Henrys Drive is a new range to us at JN Wine and we recently had the pleasure of a visit from Renae at our Crossgar shop a few months ago. Renae was utterly charming and down to earth and we really enjoyed hearing about the wines and the property.
Henrys Drive is named after Henry John Hill, the proprietor of the 19th century coach service which delivered passengers and mail throughout the region. The region in question is Padthaway in the South east corner of South Australia – a picturesque valley with soils similar to those of Coonawarra (red earth).
We were taken with the quality and diversity of the wines. The morse code Shiraz and Chardonnay are a fantastic introduction to the wines of the region and incredibly good value for money. Australian Shiraz is hugely successful and very popular and for good reason. Although Syrah and Shiraz are different names for the same grape, it makes absolute sense for the Australians to have given it another name as the grape expresses itself in such a unique way in this country. Henrys Drive make a whole range of wines from this fabulous grape, each different in style. The top wines are beautiful expressions of regionality and are made from tiny parcels of their very best quality grapes.
View Our Henry's Drive Range
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Probably my favourite thing about working in the wine industry is the people I get to meet. I love meeting winemakers and grape growers and hearing their stories and philosophies and discovering their passion for their craft. For exactly these reasons, it was a treat to meet Johan Reyneke at our Merchant Tasting in March. Johan comes across as a gentle, quiet man but with warmth and charm and definitely a man of substance and evidently pretty philosophical.
Johan Reyneke at our May Tasting in the Merchant
Reyneke is the only certified biodynamic winery in South Africa. Biodynamics is based on the principles of Rudolf Steiner and is too complex to go into in great detail here but it looks at the vineyard as an ecosystem in itself. It’s all about creating the healthiest environment possible for your crops to maximise their resistance to the challenges that nature may throw at them. Being biodynamic is a step too far for some winemakers who like to have an arsenal of weaponry at their disposal to fight against the nasties mother nature can fire at growers. Not only that, but all that talk of moon cycles and cow horns is a bit ‘unscientific’ for some. Whatever your thoughts on biodynamics, it definitely requires a respect and care for the environment - not to mention courage and commitment. For Reyneke, it’s all about the wine. The farming methods are his way of getting the product he wants.
Not only is Johan concerned with the physical environment he is farming, but he invests in his workers. Cornerstone is his most well known red wine and is named in honour of the farm workers – the people he considers to be the cornerstone of his business. This wine pays for houses for the vineyard workers and will enable them to send the first girl off to university next year too.
Now, clearly all this conscientiousness is ultimately irrelevant if the wines are no good. Nothing to worry about here. The wines are lovely; elegant and flavoursome with good balance and concentration. All are good food wines, all will age, and all have enough depth and complexity to allow for a certain amount of savouring and contemplating while you enjoy them. They don’t taste the same as every other South African Chenin or Sauvignon Blanc - they’re a little bit different. I suppose they reflect Reyneke’s personality. How nice to drink wine that’s good for you, good for the environment, and good for the people who help make it!
Reyneke Wines
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One of the best holidays I have ever had was a few years ago touring around New Zealand with my best friend in our hired camper van. Brilliant! I lived out there at the time and my friend came to visit so we decided to make the most out of our time and pack as much into those 2 weeks as possible. And pack it in we did! We caught up with friends in Auckland and did the touristy thing in Rotorua the highlight of which was a highly amusing Maori cultural evening involving learning the rudiments of the hakka and dinner from a hangi – not a culinary highlight but fun. There were wineries in Hawkes Bay, a bit of culture in Wellington, whale watching in Kaikoura, a wander through the devastatingly beautiful Abel Tasman National Park,(above) more wineries in Marlborough, getting drenched in Norn Irish style horizontal rain at Pancake Rocks and the Glaciers and after a few more wineries in Otago, getting the adrenalin pumping whilst jet boating in Queenstown. It was hectic and we covered a lot of miles but even that was really pleasurable because every time we turned a corner another picture perfect landscape opened up in front of us. The only downside was not having enough time to do everything we wanted (oh yes, and emptying the camper van loo).
