Glengarry's Sunday ramblings of all things vinous, grain and glorious. The Sunday Sediment. Issue Seventy
Sarah, Welcome to the Seventieth edition of The Sunday Sediment, a collection of what’s new, what’s on and what’s happening instore at Glengarry and within the world of wine. Sip away.
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MT DIFFICULTY CENTRAL OTAGO
The four Mt Difficulty vineyards are privately owned by the same people who started and own the Mt Difficulty brand and winery. With their founding vineyards established in 1992, Mt Difficulty owns some of the oldest vineyards and is one of most respected wineries in the Central Otago region of New Zealand's rugged South Island. Situated in Bannockburn, a unique and rare area of extremes, Mt Difficulty has harnessed the once brutal terrain to produce premium wines at the forefront of Central Otago's wine production.
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CHESTER OSBORN & THE CUBE
A TASTE OF AUSTRALIA
One of Australia’s most admired producers and still in the Osborn family’s hands, the d’Arenberg wines go from affordable everyday drinking to the stuff of legend. They are the only Australian winery to use foot-treading and basket-pressing for both red and white wines. The Osborns specialise in small-batch, handcrafted expressions with scintillating aromatics, texture and balance. Whether it’s Chester’s clothing choices or the new, fivelevel d’Arenberg Cube with its wine sensory room, virtual fermenter, 360º video room and Alternative Realities Museum, these guys like hanging out on the cutting edge.
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ANNUAL GREAT CHAMPAGNE TASTING ABOUTWINE
On Wednesday evening our Fine Wine Manager, Regan McCaffery, hosted the Annual Great Glengarry Champagne tasting. This wonderful tasting is an introduction to the Champagne region, how the wines are made, and a comparison of eight fantastic examples of Non-Vintage wines.
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Next up was two very rich Pinot dominated Champagnes, Paul Bara Brut Reserve and the Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve. The small family owned house of Paul Bara gets all its old vine fruit from the Grand Cru village of Bouzy, known as one of the greatest in the region for Pinot Noir. Unsurprisingly this wine is 80% Pinot Noir, with a massive 50% Reserve wine, giving it a fantastic deep dry richness. In a similar style is the Charles Heidsieck which is one of the most complex Non-Vintage wines produced in the entire region. This contains a little less reserve wine than the Paul Bara at 40%, but these go back over ten years. The current release is based on the 2008 base vintage, which means some of the wine in this is now 20 years old! This year the line-up went from Chardonnay through to the richer Pinot Noir dominated cuvées. We also looked at a mix of Grower and small houses, as well as the famous Grande Marques. Starting with three Blanc de Blancs (100% Chardonnay), the first two being rare 100% Grand Cru NV from the Cote des Blancs. Lilbert-Fils and Delamotte. The former is the smallest house we bring in, making a mere 27,000 bottles of this soft and delicate wine.
The famous Bollinger Special Cuvee was up
For perspective, Moet & Chandon produces
next. During her reign at the company (1941-
over 30 million bottles a year! Delamotte is the
1971), the expansive Lilly Bollinger put it thus:
small sister house of the famed Champagne
‘I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad.
Salon, they operate out of the same building
Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I
with the same team of 14 staff. Like Lilbert, this
have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle
beautiful wine is produced from the Grand Cru
with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am.
Chardonnay villages of Les Mesnil, Oger,
Otherwise, I never touch it, unless I’m thirsty.’
Cramant and Avize.
What makes this wine so special is the fact that all of the reserve wine is kept not in tanks, but in individual magnums under cork. They have half a million reserve magnums in their five kilometres of cellars, and they open 80,000 of them by hand each year for the Special Cuvee! As you would imagine this is consistently excellent.
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We finished with the Veuve Clicquot Extra Brut
Our final BdB was the Henri Giraud Blanc de
Extra Old. This is the driest wine Veuve has
Craie. This is a much richer example with the
ever made at just 3g/l. The reason for this is
fruit coming from a different part of the region.
that this is made up of 100% Reserve wines!
90% from the Montagne de Reims, which has
The fruit is similar to the famous yellow label,
a 200m-thick layer of chalky limestone (Craie).
47% Pinot Noir, 27% Chardonnay and 26%
The wine spends twelve months in stainless
Pinot Meunier. But it is a blend of 6 vintages
steel before being blended with 10% Grand
2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 1996 and 1988.
Cru AĂż Chardonnay that has spent the same
These base wines were blended, three years
time in Argonne oak barrels.
on lees in vats (5% oak), then three years secondary fermentation in the bottle. Despite
Sitting alone in style was the Pol Roger Brut
the age of some of these wines, this is still
Reserve. This Champagne is always the
very refined with a saline austerity and could
perfect example of balance, being made from
be cellared for many years to come.
