TiggerK wrote:Very interested here too.... can't help but feel it might still be a bit oak heavy for my tastes, I'm becoming very obvious-oak-averse and while I try to be patriotic, oak isn't something NZ has handled well over the past 20 years IMHO. Yet by all accounts the times they are a changing which is an exciting prospect for NZ wine.
On the whole you are correct, though still I would say making in NZ has on average been more subtle than Australia
I don't think you will have the same criticism with 2015 Homage. It is definitely a watershed wine and one that I think anyone serious about following the development of wine over time in NZ has to try
TiggerK wrote:Very interested here too.... can't help but feel it might still be a bit oak heavy for my tastes, I'm becoming very obvious-oak-averse and while I try to be patriotic, oak isn't something NZ has handled well over the past 20 years IMHO. Yet by all accounts the times they are a changing which is an exciting prospect for NZ wine.
Looking at a bottle of Esk Valley Terraces 100% new oak
Compare the tasting notes and comments of the top two wines
For example
; Tanzer, 96: intensely perfumed (NZ winemakers please note, how do you smell floral components if the wine is over-oaked, vanillin alone is not enough)
La Chapelle 20% new oak
At some stage balance has to realised.......
I never thought I would see the day that over-oaking was a topic on an auswine thread lol
My opinion on Terraces is that after losing its way 2000-2009, the 2013-2015 are back on form and are brilliant wines. They have some real structure and depth and have performed very well in the last two blind tastings I have attended with them in the mix
Over 10 or so years the notes here are more eclectic with Italian & French...
I personally have noted a creeping appreciation for wines in balance-especially oak and alcohol
I am practicing on a 2014 Trinity Hill The Gimblett as warmup to the Shiraz Homage in a few days.
