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Industry body New Zealand Winegrowers has teamed up with podcast creator Lawrence Francis of Interpreting Wine in order to provide in-depth coverage of its annual tasting.
The podcast series will take the form of seven episodes, featuring interviews with four winemakers and three regional masterclasses.
The first episode will be unveiled today (18 February) with all seven due to be released by 24 February.
The podcasts are available free of charge on major platforms including Spotify and iTunes. They will also be made available on the New Zealand Winegrowers website at a later date.
The episode schedule is as follows: episode one, Jamie Marfell, group winemaker at Pernod Ricard; episode two, Warren Gibson, winemaker at Trinity Hill; episode three, Sam Bennett, winemaker at Te Pa Wines; episode four, Kevin Judd, winemaker and owner at Greywacke; episode five, Rebecca Gibb MW, a masterclass on Central Otago, episode six, Ronan Sayburn MS and Kevin Judd, a masterclass on Marlborough; and episode seven, Rebecca Gibb MW, a masterclass on Hawke’s Bay
Europe marketing manager at New Zealand Winegrowers, Chris Stroud, commented: “We were delighted when Lawrence approached us to cover our annual tasting on his podcast. This series allows people who were not able to attend our tasting the opportunity to hear directly from the winemakers and learn from the regional masterclasses. We hope it brings a flavour of New Zealand to them.”
Lawrence Francis, content director at Interpreting Wine added: “Podcasting is a versatile and effective tool for wine communication. I know farmers who listen to the show on their tractors and others who play it while driving or working off their wine calories in the gym. In September 2018 Ofcom found that half of UK podcast listeners are under 35 so I think it’s an excellent way to connect with young wine drinkers.”
New Zealand Winegrowers’ annual London tasting took place on 16 January this year. You can listen to the podcast series here.
I wrote this obituary this morning for Raymond Chan, who was my friend, my mentor and a man who played a pivotal role in championing wine and its producers at a formative time in the modern history of New Zealand wine. It is also published on my website at www.joellethomson.com
Courageous, determined and undeterred. Raymond Chan will leave a legacy of great courage, as well as of good humour and a passion for wine.
He passed away on Sunday 10 February after a long journey with cancer, which lasted the best part of a decade. His long term partner, Sue Davies, was an integral part of this journey, offering unwavering support, putting her own career on hold, much of the time, to ensure Raymond had what he needed.
His bravery will remain as inspiring as his cheeky good humour and his passion for wine, which perhaps shone brightest in his role at Regional Wines & Spirits in Wellington where he ran and hosted great tastings for many years.
Wine never appeared on the family dining table when Chan was growing up. It became important to him when he graduated from the University of Otago in 1978 and worked at Chan’s Garden Restaurant, owned by his family in Dunedin.
“I was amazed by the early New Zealand wines of the day and our whole family got keen on wine through the restaurant,” he once said, when asked how he got into wine.
He and his wine friends, such as Malcolm McIntyre and Chris Staynes then formed the Wine Federation of Otago and entered wine options, a guessing game in the wine industry.
The 1980s were pivotal years in Chan’s early career in wine. He became a wine judge at the Royal Easter Wine Show in 1988 when Master of Wine Bob Campbell was expanding the wine judging system. Then he moved to Wellington in 1989 to work at Wilson Neill as a wine advisor for the late, Jose Hernandez, and, later, when Wilson Neill was taken over by Dominion Breweries (DB), he went to O’Reilly’s on Thorndon Quay where he worked for Zuke Marinkovich from 1991 to 1994.
This role saw him establish Wellington wine tasting programmes, which he spearheaded most influentially at Regional Wines & Spirits, working for the store’s late founder, Grant Jones, who Raymond described as a visionary.
“He opened my eyes to wine,” said one wine friend, on social media this morning.
“Without him, I can’t imagine how I would have gotten into a wine career and he was super supportive even when I knew nothing – he always had time to answer my questions, no matter how trivial I imagine they may have seemed to him,” said another wine industry friend.
I can echo those comments.
The first time I met Raymond was at an upstairs tasting at Regional Wines & Spirits in 1995. I was a young wine writer with very little wine knowledge at the time and, realising I needed to learn, the tastings beckoned. Raymond’s passion for wine was infectious. He was warm and welcoming. He lacked pretension and exuded an openness to teach, which is sorely needed in wine circles today.
It has been my great privilege to know, admire and learn from the man who inspired one of my personal greatest wine passions – German Riesling. It was a passion that he and his partner, Sue Davies, also shared.
