17 December 2009Wine tasting is (not) hard work!

It's that time for year!  Spring has sprung (although a bit battered and lacking bounce) and Summer is here on the odd day, so it must be time to check how the wine in barrel from the 2009 vintage is maturing.

Yesterday, on a lovely sunny day I found myself in the barrel room in Wanaka with glass in hand, barrels of 2009 Pinot Noir wine lined up for sampling and Dan (of Maude Wines winemaking team Dan and Sarah-Kate Dineen) at my side.  The comprehensive 'after winter' tasting helps to set the scene for and kicks of the planning of the format barrel selection and blending in late January / early February.

Sometimes there are parts of the winemaking process that are just pure joy.  It was to become clear this was one of 'those' parts for this vintage.

We got down to the work at hand (if you want to call it work!).  Out with the first bung, 'thief' a sample, share into our glasses, and we silently swirl, sniff the bouquet and taste.  Then the hard part - spit it all out into the 'slops bucket'.  If you still want to have a clear head at the last barrel this is a 'must do'.  And finally we do a quick compare of thoughts, scribble a note (barrel details, aroma, taste, potential) and move on to the next barrel.  What a wonderful way to spend a morning; I think I would do this at least once a week, without having to have my arm twisted too much at all.

All too quickly it seems that we are done, how quickly 3 hours passes sometimes.  I comment that the team has done a great job to husbanding and bringing out the quality of the grapes received from the vineyard.  And a silent thanks to Tim Kerruish for the care and attention in growing said grapes. 

I mentioned in my newsletter last week that I thought the cooler vintage and longer 'hang time' in 2009 would lead to fine, classic style wines from Central for this vintage.  I believe saw the evidence.  I like the red fruits, toasty & charry notes, small berry aromas and the presence of nice acid, (already) fine tannins and structure.  There is still a lot of water to flow under the bridge but this will be a fun vintage to blend.