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Our new store really went up a notch this Wednesday with a return visit – for the 13th time, of the inimitable Jane Ferrari and the superb wines of Yalumba. Over 100 people were treated to a wonderful line-up of wines and with Jane in fine form it was a brilliant evening.
Many commented they considered this was possibly her best tasting yet. Sue Courtney’s tasting notes have gone to a new level this week as she was able to include a lot the of the information that Jane so confidently provided. Many of the wines have suggested food matches and the magnificent Yalumba Octavius 2012 was likened to George Clooney. This is a week where you should read all of the tasting notes – they describe the wines in fantastic detail. Many are open on the tasting table at First Glass this weekend.
For me the wines of the night were the super smooth and very delicious Octavius and the Yalumba Paradox Shiraz. |
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Stemless glasses have become very popular and while I don’t believe they should be the only glass option in restaurants they certainly are the logical choice in numerous circumstances.
We have good volumes of the Spiegelau Authentis Casual Bordeaux or White Wine glasses available – these are in loose format, i.e. not gift boxed, so you can buy one, six or a dozen glasses.
Made in Germany, these glasses usually retail over $15 each – our First Glass price is just $6.90 each. Check them out this weekend – sorry we will not courier these for logical reasons. Also an excellent water glass for dinner parties. |
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Yalumba Patchwork Barossa Shiraz 2014
The bouquet is red berries and cakes spices with a hint of tobacco. On the medium style of full-bodied, it's spicy in the mouth with a touch of pimento adding a hot pepper zing. The tannins are velvet smooth, the fruit is redcurrants and cherries, the oak has a touch of vanilla, there is an underpinning of leather and again a touch of tobacco on the finish – menthol tobacco however. Smooth and drinkable with great length of flavour, Jane describes it as 'Christmas pudding in a glass'. A combination of 14 diverse vineyards on the valley floor, hence the Patchwork name.
First Glass Price: $17.99. |
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Yalumba The Scribbler Barossa Shiraz Cabernet 2013
Spicy on the nose – complex and deep yet lifted at the same time with blackcurrant fruit coming through. First impression in the palate is chocolate biscuits and while the tannins seem a little chunky at first, like chewing chocolate biscuits they soon seem very fine and sit in well with the savouriness of the wine. A harmony of savoury oak, spice and blackcurrant and cherry fruit with deep vinous concentration, peppery spices and lingering notes of vanilla and mint on the deliciously persistent finish. The oak is not powerful, just nicely seasoned, but really is the hero of this wine at this stage of its life. I think this is the most fabulous buy with excellent potential of this wine.
First Glass Price: $17.99. |
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Yalumba Paradox Barossa Shiraz 2013
A new label for Yalumba from an area in the northern parts referred to as the 'Moppa'. The bouquet is dark and juicy with fabulous berry concentration that carries through to the palate that's underpinned with earthy, leathery, savoury, ferrous notes with firm muscular tannins, hints of mocha and mint with thick chocolate emerging as the wine lingers – the tannins seemingly much finer as the wine lingers. "Smoky bacon / butcher's block / double shot earthiness / a monster on a chain," says Jane, who recommends matching it to old fashioned fillet mignon wrapped in bacon with a mushroom sauce.
First Glass Price: $25.99. |
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Yalumba The Octavius Old Vine Barossa Shiraz 2012
Mocha, leather, mint, and concentrated red and black berries fill the bouquet with an intriguing hint of milk chocolate, milking shed, smoke and roasted woody herbs. Surprisingly fruity in the profoundly concentrated, silky textured, warm, spicy palate with chocolate and leather infusing the ripe juicy fruit. The tannins are super fine making this icon seem approachable already and the finish is long and smooth and with berry, chocolate and vanilla flavours going on and on and on. "Precocious and forward," says Jane with George Clooney references abounding. Fruit is predominantly from the Eden Valley this great vintage year.
First Glass Price: $89.00. |
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Elle Pitts was the winner of last week’s Saturday Challenge. The wines were Gruner Veltliner, Marlborough Riesling and Marlborough Pinot Noir. The Challenge is on every Saturday at First Glass – it’s fun and free.