Raymond will be very deeply missed and very highly revered, as he deserved to be, for the role he played in championing wine and its producers at a formative time in the modern history of New Zealand wine.
The ‘who’s who’ of the wine world descended on Marlborough for a three-day International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration kicking off on Monday 28 January.
“We have over 100 international wine producers, experts and key influencers visiting, giving us an exceptional opportunity to shine the spotlight on our diverse Sauvignon Blanc offerings,” said Sauvignon 2019 Chair, Patrick Materman. The event boasted a world-class line-up of speakers who are experts in the fields of science, research, journalism and gastronomy.
Internationally acclaimed wine writer Matt Kramer returned to New Zealand to explore Sauvignon Blanc’s place in the world of wine and speak on the future of Sauvignon Blanc. Nine Masters of Wine from all over the globe were among the speakers, including Debra Meiburg, founding Director of Meiburg Wine Media, and Sarah Heller, Asia Pacific’s youngest MW at 30 years of age, from Hong Kong. From the UK came Justin Howard-Sneyd, buyer and consultant for over 20 years with some of the UK’s leading distributors, and David Allen, originally from the UK and Director of WineSearcher. Dirceu Vianna Junior was the first South American male to obtain the title of Master of Wine and joined from Brazil, and Tim Hanni hailing from the US, where he is Managing Director of eCode.me and HanniCo LLC. Completing the exemplary line up were New Zealanders Emma Jenkins, Sam Harrop and Steve Smith.
Over 350 guests were expected to attend the celebration, which took attendees on a journey exploring the complexity of Sauvignon Blanc, emerging styles, vineyard practices, winemaking influences and future trends. The International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration is built around three themes; Place, Purity and Pursuit. Day one was themed Place and drew on Tūrangawaewae, the geographical places we feel empowered and connected to. Day two, with the theme of Purity, explored topics such as climate, sustainability and flavour. Finally, Day three dealt with what we should pursue domestically and globally, outlining future challenges and opportunities for the New Zealand wine industry.
The spectacular evening entertainment was also a highlight, with the sold-out gala event ‘Blanc’, a dinner-en-blanc theme, hosting 480 guests at Brancott Vineyard on the second evening of the 2019 celebration. Celebrity chef Martin Bosley was the culinary director of the gourmet feast that was matched with older vintages from the cellars of our wineries. The International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration brought this diverse, expressive and sought-after variety to centre stage for three action-packed days in Marlborough.
Few consumer products offer as staggering a range of choice as wine. You can buy a bottle of Dark Horse Big Red Blend for $8. Or for around $500, you can get a 2012 bottle of Sloan Proprietary Red. Yet for each bottle, the same question applies: Is it any good?
The rise of the wine-rating crowd
CellarTracker, a site where amateur wine enthusiasts can rate wines.
In 2004, Eric LeVine — then a group program manager at Microsoft — launched CellarTracker, a site where amateur wine enthusiasts can rate wines. Today, CellarTracker is the web’s most popular “community” or “crowdsourced” wine review website, containing 6.3 million reviews from 113,000-plus users for more than 2.2 million different wines.
Amateur and professional wine scores correlate very tightly
How similar? We ran a statistical tool called a Spearman correlation and got a figure of 0.576. A perfect correlation is 1. An utter non-correlation is 0. A score of 0.576 may not sound impressive at first, but it can actually get worse than 0 — a negative correlation, which is what you would see if you compared, say, shortness with the likelihood of playing professional basketball.
Amateurs appear more expert than the experts
It looks very much like the enthusiasts actually do a better job of agreeing with the experts than the experts do with each other. That might sound odd, but out of thousands of wines we analyzed, only a handful contradicted this pattern. Simply put, if you want to know what the experts think, the best place to look appears to be, of all places, CellarTracker.
The better the wine, the more experts agree with the amateurs
How do wine enthusiasts compare with experts like Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson? Very well.
There is also a tendency for scores to converge as wines improve in quality. This is evident in the arrow shape of the clusters in figures comparing CellarTracker with Wine Advocate and CellarTracker with International Wine Cellar. Average scores, furthermore, are high. On Wine Advocate, the average score was 89, on International Wine Cellar it was 91, and it was 17 out of 20 for Jancis Robinson. On CellarTracker, it was 89. This tells us that experts and enthusiasts alike don’t seem to be spending a great deal of time scoring mediocre wines.
