What a brilliant evening! Organised by Wayne and hosted by Michelle Fraser from Clearview, a wine judge in her own right, plus with an extensive knowledge of viticulture and wine making.
Due to illness and holidays, we had only 27 attend the evening, but book your diaries for next year, as this may be repeated with next year’s Gold Medal Winners!
Michelle filled the evening with knowledgeable tips about the different growing regimes, different classes of grapes, the different way grapes are treated/processed, i.e. in stainless steel or oak barrels, skins in or out; plus her sayings that kept us laughing:
- ABC – Anything But Chardonnay
- Pinot Gris – Puma wine, younger girls juice
- Chardonnay – Cougar wine, older women’s juice
- Gewurztraminer – how to says this: Girls Get Meaner
She gave us updates on what some of the bigger personalities in the Hawkes Bay area are now doing, with Gordon Russell now in retirement, until he decides what his next project will be. However, his daughters are now up and running through their new brand Three Fates.
This was an evening that was full of surprises, and to those of you who couldn’t make it, the below wines that we tasted are available from New World, The Good Wine Company, and other NZ locations.
- Lindauer Special Reserve Rose NV -Gold Trophy from a female wine maker, Jan DeWitt.
- 2023 Giesen Estate Riesling – Double Gold Trophy For Champion Riesling
- 2022 Leefield Station Gewurztraminer -Double Gold Trophy for Champion Gertz this is owned by the same family who own NED wines.
- 2022 Brancott Estate Letter Series O Chardonnay – Double Gold Trophy for Champion Chardonnay + Champion Wine of the Show again a female wine maker, Laura Kate Morgan
- 2021 Daisy Rock Reserve Pinot Noir – Gold Medal
- 2021 Esk Valley Artisanal Hawkes Bay Malbec Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon – Gold Medal sadly Esk Valley is now more, so snap up this one if you like Bordeaux style wines.