Totara, Nanny Goat, Crowded House and Catalina Sounds

FEATURED WINES IN THIS REVIEW

• Totara Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2013
  Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand - Marlborough

  Review Date : 20-May-2014

  ☆☆☆☆☆

  Brilliant, very pale straw colour with light green hues. The nose is softly fresh with aromas of lifted tropical fruits and ripe gooseberry fruit, along with delicate floral, lime and mineral nuances. Dry to taste and medium-light bodied, elegantly presented, light, gooseberry and exotic tropical fruit flavours feature on the palate. The fruit is enlivened and sweetened by mouthwatering acidity, balanced by a dry phenolic line. The flavours lead to a dry-textured, soft gooseberry-fruited finish. This is an elegant and tight lined Sauvignon Blanc with light, up-front flavours and a mouthwatering dryness. Serve with seafood, salads and vegetables, and with Asian cuisine over the next 2 years. Fruit from the Wairau and Awatere Valleys, cool-fermented in stainless-steel to 13.0% alc. and 1.7 g/L RS. 17.0/20 May 2014 RRP $20.00
• Totara Marlborough/Central Otago Pinot Noir 2013
  Pinot Noir from New Zealand - South Island

  Review Date : 20-May-2014

  ☆☆☆☆☆

  Marlborough and Central Otago fruit given a cold soak and fermented to 13.2% alc., the wine aged 10 months in seasoned oak. Moderately deep ruby-red colour with youthful purple hues, lighter on rim. This has a well-concentrated nose of dark red berry fruits and black cherries complexed by dark herb, whole berry fermentation jam and raspberry liqueur notes, along with some charry oak and reduction-like elements. Medium-bodied, the palate is full and robust with bold flavours of dark raspberry and cherry fruit and a complex herbal and charry, reductive amalgam. A grainy structure and lively acidity balances the fruit sweetness providing a textured flow, leading to a fulsome, grippy finish. This is a full and robustly structured Pinot Noir with sweet black fruit and charry characters. Match with barbecued and roasted red meats over the next 4+ years. 17.0/20 May 2014 RRP $26.00
• Nanny Goat Central Otago Chardonnay 2013
  Chardonnay from New Zealand - Otago

  Review Date : 20-May-2014

  ☆☆☆☆☆

  Bright, very pale straw colour with slight green hues. The nose is softly concentrated and intensely packed with aromas of ripe citrus and stonefruits melded with complexing layers of nutty, mealy notes from the barrel-ferment and lees work, revealing subtle buttery MLF elements. Medium-full bodied, luscious flavours of ripe citrus fruits and yellow stonefruits form a soft, concentrated core. The fruit is complexed by waves of mealy, nutty oak and lees that are smoothly integrated and seamless in flow. The mouthfeel is rounded and driven by the creamy fruit extract, with an underlying dry line, carrying the flavours to a blossoming, nutty and buttery finish. This is a concentrated and well-integrated Chardonnay with soft layers of complexing interest. Match with roasted white meat dishes over the next 4 years. From a single vineyard in Cromwell, clone 6 and 15 fruit from ungrafted 20+ y.o. vines, hand-picked, WBP and initially tank fermented with finishing in oak puncheons to 13.4% alc, the wine aged 10 months in seasoned oak puncheons with batonnage and 100% MLF. 18.5-/20 May 2014 RRP $36.00
• Crowded House Marlborough Pinot Noir 2012
  Pinot Noir from New Zealand - Marlborough

  Review Date : 20-May-2014

  ☆☆☆☆☆

  Moderately deep ruby-red colour with some garnet hues on rim. This has an up-front bouquet of savoury strawberry fruit with lifted red floral notes and cooler dried herbal elements with resinous oak. The fruit is displaying secondary interest. Medium-bodied, up-front, coolish spectrum strawberry and red floral fruit flavours form a rounded and accessible palate, unfolding herbal elements and seasoned oak notes from the core. Soft, fine and light tannins underline the flavours and the mouthfeel is lively from bright acidity, which carries the wine to a strawberry and herb nuanced finish. This is an accessible, strawberry and herb fruited Pinot Noir with a fresh, lacy mouthfeel. Fruit from four sites in the Awatere and Wairau Valleys, given a cold soak and partially indigenous yeast fermented to 13.1% alc., the wine aged 10 months in 10% new French oak barriques. 16.5+/20 May 2014 RPP $26.00
• Catalina Sounds Marlborough Pinot Noir 2013
  Pinot Noir from New Zealand - Marlborough

  Review Date : 19-Nov-2014

  ☆☆☆☆☆

  Moderately deep, dark ruby-red colour with youthful purple hues. The nose is fresh and bright with intense, ripe, primary dark cherry and raspberry fruit aroma with subtle herb and earthy elements along with a thread of minerally reduction. Medium-full bodied, bright, piquant and pure fruit flavours of dark red cherry and raspberry fruit flavours form an elegantly proportioned core with sweet raspberry liqueur notes, dark herb elements and a hint of reduction. The wine is tightly structured and the fruit supported by fine-grained tannins, and the mouthfeel enlivened by slightly elevated acidity, which carries the wine to a sustained finish. This is a fresh, bright and racy, cherry and raspberry fruited Pinot Noir with a fine structure. Match with firm-fleshed fish, poultry and pork over the next 4-5 years. Hand-picked fruit from the Southern Valleys, 55% from the ‘Sound of White’ vineyard and the remainder from the ‘Clayridge’ site, generally destemmed, given a cold soak and indigenous yeast fermented with 5% whole clusters to 13.9% alc., the wine spending 18-25 days on skins and aged 10 months in 20% new French oak barriques. 17.5+/20 Nov 2014 RRP $28.00 Full, even, dark ruby-red colour with some purple hues. The nose is full with soft, dark raspberry and black cherry fruit aromas, revealing subtle savoury dark herb and earthy elements, the aromatics gentle in expression, building in depth and volume with aeration. Medium-full bodied, flavours of dark cherries, ripe raspberries and delicate spice notes show good depth and a subtly sweet richness. There is density to the fruit extract and a smooth, harmonious integration with fine-grained tannins providing a seamless structure and line. The mouthfeel has liveliness and freshness from bright acidity, enhancing the fruitiness, the palate leading to a fruity finish with refined textures. This is a harmonious and restrained Pinot Noir that grows in richness, revealing fine structure. Match with pork, veal and lamb over the next 5-6 years. Fruit from the Southern Valleys, 55% from the estate ‘Sound of White’ vineyard, Waihopi, and 45% from the ‘Clayridge’ site, Omaka. Hand-picked, the fruit given a cold soak and fermented with 5% whole bunches to 13.9% alc., a portion undergoing ‘hot’ ferment. The wine spent 18-25 days on skins and was aged 10 months in 20% new French oak barriques. 2,200 cases made. 18.0/20 May 2014 RRP $27.00