The New Zealand wine industry has recognised the service and dedication of industry icons Mark Nobilo, Jane Hunter and Ivan Sutherland by inducting them as Fellows of New Zealand Winegrowers at the New Zealand Wine Awards dinner held in Wellington last month. The Fellows award recognises individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the industry.
Mark Nobilo
Mark has been a tireless advocate for grape and wine industry for over 50 years from his time as viticulturist with the family firm through to his recent years as a consultant, particularly in the Northland wine industry. In his role with Nobilo Vintners Mark spent enormous amounts of time helping the Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay growers in their endeavours to produce quality grapes. In more recent years Mark has been a consultant particularly in Northland where he has shared his knowledge, without charge, with all Northland winegrowers.
Mark served on a number of industry Committees over the years but perhaps most notably on the New Zealand Grapevine Improvement Group which played a key role in sharing knowledge about and distributing improved planting material to the industry. “Mark has always given freely of his time to assist the growth of the industry,” said John Clarke, Chair of New Zealand Winegrowers.
Jane Hunter
Jane joined the New Zealand wine industry in 1983, taking up the role of National viticulturist with Montana Wines. Jane has contributed to the wider industry in many ways and served on the Wine Institute Board and various Committees for several years. Importantly she was a foundation Director of the New Zealand Wine Guild which charted the path forward for New Zealand wine in the UK in the early 1990’s and established the model of cooperation in export which has served the industry well to this day.
Jane has received a number of awards over the years honouring her contribution to our industry including in 1993 an OBE in 2009 when she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and in 2013 became the first woman inducted into the New Zealand Wine Hall of Fame. “Jane never intended to stay in the industry long but has since become a New Zealand wine icon. One of Jane’s greatest assets has been the time and energy she has devoted to serving the wider community,” said Mr Clarke.
Ivan Sutherland, Proprietor, Dog Point Wines
Ivan, originally from Marlborough, studied Valuation and Farm Management at Lincoln University graduating in 1972. He has been involved for nearly 40 years in the New Zealand wine industry, commencing as one of the first contract growers in Marlborough in 1979 before becoming involved in viticulture consultancy. Today he is a proprietor of well know premium winery Dog Point Wines. Ivan has served the industry in a number of capacities over many years. He was a founding member of the Marlborough Grape Growers Association and served as Chair on more than one occasion.
As a strong advocate of grower issues, Ivan has always had a keen interest in research serving as Chair of the original Marlborough Wine Research Centre Board. More latterly Ivan became a Trustee of The Marlborough Research Centre and still enjoys this involvement. As an ardent advocate for all things Marlborough, Ivan was a Board member of the first International Sauvignon Blanc Celebration held in Marlborough in 2016 playing a major role in the success of the event.
After each vintage season, New Zealand Winegrowers surveys members and compiles vintage data snapshots for the industry. The following are the snapshots for 2018.
These words were uttered by the French-born English wine merchant and author André Simon in 1964 when tasting Hawke’s Bay winery Te Mata’s 1912 red blend. More than half a century after it was first made – the same year as the sinking of the Titanic – the red wine was still very much alive, so why has New Zealand not developed a reputation for making age worthy wines?
Two words: Sauvignon Blanc.
The New Zealand wine industry is dominated by a grape variety that is typically fermented and put into bottle within months – or even weeks – of being harvested. ‘Picked, pressed and pissed before Christmas’ is the life cycle of Sauvignon Blanc in some winemakers’ view. Why wait for Christmas when you can drink the wine before Easter? Moana Park winery has released a Sauvignon Blanc on April 1 and that was no April Fools. If the previous vintage has been small and stocks are running low, a few blocks might be picked early to produce a wine to bridge the gap between vintages, such as Villa Maria’s Early Release Sauvignon Blanc.
However, there are a growing number of smaller, quality focused producers that are holding back their Sauvignon Blancs before releasing, giving them time on lees and time in bottle. Having tasted some of Marlborough’s finest Sauvignon Blancs at seven or eight years old, drinkers need not be in such a hurry. Putting the brakes on wineries releasing wines doesn’t help their cash flow and with grape growers to pay and bank repayments due, accountants can overrule winemakers, putting the onus on drinkers to put the wines in their usually non-existent cellars.
