KUMEU WINERY TOUR 8-10 OCTOBER
Treat yourself & refine your palate.
Come on a genuine winery tour - another pilgrimage to the decadent delights in Kumeu
After a successful winery tour of Martinborough, earlier this year, Tauranga Tasting Tours is giving clients another chance to try different vintages of the wines they love, as well as those they haven't tasted before - & to extend knowledge about new varieties.
Great wine, great food and, as always, convivial company.
DAY ONE
Our day will start with a tasting of the quality wines and a 2-course lunch at Villa Maria Winery,
Villa Maria is NZ's most awarded winery. Their website comment perfectly expresses the winery's ethos:
"Truly exceptional wine made by passionate people encapsulates the Villa Maria story. From the early ambitions and inquisitive nature of owner Sir George Fistonich when he began in 1961 to the way our people fervently make our premium New Zealand wine today, we’ve always been in pursuit of creating something special.."
Our second visit will be to Great Little Vineyards for a presentation & tasting. This venue is a distributor & retailer of artisan wine brands & rare wine selections from throughout NZ & around the world. 'Dedicated entirely to quality with zero compromise, the GLV range champions small producers with a selection that is as well curated as an art collection." - The Art of Wine.
We had hoped to visit Puriri Hills at Clevedon, for a tasting en route for home, as they have been named winery of the year by The Real Review. Great Little Vineyards will present Puriri Hills' wines for us, plus add in a few of their own choice.
Puriri Hills' wines are exceptional:.
"Our maritime climate gives us long cool growing seasons which allow the vines to express a different set of aromatics from those grown in hotter climates. We have elegant nuances and character that just aren’t possible in hotter continental growing regions. We produce wine very specific to our terroir. It reflects our climate, our soil and our people. The Puriri trees growing here reflect this unique character. They are native to the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand and grow nowhere else in the world.
We consider each new vintage as a new adventure. We embrace the challenge to make the best expression from what each vintage gives us. We focus on letting the vines make the wine. We work on improving soil quality by natural means and enhancing the health of the vines so that they can fully engage their potential. We follow regenerative agriculture practices. We do not embrace shortcuts but focus on maintaining the nuanced character that the vines are capable of producing.
We stick very closely to long practised methods of European winemaking in order to maintain in the wine the subtle and nuanced characteristics that the vines are capable of producing and can be lost in newer production methods. We ferment in open top oak or stainless steel vessels. Elevage takes place over 2 years in barrel - usually about 50% new French Oak. After bottling we age the wine in bottle for up to five years until the wine enters its drinking window. We are building on thousands of years of French winemaking by making our unique Clevedon wine using traditional winemaking practices."
We will then proceed to Babich Winery. This picturesque West Auckland winery has been "home" to the Babich family for over 100 years & is one of the most famous wine cellars in Auckland. Joe Babich steered his winery's production away from fortified wines to high-quality table wines. He has also been a wine judge. Raymond Chan wrote in a 2018 review:
"The Babich family have one of the remarkable stories of the New Zealand wine industry, stretching back over 100 years to 1916. I recently reviewed the book ‘The Next Vintage’ by Michael and Judith Bassett which chronicles the family history and its very significant place in the growth of winemaking in this country. One of the mainstay philosophies of the family is to provide quality with value, and this can be seen in the ‘Classics’ range of wines which makes up the largest part of the company’s production. These wines showcase varietal expression and regionality, and always offer good value.
The Babich ‘Black Label’ wines were created in 2005 specifically for the on-premise market, designed to offer the same degree of varietal and regional expression. The range supports the whole Babich portfolio for having wines that are designated only for this segment of the market, thus ensuring there is no commercial conflict with other marketing and reselling channels. The wines are indeed different blends to the ‘Classics’, in that the winemakers are lending the wines slightly greater richness and textures that will give the wines a greater ability to work with food..."
DAY 2
Our first winery today will be WestBrook Winery.
"Westbrook is one of New Zealand’s oldest and most respected boutique wineries. Our skilled winemakers combine time-honoured traditional and innovative techniques to produce hand-crafted multi-award-winning wines including outstanding Chardonnays and Rieslings. Grapes are sourced from our home vineyard, twenty acres of park-like grounds set in picturesque Waimauku and a single vineyard in Marlborough. The fruit is hand-picked and the juices carefully blended to produce iconic wine styles that show the incredible depth, diversity and flavours of New Zealand."
