All photos by Robin Goldsmith, unless otherwise stated.
Beaufort cheese canapé and Te Awanga Syrah
One of Eurocave's beautiful wine cabinets
There we stood, surrounded by beautiful wine cabinets engineered to maintain optimum storage conditions with constant temperatures and ideal humidity mimicking an underground cellar … and then we were treated to sublime canapés by Galvin Bistrot de Luxe and wines from boutique New Zealand producers specially paired to tantalise our taste buds:-
1. Whipped Bosworth Ash Goats Cheese and Candied Walnut with Rockferry Sauvignon Blanc 2014, Marlborough
Rockferry Sauvignon Blanc 2014
2. Éclair filled with Duck Liver Parfait and Coco de Grue with Greystone Pinot Gris 2013, Waipara
Greystone Pinot Gris 2013
3. Pressed Chicken Terrine and Pineapple Chutney with One Off Chardonnay 2014, Hawke’s Bay
One Off Chardonnay 2014
4. Slow-cooked Lamb and Sweetbread Croquette with Gladstone Pinot Noir 2013, Wairarapa
Gladstone Pinot Noir 2013
5. Herdwick Lamb Pastille and Cinnamon with Amisfield Pinot Noir 2013, Central Otago
Amisfield Pinot Noir 2013
6. Three-year aged Beaufort Chalet D’Alpage Cheese with Te Awanga Syrah 2014, Hawke’s Bay
Te Awanga Syrah 2014
The pairings were all great, the second one being the pick for me, proving how delicious a well-made Pinot Gris can be, its sweet ripe pear notes perfectly complementing the duck liver parfait.
Éclair filled with Duck Liver Parfait and Coco de Grue
So what else did we learn? … that New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is a benchmark style that announced itself on the world stage in the 1980s and remains deliciously iconic to this day. … that Chardonnay, in Liam Steevenson’s words “the world’s most controversial grape variety”, reflects its terroir so beautifully well in New Zealand. … that Pinot Noir, “a capricious grape which has struggled to find its home outside Burgundy” is extraordinarily good in New Zealand every year, particularly its richer, fuller, more concentrated expressions from the gorgeous Central Otago region. …that Syrah is now the most exciting grape in New Zealand.
Liam Steevenson MW
Ultimately, the take-home message was that artisan wine producers who think outside of the box – which sums up the New Zealand mentality – are always worth searching out. Their winemakers are not afraid to follow new directions, where the end product is truly world class. If only the England football team could do something similar!
Many thanks to Peretti Communications Ltd. for organising this fabulous evening.