It is partly a matter of wine culture: New Zealand does not have a long-standing tradition of making and drinking wine. Having rejected Prohibition in 1919, the country continued to operate under a cloud of abstemiousness, promoted by restrictive licensing laws. Until 1961, New Zealanders couldn’t enjoy a glass of wine with a meal in a restaurant. The 1960s brought licensing change with more and more restaurant licences granted, a rise in the number of wine shops while a rise in tax on beer and spirits in the 1958 ‘Black Budget’ gave wine an encouraging bump.
The 1950s witnessed the birth of aspirational winemakers and pioneers seeking to move away from fortified wine and hybrids to quality table wine made from vitis vinifera, which gained increasing momentum, culminating in legislation outlawing a sugar and water culture and a state-sponsored vine pull in the 1980s. In the 1970s, regular wine columns had appeared in several newspapers, catering for an educated population who had done their ‘OE’ (overseas experience), travelling around Europe, experiencing wine and food culture. From just 174ml of wine per capita in the early 1960s, wine consumption increased to 5.3 litres by the end of the 1970s. In 2016, the figure stood at 20.2 litres but has remained stagnant for a decade. (Come on team, get drinking, we have to lift this again – Ed)
Red wines in New Zealand, like whites, are all too often released early and consumed early, meaning there are few older vintages available to purchase and enjoy. There are relatively few wine collectors and fine dining restaurants with cellars and mature stocks of New Zealand wine and thus some wineries are starting to take responsibility for ageing their wines until they approach their drinking window. Judy Fowler, owner of Puriri Hills Vineyard in Clevedon, Auckland, which specialises in Bordeaux blends, has a Brunello di Montalcino approach to releasing her reds. “My late release policy is based on the fact that we attempt to produce Bordeaux-blended wines made in the longstanding traditions of Bordeaux. The great Bordeaux generally benefit from ageing five to 10 years or longer. Our wines are built to age well. However, we are a small, newer vineyard [established 1998] with perhaps another 300 years to earn the reputation for quality that the grands crus of Bordeaux have. As such, we do not expect our customers all to want to wait for five or more years to taste our wines at their best, so we do the ageing here at the vineyard before release.” While Fowler is not alone, most wineries don’t apply the release-when-ready-to-drink policy across the entire range, as it can leave suppliers wine-less and raise the prospect of delisting.
It is difficult to judge the ageability of New Zealand wines with so little precedent. In the past decade, young vines have matured, viticulture has evolved, winemaking has become more refined: a Pinot Noir produced 10 years ago from young vines by winemakers that were still getting to know their site will be quite different today than a current vintage opened in a decade’s time. When asked to provide drinking windows for a recent Central Otago Pinot Noir or Hawke’s Bay Cabernet Sauvignon, it is a case of pinning the tail on the donkey.
However, there’s no doubting the country’s best wines have the components to age gracefully: intensity of fruit, richness of ripe tannins, acidity (and pH), alcohol and magic all play their part in the development of a red wine. In whites, high levels of acidity and flavour precursors elongate their shelf life.
There’s also a small matter of the closure: screwcaps are omnipotent in New Zealand. Although a small but significant number of producers continue to seal their top Bordeaux blends under cork (while putting the rest of their range under screwcap), it is likely that the wines will age more slowly, because of the lower rate of oxygen ingress compared with a natural cork.
What is clear, is that far too many New Zealand wines are being consumed before they are out of nappies. It’s time to let them grow up.
Orsini’s was a benchmark for fine dining not only in Wellington but throughout the nation. Littlejohn brought together the best of restaurant history from white-gloved waiters in dinner suits and silver candlesticks to serving celebrities and surviving the 1918-1989 Liquor Law. The history and story of Orsini’s is a gem in the crown of Cuba Street Character.
A word from the owner
Philip Temple, Orsini’s proprietor, presenting a bottle of wine to a customer, 1988
Tradition meant that the front door was always locked at Orsini’s restaurant. On ringing the bell, patrons and visitors would be welcomed and ushered inside.
Celebrity and fame
The restaurant was well known and we had many famous guests. Their names are recorded in our visitor’s book and include, among others, Danny Kaye and Alfred Hitchcock.
At the time of Danny Kaye’s visit to Wellington, he was a roving ambassador for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). He confided in us that he’d always wanted to wait on tables. After some quick tuition, he set about serving a table – until the unsuspecting diners suddenly realised the true identity of their celebrity waiter!
Liquor and law
Orsini’s was at the forefront of the push to get liquor laws changed to allow restaurants to serve wine and liqueurs with meals. The locked door gave us the opportunity to prepare for the regular raids of the police as they tried to enforce non-drinking regulations.
