Stelvin v Cork

Valentine's Day is Monday week and we have some great gift ideas in-store right now. In fact, February is bringing in a whole new range of exciting wines you can gift on Valentine or be selfish and keep all to yourself. Have a look at the range of wines shown below and their are lots more coming that will excite your taste buds.

We kick off a tasting season on 22 February with a really stunning tasting of Spanish wines, all new, that we have never tasted here before. Check out the details below. We also have some excellent tastings on the horizon including Herzog from Marlborough, blind pinot noir, chardonnay, champagne and others. Look out for details coming up.

Early last year we discovered a Barolo that hit the taste buds in the right spot and to our surprise it was relatively inexpensive. Barolo in Italy is rightly known as the 'king of wines.' Check out that one below as well as one of the great champagnes for half price, and a local rielsing that continues to demonstrate the ever-increasing quality of wine coming out of Waipara. Ahhh!, so many good wines and so little time to drink them in - keep out of those supermarkets and get yourself down here to taste better quality wines for less money. See you soon, ciao

 

Duval-Leroy Femme 1996

In our previous email we talked about how great the 1996 vintage was for Champagne - one of the two best years in the past 100. World renown champagne critic Tom Stevenson has said: ".....my only reservation about 1996 is that it might be too good. There are some great, truly extraordinary 1996s...." Well, here's one, Femme by Duval-Leroy and not only is it 1996 but this is one of the best champagne deals we've ever offered - almost half price from its $299/btl. Better still, this champagne has the structure to last 20 years if you can resist it for that length of time.

Femme 1996 demonstrates its Grand Crus vineyards: 79% Chardonnay and 21% Pinot Noir. Hailing from well-chosen plots in the heart of their terroirs, the grape varieties used carry their excellent fruit through to maturity. This Champagne heightens all the senses: its refined elegance lets out a breath of flowery flavours with hints of lime blossom honey, brioche and hazelnuts; its personality expresses a deep intensity. Its velvety mousse fits perfectly with the whole taste balance. A lively impression with searing acidity prolongs its lasting effect. International awards and gold medals crown this cuvee's unique qualities.

RRP $299/btl. Special price to you only $150/btl

 

 

Half Price!!!!

San Vincenzo Anselmi Bianco 2009

The San Vincenzo white wine from Anselmi is an IGT wine and is made from a blend of 80% Garganega grapes, 15% Chardonnay and 5% Trebbiano grapes harvested from the San Vincenzo and Capitel vineyards at a yield of 2.7 tons per acre. Aged on the lees for 6 months.  The nose is crisp and pure with scents of fresh apples, banana and lemon. On the palate the wine is medium-bodied, dry and fresh with notes of citrus fruits, pear and grapefruit. The finish is dry. Very Soave in style but more texture and class. Like white Italian?, then you'll love this!!!

Anselmi's San Vincenzo is an ideal white wine to have with smoked or grilled fish, shellfish, lobster or even roast chicken.

RRP $26.50/btl. Special price to you only $23.90/btl

 Spanish Tasting

Sensational Spain featuring the exotic varieties and styles of
Palamino Fino - Albarino -Macabeo - Tempranillo - Graciano - Moscatel - Cava

This will be an excellent tasting of high quality
wines that will take us on a journey through
Spain -10 wines intotal including Cava, Rosado,
exotic whites and rich reds of Rioja.

Cost $25pp. Booking is essential to reserve a place.

Date: Tuesday 22nd February at 6pm. Venue; The Upstairs Lounge, Watson's Auctions, 273 Cashel Street (near Barbadoes Cnr). Phone 374 3344 to reserve your place(s)

Pyramid Valley Eaton Pinot Noir 2007

One of my very fav pinots and it's still available. From a very low cropped, steeply sloping, close planted, north facing vineyard with dense clay soils in the Omaka Valley. 

The grapes are hand-picked and the wine has been 15 months on lees in French barriques (33% new); bottled unfined and unfiltered and only 870 cases made. The wine is garnet in colour and the palate displays an array of complex fruit characters - cherry, redcurrant, wild strawberry as well as floral, spice, cinnamon, and a dusty/earthy note. The harmonious balance and finesse is evident and the long finish shows particularly fine tannins. A stunning wine in every respect.


RRP $59.50/btl. Special price to you is only $53.50/btl

 The perfect Valentine Day's Gift

 Veuve Clicquot NV Gift Box

Want to make a statement to the one you love - this is it!!! Nothing will make a bigger statement than this little gift on Valentine's Day. There is an aura about Clicquot because not only is the Champagne great but the very presentation of the orange/yellow box will have the recipient literally salivating at seeing the only patiented colour associated to wine in the world. The orange-yellow and Clicquot are synonymous with romance the world over - don't let the chance slip! And look at the price!