In the Pick the Score Mike Taylor was closest and wins a bottle of wine for his efforts. This week’s Pick the Score game is the Hurricanes V. Stormers game in Wellington, Saturday night.,
Our 3 lucky email winners this week are:
- Graham Carter
- Keith Cullum
- Christine Laverty
If your name is listed here you have won a bottle of wine. You can collect it from First Glass – no hurry and your name goes into the big prize draw on Xmas eve. And it’s all free. |
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First Glass
'Virtual Super Rugby' Challenge 2016
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Leaderboard
Only 3 weeks left this year and there will need to be some tragic upsets for Paul Grant to lose this one. However there are prizes for 2nd and 3rd and many are in the running.
| 1st: |
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Paul Grant on 742 points |
| 2nd: |
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John Beaumont on 718 points |
| 3rd=: |
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Angus McDonald on 717 points |
| 3rd=: |
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Craig Innes on 717 points |
| 5th=: |
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Claudette Wilschefski on 715 points |
| 5th=: |
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Adam Wheeler on 715 points |
| 7th: |
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Lloyd Olivecrona on 704 points |
| 8th: |
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Ian Clancy on 701 points |
| 9th: |
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Julie Macfarlane on 697 points |
| 10th: |
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Tom Lawton on 695 points |
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The first half of our photo competition winds up next week and one of the shots sent to us will win a wonderful case of fine wine. The second part of the competition begins in August.
Photo by Anne Fleming. Legless in Edinburgh. "This guy was amazing - how did he stay there and where are his legs."
John Hosking in La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, looking for communion wine.
Martyn Geary "thirsty as" in The Badlands, South Dakota
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27th July: International variety plus Chardonnay indulgence. There are plenty of new brands instore – Hently Farm, Quinta do Crasto (Portugal), The Guilty, The Verdict and several new Chardonnays which have been waiting for a Wednesday tasting.
3rd August: Albert Mann and his fantastic wines from Alsace, plus a selection of French reds presented by Jean-Christophe of Masion Vauron.
10th August: T.B.C. |
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Decanter World Wine Awards
Over 16,000 entries were received for the world’s largest wine competition. Bob Campbell MW was the Regional Chair for the N.Z. entries with several Kiwi based judges in his team including Cameron Douglas MS, Emma Jenkins MW and Jane Skilton MW.
Only 378 wines won gold medals with New Zealand receiving 16 of these. This year the two top awards for Sauvignon Blanc did not go to a N.Z. wine. A Chilean wine was judged the best under 15 pounds and a French Sancerre the best over 15 pounds wine.
Gold medals for N.Z. wines were awarded to
Delegat Crownthorpe Terraces Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay 2014 $16.99.
Te Pa Family Vineyards Marlborough Chardonnay 2015
Vidal Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2015 $12.99.
Wairau River Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2015
Goldwater Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2015
Lawson’s Dry Hills Wairau Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2015
Matua Lands & Legends Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2015
Morrisons M Signature Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2015
Nautilus Estate Marlborough Chardonnay 2014
Nobilo Icon Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2015
Saint Clair Wairau Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2015
Akarua Rua Central Otago Pinot Noir 2014
Akarua Rua Central Otago Pinot Noir 2015
Aronui Single Vineyard Nelson Pinot Noir 2014
Marisco Vineyards The Journey Marlborough Pinot Noir 2013
Murdoch James Blue Rock Martinborough Pinot Noir 2014
It’s worth noting that these wines also were awarded gold medals in the 2015 N.Z. International Wine Show, where Bob Campbell MW is also the Chief Judge – Delegats Chardonnay 2014 ($16.99) and Vidal Sauvignon Blanc 2015 ($12.99) – this wine was also the Trophy winner for Champion Sauvignon Blanc. |
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First Glass July 20 2016
Yalumba Wines with Jane Ferrari
Notes by Sue Courtney
Wines were not tasted blind
Jane has just celebrated her 21st year with Yalumba and it’s great to see her back at First Glass.
