More to come but a couple of the team have submitted reports, a couple of the blighters havent so we will be sure to kick their butt for some contribution very soon!!

Team White:

With one day to do WineNZ the idea of writing up formal notes was daunting and just not practical, so instead this year some vibes from the floor.

The real standout wine for us was the 04 Pegasus Bay Encore Noble Riesling. Real world class sweet wine (after trying the 01 Yquem last week maybe I’m qualified to say that). Just so, so good!!  Looking back on the seven WineNZ’s I’ve attended it is clear that good sweet wines do well in this tasting forum, they awaken an assaulted palate. However even considering this it is simply an astonishingly good wine. It whipped the other usual standout sweet wine the 03 Villa Reserve Noble Riesling was actually looking a bit tired this year.

The broad reaching quality of the 05 vintage was evident this year in the Pinot Noirs especially.

Felton Road was exceptional with their 05 Pinot Noir and 05 Block 5 Pinot Noir. They did nothing to hold up their promotion to our ‘First growth’s of NZ’ list.  Nautilus has produced a stunner from 05 to restore faith in Marlborough Pinot Noir. Palliser’s was good in their more ‘jammy’ style. Gibbston Valley had a lovely reserve wine at a price though the standard label wasn’t as tidy. The 05 Fromm Clayvin for the first time edged out the 05 Fromm Fromm Vineyard for me as the best from them.

A few excellent Sauvignon Blancs saw me tasting more of that variety than usual. The 2006 Cloudy Bay is their most refined effort since the superstar 96 and follow-up 97. The 2006 St Clair Reserve is just gorgeous. Pungent, and all fresh cut passionfruit on the finish. A benchmark wine.  The 06 Palliser also was very stylish. A rich vein of form over the last 12 months for NZ Sauvignon Blanc should renew interest in this NZ icon.

Riesling also excelled this year with both 05 and 06 vintages looking excellent. Many winemakers are now following Fromm La Strada’s lead in producing more Germanic styles. Doctor John Forrest (don’t forget the Doctor bit, he was at pains to make sure we knew) took us through 7 or 8 of his Rieslings and they really were super examples.  Not sure you need to spend $50 on his top range, but the quality is certainly there. The 05 Fromm La Strada Spatlese was extremely sexy full of green apple characters with plenty of sweetness balanced nicely by focused acidity.

Felton Road at their first WineNz made it extremely clear that they are a notch above the pack, super Rieslings. Generally I see a move away from the tutti fruity NZ Riesling style. People are more serious with their Riesling efforts than they were even five years ago. It is good to see the diverse styles exhibited.

Chardonnays were a bit painful with only a few standouts though remembering most of the countries best chardonnay producers were absent. Morton Estate’s Black Label 02 Chardonnay is so so morish. We even got to sample the 00 Cognilio though to be honest this time I preferred the cheaper Black.  Spencer Hill is also another winery that is constantly putting out very stylish Chardonnay’s. Behind Neudorf this could be the best Nelson Chardonnay?? So many boring chardonnays though.

Gewurztraminer this year was a bit ho hum as was Pinot Gris. Tried many Gewurz none really excelled.

Didn’t try a huge amount of  Bordeaux styles being on team White - maybe the calm before the 05 storm?!? Though the 02 Mills Reef ‘One’ was a standout.

A few excellent Syrahs too from the 05 vintage were tasted, notably the 05 Passage Rock Reserve and the Unison 05 Barrel Sample.  The flavours, ripeness, depth and weight of these wines are revolutionary. Just need to get a handle on the restraint and refinement over the next few years.

Team Red

Now if we had all done as the wise Craig had suggested and stuck to our allotted wine varietals then you wouldn't see any sort of red's listed in his reviews (he and co writer Mark had been assigned whites).

About halfway around the show Melanie and myself had started to wonder whether he ever listened to himself as well.  [Next year you are on cask wine promise not to intrude. Ed]

Anyways the standard of reds this year was well up on last years crop, the Pinots however did range from absolutely abysmal (these will remain anonymous because I should of known better before letting my palate try them) to glorious. As always you can guarantee on several wineries to produce stunning results Wither Hills (2004 and 2005 Reserve), Felton Road (Block 5), Nautilus,  Carrick and of course Gibbston Valley. Pinots ranged from light steely fruited through to something that could be best described as a light spiced Syrah. My preference these days is more a finely structured, open fruited, multi layered Pinot with a spiced palate finish -- did I just categorize myself ?? I think I am almost beginning to sound snobby or know what I am talking about heaven forbid!!!

We managed I believe a good 80 wines if not more on the day and only managed two thirds of the hall, hard going when you are reviewing reds but I firmly believe we put in a good showing regardless. We slipped of the wagon a wee bit at the end by sampling the 06 Pegasus Bay Aria barrel sample they had hiding away, must say what a welcome relief that was!

Stunning wines again from Unison, no selection to taste but that's ok the Unison was just fantastic and besides I have 4 tucked away somewhere to drink, One 2004 from Elspeth ranked as one of the biggest wines we tasted along side the Elspeth 2004 Malbec (the Malbec in my opinion edged out the One in our weetbix challenge).

Merlots were a little harder to find but still exceedingly enjoyable considering the obvious good growing season experienced, looking forward to next year as this years growing season was fantastic. [Villa Reserve was a goodie. Ed]

Now most importantly and probably the most anticipated output from me was the 'Cellar Girl WineNZ 2006 Award' this is the inaugural award and presented to the most knowledgeable and irreverent Cellar Girl.

Congratulations to Amanda from Mills Reef for taking out the award this year your prize is in the mail (Amanda won because well she was just so damned funny!!) .. :-) close runner up was Emma from Villa Maria who proved to be particularly adept at scanning my badge and an honorable mention to Natalie from Trinity Hill for the shortness of skirt and height of boots.