A welcome mid-week mid-winter event, worth venturing into the depths of Mt Eden for. One of the nation’s iconic wines – a New Zealand ‘Grange’ as my travelling companion suggests. The Penfolds wine has never really grabbed me, but I did spend a fascinating couple of days with the first bottle of Homage that I was asked to review, a while back. It can be an ‘interesting’ wine to discover – or to assess, revealing only a little of itself at first glance, and requiring of the participant some deeper attention and focus to really gain insight to the charms as they unfold.
This time we’re at Mantell’s – a stately villa in Mt Eden that has as much charm and elegance as anywhere I’ve been in Central Auckland. Hotel Britomart has some lovely spaces, and one floor of the Seafarers, and a couple of rooms in the Northern Club also spring to mind. Quite lovely. In a European hobo chic kind of vibe. One upside is the weather taking a break from it’s attempt at a monsoon, so we can stray into the charming courtyard and while away some time by the open fire. There’s a decent-sized professional kitchen too, resulting in some rather more-ish canapés passing by – I was particularly taken by a one-bite morsel of corn chip, with a sliver of raw tuna and some vaguely mexican spice-and-sauce combo atop.
A word to the organisers. This is how it’s done. Enough staff to keep all concerned fed and watered – how they managed this in the current hospo-staff-crisis is a mystery. A cool, muted DJ. Clean glasses for when you wanted one. Space to move about. Short, witty speeches. And eclectic, interesting group of invited humans. Bravo. Ask me again!
Trinity Hill are making a few ‘single vineyard’ wines now. One of these was handed to me on arrival – the ‘Molly’s Block Rosé’ made from Syrah. This 2021 wine is perfumed with cranberry, red cherry, rosehip, apple mint, ginger and jasmine florals. Bone dry, vibrant and delicately balanced into the palate where savoury layers of fennel bulb, roasted beet, pea pod and cucumber add interest, along with some oyster shell minerality.
I’m pleased to see the new ‘Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay’ is here tonight, as I couldn’t get hold of any for the big Top 10 Tasting last week. The new 2021 wine has a new label – matt black with a stones motif across the middle in glossy black. The black-on-black looks very smart. The new vintage has lost its pungent reductive flintiness, and simple gets down to the business of being delicious. The last vintage won some serious awards (and a 96pt score from me), so this has a lot to live up to. A full review to follow, separately. Sharing the new Gimblett Gravels livery is ‘The Gimblett’ – the red blend having a make-over in components this year – with Cabernet Franc leading the way, alongside Cabernet Sauvignon and just a nibble of Petit Verdot – so, no Merlot. It’s very, very good. Sat by the fireside as I was, this went down a treat. Again, full write-up to follow.
I’m not afraid to say when I think a wine is absolutely on point, and the single vineyard ‘125 Gimblett Chardonnay’ 2020 was one of my wines of the year last year. Taut, burgeoning, with power, presence and a vitality to the palate. Unfolding with layers of flavours – ripe stonefruit, citrus, subtle spice, stony minerality and lemon rind. I gave it a stonking 97pts, and if Kumeu River hadn’t released one of the wines of the decade, it would have been my favourite white wine. The last of it is here tonight, and it is drinking very well – a seamless expression of a wine that is really grabbing some attention in the wider world of wine right now. If someone in the UK is talking about a New Zealand wine tonight, chances are it will be a Chardonnay – it has been discovered.
There’s also the new 2021 vintage of this wine, and on first taste it seems very good too. I’ll wait for a proper review rather than jumping in with boots on… but it does seem – like that Kumeu River Matés Chardonnay, that no matter how good 2020 was – the new 2021s may even, say it quietly, be even better.
Of course, the primary reason I’m here is to get hold of a glass of the new Homage, but first I’m treated to two of the new single vineyard wines – ‘Prison Block’ is a Cabernet Sauvignon which you’ll swear has something else in it. I don’t know anyone who has tried this and not been surprised that it is 100% Cab Sav. It has that essence of cassis and tannin for grown-ups; but despite it’s tightness and no little austerity in this youthful state, there’s also a real presence, with a brooding, dark brilliance. Some single Cabernets can have a bit of a hole in the middle of your palate, but this doesn’t. Another joyously ‘complete’ wine.
Also look out for ‘Thomson’s Block’ – a single vineyard Syrah that is a little easier going and fruit forward than the Homage. Hand picked and foot-stomped by winemaker Warren Gibson himself, this is built on perfume and spice. I’m going to be reviewing this wine alongside the Homage in a separate article this weekend, so settle in for that.
Homage is the last wine revealed. I understand that wines change from year to year and evolve over time, but I do note and discuss with colleagues that this wine has morphed more than any I can really recall – especially given it has some fame. I wonder what a collector would think if they compared a vintage from John Hancock’s day with the modern version?
Different, I’d say. Not better or worse, just different. I’ve tried many vintages, and as I often say (yes, I know) what the no.1 rule is – is delicious. Like the small portion of perfectly pan-fried hapuku on a bed of roasted tomato and spinach that emerges as I top up my glass. Is it delicious? Well, that dish of food was, and you’ll hear what I thought of the Trinity Hill icon wine in a day or two.