We have visited Westbrook several times with groups & have always enjoyed the experience. The fourth generation of the ivicevich family, originally from Croatia, continues ownership & operation of the winery
The wine-maker, James Rowan's skillset and reputation have drawn the attention of many brands over the years - in addition to Westbrook, he currently counts Brick Bay, Charles Wiffen, Heron’s Flight (Rosé) and SOHO (Waiheke Island) among his clients. His small and dedicated team includes assistant winemaker Renée Dale (who also has her own brand– Moi Wines), and vineyard manager Michael Dulieu with Leanne Fairbrother helping with the vines.
Our second venue will be The Hunting Lodge Winery (formerly Matua Wines) for a tasting & lunch.
"We wanted to create a range of wine that showcases the best wine regions in the country, but also captures the pioneering spirit of New Zealand wine - the search for something new and interesting. So we decided that our wine range would evolve with the seasons, allowing you to discover something different every time you visit. Come visit us, share a glass of wine, and experience The Hunting Lodge.". Peter Turner - Winemaker
The Hunting Lodge says of their winemaker:
"Pete has no single philosophy that he brings to his wine making except that they should all be expressive and interesting, but never too challenging. He believes pushing the boundaries for an alternative spin is what makes wine making so intriguing. Flickering between showcasing the very best of a sense of terroir and pushing the boundaries for an alternative spin, he believes that this is what makes wine making so intriguing." We enjoyed a really special lunch at this venue on our last visit & look forward to being given an exceptional repast again!
Coopers Creek is our final venue for the day. The winery was started in 1980 by Andrew & Cynthia Hendry. At that stage, the NZ wine industry was relatively small & unknown. The venue has evolved over 3 decades into a top-class winery with a strong international reputation. It has innovative new wine styles, having introduced & pioneered promising new grape varieties e.g Viognier, Albarino, Arneis, Gruner Veltliner, Marsanne & Montepulciano, suited to cool climate regions. Coopers Creek is satisfying a growing demand for these stylish new varieties but, of course, one mustn't pass up trying its top-rated & awarded Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Syrah & Bordeaux reds.DAY 3
Our day will start at with a tasting of the quality wines Kumeu River Winery.
Cuisine magazine talks of the Brajkovich family being producers of "Gargantuan status" within the wine-making industry & comments that, when you come to the winery, you are entering "Chardonnay heaven" with critics & enthusiasts saying that the winery has the best chardonnay in the world. A Bob Campbell (Master of Wine) review late last year commented that demand for Kumeu River chardonnays outstrips supply:
" – they are all on allocation and may make a relatively brief appearance on many wine shop shelves.
The 2018 vintage had its challenges, but hand-picking and careful selection seem to have maintained Kumeu River’s high standard. They are bright, high-energy wines with the sort of acidity, concentration and structure that suggest cellaring potential – there is certainly much to be gained by giving then a year or two to integrate and develop in bottle.
This vintage also heralded the first release of Kumeu River’s newly-acquired Rays Road vineyard in Hawke’s Bay. This relatively cool, high altitude, limestone-rich vineyard is planted with sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir vines. All three show a great deal of promise."
Does any particular vintage stand out above all the rest? (for better or worse)
Paul Brajkovich was recently asked whether any particular vintage stands out -for better or for worse:
"Vintages come and go, and each one is unique. There have been some ‘difficult’ ones, but even then we have managed to make decent wine. The only exception to that rule was 1988, when we were hit by the remnants of Cyclone Bola. Some of the outstanding older vintages that come to mind are 1989, 2000, 2004, 2010, 2013, and 2014, all for different reasons. In more recent times, we had the magnificent 2019, which I regarded at the time as the best vintage ever. Then 2020 came along and it was even better! Now we have 2021, which was amazingly early, and a little smaller, but very much in the same league as the previous two. I have never seen a triple vintage run like it before."
We continue to one of our favourites, Soljans Estate for a tasting & lunch.
Soljans is the third-oldest winery in NZ & is still owned & operated by the original family.
In 2017, the winery won awards at The Air NZ Wine Awards, The Royal Easter Show Wine Awards, The NZ International Wine Show, The International Wine & Spirits Competition, The Decanter World Wine Awards & The Decanter Asia Wine Awards.
So ready your palate for a tasting treat before we wend our way home!
Cost: $1266.00 pp. ($1030.00 pp. Twin share). Deposit ($120.00pp.) to be paid on booking; remainder by 8 September. Should the tour, for some reason, not proceed, all monies paid will be refunded.
Includes: Transport, accommodation (Aristotles North Shore), tastings, continental breakfasts, winery lunches.
Account for payment: 01 0322 0214423 00
Does not include dinners. Accommodation has cooking facilities in its rooms and is within walking distance to restaurants.
CONTACT: LYN OR PAUL MARSTON
PH:(07) 5441383 or 0275224607