We have found that a downside of arranging tastings too far in advance is that situations can change. These have resulted in late withdrawals necessitating urgent substitutes. We are trying not to work too far in advance. As always, we are happy for input from members on future events and tastings.

Cheers
Robin Semmens, Editor