WINES IN TRANSIT

Travel can be such a frustrating business, so we began our first Odd Bottle Travels with the usual trepidation! This journey however was clearly blessed, we had Brian’s Mum with us, everyone should travel with an 88 year old, it opens doors (and security checks) with an alacrity that Ali Baba would have been proud of! A further qualm was, knowing the poor standard short haul airline wine offerings can often be, we were apprehensive about what we would find on long haul, again we were pleasantly surprised! This trip also gave us the chance to look at the effect that very high altitude, and a long flight has on ones perception of the smell and taste of wine !

Our first encounter in the Lounge at Heathrow was with a very pleasant Prosecco from Bisol called Jeio, created from the best grapes of all 16 of his vineyards, delightful clean aromas and it had, interestingly, kept its fine mousse despite being sat and re-stoppered numerous times. The white choice was between a Picpoul or Torrontes, and the red choice either an Aus Shiraz or a lessor known Rioja both 2012. Brian had the Torrontes and I, the Rioja, the verdict both were good middle level examples of their type, unsurprisingly the Hong Kong Lounge had the same offering!

Same experience with the two flights, identical Wine Lists, again two red and two white, not a bad thing, as we had the chance to choose different foods on each leg of the journey and match the wine to the food. The greeting glass was one of our favourites, Billecart Salmon Brut, elegant and minerally with lovely yeasty aroma’s, but here we found the first effect of the high altitude. The noticeable trait, which continued throughout, was an increased awareness of acidity and a reduction of the fruit elements, a good reason for airline buyers to include a lot of big fruity New World style wines in the list. The cabin Champagne was Deutz again a ‘bigger’ style that appeared  rather finer and minerally than usual, ideal as an aperitif in these circumstances but possibly not so on Terra Firma!

One of the White wines we know well, from the ubiquitous producer ‘Caves de Buxy’ co-operative, their Bourgogne Blanc ‘Tête de Cuvee’ really is a delight and again ideal for the effect of high altitude as those vintages we have tasted down below have been a bit big and buttery for some tastes, but up there where the acidity and minerality prevails, and accompanied by a lobster tail with dill sauce, it did very well indeed. The grilled lamb cutlets cried out for the Château Fayan Puisseguin Saint Emilion but perhaps an earlier fuller vintage than the 2012 would have been more suitable, taking into account the effect of the altitude. As it was, it came across a being a bit ‘light’ and austere even for my palate!

Having tasted the two Old World offerings we determined to try the two NZ offerings on the second leg flight! This proved to be easy as the Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc matched very well with the Cajun Spiced Prawns and the surprisingly ‘robust’ Michelle Richardson Central Otago 2012 Pinot Noir sat with, and complimented, a Grilled Australian ‘Prime Beef Tenderloin’ (Fillet to us Poms) on a bed of lentils. It will be interesting to see what this tastes like on Terra Firma when we are down in Otago!

After both meals we finished off with Dows LBV 2009 and a plate of well chosen cheeses. The Dows is another favourite with its spicy oak and rich fruit, the House style traditionally has a dry finish which under the circumstances gave it a ‘thinner’ than usual note. Personally for high altitude Port drinking we would probably have chosen an LBV with a sweeter finish to offset the reduction of fruit awareness!

Having compressed 48hrs into 36 with the change of time, when we arrived at the start of the 3hr journey from the airport to the house on the Coromandel at Matarangi trepidation crept back in! It is true to say that we had forgotten just how beautiful the Coromandel coast really is, specially on a sunny day and so our worries disappeared. Our arrival was as warmly greeted as ever and we soon settled in and were taken to review the cellar Malcom and Anita created many years ago after visiting us in UK. We have stored some wines in the cellar here that we bought over 10 years ago, on our last visit, so time to taste those. Looking at the racks it soon became clear that they have built up their collection with  some stunning NZ and  Aus. wines (including five vintages of Grange) as well as the pick of home grown producers!

More of that in the next blog as well as a look at the local wine shop, ‘ Puku’s ‘  inspired in part by Malcolm, our late cousin, whose enthusiasm for good wine has clearly rubbed off on Puku and his wife Kerrie. Weather subsequently has been a very English summer style of downpour followed by sunshine, but as you can see below we are settling into our new office very well! Watch our for the next posting, ‘Relative Wines’ when we explore the cellar in more detail and taste some unusual wines!