Nautilus Marlborough Cuvee Brut NV
Light gold. Fresh lemon cake aroma with a hint of a yeasty sweetness infusing the bouquet but tantalisingly dry to the taste with zesty tingles, lemon bread and savoury nuances to the fore. A lovely elegant style of bubbles made from predominantly pinot noir with three years on yeast lees. Very classy on the night. Champion Wine of the Show Air NZ Wine Awards 2014.
12% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $34.99.
Yalumba Eden Valley Roussanne 2014 – South Australia
Beautifully aromatic, delicate and floral. Quite textural in the mouth with a lime / lemon grass rush and power to the finish. A touch of barrel ferment / lees stirring adds to the complexity. It's exciting, and fresh and juicy with the most subtle touch of mouthwatering salinity. Jane refers to this as an 'exotic aromatic' and recommends it with seafood and Mediterranean 'cross-over' food.
12.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $21.99.
Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier 2014 – South Australia
Apricot, peach and spring blossom are expressive on the bouquet and it's full-bodied and spicy to the taste with white pepper, ginger and mandarin zest tingles, mouth-coating viscosity, ripe juicy flavours of apricot and peach, hints of nuts and flower nectar, and a clean, lifted finish. Pork belly and scallop/chorizo/pancetta for sweet/sour flavours are recommended.
13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $22.99.
Yalumba The Strapper Barossa GSM 2013 – South Australia
Dark berry fruit fills the bouquet; blackcurrants, mulberries and chocolate-coated cherries fill the palate. A firm structured, smooth flowing, juicy, fruit driven style that has a peppery punch, touches of liquorice, loads of cakes spices and just the most subtle suggestion of dried mint on the bright lifted finish. A blend of grenache, shiraz and mataro (aka mourvedre). Jane explains that grenache = spice; shiraz = lush; mataro = oomph. Grenache loves salt so it's great with cured meats and slow cooked meats, e.g. beef cheeks with a brown sugar glazed finish.
13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
Yalumba The Cigar Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 – South Australia
Smoky and leathery on the nose – brooding and dark with a berry sweetness welling up from the depths of the glass. In the palate the blackcurrant / cassis hums a deep bass tone with cedary oak in harmony; wonderfully fine yet firm tannins; touches of eucalypt and berry fruit sweetness on the lingering finish with a burst of acidity that will ensure this wine will mature beautifully. From Yalumba's Menzies vineyard in the Coonawarra, the wine is named for the shape of the limestone ridge in the terra rossa soils. Jane recommends crumbed Frenched lamb cutlets with mint jelly for us kiwis.
14% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $23.99.
Yalumba The Menzies Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 – South Australia
The mint and cedar is quite profound with a smoky cigar box nuance to the bouquet and a core of blackcurrant / ribena to the flavour. A textural wine, more backwards-rubbed velvet than smooth velvet, it's grippy yet juicy with the fruit harmonising with the mint and chocolate notes but all the while a savoury smoky depth and a spicy brightness to the wonderfully juicy finish. Matured in both French and American oak, it has wonderful extract and fabulous length. Sip and savour, or confidently cellar.
14% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $42.99.
Jane calls dry red of any substance a 'claret'.
Yalumba Patchwork Barossa Shiraz 2014 – South Australia
The bouquet is red berries and cakes spices with a hint of tobacco. On the medium style of full-bodied, it's spicy in the mouth with a touch of pimento adding a hot pepper zing. The tannins are velvet smooth, the fruit is redcurrants and cherries, the oak has a touch of vanilla, there is an underpinning of leather and again a touch of tobacco on the finish – menthol tobacco however. Smooth and drinkable with great length of flavour, Jane describes it as 'Christmas pudding in a glass'. A combination of 14 diverse vineyards on the valley floor, hence the Patchwork name.
13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
Yalumba Paradox Barossa Shiraz 2013 – South Australia
A new label for Yalumba from an area in the northern parts referred to as the 'Moppa'. The bouquet is dark and juicy with fabulous berry concentration that carries through to the palate that's underpinned with earthy, leathery, savoury, ferrous notes with firm muscular tannins, hints of mocha and mint with thick chocolate emerging as the wine lingers – the tannins seemingly much finer as the wine lingers. "Smoky bacon / butcher's block / double shot earthiness / a monster on a chain," says Jane, who recommends matching it to old fashioned fillet mignon wrapped in bacon with a mushroom sauce.
