[Radders]

When I was out in nz in 2001, the best wines were all dated 1998.
The reds especially were fantastic that year.
Does anybody know what the 2003 harvest was like, and are they looking forward to fantistic drop?!
I hear this summer is expected to be very dry, which would indicate some great wines on the way ( I think).

[Diny]

Oooh Radders

I envy your knowledge of wines. It's something I've always felt I'd like to 'get into'. I don't aspire to be one those people who can actually tell which part of the vineyard the grape came from when they taste the wine, but I would like to know (at least) what wine goes well with what - and what year was good etc.

Sadly - as far as wine is concerned - I'm common and uneducated. Mark will always joke that my favourite wine is 'personality wine' .......

CHEAP WHITE AND BUBBLY

Good luck with your quest for wine knowledge, I will follow this thread with interest, hopefully pick up a few hints and then I can impress the heck out of folks by dropping the odd snippet of info into the conversation.

Must admit - am looking forward to NZ wine at a reasonable price.

Diny.

[markkellaway]

We were over in May, had lots (too much!) of Montana 2002 (I think, may have been 2001) Cab/Merlot, unbelievably smooth and soooo morish!!

As far as I'm aware they had a good harvest in 2003, our friends live in Marlborough (the lucky so and so's!!!) and that's what they indicated anyway.

Cheers,

Mark. :D

[Radders]

Oh dear Diny,
I seem to have given you the wrong impression!
I know nothing about wine,......except that I like drinking a few glasses every so often!
I was a waiter for a lot of the time i was over on my working holiday visa, and thanks to some arm twisting, managed to get along to quite a few wine fairs for restaurants and hotels while in Auckland. Thanks to my decision to cycle round the country, I could also stop off at any winery i passed along the way, and not worry about how I was getting home!!

This was fantastic when I hit Blenheim. I think I cycled about 100kms that day, but thanks to the wine in my tummy, it was plain sailing!

[Diny]

Haven't done the NZ wineries but I did do a 2 day tour of the Barossa Valley in South Australia .... it was great.

Diny

[Carol]

I bought a couple of bottles at Woolworths yesterday - $7.95 each and quite nice.
Not exactly a cheeky vintage......but OK to have with Spag Bol.

THat would be the extent of my knowledge.

Oh yes.......and they were red.

:nice1
:laugh

[MelissaLG]

For anyone who will be in the Manawatu area (Diny I know that includes you!) there is a great wine club that meets on a regular basis in Palmy for wine tastings. I was lucky enough to be invited to one such meeting while I was there in June. Yum, yum is all I can say. :mrgreen: We tried probably 8 wines (4 red, 4 white), all presented by knowledgeable reps from some great wineries. So we learned a little too, in addition to getting a little tipsy! No slosh and spit there! :laugh

There was a small admission fee for us as guests, and I am sure there was a smaller fee for the members, but it was well worht it for an evening of drinking good wine. Plus they raffle off bottles of wine and you can buy the wines you tasted for a discount, so all in all it is a pretty good deal. :nice1

I will have to dig up the contact info for the club, but as soon as I do I will post it here. Cheers!

[Diny]

Mel

The info re the wine club would be great. I think I might give that one a go - will also be a good opportunity to meet some folks too.

Diny

[ruthyroo]

One of the first things we did on arrival was to buy Micheal Coopers wine review (NZ version of Oz Clarke) for last year, and always take it to the supermarket with us to pick out some goodies - boy did the shopping bills suffer - but we do enjoy a bit of a wine tasting of an evening! My husband likes his wine, but I have no memory for them at all, just know it when I like it. TBH though haven't found the NZ wines all that cheap here - probably spoiled from holidays in the south of France with buckets en vrac - but the quality has been all round excellent. Most / all restaurants here are BYO which is great value. We are off to Napier for a long weekend on Friday which I am really looking forward to, checking out all the big wineries and tasting wine / eating food. Will report back on the best ones to visit! The wine has really been one of the major plus points of moving here - even I stop moaning about Nz after a couple glasses of Drylands Sauv Blanc!

[Diny]

Ruthyroo

Don't people go to Napier to look at the art deco buildings?

Nahh - you're my kind of person - let's go and sample the wine and food -the sight seeing can wait..... I like your style.

Diny

[MelissaLG]

Hi all,

I found the info on the wine club I mentioned previously. It is called the Manawatu Wine Club and you will need to email them if you are interested in joining. I know that back in June they (the husband and wife who started the club) already were struggling with an explosion of interest in the club that resulted in more members (and work) than they could handle, so I do not know what measures they may have taken to limit membership or get additional help/resources. Anyway, their contact email address is: greatwines@xtra.co.nz

One thing I learned at the wine club meeting I attended is that like many NZ-made products, much of the wine produced in NZ is sold exclusively or almost exclusively for export. :wah This helps explain why, as Ruthyroo mentioned, wine in NZ isn't all that cheap (realtively speaking). Things are changing though, particularly as more and more NZ wineries crop up (also the overseas wine market gets saturated quite regularly, which helps). For those in the Palmy area, one way to make sure you have access to good wine at a discount would be to join the wine club, which I plan to do as soon as I arrive!!

Cheers,

Mel

[Diny]

Thanks for the web address Mel - I'll have a look at that later.

Diny