Last night I went to Wiaheke for dinner.
We went to a cafe called Vino Vino that used to specialise only in Wiaheke wines, but with the florishing trade of Wiaheke they now have a considerbaly smaller selection. On the list I saw this little beauty for 67$ NZD (about 33$ USD).

The cafe is situated on a hill overlooking a beach and the Pacific Ocean. You can actually watch America's Cup boats racing during the day from Vino Vino's terrace. The food was okay, the view was stunning.

Waiheke is an island in the Hauraki Gulf (where the America's cup is being held) and is about twqenty five minutes by ferry from Downtown Auckland. The average temperature is about three degrees hotter than Auckland day to day. The soils are predominantly iron rich clay with limestone base, which seems to produce NZs best reds. Waiheke Cabernets are fetching "cult" level prices throughout the world although they are very rare. A magnum of 1987 Goldwater Cab Merlot was sold at auction for $4500 USD at an Auction in New York in 1992. This has become fairly typical of Waiheke red prices.

The first vineyards on Waiheke were Goldwater 1983 (first vintage) followed closely afterwards by Stonyridge 1987 (first vintage).

Obsidain is a partner ship with Kim Crawford, Lindsay Spielman and Andrew (can't remember his last name) from Coopers Creek. Kim Crawford is the wine maker and viticulturist and this is a testament to Kim's abilities. The Philosophy of Obsidian is to provide a QPR Waiheke red.

Obsidian's first vintage was in 1996 and was very limited with less than 500 cases produced. Now in 2002 they are recognised as on of the best value Waiheke reds. The wines retail for around the $60 NZD mark and have regularly scored five star write ups in Cuisine, Winestate and one or two other mags.

1997 was a stunning vintage for all Auckland regions. The summer was cool but developed into an Indian summer which lasted for four more months allowing many vineyards to leave the grapes on for another week or so. The temperatures on average were about two degrees celsius cooler than the previous year but there was great deal more sunshine hours (about 15% more). The grapes and wines produced were very ripe with good acids and tannins.

The 1997 Obsidian alos contained 8% Cab Franc as well as the 30% Merlot and %60 Cab Sav.

Colour: Plum red with hint of black
Nose: Spicy aniseed and plum with hints of chocolate, hints of mint and cedar.
Palate: Good rounded structure allowed full developement of the palate. This wine could have done with an hour decanting but the cafe didn't have a decanter (or jug or anything suitable). The tannins were rounded, not full teeth scratching type but evident. The flavours were well intergrated with an excellent length.
Overall: A lovely wine. Good fruit and structure. 90 points on the Jeremy Scale and a B+ on the QPR scale. Cuisine gave this a 94 but I think that a little too high, the only downside I could find was the palate was not as intense as expected (possibly would be with decanting).