Muddy Water Waipara Syrah 2008
Eurowine
Stack it high.
You can recommend this with confidence!
Muddy Water claim to be the world's southern-most producer of Syrah. If that is the case, then it just goes to show that quality wine comes from the margins - because this is delicious!
Intense and fragrant on the nose with notes of dried herbs, this wine is bright and vibrant on the palate showing dark berries and exotic spices. A moderately bodied wine with good concentration of flavour and excellent depth, it is tautly structured witht tannins that are firm and fine-grained and with lifted acidity on the finish. Superb length.
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Chardonnay Success from Muddy Water
Muddy Water Fitzgerald Vineyard Chardonnay 2008
Eurowine
Recommended for value and variety.
Skilled winemaker Belinda Gould is crafting a fine range of flavoursome, characterful wines at Muddy Water in Waipara, North Canterbury.
From their Grower's Series, this Fitzgerald Vineyard Chardonnay is produced from fruit sourced from a site near the township of Waipara that is currently undergoing transition to organic certification.
Complex and aromatic in the glass, the nose of this wine shows fine-fruit characters with significant oak influence. The palate is creamy and deliciously smooth, featuring those fine fruit flavours again; stonefruit and grilled nuts, along with plenty of quality oak influence which should, with time, integrate more subtly. There is good concentration on the palate and really satisfying depth of flavour.
Although still youthful at this time, this is quality wine that will reward lovers of ripe, creamy chardonnays with its finesse and complexity.
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The Sauvignon Blanc for Food Lovers
Te Mania Reseve Sauvignon Blanc 2008
Lace Fine Wine Merchants
Stack it high.
You can recommend this with confidence!
Nelson's Te Mania are one of the leading wine producers in their region. Their wines are typified by purity of fruit and very good balance, making wines that are simply great to drink.
One of the best oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc I have tried in a long time, Te Mania Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2008 is ripe and appealing on the nose, packed with citrus, passionfruit and pine-apple notes. These characteristics follow through onto the palate and are supported and complexed by the judicious influence of oak. There's a thoroughly enjoyable contrast of rich fruit and oak with minerality and lifted Sauvignon Blanc acidity, that really works.
A match for a wide range of moderately flavoured foods, this was delicious with a home-made seafood chowder. It would be equally at home with flavoursome chicken dishes or with a classic Pork Roast.
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Classy Cabernet Sauvignon Blend from Schubert
Schubert Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2006
Schubert Wines
Recommended for value and variety.
Schubert's Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2006 is complex and developed on the nose with some herbal notes. Palate is dry but shows lovely ripe fruit sweetness and notes of cassis, red-currant, dark cherry and lots of spice with nice vanillary oak too. The mid-palate is developed, earthy and secondary with lovely texture in the mouth, quite creamy along with the earthiness - an interesting combination. Clean and very well proportioned wine, smooth on the finish.
This is a most delicious premium Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend, showing a note of development now, it will continue to develop and mature for some time yet. This is one for specialist premium wine retailers and for discerning restaurateurs.
Reviewed by Colin Ford
This tasting note was originally published in Wine NZ Magazine.
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