Two visits to Waiheke Island (Easter 2019 and New Year's 2020)
Auckland, NZ
Tasted Wednesday, February 5, 2020 by HowardNZ with 433 views
Flight 1 - Easter visits to Thomas's Bach and Batch Winery (4 Notes)
Up on a high hill next to Waiheke Island's air strip, the informal Thomas's Bach restaurant is one of the best on the Island.
The associated gravity-fed winery is state of the art but over-engineered for the small volumes of the Batch winery. Therefore, it is used by a number of other Island producers. The top Batch wines are labelled ‘Thomas Legacy’ or, previously ‘Thomas and Sons’ - now being made by winemaker Daniel Struckman are - in my experience - typically workmanlike and reflective of their Waiheke terroir.
Sam Harrop MW - who makes wine overseas and on Waiheke, where he lives - uses the Batch winery to make his NZ wines. His Cedalion wines – Harrop’s top label - are available in the restaurant. In my view, Sam makes some of NZ's best Chardonnays and Syrahs. However, at the time of writing, Sam had lost the excellent source of his Waiheke Chardonnay fruit.
In Easter 2019 I had a couple of lunches at the restaurant and the opportunity to drink and taste:
Flight 2 - Easter Visits to Obsidian Vineyard and Man O' War Vineyards (10 Notes)
I have a soft spot for the Obsidian Vineyard. They have no restaurant or accommodation, just a winery but with a nice spot for tastings in the courtyard.
Winemaker Michael Wood makes good honest, artisan wines in the coastal hills of the Onetangi Valley, adjacent to the northern coast of the Island. I typically prefer Obsidian’s Bordeaux blends – especially the top label ‘The Obsidian’ - to their Syrahs and other red wines. They also often do a decent Reserve Viognier.
From the decade, Wood rates 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2019 the top Obsidian Syrah vintages.
My favourite part of visiting Waiheke Island is the drive on the 30 kms loop road – much of it gravel – to the far end of the Island and Man O’ War Bay. On the way there you can stop at the Stony Batter Reserve for great views all over the Hauraki Gulf.
At Man O' War Bay, Man O' War Vineyards has a tasting room and restaurant – that does pizzas and nice platters - opposite the sandy beach.
In my opinion the quality of Man O' War wines are improving with typically their Syrahs, rather than their Bordeaux wines, the best wines.
In Waiheke Island terms they are huge, their vineyards are within the 4,500 acre ‘Man O’ War Farm’ (basically a big chunk of the eastern end of the Island).
Before the visit I drank a bottle of 2012 Bellerophon and over a long lunch at the restaurant I tasted four of their better wines.
Flight 3 - Dinner at the Courtyard Café, Oneroa with Simon and Peter (4 Notes)
The Courtyard Café in Oneroa is a favourite haunt of Simon’s. I was impressed by the quality of the cuisine and the wine knowledge of the staff there. Due to Simon’s connections, we were able to BYO with dinner:
Flight 4 - Lunch at Stonyridge and Visit to Te Motu (8 Notes)
Stonyridge Vineyard is one of the three original vineyards of the modern era on the Island. Arguably, it is also NZ’s best producer of Bordeaux blends (probably competing only with Te Mata Estate of the Hawke’s Bay). It’s 1987 Larose – only the third vintage - is a benchmark NZ wine and was still drinking very well in 2014 when I last tried it.
The restaurant is fine dining and one of the best – and most expensive – on the Island.
Next door to Stonyridge Vineyard, the Dunleavy family’s Te Motu winery is – in my view – the Island’s second-best producer of Bordeaux variety wines. The first vines were planted in 1989 and the top label – Te Motu – has been produced since 1993. Lesser, or younger vine, wines are labelled ‘Dunleavy’.
Te Motu has an excellent restaurant and cellar door service.
Over a long lunch at Stonyridge we drank bottles of:
Flight 5 - Lunch at Restaurant Le Côté de la Colline, Peacock Sky and Visit to Passage Rock (8 Notes)
This was my first visit to Peacock Sky, the winery and restaurant at the top of the highest peak on the Island, amongst the native bush. Peacock Sky produces pleasant wines but their focus seemed to be more on their very good restaurant operation.
For me, Passage Rock is another ‘must visit’ Waiheke Island winery. They say they have won more wine awards than any other Waiheke winery. They are one of the Island’s top Syrah producers, in my view, but I find their Bordeaux blends less compelling than those Syrahs. They also typically produce one of the better Viogniers on the Island.