13.5% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $25.99.
Yalumba The Octavius Old Vine Barossa Shiraz 2012 – South Australia
Mocha, leather, mint, and concentrated red and black berries fill the bouquet with an intriguing hint of milk chocolate, milking shed, smoke and roasted woody herbs. Surprisingly fruity in the profoundly concentrated, silky textured, warm, spicy palate with chocolate and leather infusing the ripe juicy fruit. The tannins are super fine making this icon seem approachable already and the finish is long and smooth and with berry, chocolate and vanilla flavours going on and on and on. "Precocious and forward," says Jane with George Clooney references abounding. Fruit is predominantly from the Eden Valley this great vintage year.
14% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $89.
Yalumba The Scribbler Barossa Shiraz Cabernet 2013 – South Australia
Spicy on the nose – complex and deep yet lifted at the same time with blackcurrant fruit coming through. First impression in the palate is chocolate biscuits and while the tannins seem a little chunky at first, like chewing chocolate biscuits they soon seem very fine and sit in well with the savouriness of the wine. A harmony of savoury oak, spice and blackcurrant and cherry fruit with deep vinous concentration, peppery spices and lingering notes of vanilla and mint on the deliciously persistent finish. The oak is not powerful, just nicely seasoned, but really is the hero of this wine at this stage of its life. I think this is the most fabulous buy with excellent potential of this wine.
13.5% alc. Screwcap. First Glass Price: $17.99.
Yalumba The Signature Barossa Shiraz Cabernet 2013 – South Australia
Initially a little reserved on the nose (Jane said 'dumb') but vigorous swirling and deep inhaling reveal a tantalising bouquet of crushed chocolate biscuits and raspberry jam. Being from what Jane calls 'a muscular vintage', it's very tight and solid in its youth and the tannins are indeed muscular but there is clearly so much potential with the fruit concentrated and dark. Minty notes infuse the juicy blackberry and cassis notes that well up from the depths with cakes spices, hints of pepper, more mint, vanilla, cigar box and cedar expanding beautifully on the long lifted finish with a lingering aftertaste like raspberry chocolate velvet. Jane says you need patience with this wine. I say if you don't want to wait then decant vigorously, serve in a big glass and enjoy. Named for Andrew Murphy, a Yalumba staffer for 20+ years.
14% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $49.99.
Yalumba The Reserve Barossa Cabernet Shiraz 2006 – South Australia
A magnificent wine with great pedigree, Jane says it is on the cusp of changing into secondaries, which is the development of tobacco, leather and sweet pipe tobacco together with the colour changes that come with time in the bottle. I find it complex and cedary on the nose, the secondary characters have developed in the wine poured in my glass, and it is smooth, harmonious, textural and mouthfilling in the mouth with the tannins still express a welcome graininess. It's full of liquid black forest cake, creamy oak, hints of mocha and spice with a deep concentrated finish and while the secondaries are starting to emerge there is still plenty of primary juicy red fruits, mint and lots of cedary oak inflections on the finish.
13.5% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $122.
Yalumba FS8W8B Botrytis Viognier 2015 – Wrattonbully, South Australia
Wonderfully fresh, clean, botrytis-infused honey nectar bouquet then honey, apricot and nougat with lifted lemon/lime acidity running through the palate. Vibrant, like a sorbet after all the reds - not at all cloying, just beautifully refreshing with a slightly spicy vibe. Jane says it is fabulous with lemon curd dessert (I'm thinking lemon meringue pie), fruit crumbles (cobblers), or a soft cheese.
11% alc. Cork. First Glass Price: $23.99.
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Beware of Anniversary
Mark forgot his wedding anniversary and his wife was really ticked off at him.
She told him, “Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in under 6 seconds, AND IT BETTER BE THERE.”
The next morning, Mark got up really early.
When his wife woke up a couple of hours later, she looked out the window, and sure enough, there was a small gift-wrapped box sitting in the middle of the driveway.
Confused, the wife put on her robe, ran out to the driveway, and took the box into the house.
She opened it, and found a brand new bathroom scale.
Mark is not yet well enough to have visitors.
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