Auburn Estate, a relatively new producer from Central Otago, has been creating quite a stir with the quality of their Rieslings. We are delighted to welcome Max Marriot to introduce his single vineyard wines from Alexandra, Bannockburn, Lowburn and Bendigo. These four wines have garnered praise for their balance, complexity and reflection of their vineyard sites.

These will be shown in a relatively informal manner, in our retail area, along with a few tasty canapés, catered by Mojo Featherston St,  Yummm.

We look forward to welcoming you to mix and mingle, meet the wine-maker, sample these superb wines and take advantage of the special prices only available on the night.

RSVP for catering purposes please. See you there!

If driving, please park in the adjacent streets rather than use the car park. There is normally plenty of parking available, thanks very much.

Riesling is well known for its ability to make delicious wines in styles ranging from the driest of the dry to super sweet. In this tasting we are taking the opportunity to look at some of the more off-beat styles from New Zealand and around the world. The tasting will be presented Framingham winemaker and confessed Riesling nut, Andrew Hedley. We have assembled a line up of the most diverse examples of Rieslings that you could imagine.

The tasting will be presented in three flights. Firstly the New Zealand wines including Framingham’s F-Series, Kairos, Pyramid Valley, Bel Canto and Vynfields’ ‘Bliss’. Next will be the Weird and Wonderful from around the world including Dirk Niepoort’s Project Riesling wine from Portugal, Washington State’s Ch Ste Michelle ‘Eroica’ (a collaboration with Ernie Loosen) as well as wines from Slovenia, Italy and Austria. The final flight will consist of wines from the classic regions of Germany and Alsace and will include Donnhoff Delchen GG, Boxler Grand Cru plus wines from Wirsching, Van Volxem and PJ Khun Landgeflecht.

In all15 weird, wacky and wonderful wines tasted with emphasis certainly on the wonderful!

Chenin Blanc is somewhat of a Cinderella variety in New Zealand but it is about time she was taken to the Ball, or out to dinner at the very least!

Like Riesling, Chenin has styles ranging from the dry to sweet and is also capable of aging superbly, gaining great complexity along the way.

James Millton of Millton Estate and Gordon Russell from Esk Valley are two of the foremost exponents of Chenin in the country and we are delighted to have them both on hand to inform and enlighten us. We will start with a couple of classic wines from the Loire that have inspired James and Gordon. Following that they will introduce their own wines with vintages going back to 1998. Finally, they are both releasing Reserve wines from recent vintages which will be tasted side-by-side (and we may find a sweet wine to finish!).

Te Mata Estate’s Coleraine is this country’s most consistently reliable cellar-worthy wine with vintages from the 1980s still drinking superbly. This reliability is one of the reasons that the annual release of Coleraine and Awatea is so eagerly awaited by wine lovers.

The 2010 harvest, after a somewhat uneven start, provided a long, hot Indian summer, allowing the grapes to ripen beautifully. Te Mata’s vintage report says ‘… our red vineyards picked up tremendous flavour as the bunches hung out in the warm, late summer, sun. Of particular note was the delicious, almost jammy dark berry notes in the cabernet sauvignon grapes, and syrah berries had more flavour than we have seen in the 20 years of growing that variety.’

At the Showcase we will be tasting the 2010 Coleraine and Awatea alongside the 2008 and 2006 vintages. We will also be presenting the 2011 Cape Crest Sauvignon and Elston Chardonnay, Zara Viognier and Bullnose Syrah from 2010.

Regional Wines is very proud to host the annual Coleraine and Awatea release. It is one of our most significant tastings and the opportunity to try these reference point wines should not be missed.

If anybody out there still harbours lingering doubts as to the quality of New Zealand chardonnay,we request they come to our chardonnay spectacular. We will showcase some of the finest examples of this noble grape ever made in New Zealand,most of them multiple medal and trophy winners, or the equivalent. To see them in perspective Australia's most famous chardonnay,the Leeuwin Art Series, will be included. And to show that New Zealand chardonnay is worth cellaring, the tasting will include 2005 Sacred Hill Riflemans, as well as their current release.The tasting will be presented by Geoff Kelly,whose experience with New Zealand chardonnay spans 30 years as a senior industry judge, and covers examples back to the pioneering Corbans and McWilliams wines of the late '60s.
Wines will include, from north to south:
2007 Leeuwin Estate Art Series, West Australia
2008 Kumeu River Matés, Kumeu
2009 Millton Clos St Anne, Gisborne
2009 Church Road Tom, Hawkes Bay
2010 Sacred Hill Riflemans, Hawke’s Bay
2005 Sacred Hill Riflemans, Hawke’s Bay
2010 Te Mata Estate Elston, Hawke’s Bay
2009 Vidal Reserve, Hawkes Bay
2010 Villa Maria Keltern, Hawkes Bay
2009 Neudorf Moutere, Nelson
2009 Escarpment Kupé, Martinborough
2009 Felton Block 2, Central Otago

This will indeed be spectacular!