1/3 Chardonnay, 1/3 Pinot Noir, and 1/3 Pinot Meunier. The house has had the Royal Warrant since Queen Victoria, and was recently served at the Weddings of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
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LAST OF THE SPRING SPARKLERS TOHU WINES
Tohu Wines is the world's first and most recognised MÄ ori owned wine company. Since 1998, Tohu has been producing estate grown, single vineyard wines from New Zealand's premier grape growing regions. The Tohu winemaking philosophy is to create wines that capture the flavours of each region’s unique landscapes, whilst upholding respect and protection of the land for future generations. Their vineyards are certified Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand and they see this as an integral part of their values, working with the environment without compromising quality and integrity.
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TASTINGS AND EVENTS
KHYBER PASS MALT CLUB CHIVAS REGAL The blended Scotch Whisky made by the Chivas brothers can trace its roots back to 1801 with the opening of their grocer’s store in Aberdeen. The brothers began a tradition of cask-aging their whiskies in the cellars beneath their store, and they began to blend their stocks. In the 1850s they launched Glen Royal,
their first luxury blend, which eventually lead to
WHEN: Thursday 22nd November
the creation of the Chivas Regal selection of
WHERE: Glengarry Khyber Pass,
blended, aged whiskies. Join as at Glengarry
409 Khyber Pass Rd Newmarket
Khyber Pass as we journey through Chivas
TIME: 7.00pm
Regal’s extensive range and taste the incredible heights that blended malts can achieve! Is there a better way to kick off the festive season?
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CHATEAU LEOUBE COTES DE PROVENCE - WITH WILFRIED SENTEX | AUCKLAND For centuries, dry rosé wine has been a staple in the south of France, where it has long been considered the best wine to enjoy day and night beside the sea. Provence is the heart of the world’s rose production, and also home to one of its finest examples in Château Léoube. Their organic and biodynamic vineyard is set
WHEN: Tuesday 20th November
by the sea, and the wines are made by 4th
WHERE: Glengarry Victoria Park
generation rosé winemaker Romain Ott. The
118 Wellesley St West Auckland
Domaine and Château are owned by Lord and
TIME: 7.00pm
Lady Bamford who famously founded Daylesford Organic – one of the UK’s most sustainable farms – over forty years ago. These are some of the finest pink wines in the world, and we are very proud to represent them here in New Zealand.
ANNUAL PRESTIGE CUVEE CHAMPAGNE TASTING - NIGHT TWO | VICTORIA PARK This is always our most highly anticipated tasting of the year, the chance to dress up and try the world's greatest Champagnes head to head! Prestige or Luxury Cuvees are the finest blend a House can make, no expense spared, with every aspect tended by hand. We have
WHEN: Wednesday 12th December
another spectacular line-up planned this year
WHERE: Glengarry Victoria Park,
with lots of new wines. Hosted by our
118 Wellesley St West Auckland
Champagne expert and Fine Wine Manager,
TIME: 7.00pm
Regan McCaffery, he will take us through the history and stories of these incredible bottles.
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ANNUAL TAKAPUNA CHAMPAGNE TASTING - ROSE! | TAKAPUNA The Christmas Champagne tasting has become something of a tradition at our Takapuna store. Anticipated as keenly by the team pouring as it is by the locals sipping and swirling, we have been through a few different themes - from broad discussions of the different Grand Marque and growers to sampling some of the superb 2008 vintage. This year we will try something different again -
WHEN: Wednesday 12th December
with pink as our inspiration. RosĂŠ champagne
WHERE: Glengarry Takapuna,
is often seen as the sweeter, less serious
Cnr Hurstmere & Killarney Takapuna
cousin of the methode champenois. In truth
TIME: 7.00pm
these are (mostly) dry wines that can be every bit as special as the finest cuvĂŠe. Don't believe us? Book quickly and come in for what is sure to be a memorable evening.
PRESTIGE CHAMPAGNE TASTING | THORNDON For a strictly controlled region such as Champagne it is surprising that there very few regulations regarding Prestige Champagne. However, it is clearly in the best interest of each House to make sure that these wines are the very best that they can produce. A typical Prestige Champagne is made entirely from Grand Cru grapes from the oldest vines. These
WHEN: Wednesday 30th January
wines are also aged a lot longer in the cellars
WHERE: Glengarry Thorndon,
and there are numerous examples of late
53 Hutt Rd, Thorndon
disgorged wines. There is also more thought
TIME: 6.00pm
put in to the bottle and the presentation to make it as luxurious and special as possible. We have a stellar line up and look forward to trying them with you.
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That's it for this week's Sunday Sediment. Issue Seventy-One will be winging its way to your inbox next Sunday. Cheers,
Jak Jakicevich
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