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4 ½ stars and Top 5 Pinot Gris: Cuisine magazine NZ Pinot Gris Tasting – March 2010 issue #139
Brother Cyprian Trophy for Champion Pinot Gris:
Romeo Bragato Wine Awards 2009
Gold medal:
Romeo Bragato Wine Awards 2009
Raymond Chan, Regional Wines, Wellington – November 2009
“Pinot Gris is variety difficult to vinify for character and balance. The Ohau Gravels wine is an outstanding example, and it is a credit to the condition of the fruit and the sensitive winemaking to get it right straight away. Hand-picked fruit, gentle pressing and an inoculated yeast selected solely for Pinot Gris was used; the wine having lees contact until bottling. 14.0% alc with 10.8 g/l residual sugar. Pale straw yellow in colour, this has an excellent bouquet of fresh white stone fruits with florals and spices. The palate is lively and invigorating with an elegant structure, and real depth of fruit intensity. The richness of the tropical fruit and spice flavours add to the apparent sweetness, but this is superbly counterpoised by the good acidity.
Seductive aromas of feijoa, Turkish Delight, apricots and ripe peaches mingle with notes of honeysuckle in this luscious Pinot Gris. It is a well-balanced wine with a soft, rounded palate and gentle acidity.”
Warren Barton, Wine of the Week, Wanganui Chronicle – October 2009
“Ohau Gravels is the first – and only – winery in the country’s newest wine-growing region, at Ohau, just north of the Kapiti Coast. It’s inevitable it will be joined by others, judging from the quality of this wine. And why not? This wine is quite weighty, off-dry with pear, feijoa and honeysuckle aromas and flavours, and decent concentration.”
Sue Courtney, Wine of the Week, November 2009
“A big, rich, concentrated, creamy, almost oily style. It has a powerful presence of gala apples, pear, quince, a hint of honeysuckle, a touch of mandarin and the bitterness of bright, tasty, freshly grated zest to balance the flavours that are just on the dry edge of sweetness. It’s a fragrant spicy wine and tasting it later, after the Sauvignon, nuances of pineapple come through too.”
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Silver medal : NZ International Wine Show 2009
4 ½ stars, Michael Cooper, NZ Listener, June 2010
“Aromatic and vibrant, with intense, clearly herbaceous flavours and racy acidity. It could be straight out of the Awatere Valley.”
4 ½ stars, Jan 2010, Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, www.wineorbit.co.nz
Highly anticipated 2009 Vintage Seminar – USA
Selected as one of 11 NZ Sauvignon Blanc to appear at the ‘Highly anticipated 2009 vintage seminar’ new-release tasting held in New York and Chicago in March.
Raymond Chan, Regional Wines, Wellington – November 2009
“This wine is getting better all the time as it settles in bottle. Pale straw yellow with youthful green hues, the wine possesses an intense nose and palate of passionfruit intertwined with herbs, citrus fruits and minerals. Crisp, dry and refreshing from the racy acidity, the wine is deliciously mouth-watering and tightly bound, showing no broadness or coarseness at all. Its style can be seen to be between that of Marlborough and the Wairarapa. This is a hand-picked selection of the best fruit. Five per cent of the wine was indigenous yeast fermented in seasoned oak barrels for increased texture and complexities, and the resultant wine is 14.0% alc with an imperceptible 3.5 g/l residual sugar.
This classic style displays ripe fruit flavours in harmony with aromas of citrus and sweet gooseberry, laced with minerality. Hints of lime, grapefruit, gooseberry and sweet red capsicum are offset by fresh vibrant acidity and a lingering finish. Pair with grilled salmon and Mediterranean-style vegetables.”
Sue Courtney, Wine of the Week, November 2009
“This is an earthy, flinty, gravely style with an edgy point of difference to the masses of Sauvignon that comes out of the South Island – dare I say it even has a Sancerre-ish quality. Lots of herbaceous nuances, nettles, dandelion, feijoa and apples – apple flavours reminiscent of some of the lovely Sauvignon Blancs that come out of Martinborough. This is a cat-free, sweat-free zone – a beautiful Sauvignon – one that I can (and did) drink more than one glass of. I am very impressed."
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