Auction Stations!
If you’re serious about collecting wines of rarity and significance then you could well do worse than cast your eye over the offerings at the 25th Annual Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction.
Saturday November 12th 2016 will see fourty two exceptional, one-off lots go under the hammer. These rare wine lots are sourced solely from Hawke’s Bay, and very soon they could be yours because come November 12, ownership of them will be open slather. It’s the oldest and most prestigious wine auction in the Southern Hemisphere, having raised millons of dollars for Cranford Hospice since its inception, and alongside incredible wine lots, a one-off work commissioned especially for this auction by artist Gavin Chilcott, will also be up for grabs – and you just don’t get the chance to own a Gavin Chilcott every day.
Here’s just a splash of the lots looking for new owners; Warren Gibson and Lorraine Leheny of Bilancia are donating never-before ‘magnumised’ bottles of La Collina Syrah from 2014 and 2008. Craggy Range are offering a night at their luxury lodge, a private wine tasting with their winemaker, a tour of their ‘Giants Winery’, a kitchen garden tour with their head chef AND you’ll be able to create your own Craggy Range blended wine – wow! Squawking Magpie are donating two magnums of their premium syrah and cabernet merlot from the legendary 2013 vintage, hand painted by artist Martin Poppelwell and Tony Bish presents ‘All Things Beautiful’ which consists of 3 dozen of Tony’s 2015 Golden Egg Chardonnay, a hand-made, one off pendant by jeweller Gerard Smith and one of photographer Richard Brimer’s favourite framed images. Vidal are offering 112litres of their multi-award winning Legacy Chardonnay and the team at Esk Valley are dishing up a complete boxed set of The Terraces in vertical vintage order.
Plus there are more barrels, magnums, wine club memberships, dinners, vertical tastings and tropical island trips than you can sling a screwcap at. Absentee bidding is easy and I’ve got a feeling this year’s auction is going to smash records. There are wines here that’ll make successful bidders the envy of collectors the world over; but just by bidding you’ll be giving someone the gift of Cranford care when they need it most.
Visit www.hawkesbaywineauction.co.nz for info.
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Pask Small Batch Sur Lie Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay 2013 $25 (4 stars)
Just 250 cases were made of this juicy, light, unoaked style of chardonnay designed to highlight and enhance the natural, clean, tropical and stonefruit flavours present in those gorgeous grapes. Extended time on its yeast lees has added a subtle layer of creaminess to the bold,grapefruity backbone of this wine. Creamy with Crayfish mornay…
Sacred Hill HALO Hawke’s Bay Merlot Cabernet 2014 $28 (4.5 stars)
Holy hand harvest batman! What a wine! It’s tricky to even start explaining how glorious this wine smells – but I’ll do my best for you. Vanilla, soft boysenberry, cocoa, caramelised walnuts and smoked plums – how does that sound? To drink, it’s fresh, vibrant, woven together with muscular tannins and extended with a marathon-like finish. The minute someone thumps a platter of chargrilled lamb and capsicum kebabs on the table – wine and food perfection will occur.
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To coin a Dad-phrase, ‘get these good things down ya gob’ in the near future, and all will be well with the world…
Crafters Union Central Otago Pinot Noir 2014 $22 (3.5 stars)
So this wine may come in a decidedly non-pinot noir shaped bottle, we here at WineFriend are happy to encourage a little disruption in tradition, especially when it looks so darn cool. Here’s a lighter style with hints of leather and dusty berry and cherry notes on the nose and palate. Fresh and slightly grippy around the back teeth, here’s a pinot that’ll work its magic over paper-thin slivers of prosciutto, or that bowl of leftover roast baby beetroot calling your name from the fridge.
Widely available.
Cliffhanger Mosel Riesling 2015 $24 (4 stars)
Now why would you make it easy on yourself by planting your vineyard on nice, even, flat land, when you can pop your plants on rough, rocky cliffs overlooking the banks of the Mosel River. But it’s these extremes creating the eruption of green apple intensity, honeysuckle, lime and lipsmacking, tropical acidity. This German riesling will have you yelling “Bitte wiederholen!” before you know it. It means ‘please repeat’, which totally makes sense. Enjoy with caramelised onion and apple tart.
www.onvine.co.nz
The Natural Wine Co. Gisborne Pinot Gris 2016 $19.95 (4.5 stars)
How’s this for hands-off winemaking. Organic fruit harvested a little later than normal to enhance the fruit sweetness and then the juice is left to soak overnight with the skins to extract a little more texture and complexity. Extended lees stirring during a ferment kickstarted with wild yeasts from the vineyard itself has added layers of interest to the nashi, apple and honeysuckle-soaked palate. Excellent length of flavour makes this a star with chicken tikka marsala.