Normal retail $96/btl. Our great price only $69.90/btl

 
Villa Jolanda Barolo 2004

Barolo is known as "the wine of kings" and also as "the king of wines' by its most ardent followers, and comes from the Piedmonte region in the north-west of Italy. Of traditionally very high quality and made from the Nebbiolo grape which never produces deep coloured wines but instead more garnet or brick and brick/orange as they age, this is a wine that is both complex and very lifted in bouquet with notes of plums, dried roses and truffles. The palate is full and complex and when the wine is young it has quite grippy, firm tannins. This 2004 example is still youthful for the variety but more approachable than most other 2004s and the price is surprisingly low for the high quality.  You won't regret buying this one.

Normal retail price is $46.90. Your special price only $41.90/btl

Georges Road Waipara Riesling 2010

Kirk Bray who so ably makes the wines for Sandihurst also has his own label called Georges Road and this is his first release of his Block Three Riesling from Waipara. Made in a Germanic Kabinett style with around 30gms r/s and good acidity, this is yet further testimony to the quality riesling coming out of Waipara. The wine reveals some good citrus characters and is balanced by good acidity with palate weight and texture, and it's just 11% alc/vol. The presentation is also stunning, looking like it's straight from Mosel in Germany. Great value! 


RRP $23.50/btl. Our special price only $20.90/btl

 
Rivetto Moscato d'Asti 2009

This a is a really great dessert wine or as I had it on Christmas Day at 9.30am - with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and cream - it was stunning!  Low alcohol 5% bubbly with a golden straw colour with a fine, persistent bouquet of fresh, ripe aromatic grapes. The palate is intense and characteristic of the varietal, while still being sweet and delicate. This wine is a perfect match with creamy desserts such as crème brulé (caramel custard) and ‘zabaglione’ (eggnog), and baked sweets such as tarts and biscuits. Brilliant and lower alcohol than some beers.

Normal retail price is $32.50/btl. Your special price only $28.90/btl

 

TW Art Series Verdelho 2010

The Verdelho grape variety has been cultivated in Portugal since at least the 1400s. It is one of the grapes long used in the making of Madeira. It flourishes in warm climates so Gisborne where this one's from is one of the few places for it in NZ. The wine itself is excellent - vibrant and tangy and perhaps can be best described as a cross between sauvignon blanc and an off-dry pinot gris. The wine is nicely textured with good concentration and good length of finish.


RRP $25.90/btl, special price to you only $22.90/btl

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Cork v Screw Cap

We are still hearing arguments for and against cork but its fair to say most imbibers have accepted the stelvin closure or the screw cap as it's known is now far more popular and people are loathe to buy bottles with corks. But in an earthquake or an aftershock cork far outperforms the screw cap by a magnitude of of 7.1.

There are a number of problems with the screw cap. Firstly, don't believe the tca or 'cork taint' problem  has been eliminated completely. It hasn't and everyone buying a wine at a restaurant should still be testing the wine before accepting it's okay. The main cause of cork taint is trichloroanisole in the wine but it's not always the cork that's the source. There could be bacteria in the bottle or it could be transferred through the cork or by some other means with a stelvin closure. 

In addition, when bottles fall on their head in an earthquake, even if they don't break, there's a good chance they will be ruined as shown in the pic at the top of the page. Once dented, the delicate seal that exists between the glass of the bottle and the screw cap will be broken and the wine begins the process of oxidation. This seal is like a delicate weld and it doesn't take much of a knock to break it. This happened to hundreds of bottles during the quake. The screw cap also fails with poor warehouse handing when cases of wine are dumped without care upon other cases, the storeman unwittingly damaging the screw caps in the underneath case. We are constantly returning such damaged bottles but the storemen never seen to learn their lesson, or don't care less.

So to summarise, screw caps may be quick and easy to open, but when good wines with ageing potential are made they are not ideal. Cork is still the best closure in my view, especially the high quality cork that NZ seems not to have purchased. Screw Cap is popular with producers also because it's only a fraction of the cost of a good cork, but if you want to keep a wine for any length of time cork is far more robust. It's like Brad Thorn when he locks for All Blacks - the knocks won't alter his quality of performance! - In My View, by Brian 

 

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Opening Hours Hemingway Fine Wines

Mondays/Tuesdays          11am to 7.00pm
Wednesday to Saturday   10.00am to 7.00pm
Sunday                              Closed

Metered and 30min Parking available in Chester Street West (turn right from Durham St Nth or left from Cramner Square)

Shop: Corner Durham St North and Chester St West, Christchurch CBD  
Phone: 03 374 3344.   Fax: 03 374 3343
Email: hemingwayfinewines@xtra.co.nz 
www.hemingwayfinewines.co.nz  

The wine you drink is the wine you deserve