Bottles were hidden and the customers protected, but there were a couple of nights when the police visited repeatedly, every hour or two, with several policemen marching through the restaurant looking for the evidence. It wasn’t good for business.
Liquor bottles – 1978
On one occasion the police returned unexpectedly and a good customer from London was caught with a glass of cognac in his hand. He gave a false name, that of Antony Armstrong-Jones, the Earl of Snowden, a well-known English photographer and the husband of Princess Margaret. Deftly we distracted the police and switched the incriminating evidence to a glass of coke, and he was spared any further repercussions.
Hybrid super grapes will produce ‘FRANKENSTEIN’ French wines that won’t have the same flavour as classic varieties, say purists (but they will be cheaper)
By Imogen Blake for MailOnline | 8 August 2018
France develops four new types of grape that are resistant to mildew attacks
Critics say wines made from the new varieties won’t have as much ‘personality’
It will bring in a generation of ‘cut-price wines’ to compete with Spain, they say
But others say the new varieties will cut down on the use of fungicides
Disease-resistant ‘super grapes’ developed to reduce the use of fungicides will result in ‘Frankenstein’ wines that lack the flavour of classic French varieties, according to purists.
Four new hybrid varieties of grapes have recently been created in laboratories that are artificially resistant to diseases such as mildew, which have decimated French vineyards in the last few years.
There are four new varieties of hybrid super grape that are disease-resistant without being genetically modified: Voltis, Artaban, Floreal, and Vidoc (pictured: red wine grapes in a French vineyard)
The French National Institute for Agronomic Research (Inra) says the new varieties will help the environment as it will reduce the need to spray vineyards with eco-unfriendly fungicide chemicals.
But winemakers say the new grapes were really developed to launch a new generation of ‘cut-price wines’ that will taste more artificial and less flavoursome than classic bottles.
The new grapes are not genetically modified but are hybrid varieties created by mixing American vine genes with European ones.
But winemaker and researcher, Thomas Dormegnies, from Vendée, in western France, told The Telegraph that the inter-continental varieties would result in ‘artificial and unnatural ‘Frankenstein wine’.
He added: ‘This is like crossing a monkey with and a man: it may be technically possible but it goes against nature.’
Critics have said wines made from the new hybrid grapes won’t have as much ‘personality’ and will be cheaper industrial plonk – but others say they were ‘seduced’ by the flavours (pictured: stock photo of red and white wines with grapes in front)
He also told The Times: ‘These laboratory varieties are for industrial winemaking and aim to compete with cheap wines from Spain. They are preparing us for a generation of cut-price wines.’
The new grape varieties have been in development for some years but they were officially authorised by the French government this year after downy mildew destroyed grape crops across the country.
Some vineyards in Bordeaux estimate that up to 70 per cent of this year’s grape harvest was ruined compared to a normal winemaking year, according to The Times.
Inra claims that ‘the winegrowing sector will be able to sustain its image of quality and excellence’ by using the new varieties.
However, Mr Dormegnies told The Telegraph that he was ‘underwhelmed’ by the taste of wines made using the new hybrid grapes.
Vice president of France Vin Bio, Jacques Frélin, told NouvelObsmagazine: ‘It’s obvious that a hybrid grape variety will produce a wine with less personality.’
Some winemakers are more enthusiastic, however, with one wine producer telling The Times he was ‘seduced’ by the flavours.
What are the four new varieties of disease-resistant hybrid grapes?
Voltis – Inra says wines made from these grapes are ‘supple, ample and persistent’
Artaban – Said to produce ‘light and silky’ wines
Floreal – ‘Expressive, aromatic and pleasantly fresh’
The best of New Zealand wine will be discovered at New Zealand Winegrowers’ refreshed wine competition later this year.
The New Zealand Wine of the Year™ Awards is the official national wine competition of the New Zealand wine industry, replacing the Air New Zealand Wine Awards and the Bragato Wine Awards, two of the industry’s major wine competitions.
The New Zealand Wine of the Year™ Awards will combine the very best components of the previous competitions, with a focus on rewarding the grape grower and their single vineyard wines (a core component of the Bragato Wine Awards), as well as championing New Zealand wine excellence on a larger scale (a key objective of the Air New Zealand Wine Awards).
John Clarke, New Zealand Winegrowers Board Chair, says the New Zealand Wine of the Year™ Awards is a fresh approach to celebrating excellence in New Zealand wine.
