Classy blend of Bordeaux varieties

Auckland surgeon, Ian Civil, collects classic Kiwi wines. He generously offers his carefully cellared treasures at an annual tasting for a few friends. We’ve tasted vertical selections of Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir, Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir, Felton Road Block 1 Riesling and Neudorf Chardonnay.

This year it was a ten-vintage vertical (back to 1997) of Obsidian, currently a blend of the five Bordeaux grape varieties. Obsidian was established in 1993 by Lindsay Spillman who attended our tasting and very kindly filled a few gaps with museum wines. For information on Obsidian or their wines check out  www.obsidian.co.nz 

The tasting revealed several things:

- This is an extremely ageworthy wine. The earliest example from the 1997 vintage was still in great shape and will probably continue to deliver pleasure for a number of years yet.

- It’s consistent. My lowest scoring wine, from the 1999 vintage, still managed to earn a silver medal rating. Most of the rest scored gold.

- No cork taint problems were detected in the 20 wines opened.

- The wine style has evolved in sophistication, partly (perhaps) due to greater vine age, and partly through winemaker experience, although the ten wines were made by several different winemakers.

- My top wine was from 2008, clearly an extraordinary vintage.

- The imprint of terroir was clearly evident. I have tasted verticals of Stonyridge Larose, Te Motu and Obsidian in the last week. All are within a stone’s throw of each other and yet each has a clearly definable cellar style.

- Brief tasting notes for ten vintages, plus the 2006 Black Glass (a wine that failed to make the flagship label in that year) are on my database.

Vineyards with a view

A fleeting visit to Waiheke, courtesy of Man O’War Vineyards, confirmed my suspicion that Waiheke Island is heading for a helluva vintage, God and weather willing. I managed to get some great shots from the company helicopter before we landed to taste and inspect grapes. They’re clean as a whistle with great flavours and high sugars (as at 24th February). The first grapes (Chardonnay) will be picked on Monday 1st March. I predict great wines will result.

Here’s a shot of their Pinot Gris vineyard on Ponui Island which the vineyard workers have christened “Rippon rip-off” because the views are spectacular and the small island offshore mimics the much photographed island in Lake Wanaka below Rippon Vineyard’s vines.

Rippon rip-off

I also managed to taste a selection of currently released wines and was impressed by most. The highlight was an absolutely stunning Dreadnought 2008 Syrah $45.99 from the vineyard depicted below.

Dreadnought Syrah vineyard (I think)

Here are a few excerpts from my tasting notes:

Man O’War 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, Waiheke Island $22.99

Intense, weighty wine with ripe fig, melon and yeast lees flavours. 5 g/l RS but balanced by crisp acidity to give a drying finish. Very different to Marlborough but not a long way off Bordeaux Blanc Sec. Score: 87 points

Man O’War 2009 Pinot Gris, Ponui Island $22.99

Full-flavoured, fleshy wine with pear, melon and stone fruit flavours. A medium/dry style with 8 g/l RS. Fine, drying, glycerol-coated tannins. Score: 85 points

Man O’War 2008 Chardonnay, Waiheke Island $27.99

Intense citrus/grapefruit, nutty lees and chalky mineral flavours – very attractive. Elegant Chardonnay. Good Value. Score: 85 points

Valhalla 2008 Chardonnay, Waiheke Island $39.99

Flagship wine that justifies its exalted status. Big, rich and creamy Chardonnay with masses of mineral, citrus, toasted nut, bran biscuit and spicy oak flavour. Power-plus. Score: 93 points

Man O’War 2009 Rose, Waiheke Island $22.99

Pretty pink wine with plenty of red berry flavours. Made from Merlot , a much better variety for Rose than Pinot Noir, giving good weight and richness. 9 g/l RS but nicely blanced by fresh acidity and fine tannins to give a dry-ish finish. Score: 86 points

Man O’War 2008 Merlot Cabernet Franc Malbec, Waiheke Island $27.99

Vibrant, elegant red with pleasant berry flavours. Lacks enough flesh to mask sappy, drying tannins which produce a fairly austere finish. Needs food. Score: 82 points

