It was nice to get Bruce Thomas the owner of GREY'S PEAK Waipara New Zealand winery here in our store in early March, 2010 on a Tuesday evening. I had finished the store email and sent it and was straightening up things and had lost track of time. In walks Jon Daniels of the Country Vintner's and I start to put two-and-two together and we get into a very fast-paced conversation and I have still not met Bruce. Bruce is patient and waits his time smiling as Jon and I catch up on things pretty quickly.
These GREY'S PEAK Waipara New Zealand wines are brand new to me and I had never tried them before. They are " new " to the Aussie Country Vintner portfolio and Jon was surprised that I had not even tried them yet. He spoke about the great reception that Bruce and he had had earlier in the day with them and that they were, in fact, very new to their portfolio here in the U.S. I told Jon that this portfolio of Aussie wines that Liz Mencel manages only has really good wines to offer and that I knew that they would be good and was not worried in the least that I had not tried them yet.
What better way than to try them first with the owner himself? Noen for me I must say unless that is with the wine-maker as well.
I liked very much the GREY'S PEAK Waipara Sauvignon Blanc - very smooth and bright, fresh and not too much of the " gooseberry " flavors which I might add for my palate do nothing at all. This was cleaner and reminded me more of a French Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc and I can give no higher prasie than that.
I saw that these wines come from the Waipara region and my first comment was that I have not seen many recently from this region. We do sell the PEGASUS BAY wines from this area and we are very pleased to have them as they represent a very high quality indeed.
I enjoyed the GREY'S PEAK ( Waipara ) Sauvignon Blanc and could easily see myself drinking a glass or two of it all by itself with or without a meal. It was flavorful and yet quite smooth and polished and filled with the warmth of an hour's sunshine : even less - just like I feel now as I resume typing having taken a break outside to survey my domain. It's now Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 and I head into work soon on this second, glorious day filled with clear baby blue skies and a nice breeze and temperatures in the high fifties or low sixties. This is heaven on earth and I wish that I had time to spend it all outside.
Then I tried GREY'S PEAK the Pinot Noir and this caught my attention almost immediately. With each sip that I took I liked it even more : young but what promise! It was well-balanced and had an engaging bouquet and all the elements that alert and inform, cajole, jog and interest my senses - all of them - almost immediately! I was quite pleased with this GREY'S PEAK Pinot Noir and I think that over the next 6-18 months is when it will really be quite special as more of the flavors in the wine will evolve and flesh-out and ultimately crystallise into a wonderful Kodak moment, so-to-speak.
We still have some of all of these wines and a number of the GREY'S PEAK Waipara bottles are still signed and would make excellent gifts especially now as the warmth and the spring are not that far off. Yesterday a number of our customers were expressing spring-fever and I could see it written all over their anxious faces as we have in the last month gone through D.C.'s greatest recorded snowstorm ever! It was something else : beautiful as well as exhausting!
It's always nice as in the picture above when one of our customers salutes/toasts the owner and his wine.
I then tried the GREY'S PEAK Waipara Riesling and also enjoyed it and would have loved to have had a nice fresh stream Rainbow trout served up to me with tiny pommes du terre et legumes in a butter and diced almond sauce. Oh how that would have been marvelous and the fit would have been magical I believe.
Being an artist I like to take lots of artsy photos of the wine owners. makers, their wines , the bottles, the colors of the wine : them seen through my Reidel wine-tasting glasses, our customers: I like trying to preserve in pictures and text a bit of the moment we all shared over these three hours on a late Tuesday afternoon going into evening from 5- 8 PM. It's always special, no matter how many or few people come. Everyone is welcome and I encourage every one to come and taste and see how the wines feel and fit and please their individual palates.
I love seeing the wine being poured and it's true colors no longer hidden by the green glass from which they come. Here we have both Arielle and Bruce below in a moment of levity. Arielle Monaco is actually our rep from the Country Vintners and she showed up a few minutes after Jon had left. She was down at the Italian restaurant DINO talking to the owner Dean I believe.
As in the picture below I like to take lots of unorthodox pictures, spur-of-the-moment types that reveal different angles and aspects of any tasting. This one is about the bottle itself as Bruce is about to pour a customer some of his GREY'S PEAK, Waipara New Zealand wine.
We had a good turnout and sold some of all of Bruce's three wines this evening with our customers coming back for more afterward. That's always a great sign of the success of the wines.
Groceries, a six-pack of beer and one of Bruce's wines bought after tasting : now that's some good shopping and preparation for the evening.
My good friends Lee and Leslie stop and taste with Bruce and buy one of Bruce's bottles of Riesling.
I look forward to meeting your wine-maker the next time Bruce. Thanks for coming again. You are always welcome anytime.
Below we are with David that works with Arielle, Jon and Liz and he's here to pick Bruce up and get him off to Richmond was it, or Baltimore? I can't remember. We're all looking happy and David asked me if I was still interested in going with them to New Zealand. You bet I am David, I just have to buy some more of your wines and am working in that direction, believe you me!
Cheers and let's do this again soon. Cheers, TONY
P.S. : When I get to the store today I will add the correct vintages and all the prices. In the meantime enjoy these pictures and text.
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