“The opportunity to recognise the achievements of our grape growers and winemakers in one competition is exciting. The New Zealand Wine of the Year™ Awards will help us to continue building on New Zealand wine’s excellent global reputation,” Mr Clarke says.
Judging of the wines will take place in the first week of October in Auckland. Highly regarded Hawke’s Bay winemaker and Chair of the Air New Zealand Wine Awards, Warren Gibson, will lead as Chair of Judges, with Marlborough winemaker and Chair of the Bragato Wine Awards, Ben Glover, alongside him as Deputy Chair.
Mr Gibson says the new competition is an exciting opportunity to completely refresh the New Zealand wine awards scene.
“The New Zealand Wine of the Year™ Awards 2018 is more than an amalgamation of the previous two; it is the development of a new, fresh and exciting format. The focus is strongly towards celebrating the entire New Zealand wine industry, with a particular focus on vineyard excellence and regionality,” Mr Gibson says.
Entries for the New Zealand Wine of the Year™ Awards open on 1 August, with the winners celebrated at the New Zealand Wine Awards on Saturday 3 November in Wellington. More information on the New Zealand Wine of the Year™ Awards can be found at nzwine.com/events.
A warm summer benefited New Zealand’s winegrowing regions, with 419,000 tonnes of grapes harvested during Vintage 2018.
This is up 6% on the 2017 tonnage but is still lower than initially anticipated in a season marked by a very early start to harvesting.
New Zealand Winegrowers CEO Philip Gregan says many wineries had been hoping for an even larger vintage, given 2017’s small harvest.
“However, we now expect export growth in the year ahead will be modest. It will be up to wineries to manage any product shortages from the vintage.”
In addition to prompting an early harvest, the warm summer produced fruit with good ripeness levels.
A highlight from Vintage 2018 is the increased production of red wines. “Production of both Pinot Noir and Merlot has lifted more than 20% on last year, which will be welcomed by both wineries and consumers. These varieties were down sharply in 2017 and it is very positive to see a return to more normal production levels this year,” Mr Gregan says.
New Zealand Winegrowers is confident Vintage 2018 wines will add to New Zealand’s reputation as a premium producer of cool climate wines.
“Every vintage is different and ultimately the final test is the quality delivered in the bottle to consumers. We are certain that consumers will enjoy the benefits of the warm summer when they get to taste the wines from Vintage 2018,” Mr Gregan says.
New Zealand wine exports are currently valued at $1.71 billion, up 3% in the past year. Wine is New Zealand’s fifth largest export good.
For further information contact:
Philip Gregan Chief Executive Officer New Zealand Winegrowers 021 964564
With another great vintage in the winery, we can all take a small breath and focus on having a little bit of downtime, and enjoying some older vintages! As always, there are lots of new things happening at the winery, and more to come, here are the current highlights.
Online Ordering is now live
New York Brownie with Raspberry Compote
As promised you can now go to our website http://www.ashridgewines.co.nz, and order online. Get your wine club discount of 25% by simply using ASHRIDGECLUB181 in the coupon code. We have updated the site with all of our current release wines. Hopefully, this will make life more convenient for you. We aim to have orders dispatched within 24 hours. If you prefer to order via email, simply send me the details to cellar@ashridgewines.co.nz.
As the home of Ash Ridge our cellar door has been a major focus, and we are constantly upgrading everything we do. The latest change is the new menu we have just launched. We are moving to a more Bistro style menu with entree, main and dessert options. So if you feel like a treat please book in for a lunch! Please remember that as a Wine Club member you get 25% off food as well as wine.
Functions and Weddings
Our new facility really opens up a myriad of options for us and you. The new building capacity is 100 people, so we can host functions for much larger groups in beautiful and comfortable surroundings. Our dining area allows for group sizes of 40-45 people seated, and we are also looking at hosting weddings. We are licensed until 10 pm, so we are able to accommodate evening functions as well.
We have completed the May deliveries. Thank you for your patience, we have tried to ensure that all packages have been delivered in a timely manner through Toll, but if for any reason your box has not arrived please contact me at cellar@ashridgewines.co.nz, and we will hunt down the delivery.
I really want to thank you, everyone, for all your support. As a small winery, we can only do what we do with your ongoing support. In a world were access to retail channels is becoming harder and harder, having the direct support of wine lovers is what keeps us going, and we appreciate your current and ongoing support.
