Hyperion Wines of Matakana - New Zealand

Newsletter No 20 Summer 2008 

Customer Quote:
“It (Hyperion) is the best reason to come to Matakana.”  5th yr Med Student Jan 08

 I thought this young man was talking about the wine region but it turned out that he was referring to us.

 

HYPERION VINEYARD PHOTO IN NEW YORK TIMES!

Late ’07 a photographer assigned to the NY Times called in and asked to take photographs around our property, stating that we would appear in an upcoming travel article which included the Matakana area.  A feature writer must also have visited but didn’t identify herself. The article was duly published on Sunday January 13th 2008 and the only two photos accompanying the item were a stunning one of our vineyard rows with pink rose bush and one taken at the Matakana farmers’ market.  This hyperlink is still operating:  http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/travel/13next.html?ref=travel

The “Sunday Times” supplement is distributed America-wide. The article, “North Island Coast of

Small Wineries & Big Pleasures” also appeared in the International Herald Tribune. We subsequently had a few Americans turn up with article in hand, very pleased to have found us and they purchased some wine!  One kindly gave us the newsprint version.  We were surprised to see that our vineyard photo is the larger lead photo in the actual article with a smaller Matakana Farmers’ Market pic below it, whereas on the website they were reversed.  The feature writer wryly observed that “the scatter of rustic farm buildings and friendly owners were the opposite of the slick, almost corporate appearance of the vineyard’s labels”(!). Which says something for our Auckland designer who risked faxing said image to us in the middle of the night as a sort of ‘bling’ Eureka moment!  It held immediate appeal to me as a timeless classic logo. 

 

“HYPERION HEIGHTS” LUXURY COUNTRY COTTAGE!

This cottage is on a property we purchased adjacent to our home vineyard, located on Whitmore Road on the hill above us. We subsequently renovated it last Summer to the highest standard for short term accommodation. (Part of the reason this newsletter is so late.)  Private and self-contained, it has three Queen bedrooms with ensuite for max 6 guests, full kitchen, dining and lounge area, separate area for laptop use, laundry and two extensive decks with built-in seating - one suitable for al fresco breakfast and the other with magnificent views to the western sunset, looking back down over our vineyard. Open fireplace, heatpump, TV/DVD/Music, clock radios in bedrooms and underfloor heating in bathrooms. Fine linen provided.  Close to Matakana Village, cafes, boutique shops, cinemas and farmers’ market.

Enquiries and reservations:  Hyperion Winery, Tongue Farm Rd Matakana or T: (09) 422 9375 

E: info@hyperionheights.co.nz  W: www.hyperionheights.co.nz  Check out latter to view photos, tariff and additional information.  A DLE card is available from Matakana Information Centre.

 

THE BIG PICTURE! www.bigpicturewine.com

We’ve put ourselves in it.  This inter-active video showcases individual winemakers on film talking informatively about their wine, whilst the audience samples flights of the wine on the desk in front of them, preceded by magnificent aerial coastal and country scenery from Auckland north, zooming in on the wine region then the winery involved.  This is grand and stirring stuff! Two separate videos feature 6 red wines and 6 white wines and their respective winemakers, with wineries plucked from several northern wine regions including Clevedon, Oratia, Kumeu, Waiheke Island and Matakana.  Hyperion’s excellent ‘06 “the Titan” Cabernet Sauvignon features in the red line-up.

 

The Aroma Room  Before you attend the main event you can enter a specially set up room off the main entry point and sniff the rows of scented cones which convey the aroma components usually associated with wine - mostly good, a few with common faults. Quite a number of these are tried blind, so they really challenge your olfactory senses.  If you are not sure and want to know the answer, one can just lift up a flap and find it underneath.  Some cones are really easy but others aren’t so obvious.

Location  Brilliantly positioned alongside the Auckland Fish Market at 22 Jellicoe Street, off Beaumont, Street, Freemans Bay, west of the Viaduct area in Auckland City where car parking is available.  Proceed to courtyard area between auditorium and the Auckland Fish Market where you can afterwards purchase a wider range of Auckland wines and partake of them with delicious ultra fresh seafood tapas in relaxed indoor and out dining.

NB: The wines you tasted are also available for purchase at exclusive cellar door prices.

 

REVIEWS/RATINGS:

Sam Kim  Wine Orbit website, Senior wine judge for major NZ wine competitions including Air New Zealand :-

 

“Gaia” Merlot 2004

This wine expresses the Merlot variety magnificently.  Medium-deep red colour with the aroma of a classic, maturing Merlot: ripe berries, leather and game.  The palate is juicy and fruity with excellent concentration and freshness from the balanced acidity.  Firm, drying tannins give structure and contrast the ripe fruit characters well. Merlot magic.  At its best: now to 2009.  93  5 stars

“the Titan” Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

A very attractive Cabernet Sauvignon displaying medium red colour, ripe berries, floral notes with developing characters of game and spice.  The palate is ripe and round with a lovely texture and it finishes with firm tannins.  A great wine for slow-cooked meat dishes.  At its best: now to 2009.  90  4.5 stars

NB  These 2 wines are now in extremely limited supply on our older vintages list.

