NZ: Marlborough Wine Tasting, Festival

I have successfully made it to the South island, and will only touch down on the North island again for about 2 hours to catch my connecting flight to Los Angeles in 5 weeks time. The three hour ferry ride from Wellington to Picton was uncomfortable at times for the choppy seas, but I was grateful to make it to my hostel in relative ease given all the connections I relied on on Friday.

Picton isn't much to speak of. It's the ferry hub and has a smattering of hostels and rental car facilities. It can be a launching point for kayak trips and other water-based activities through the Marlborough Sound, but so can nicer towns such as Nelson and the towns near the entrance to Abel Tasman. My hostel here is excellent though, not least because they make free chocolate pudding (as in a cake-like dessert, not as in Jell-O) every night and serve it with vanilla ice cream and because they provide free wireless Internet.

I have been up early at 6:30am both Saturday and Sunday to get ready and eat breakfast in time for my 8am bus to Blenheim, only 20 minutes south of Picton. Blenheim (pronounced Blen-him) is the hub for Marlborough wines, and the Montana Brancott vineyard was the site of this year's Marlborough Wine Festival. I had to get myself down to Blenheim to catch another bus to the fesival site at the vineyard, and then stand in a queue with several hundred other festival-goers before we gained entry at 10:30am.


Disclaimer: Although all alcohol and food products described below were in fact consumed by me, their caloric value will not be recognised, in the hopes that my body might be fooled and will reject any attempt to gain weight as a result of said intake.

If 10:30am sounds too early to be drinking wine, it was. I had to give myself a caffeine jolt in the form of a latte and a food lining of a fried egg, bacon and croissant sandwich. Then, and only then, was I ready to start tasting around 10:50am. .. :) But first, a few statistics: There were nearly 10,000 attendees at the festival this year; all tickets were sold out. There were over 60 wineries with booths, and several food vendors strategically interspersed and conveniently identifying food and wine pairings.

I tried 14 wines from 10 different wineries. I was more restrained than at Hawke's Bay because the tasting sizes were larger and you had to pay for each one, about NZD$3 each. I focused on trying a few labels I had heard of before (Cloudy Bay, Seresin) and I got recommendations on the rest from other festival-goers. I also stuck with whites for the first 3 hours, and reds for the last 2 hours to make sure my taste buds weren't completely confused. I met a new Kiwi friend a few glasses in, so I had a tasting buddy throughout the afternoon and gained several valuable recommendations for wines to try both on the day and in the future.

My top wines for the day were

• White: Fromm 2007 Riesling Spatlese
• Red: Nautilus 2007 "Four Barriques" Pinot Noir

The Fromm riesling was fairly sweet, but had such a nice balance of weight and acidity that I could have drank it all day. I even went back for a second taste to cleanse my palate before switching to reds, and just to make sure my "excellent" rating was correct.

The Nautilus Four Barriques Pinot was the last one I tried of the day. I thought it was superb and went back to buy a full glass. Compared to Nautilus' regular 07 Pinot, the Four Barriques has heavier spice, riper fruit and a general complexity that begs savouring. I was also able to verify my excellent rating for this wine when I visited the winery on Sunday (see next post).

Since I only tried 14 wines, I will provide a tasting summary below, in order of tasting. Ratings are EXC-excellent, VG-very good, and G-good:

Whites

1. 2008 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc: Everyone loves Cloudy Bay, so I thought I would start out with the quintessential Marlborough Sauv Blanc and see what all the fuss is about. I had to be honest and only give it a very good rating, but it is indeed a delicious, high acid, juicy fruit wine. VG
2. 2007 Fromm Riesling Spatlese: sweet, nectarine and peach flavours, high acid which creates mouth-watering optimism for the next sip. EXC
   
3. 2008 Bouldevines Gewurtraminer: fresh, green apple, some floral. A bit tart on the finish, maybe the acid needs a bit more time to balance out. G
4. 2008 Seresin Riesling: off dry, but drier than Fromm riesling, green apple flavours. G
5. 2009 Villa Maria Clifford Bay Sauvignon Blanc: single vineyard Sauv Blanc, closer to the coast than most Blenheim vineyard sites. I tried this one to see if I could find a NZ Sauv Blanc with more of the minerally characteristic I love in Loire Valley whites. This one was closer, but no dice. VG
6. 2005 Mount Riley Riesling: dry, good, paired it with my NZ crayfish but it was only the crayfish that redeemed it. G
7. 2007 St. Clair Pioneer Block 9 Big John Riesling: slightly sweet with an odd, but desirable, Malibu rum coconut/pineapple flavour. VG

Reds

1. 2006 Isabel Pinot Noir: ripe plum, clean dirt, and smooth. VG
2. 2006 Auntsfield Pinot Noir: fresh berry and high acid, but tastes too young still. G
3. 2006 Fromm Pinot Brancott: red berry, cherry, some earth. Acid or tannin not quite right. G
4. 2005 Fromm Pinot Clayvin Vineyard: riper berries than above, more earth on the taste and right acid. well done! VG
5. 2007 Seresin "Leah" Pinot Noir: I had this 2006 wine in October at the New Zealand wine bar and restaurant, Providores, in London. The '07 has plum, earth, slight spice and very well balanced. VG
6. 2007 Nautilus Pinot Noir: raspberry, fresh fruit and spice. VG
7. 2007 Nautilus Four Barriques Pinot Noir: oak and cedar, spice, very well balanced. Fantastic! EXC
   

Lunch in the form of half a crayfish, which is basically a lobster that is very messy to eat!

In addition to the crayfish, I had a venison burger to pair with Pinot, and vanilla ice cream with strawberries and chocolate sauce for dessert. The food was reasonably priced, even the crayfish which would fetch at least NZD$30-35 at a restaurant, but was only $20 at the festival.

There was live music throughout the day and the headliner band was the Black Seeds, a very popular NZ that is more or less modern reggae. I met lots of people, got offers for places to stay (seriously!) and was given lots of sips of wine. The atmosphere was super friendly and laid back, and even the people working behind the counters for the wineries seemed to be having a good time. I would definitely go to the festival again, but seriously, I need some of you guys to come with me!