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Jeremy Matthew
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2067
 | | 07/20/2003 3:01 AM |
| Each month I pick a varietal and then taste the wines and score them appropriately. Some of these are still available on the market , some you can just give up now. This month was NZ Chardonnay- something I know makes it to the US in decent quantities so I thought I would post my results. Around 140 wines were tasted over the four days that I do this. So starting at the top. The comments are general notes I write after tasting each. All wines are tasted blind with two other people- this week a Wine Rep from a winery up north, and a winemaker from Aussie. below are the top 25.
Nuedorf Motere Reserve Chardonnay 2000- 96 point
A classic Chardonnay, great mineral and meally complexity. Outstanding balance and taut mineraly acids, intergrated light oak and beautiful length make this a standout.
Kumeu River Mates vineyard 2001- 95 points
A tight, austere and clean wine, thats shows soft stone fruit, pears and strong mineral notes. Beautiful use of oak ( a mixture of aged and new) give a well intergrated and elegant mouthfeel, while the finish is equally impressive.
Trinity Hill Gimblett Rd Hawkes Bay 1999- 94 points
A sophisticated and enviously concentrated wine that displays a complex rainbow of flavours, particualrly grapefruit, hazelnuts and oatmeal. Delicate spicy oak notes add further to this rambuncious combination of falvours. (The biggest wine of the top three.)
Mission Moteo Reserve 1999- 94 points
This rich silky textured wine had an impressive length that forced me to taste it in comparison to several other wines to give it full merit. Powerful fruit dominated by typical Hawkes Bay grapefruit notes, but with softer offerings of vanilla bean, wholemeal and some orange.
Kemblefield 1999 Chardonnay- 94 points
This complex and very creamy wine had a dominating ripe apple aromatic that intergrated really well wqith a cheesy/chedar flavour that was evident on the palate. Nice oak use . (This wine left a lasting impression.)
Corbans Cottage block 1999 Hawkes Bay- 94 points
Great texture!! Full mouth feel and nice ripe stonefruit and grapefruit (Hawkes Bay giveaway) flavours with some smokey, gamey notes. Really lovely wine, but more a textural expirience than a concentrated falvour bomb- very nice.
Fromm La Strada Reserve Charodnnay 1998- 94 points
Extremely elegant wine with excellent concentration shwoing in botht the texture and length. Peach, melon and complex yeasty nmotes all evident on the palate, while the nose was dominated by softer oak, peach and smokey hits of fig.
Matakana Estate Chardonnay 2000- 93 points
Great length and impressive complex flavours of sweet licorice, smokey apricots and peach made this wine standout. Cheesy flavours came through also suggesting high but excellent use of lees and oak.
Clearview Reserve 1999- 93 points
Peach, mango and citrus flavours dominated both the nose and mouth. Excellent but dominating oak notes and heaps of yeasty less apparent. This is a big wine!! ( I thought this to be from Gisborne and was very surprised to find it from Hawkes Bay.)
Daniel Schuster Petrie Selection 2002- Canterbury- 92 points
Very complex wine, lacking initial powerhouse palate weight, it was the finish and potential for age that gave this wine such and impressive score. Lovely intergrated balanced palate with outstanding length and balanced notes of peach, chedar, wholemeal and minerals.
Sileni Estates Hawkes Bay 2001-92 points
Powerful intergrated smokey stonefruit and grapefruit evident on the nose and palate. Length is wonderful with silken palate textures creating a coating on the mouth that lasts for ages!
Saint Clair Omaka Reserve 1999 Marlborough - 92 points
This sophisticated and fairly light wine, impressed with its large aray of flavours and great texture and length. Lovely peach and citrus notes evident, expressing balanced use of oak IMO.
Morton Estate Black Label 1998- 92 points- Hawkes Bay
Very textured wine with peach, grapefruit and some elegant fig notes. Powerful and concentrated, length is good with the finish slightly abrupt.
Ata Rangi Craighall 2001- 91 points- Martinborough
A powerhouse of wine dominated by mineral and yeasty stonefruit. Minerals particualrly river stones more evident on the finish with peach coming through during the aftertaste. Very nice wine.
Mills Reef Reserve 1999 - 91 points- Gisborne
AT first this wine seemed quite tight and dominated by oak, but as the air got to it more melon and tropical flavours developed. Oak added some nice and welcome complexity from the initial concentration of forward tropical flavours. Lovely stuff.