 

Sue Courtney  Wine writer, Rodney Times columnist, wine show judge, palate extraordinaire.

Current range

Hyperion Phoebe Pinot Gris 2007 - … it evolves into a rich, Italian-like 'pinot grigio' with pear, pineapple, sherbet and spice underpinned by a refreshing, steely, lemony undercurrent. 

Winemaker comments:  Sue may have tried this when still affected by bottle shock.

Fruit came in clean as a whistle, averaging 23 plus across the vineyard which, due to the good even season, we picked in one go instead of two, same for Helios ’07. This is the ripest Pinot Gris we have ever picked. Lately customers seem to be picking up on the relative fruit ripeness.

Hyperion Helios Chardonnay 2007 - is a luscious style of fruity chardonnay with nectarine, tropical fruit and citrus playing to the well integrated creamy oak with a well balanced grainy savouriness.

Winemaker comments: this wine is arguably our best chardonnay yet.  

Hyperion Zeus Merlot Cabernet 2006 - perhaps the bargain in Matakana reds this vintage, (at $20 in the winery,) this is an immediately appealing, rich, smoky scented, velvety textured red with concentrated cassis, hints of liquorice, firm tannins and a red berry sweetness to the finish.  I rate it 4.5 stars. 18/20 13% alc.

Hyperion 'Kronos' Cabernet Merlot Malbec 2005 - Deep red-black in colour with a ripe fruit aroma that hints of jelly baby and cherry - later the aroma becomes quite smoky and savoury with deli meat scents and creamy vanillin oak. Just on the medium side of full-bodied in its palate weight, it’s silky textured with a savoury cedary 'Bordeaux' character, jelly baby sweetness, hints of liquorice, cinnamon, clove and allspice. Ripe, tending toward luscious on the finish with a dry cedary aftertaste, it is smoky, long and vinously satisfying with excellent length. 17/20. 13.5% alc. 24Jan2008. 

 

The current vintage of ‘the Titan’ Cab Sav is ’01!  This came about when stocks of ‘04 ran low and we decided to put this Cab Sav under ‘the Titan’ label, following a mellowing of the acidity it was carrying when bottled.  Pretty unusual to have such a relatively aged wine in the current line-up. 

Sue Courtney (précised) “…good depth …smokey & cedary on nose …- crisp red fruits on palate with sappy, cedary smoky oak, dusty grainy tannins, earth, leather, a hint of mushroomy pinosity and underlying acidity to keep it fresh ... a plushness to finish with sweet red and blackcurrant fruits lingering on aftertaste.  Bordeaux-like complexities.  Aged in French & American oak barrels for 18 months.”

 

Helios ’07 and Zeus ’06 also received 4 stars from Michael Cooper. 

’07 Demeter Rose (Pinot noir & Cab Sav grapes) and ’07 Eos Pinot Noir have not yet been reviewed.

    “Port is not for the very young, the vain and the active. It is the comfort of age

        and the companion of the scholar and the philosopher.”   Evelyn Waugh

 

NEW FOR HYPERION 

(1)“Acropolis” Port   (Released in September 2007)

The name Acropolis was chosen due to the fact that both it and a bottle of Port are fortified!  Also within the collection of mainly religious buildings atop the famed ‘Acropolis of Athens’ in particular were shrines to the Greek Gods, including Hyperion. Forerunners of these fortified acropolises, which also housed administrative buildings and protected nearby towns, date back to the 5th millennium BC.  This Port wine was aged in oak barrels for 4 years to produce a rich, raisined tawny style, red gold in colour.  Consisting of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from Omaha Flats plus a few raisined bunches ex home block.  [Remember helping a tired winemaker to pick these few bunches at vintage end, Frank?!  (Jill’s brother)

 

“Is there any Port wine left?” will remind one that “port” is left and therefore by elimination, “starboard” is to the right hand side of an ocean going vessel. Two short blasts on the horn indicates you are turning to the left by day or in fog. [Well we did wonder whether to call this Port ‘Two Short Blasts’ and see if anyone got it!]

Fact: Did you know that at a formal dinner, it is traditional for the host to pass a bottle of port to the left?

 

(2)“Midas” Malbec 2007

This name is a bit of a one-off from our usual run of Titan names.  In Greek mythology, Midas, a King of Phrygia was given “the Midas touch” (everything he touched turned to gold) by Dionysus, the God of Wine.  Dionysus is the son of Zeus, in turn the son of Hyperion’s brother Kronos. The low crop of 2007 allowed a few cases of straight Malbec as this particular year the Kronos blend usually containing this grape variety was not made.  This is the 8th wine in our current range, excluding Port and Grappa!

