Appetizers
Ambrosia from the Antipodes – New Zealand Wine Fair at the Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood
As part of our Learn About Wine promotion, la.foodblogging was given two entries to review the event. Our resident south-of-the-equator writer, MaxMillion was on the scene - Jonah
Last night we swanned over to the gorgeously refurbished Roosevelt Hotel – an historic site smack bang in the heart of Hollywood – to attend the New Zealand Wine Fair, staged by LA-based LearnAboutWine and a collective of New Zealand Winegrowers.
Our mission? To savor the unique wines of New Zealand from their diverse countryside. Indeed, New Zealand does boast some of the most beautiful, remote and inhospitable landscapes in the southern hemisphere. You just need to watch The Lord of the Rings or The Piano to get a sense of the terrain.
Even though I am Australian, I have to admit my knowledge of New Zealand wines is fairly limited. I was first introduced to a delightfully crisp elixir known as ‘sauvignon blanc’ several years ago when wines from Cloudy Bay vineyards burst on to the scene. Sadly, Cloudy Bay was not represented at the fair. Like many boutique vineyards, they have their range and finite output and their profile is probably well enough established by now.
Not so of many of the represented vineyards. Wines featured were from a bunch of places I had never heard of before now: Babich Wines, Brancott, Cable Bay, Clifford Bay, Crossroads, Crown Range Wines Lt, Fernleaf, Hunter’s Wines, Isabel Estate, Jackson Estate, Kim Crawford, Lindauer, Matua Valley, Monkey Bay, Nevis Bluff, Nobilo, Omaka Springs Estate, Oyster Bay Wines, Saint Clair Estate Wines, Seifried, Seresin Vineyards and Winery, Spy Valley, Stoneleigh, Te Kairanga, The Crossings, The Jibe, Waitiri Creek and Whitehaven Wine Company.
All up, about 100 wines were on offer. Uh, no, I didn’t sample them all.
In fact, I stuck to a strict policy of only sampling Sauvignon Blancs, Rieslings and several Pinot Gris. I figured white wines are what the Kiwis do best, and I was not wrong.
My partner in crime proclaimed, with a discernable shudder, one pinot noir “the most hideous pinot noir I’ve ever had in my life!� That was from St Claire in Marlborough. So glad he took a bullet for me!
There was one pinot noir which he felt had none of the characteristics of a pinot noir – “More like a heavy shiraz,� was his assessment. Basically, their red wines have a long way to go.
I was impressed with several fine whites from Cable Bay Vineyards, located in Marlborough (which is at the north-east top of the South Island) and also on Wiaheke Island, which is north of Auckland, on the more populated North Island. General Manager Anthony Mills explained how their best wines are produced from the juice of the ‘free run’ of the hand harvested and pressed grapes, similar to a virgin press of olive oil; the first, finest pass of the fruit. This achieves a wine that is complex yet lighter in flavor, with a softer and more delicate palate. They follow with a 3% aging in old French oak barrels to add “texture – this makes the wine fleshier and bigger.� Nice work, boys.
Over at Seifried, featuring wines from Nelson (on the north western top of the South Island) I was surprised to find the riesling to taste so much sweeter than their sauvignon blanc. Was my inexperience showing? Apparently it’s all in the grape.
Clifford Bay Estate had an almost effervescent sauvignon blanc that was fruity with grapefruit notes. Delicious.
We noticed a lot of couples and several gangs of women, but few single men. It didn’t seem like an especially good venue for meeting people; everyone seemed hell-bent on obtaining their next tasting or grabbing a small plate of cheese and fruit.
In addition to the cheeses, the food on offer was limited to various snacks being passed around featuring Cervena Venison as well as freshly shucked oysters by Hog Island Oyster Company. In fact, the scrum at the oyster station was quite the feeding frenzy. Too bad I loathe oysters, because I could tell these petite and briny bay oysters looked like exceptional ones. More for my partner in crime.
We were lucky to be guided away from the masses towards the picturesque outdoors, thanks to our charming host Ian Blackburn. We headed over to the edge of the hotel’s pool where a few more wines from Hunter’s, also from Marlborough, were being showcased and the venison was plentiful.
LearnAboutWine has established itself as a prime source for wine classes, adventures and tastings in Southern California. Founder Ian Blackburn maintains that wine appreciation does not have to be paired with a snotty attitude. The Los Angeles-based LearnAboutWine exists to make wine enjoyment and education accessible to everyone, minus the pretentiousness.
For more information go to:
LearnAboutWine and New Zealand Wine.
By MaxMillion (see more of her posts). Max Million is the nom de 'net of Pauline Adamek. Born in Sydney, Australia, Pauline has lived in Los Angeles for the past ten years and finds it agrees with her. She has been reviewing films and filing celebrity-based interview articles since 1991, and has filed stories from various international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto and Sundance. She is completing a family cookbook and also writes novels for 8-12 year olds.
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I wish to thank Ian and Libby at LearnAboutWine and Jonah from this publication on selecting me as the winner of the naming contest.It was my first event with LAW, and my first visit to the newly-renovated Roosevelt Hotel. My wife and I enjoyed the wine selections, hors’ deouvres and relaxed atmosphere (although there seemed to be more singles-scene activity than indicated…). It was a fun event, and we hope to attend more LAW events in the future. While I agree with most of MaxMillion’s comments, we had a slight advantage over his awareness of New Zealand and NZ wines, as my wife travelled there two years ago and recognized some of the names, particularly from the Hawkes Bay region.We also had more success than he with the red wines, and I want to point specifically to the 2002 Crossroads RGF selection - a stunning blend of six varietals that deserves attention. Clark Vautier, CA rep for Crossroads at South Pacific Wines explained the selection as complex without being overwhelming and I would place it on a par with some of the meritage blends stateside. Family-owned Babich Wines was the only purveyor of a reserve syrah (using the “see-rah” pronounciation) with their Winemaker’s Reserve Hawkes Bay 2004. A little green for my taste, but I could see the potential in the spicy notes. As a result, this syrah held promise. I will concur with MaxMillion that the pinot noirs were generally not up to snuff. The whites were all good, with the expected stars being the chards and a handful of pinot gris. Kim Crawford Wines, falling under the unbrella of Vincor International, offered two chardonnays: one barrel-fermented and one steel-fermented - resulting in two very different effects that I found interesting (one woody, one clean) that provided an interesting option for different food pairings.Lastly, a nod to Antipodes Water Company for providing two selections of still and lightly sparkling water for the all-important palate cleansing. They are hoping to get distribution in the US and I find the soft sparkling selection a kinder option to European sparkling waters, which seem too and mineral to me.
Thanks, Martin, for your additional information. I realise my report was a little lopsided, with me sticking to the superb whites, so thanks heaps for your input.
Oh, and I completely forgot to mention the water — it was fresh and pure.