Mt Difficulty Manson's Vineyard 2001- Otago- 91 points.
The nose on this wine was deceiving offering up mineral and stonefruit, yet on the palate other more complex flavours emerged particularly smokey confectionary and licorice. This was bolstered by a silky mouthfeel and impressive length. The finish was delicate.
Forrest Vineyard Selection 1998 Chardonnay- 90 points
An aged wine evident by its beautiful golden hues, backed up with spice, cloves and nuts, particularly walnut and hazelnuts. Still needs a year or two.
Montana Renwick Estate 1998- 90 Points- Marlborough
Almost Burgundian aromatics with meally nuts and lovely balanced texture- really enjoyable wine!. The length and finish were well defined and sophisticated. Recommend.
Voss Estate St Martin Vineyard 2000- 90 points- Martinbrough
The initial charcoal nose hit me in the face but this blew off to offer well developed stonefruit and citrus notes. The palate showed strong oak, but this was much more intergrated with the sweeter fruit flavours. Length was excellent, but this wine needs time to intergrate further.
Mc Donald Cuvee Series 1998- 90 Points- Hawkes Bay
I swore this is a Burgundy look/smell alike. Meally hazelnuts, beautiful balanced palate, sophisticated and elegant mouthfeel and finish. Very enjoyable. Not as concentrated as other wines, but what finesse!
Alexander Wine Company Feruads Chardonnay 2001- 89 points-Otago
Beautiful deep golden hues eluded to either age or powerful oak. It turned out to be oak, with strong smoky peach and mineral flavours evident on nose and palate. Softer lees notes became evident int he finish and length of the wine.
Waipara West 1999- 88 points
Nice use of oak and solid fruit agian has proved to provide a more Burgundian flavour. Hazelnuts, vanilla beans, almonds and a slight meally note all eluded to the developement potential of this wine. very enjoyable.
Gillan Single Vineyard 1999-88 points
Very aromatic wine, ginger and bubblegum! A real mix of flavours on the palate. A confused chardonnay IMO. very enjoyable with lovely texture and great length. Very intense on the nose and palate.
Stonecroft 2001- 88 points
Powerful on the nose, grapefruit, peach, spicy clovelike oak and pwoerful palate texture and feel. Great length. Slightly bitter finish which I prescribe to be the oak dominance.
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| ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 07/20/2003 3:03 AM |
| | Nice notes, Jeremy. Can you give us some idea of what these wines sell for? | | | |
| Jeremy Matthew
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2067
| | 07/20/2003 3:12 AM |
| The Mates and Mouterre Reserve are the most expensive at about $30 USD. Sad news is they're almost impossible to find. About 100 cases of each produced. Nice to see that the best though were alos the most expensive rather than the other way round- so often the case.
Cheapist- Kemblefield at about $14 USD. The rest sit between the $15 and $25 USD mark. | | | |
| ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 07/20/2003 3:17 AM |
| | Do any of these find their way to the US? | | | |
| Jeremy Matthew
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2067
| | 07/20/2003 3:28 AM |
| The only one that isn't listed as an export wine is the Nuedorf Moutere, however I have seen it at auction on US sites- so maybe it does. All the rest have the US listed as an export market.
John Kemble used to work at Ravenswood with Joel Peterson, and I think the wines may be available through them - he does a great Reserve Chardonnay that was sadly unavailavle for the tasting. And NZ's first zin.
Kumeu River Mates definately went to the US but was very limited ( I think about 20 cases to NYC according to the Distributor here.)
La Strada is also quite small. The rest should be available somewhere in the US- sorry but I don't know the specifics of all these wines. | | | |
| ChangeMe
Master of Wine
Posts:11169
| | 07/20/2003 3:34 AM |
| | I've been so impressed with NZ Sauvignon Blancs and a couple of Pinot Gris, that I've pretty much ignored the Chardonnays. Thanks for opening my eyes. Now if you can only tell me where to put them. (Don't say it, Lilac!) | | | |
| love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts:12501
| | 07/20/2003 8:02 PM |
| | Thanks Jeremy. As an obvious Chard-fan & also one that likes the stuff that comes out of NZ, I will try to seek those out (if I can). | | | |
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