Hyperion Midas Malbec 2007 (we suspect review edited by the Rodney Times!)

This sumptuous wine is red (!) with distinctive violet-like florals and rich berry fruit. Sue Courtney

 

SNAPSHOT ’07 VINTAGE

Merlot crop down at Omaha Flats due cool temps at flowering, (affected whole region), ditto Malbec on home vineyard. Pinot Gris also affected but usual fruit volume ie no thinning required!  Very dry New Year and later to early March.  No birds!  No nets required on most Cab Sav/Merlot except Pinot Noir home block. A highly unusual occurrence. Very uniform ripeness with early varieties enabling one pick through instead of two.  Winemaker very happy with Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir parameters.  Cab Sav out of balance on Omaha block but good red fruit on home block.

 

MATCHING WINE WITH FOOD

There are some simple rules to follow to achieve good wine and food pairings. Different experiences can interestingly result in the wine taste changing as the food flavours alter. One will be a perfect match.

Warning Vinegar is a bit of a “no no”, as in some salad dressings, as it will overpower the wine.  Use verjuice or lemon juice as a substitute ingredient. The resulting mild acids call for wines with acidity to compete.

 

Little known fact:  in The Vintry Wine Bar, (cinema complex, Matakana) the wine-stained wooden staves on the front of the bar were disassembled from Hyperion Merlot wine barrels!

MATAKANA IN MAY ‘08

During this off peak promotion of the region we teamed up with luxury Kourawhero Lodge near Warkworth on Saturday 10th May to put on a gourmet wine and food evening with six courses and a talk from the winemaker. This went off well with a long table and a very cordial group of mainly corporate participants.  Mostly the wines were of reasonable age, however due to limited supplies of Eos Pinot Noir we put on the ’06 which is the current release.  This tasted exceptional in a big glass, another standout being “the Titan” 04 Cabernet Sauvignon. The chef and one of the hosts did an excellent job of matching the delicately prepared food courses to the wine.

 

WINE WORDS  “Slippery” and “Fat”!!

1/ Winetasting term that can refer to either texture or flavour although it’s more commonly applied to the former.  Will produce a smooth, slightly slippery (oily) impression in the mouth, usually the result of high glycerol often combined with low acidity.  A good example of this might be mature reislings or chardonnays.  [Try and see if you can detect this textural quality for yourself. It is present in our 2006 Helios Chardonnay if you happen to have a bottle. Ed.]

 

2/ This tactile characteristic is often found in” fat” wines. The term “oily” is used sometimes to describe the bouquet of a wine such as a mature reisling.   Fat = robust, intense, full-bodied and high in alcohol.

Essential Wine Guide Epicurious by Anthony Dias Blue

 

RECOMMENDED WINE BOOK

“The Emperor of Wine : The Rise of Robert M. Parker Jr and the Reign of American Taste.” Elin McCoy.  Harper Collins  This lady has first hand knowledge of Robert Parker’s wine related activities, (he has arguably the best wine palate in the world), being a friend who occasionally accompanied him on his travels, and is a wine columnist and wine magazine editor herself. McCoy also judges wine so was in a unique position to comment on Parker’s amazing influence on the perception of and marketing of, wine world wide with particular effect on the Bordeaux region. An extremely good and engrossing read, particularly for the cognicenti.

 

“Matakana” Random House - released December’08 by Lauraine Jacobs, Cuisine Food Editor.

This is a comprehensive guide to wider Matakana, an area very familiar with the author, with wine and food outlets, farmers’ market produce, places to stay, local attractions, parks and personalities etc. Some favourite recipes are included.

 

2009 Cuisine Wine Country magazine

This excellent NZ-wide guide to the country’s wineries (390+ featured) is issued every two years.  Additional info includes artisan foods, vineyard cafes, farmers’ markets, where to stay and festivals on a regional basis.  John Saker, Cuisine magazine’s NZ wine writer, was responsible for some of the winery write-ups. 

 

A Happy Holiday Season to all our customers and thank you for your support 12 vintages on. This is our last hard copy newsletter. Appropriately No. 20.  From now on news snippets and wine accolades/reviews etc will appear on our revamped website.  This way you will be updated a little more frequently!  Email newsletter recipients have the option of receiving occasional instant updates.  Do nothing if this is okay. We won’t overdo it. Anyone else is welcome to join our email list.  Occasional items of interest may also show up on our new blog.  In fact the most recent subject is from outer space!  Take a look at the new website, it is a definite improvement on the old model and features 3 photos taken for the NY Times article – the best one yet of the winemaker, a close-up of the winery and the attractive vineyard shot (under ‘Location’).  A new DLE card for the winery can now be found in the Warkworth Info Centre and at the winery. Here’s to 2009!

 

Cheers,     

John & Jill Crone

Stop Press:  the winery has a new white rook and the tasting room, loo and wash area have been repainted and are all ready for your next visit.