The Marlborough wine industry is vibrant and lively if going by the enthusiasm and general youth of the attendees at the second round of the annual Marlborough Winemakers Wine Options. The teams were fiercely independent and competitive, but there is certainly an atmosphere of co-operation and collegiality, which is simply quite incredible for such a large region with so many different players. Maybe they all recognise they are part of this country’s wine industry engine room, and doing it right in whatever segment of the market they are targeting is essential.
It was a pleasure to be invited to MC this game, and I was assisted by my partner Sue who looked after the scoring. This night’s game, conducted at Brancott Estate’s Riverlands event centre saw changes as well as consistency. The lead changed several times in the course of the game, but the team at the bottom was reliably poor in performance, making mistakes regularly. I shouldn’t say too much here, as I made a couple of errors, the most glaring was announcing an answer to a question prematurely!
Such ‘fun’ tasting events have an educational side, and the wines involved hopefully have the participants thinking about what they do and how they craft their Marlborough wines to fit in with the world of wine.
Following are the major results (the prize winners) of Round Two of the 2014 Marlborough Winemakers Wine Options, with a list of the wines served, as well as the scores for all the teams and cumulative ranking after two games. The third and final round will be in September, hosted by Yvonne Lorkin.
‘She’ll be Right’ from Rock Ferry – Round 2 Winners
Tom Hutchison, Bart Arnst, Rudy Schuil and Kurt Simcic
‘She’ll be Right’ from Rock Ferry – Round 2 Winners
Tom Hutchison, Bart Arnst, Rudy Schuil and Kurt Simcic
The major prize winners were:
1st, 115 points (150 maximum), ‘She’ll be Right’, a Rock Ferry team with Kurt Simcic, Rudy Schuil, Bart Arnst and Tom Hutchison
2nd (after a tie-breaker), 110 points, ‘Veni Vidi Vino’, a Lawson’s team
3rd (after a tie-breaker), 110 points, ‘Punk in Drublic’, a Framingham team
Second Last (after a tie-breaker), 70 points, ‘Winedirection’, a Yealands team
Last, 65 points, ‘Wrecking Balls’, an Indevin team
Last Man Standing, Jacqui Wood
The wines served were:
William Fevre Chablis 1er Cru ‘Montee de Tonnerre’ 2011
Loosen Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett 2012
Millton ‘Clos de Ste Anne – Les Arbres’ Gisborne Viognier 2009
The Writer’s Block Central Otago Late Harvest Gewurztraminer 2013 (Last Man Standing)
Elephant Hill Hawke’s Bay Syrah 2013
Yalumba ‘Signature’ Barossa Cabernet/Shiraz 2010
Antinori ‘Tignanello’ Toscana 2010
|
Team |
Name |
Round Two |
Overall Place |
|
|
Score |
Place |
|||
|
1 |
Punk in Drublic |
110 |
2= |
3= |
|
2 |
Here for Beer |
105 |
4= |
10= |
|
3 |
Wineoceroses |
100 |
6 |
3= |
|
4 |
Nice Rack |
105 |
4= |
1 |
|
5 |
Veni Vedi Vino |
110 |
2= |
2 |
|
6 |
Spit-Hoons |
95 |
7= |
27 |
|
7 |
New Kids on the Block |
90 |
11= |
20= |
|
8 |
Catwalk Empire |
85 |
18= |
20= |
|
9 |
Shaken Not Stirred |
85 |
18= |
20= |
|
10 |
Leesy Riders |
80 |
23 |
13= |
|
11 |
The Reserve Bench |
85 |
18= |
17= |
|
12 |
The Firm |
90 |
11= |
13= |
|
13 |
She’ll be Right |
115 |
1 |
7 |
|
14 |
The Paper Bag Pissheads |
95 |
7= |
17= |
|
15 |
Wonders of Nature |
95 |
7= |
8= |
|
16 |
Red Rockets |
90 |
11= |
3= |
|
17 |
NZW |
70 |
25= |
24 |
|
18 |
Awarua |
75 |
24 |
25 |
|
19 |
CTRL+ALT+DEL |
90 |
11= |
8= |
|
20 |
The Adjusters |
70 |
25= |
20= |
|
21 |
The Good Hunt’s |
90 |
11= |
13= |
|
22 |
These Ain’t Clear |
90 |
11= |
10= |
|
23 |
Wrecking Balls |
65 |
28 |
26 |
|
24 |
Katpiss and the Plunger Gamers |
85 |
18= |
13= |
|
25 |
Point Blanc |
95 |
7= |
3= |
|
26 |
Winedirection |
70 |
25= |
17= |
|
27 |
Leo’s Mexican Lion |
90 |
11= |
10= |
|
28 |
The PR Team |
85 |
18= |
28 |