Ironclad 2008, Waiheke Island $45.99

Elegance on a grand scale. Fine, tight red with layers of fruit/berry and savoury, spicy flavours. Aromatic wine with a pleasing floral lift. An impressive Bordeaux blend. Score: 93 points

Dreadnought 2008 Syrah, Waiheke Island $45.99

Stunning wine with a heady perfume that includes lovely floral notes. Very elegant red with ripe berryfruit flavours interwoven with Oriental spices. It has a great texture and extraordinary power.Score: 94 points

Stonyridge produced the first vintage of Larose in 1985 (from memory). The current vintage retails for $220 from the vineyard according to the collector who generously opened ten vintages for a group of 21 people recently. Prices vary considerably thanks to a tiered scheme that allows loyal customers to buy at prices well below retail. It may in fact be better to buy Larose at auction. It’s my guess that the high value, longevity and scarcity of Larose encourages buyers to salt their precious bottles away rather than drink them, resulting in a buyer’s market for old vintages. The Australian wine auction Langton’s lists the following prices for the last sale of Larose (in NZ$): 2004 $118, 2003 $72, 2002 170, 2001 $103, 2000 $94, 1999 $104, 1998 $99.

I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the wines which appeared to have been stored well. Even more surprising was the absense of poor wines. Not even the occasionally stellar bottle could make up for the poor wines which were sometimes evident in the previous decade. My opinion before the tasting was that Larose had an inflated reputation. Now I’m not so sure.

Here are brief tasting notes with scores that should not be related to my normal scoring system (they are not recorded in my tasting note database) but serve only as a ranking mechanism for the ten vintages.

2007 94 points. Lovely dense and fiercely astringent wine with dark fruits and exctic spice flavours. Although the tannins were undoubtedly firm they are also fine and ripe. Richly textured with plenty of oak evident although it is adequately balanced by fruit intensity. Elegant, powerful red – packed with the energy of a coiled spring.

2006 84 points. Much softer and accessible. Obviously more evolved. Still with moderately firm tannins and flavours suggesting chocolate, green and black olive, green capsicum and red berry/raspberry. Interesting wine but a little too green for my taste (it was more popular by far than the 2006 vintage – I was the only dissenting voter).

2005 95 points. My favourite wine on the night possibly because it was remarkably Bordeaux-like – and a classy Bordeaux at that. Coffee, berry, floral and cedarwood flavours. Not a blockbuster but supremely elegant wine with a lovely chewy texture and lengthy, drying finish.

2004 85 points. Mellow, developing wine with forest floor characters on top of cedar, berry and spice plus some green notes. Fine, assertive tannins needed to be enveloped by more fruit to adequately smother them.

2003 93 points. A departure in style from the later vintages with smooth, rich and mellow flavours – almost a ”fruit bomb”. Lots of primary fruit flavours including dark and red berries, plum, floral and licorice. Very New World in style – almost luscious.

2002 90 points. Dense wine with plum/prune, blackcurrant and beef tea flavours. Similar to 2003 in style but lacking the latter wine’s length of flavour and power. Lovely silken mouth feel.

2001 82 points. Soft, light and leafy red that I found a bit too simple. Pretty good red but well below the average Larose standard.

2000 94 points. Lovely wine with a mellow texture showing the benefit of a ripe vintage and the moderating effect of bottle age. Cedary, blackcurrant flavours with aromatic floral notes. Elegance on a grand scale. Has flesh, weight and complexity.

1999 94 points. Richly textured wine with dense sweet fruit and integrated flavours. Quite complex red in perfect drinking form now – it’s hard to see how it could improve.

1998 90 points. I’ve improved my rating compared to the score recorded when I tasted this wine quite a number of years ago. Supple red in a cedary Bordeaux-like style. Finely structured but not greatly complex. A lovely drink now although it lacks the X-factor of superior vintages.