Gold Medal Bargains

First Glass 31 October 2018 
Gold Medals from the 2018 NZIWS
Notes by Sue Courtney
Wines were tasted blind

 
Lawson's Dry Hills Reserve Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2018 
Flamboyantly scented with passionfruit, lime, mango and fragrant summer herbs. Juicy and quenching to the taste with vibrant zesty citrus and peppery pawpaw seed vibes, moderate palate weight with a pleasing lightly oily texture, and lingering tropical fruit salad, tangelo and passionfruit underpinned by an exciting savoury complexity. Gold NZIWS. 13% alc. Screwcap.
First Glass Price: $21.99.
 
Whitehaven Marlborough Chardonnay 2017
Glorious scents of vanilla, hazelnut, lemon-scented oak and cream then powerful and flavoursome in the flavour-packed palate with a touch of gunflint to start then bursts of juicy grilled peach, touches of melon and an oaky, savoury finish with underlying orange zest and grapefruit acidity. A crowd pleaser on the night. Gold NZIWS. 13.5% alc. Screwcap.
First Glass Price: $22.99.
 
Starborough Single Vineyard Marlborough Chardonnay 2016
From grapes grown in the Awatere Valley, the nutty bouquet has delicate hints of peach and it’s dry on entry to the nutty savoury palate which is super smooth with a seamless flow. Subtle peach and hokey pokey notes are embellished with harmonious oak spices and the underlying youthful acidity is balanced by the wine’s creaminess. Gold NZIWS. 13.5% alc. Screwcap.
First Glass Price: $24.99.
 
Clearview Reserve Hawkes Bay Chardonnay 2017
There’s a sunshine glow to this enticing wine with the bouquet emanating nougat, white chocolate, lemon biscuits, toasted nuts and vanilla cream. Mouthfilling and savoury with lovely flinty gun smoke tones abating to let the harmonious flavours of creamed nuts, peaches, vanilla and toasty oak sing. Concentrated and powerful with an irresistible spicy vibrancy. Gold NZIWS. 13.5% alc. Screwcap.
First Glass Price: $42.99.
 
Two Rivers Juliet Marlborough Riesling 2018 
Evocatively scented with hints of lemon and butter poached apple. An off dry style that served chilled is mouth watering and quenching with crisp, refreshing acidity, a slippery slatey texture, vibrant citrus and granny smith apple vibes and accents of pineapple on the lingering finish. Gold and Trophy at both NZIWS and NZWotY Awards. 12% alc. Screwcap.
First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Farnese Fantini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2017 - Italy
Intensely coloured with touches of crimson to the deep red hue. The bouquet offers up chocolate-coated cherries with an underlying leathery vibe and the taste is youthful and refreshing with tingly acidity, touches of pepper and profuse brambly fruit together with plums and prunes. It’s juicy and drinkable with smooth rounded tannins and a sweet jammy finish where the chocolate detected on the bouquet lingers. Gold NZIWS. 13% alc. Screwcap.
First Glass Price: $16.99.
 
Paulett's Polish Hill River Clare Valley Cabernet Merlot 2014 – South Australia
A fruit-filled Aussie red that’s dark red in hue with a deep core and bricking emerging on the edges. There’s a hint of mint to the bouquet together with beautifully balanced oak and sweet juicy cherry, plum and blackcurrant fruit that all flow through to the velvety smooth palate that’s accented with spicy oak, berry pie and after dinner chocolate-coated mints with lashings of pepper, velvety smooth tannins and a long creamy finish. Delivers for the price, ready to go. Gold NZIWS. 14.4% alc. Screwcap.
First Glass Price: $18.99.
 
Villa Maria Reserve Gimblett Gravels Hawkes Bay Merlot 2015
Intense purple red, vibrant and youthful in appearance. Deep and dark on the nose with suggestions of chocolate, plum, vanilla, pencil box and cacao. Beautifully structured in the seemingly still youthful palate where refreshing acidity balances out the power of the tannins that succumb to the intensity of the dark red and black fruit framed by the lovely savoury tones of cigar box, sweet leather and spicy cedar with lift and length to the long dry finish. Gold NZIWS. 13.5% alc. Screwcap.
First Glass Price: $42.99.
 
d'Arenberg The High Trellis McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 – South Australia
Inky red black in hue. A little brooding on the nose slowly revealing cigar box, leather, dark blackcurrant fruit and the most faintest hint of menthol that adds fragrance and vibrancy. Moderately firm in the palate with earthy tones enhanced by the brightness of the underlying acidity and the waves of concentrated sweet juicy plum, black cherry and black currant fruit with lingering hints of chocolate and mint. Gold NZIWS. 14.5% alc. Screwcap.
Sold out - for now.
 
Don't Tell Gary Shiraz 2017 – Grampians, Victoria, Australia 
Light purple with youthful resplendence. The bouquet is redolent of crushed mint chocolate biscuits together with savoury leather tones and concentrated bursts of freeze dried plum and raspberry. The palate is crammed with juicy berry fruit on a cushion of soft, plump, smooth flowing tannins with creamy oak, cake spices, crushed pepper and menthol tobacco. Gold NZIWS. 14% alc. Screwcap.
First Glass Price: $19.99.
 
Vigne Vecchie Leggenda Primitivo di Manduria 2016 – Italy 
Youthful deep red with a pinky glow. A muscular wine on the nose with a suggestion of iron wafting through the prune-like scent. Concentrated, powerful, sumptuous and spicy in the dense, full-bodied palate with plush voluptuous tannins that dissolve into the dark berry fruit with touches of musk and spice and chocolate emerging on the long creamy and very gratifying finish. Gold NZIWS. 14.5% alc. Cork.
First Glass Price: $52.99.
 
Kirrihill Vineyard Selection Clare Valley Shiraz 2016 – South Australia
Bright black red. Creamy chocolate on the nose with a hint of jaffa and the most subtle yet delightfully alluring suggestion of mint. Rich and concentrated in the palate that’s brimming with juicy, plump redcurrant, raspberry and cherry fruit that’s beautifully magnified by the moderately firm tannins with underlying spices and savoury oak and a long smooth creamy finish with touches of tobacco and rosehip. Gold NZIWS. 14.5% alc. Screwcap.
First Glass Price: $24.99.
 

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