Being both professional wineos, visiting wineries featured unsurprisingly highly on our to-do list. There is nothing quite like meeting the people behind the wines, seeing the vineyards where the grapes are grown, and sitting outside in the beautiful sunshine having a glass of something delicious and tucking into a platter of lunchtime nibbles. Wine nerd heaven. It never ceases to amaze me how different wineries are and how their philosophy and attitude to wine pervades everything from the physical building to the set up of their cellar door. The New Zealanders have really caught on to wine tourism and are all geared up for people visiting their country and touring around the wineries. I was sometimes the girl they talked to at the cellar door at my winery. My favourites were the people on the bike tour who would turn up red-faced, wobbly-legged and gasping for water as we were the last stop. A sip of Sauvignon Blanc usually sorted them out. If wine is your thing, it’s hard to pass up the opportunity to visit a winery or two when you travel. What a lovely way to learn a thing or two about the world.
Dog Point Vineyard, Blenheim, New Zealand
Here at JN Wine we do our best to bring the vineyards and the winemakers to our customers as it is somewhat impractical to bring customers to the vineyards. This weekend we are lucky to have Matt Sutherland from the fabulous Dog Point winery in NZ coming online to chat with our customers in Crossgar. Matt will be talking through the wines and we will have them open for tasting to create as close an experience to visiting the cellar door as we can muster. Please come and join us in the shop from 3-4 this Saturday.
Join us on Saturday 25th June 3pm - 4pm , James Nicholson Wine Merchant Crossgar
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Thank you to Dr John Forrest,of Forrest Estate Wines NZ, who kindly joined us last night for the final night of our Intorductory Wine Course.
Dr John took talked us through all his wines, from his ever popular Marlborough sauvignon to his delectable dessert wines. He told us what makes a good wine and how difficult it can be to describe the taste sensation.
In the above video clip John explains the balance that makes a good Chardonnay.He tells us what he thinks would pair well with Forrest Estate Chardonnay and why the wine has longevity.
“The epitome of my style of chardonnay - fresh vibrant fruit flavours, subtle oak and focused acidity. It abounds with citrus (lemon/grapefruit) and stonefruit (nectarine/white peach) flavours and that lovely yeast lees derived, oaten/toffee biscuit aroma. Soft and harmonious with excellent depth and weight on the palate, the wine will benefit from 2-4 years cellaring. A perfect accompaniment to fresh manuka smoked Marlborough Sounds Moki.
Dr John Forrest
Owner/Winemaker
Forrest Estate Wines available at JN Wine
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On our recent visit to Burgundy we had the pleasure of meeting Patrick Javillier and his daughter Marion at their winery in Meursault. The Javilliers are very charming people who make very charming wines. Amongst others, Patrick makes 2 Bourgogne Blanc wines – Cuvée des Forgets and Cuvée Oligocène as well as a Meursault called Les Tillets. (Marion is in charge of the reds).
The two Bourgogne Blancs were delicious, in different ways. The video shows Patrick explaining in some detail the provenance of the two wines and why they are so distinctive. For those who are fairly new to the white wines of burgundy, they make an interesting comparison. The joy of Burgundy is that so many facets of the Chardonnay grape can find their expression. Factors such as soil type, vine age, the aspect of the vineyard, the treatment in the winery, use of oak barrels and so on all have a role to play in the taste of the bottled wine. Consequently you can find flavours ranging from mineral tones to toast and butter to floral flavours to citrus fruit to ripe stone fruit characters all to varying degrees in each wine. This is what makes white Burgundy so interesting, so unique and so pleasurable to drink. This kind of complexity and subtlety is rare in other parts of the world. It’s fascinating to see how the same sorts of flavours can be present in each wine but the experience of drinking them is completely different – it’s a case of which characters are more dominant in the wine. Richer, fuller flavours tend to marry more harmoniously with the warmth and depth that oak ageing can bring whereas the lighter, leaner wines require more subtle oak treatment, if any at all. In this case, the Cuvée Oligocène is richer, and the Cuvée des Forgets is lighter and more mineral in style. Amongst our group, the votes for a favourite were evenly divided.
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Patrick Javillier in the vineyard and the cellar at his Domaine
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The Meursault was a real treat. Leaner and more elegant than many Meursault wines, it had a touch of minerality to balance the richness.
Once you’ve figured out what kind of characters you like the best, it’s easier to find more wines that you will enjoy. We are lucky enough to have Marion Javillier coming along to our tasting at the Merchant Hotel on 28th October, so don’t miss the opportunity to come along and meet her and try the wines.
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