With excellent lunches – including a great vegan option – at Peacock Sky we drank:
Flight 7 - Easter visit to Jurassic Ridge Vineyard (6 Notes)
Lance Blumhardt’s Jurassic Ridge Vineyard may be only a couple of hundred metres away from the ultra-commercial, tourist packed mega-wineries in Church Bay, but it is really a world apart. He walks a different path …
Lance operates naturally and organically – but is not certified or biodynamic – and he favours long maturations of his wines in plastic or terracotta, never in oak. For his reds, his current releases should be 2010. However, he bowed to customer demands for 2013 wines and – against his better instincts – now offers a 2013 Montepulciano. Otherwise his current release of premium reds is 2010.
Tourist buses are not permitted to visit and you may need to phone or text ahead to make an appointment.
Most Waiheke Island winemakers will say that 2013 is their best ever vintage. Lance disagrees, rating the best as 2010 – then, in this order - 2008, 2005, 2009, 2007 and 2013.
Lance has 10 ha on Waiheke and 8 ha in Waihopai Valley, Marlborough, where he often heavily declassifies. On the Island, Lance planted his vines 17 years ago. Syrah is his largest planting (Hermitage and Chave clones).
Flight 8 - New Year's visits to Man O' War Vineyards then Passage Rock (13 Notes)
Returning to Man O’ War in December 2019, with lunch I tasted:
Flight 9 - Visit to Awaroa (8 Notes)
Simon suggested I visit Awaroa. I liked the well-priced organic wines, particularly the last two tasted.
The better wines are labelled ‘Awaroa Vineyards’, with a second label of ‘Waiheke Road’ used for lesser wines.
Flight 10 - Obsidian Vineyard again (6 Notes)
Flight 12 - A long lunch at Batch again followed by a tasting at Woodside Hill Estate (7 Notes)
Well off the ‘beaten track’ – set in thick native bush - Woodside Hill Estate is well worth a visit to see real, artisanal Waiheke Island winemaking in a beautiful, rugged setting.
Our two-wheel drive cars could not make it up the gravel driveway and we needed to reverse back down and walk up (the winemaker said he would have picked us up from the road in his 4WD and did drive us back to our vehicles after the tasting).
The Estate has only one hectare of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot vines planted in 1996 on a steep north and north-west facing vineyard. Low fertility clay and loam soil. Dry farmed, no irrigation.
Before Woodside, we began with lunch at the Batch:
Flight 13 - Visits to Goldie Estate and Jurassic Ridge again (12 Notes)
Established in 1978, Goldie Estate is Waiheke Island’s oldest vineyard with 30 acres under vine.
Flight 14 - Visit to Frenchman's Hill Estate then Lunch at Te Motu (6 Notes)
Owner and winemaker Luc Desbonnets of the Frenchman's Hill Estate was trained in France before working in wine in Moldova, Hungary, Australia and Wairarapa, NZ, ultimately settling in Waiheke Island in 2000. His vineyard was planted in 2006. The wines are entirely Waiheke fruit.
I like the Frenchman's Hill Estate wines – and it’s a great setting, with panoramic views – the only drawback being the limited opening hours.
Our final lunch of the New Year’s visit was at the Te Motu vineyard restaurant. This was excellent, the best restaurant meal of my last three or four Waiheke Island visits.
2016 Sam Harrop Chardonnay Cedalion Church Bay
New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Waiheke Island
A bottle consumed with an excellent lunch. Pale colour. On the nose, a little flinty reduction and spicy oak, followed by poached pear, lemon, peach and minerals. In the mouth, a smooth, silky entrance followed by brisk acidity on the mid palate. Lemon and lime citrus, pears and touches of pineapple. Discrete vanillin notes on the mid palate. Good volume but balanced by that refreshing, precise acidity. A thread of minerality, finishing moderately long on a saline note. Excellent!
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2014 Batch Winery Chardonnay Thomas Legacy
New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Waiheke Island
Bottle tasting, small pour. Matchstick reduction, rocky minerals and lemon and lime zest of the bouquet. Mineral and citric in the mouth. Tactile with acceptable volume. Decent length. Not – in my opinion – in the same class as the Cedalion Chardonnay.
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2015 Sam Harrop Syrah Cedalion Church Bay
New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Waiheke Island
A bottle well matched with an excellent lamb dish. Deep ruby. Attractive aromatics. Spicy, peppery, vanillin oak, blackcurrant, raspberry fragrances with hints of blueberries and violet perfumes. In the mouth, bright, crunchy red and black berry fruit. Lovely acidity. Fine grained tannins. Fine and sleek. Good structure, persistence and length. A top Waiheke Syrah!
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2013 Batch Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Thomas Legacy
New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Waiheke Island
Bottle tasting, small pour. This is Batch’s top label, in what is presumably their best vintage to date. An even deeper colour than the Cedalion. Inky. A rich bouquet of blackcurrants, high cacao chocolate and cedar. In the mouth, full and unctuous. Some furry tannins on the mid and back palate, yet to integrate. Also, at present, more spicy oak than I would have preferred. Some potential here but I strongly preferred the Cedalion Syrah.
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