Donaldson Family Pegasus Bay 2007 Riesling (Waipara Valley) Bright apple-lime fruit, lightly sweet, with mirror-reflective silver-foil minerality and the perfect amount of acidity. Surprisingly long for a wine that attempts to give of itself so early, yet experience suggests that this portends complexities to come. A very fine example of everything it is: the grape, the place, and the producer. (4/09)
Donaldson Family Pegasus Bay 2007 Riesling (Waipara Valley) Exactlyexactlythe same as the previous bottle. This is why we like screwcaps. (4/09)
Simonsig 2005 Chenin Blanc (Stellenbosch) Ancient and madeirized, likely thanks to its closure. (4/09)
Kumeu River 2005 Chardonnay (Kumeu) Sulfurous and a little clumsy. Very, very sulfurous, in fact. Difficult to assess. 24 hours later, things havent changed much. (4/09)
Kumeu River 2005 Chardonnay (Kumeu) Take two. Sulfurous, but less difficult than the previous bottle. Still, it doesnt add up to much. This exact wine was very enticing six months ago, so it has obviously entered some form of hibernation. Optimists (and those whove had well-aged Kumeu River chardonnays; I have, and theyve been wonderful) will assume its a normal closed period. Pessimists will eye the screwcap with reductive suspicion. I dont know which is the correct assessment, but I do know the wines in no mood for a party at the moment. (4/09)
Donaldson Family Pegasus Bay 2007 Riesling (Waipara Valley) Exactlyexactlythe same as the previous bottle. This is why we like screwcaps. (4/09)
Simonsig 2005 Chenin Blanc (Stellenbosch) Ancient and madeirized, likely thanks to its closure. (4/09)
Kumeu River 2005 Chardonnay (Kumeu) Sulfurous and a little clumsy. Very, very sulfurous, in fact. Difficult to assess. 24 hours later, things havent changed much. (4/09)
Kumeu River 2005 Chardonnay (Kumeu) Take two. Sulfurous, but less difficult than the previous bottle. Still, it doesnt add up to much. This exact wine was very enticing six months ago, so it has obviously entered some form of hibernation. Optimists (and those whove had well-aged Kumeu River chardonnays; I have, and theyve been wonderful) will assume its a normal closed period. Pessimists will eye the screwcap with reductive suspicion. I dont know which is the correct assessment, but I do know the wines in no mood for a party at the moment. (4/09)