Tasting by Clos Marguerite
05 September 2011
I recently attended a tasting of Clos Marguerite wines at Millar & Co, a small fine wine retail store in the delightful St Heliers village. They have tastings from 5pm-8pm on Friday nights in-store. Clos Marguerite is the reward of patience and passion for co owners and husband and wife team Jean - Charles Van Hove and Marguerite Dubois, both originally from Belgium. Now happily re located to the world famous Sauvignnon Blanc region of the Awatere Valley in Marlborough New Zealand, they produce only two varieties from their 20 hectare property situated on a gravel terrace along the South bank of the Awatere River. The Sauvignon Blanc has a somewhat richer and weighty texture than many other Sauvgnon Blancs, making it reminiscent of the styles from Bordeaux. Excellent as an aperitif, the acidity is delicate and restrained and the flavours of ripe gooseberry, green capsicum and white asparagus make it an excellent accompaniment to seafood, shellfish or light summer foods.The flavours are fresh and clean carried by a fine acidity and delicate mineral character. It's a Sauvignon Blanc for food lovers.
The Pinot Noir was a real surprise with the kind of complex savoury red cherry and plum characteristics that I would normally associate with the more famous (and expensive) Martinborough Pinots. It's sweet and ripe fruit lingers on the palate and the velvety texture of this wine made it an instant hit with me. The fruit is cold soaked at 12 degrees C for a week and then given a quicker fermentation at around 30 degrees C, and finally allowed another week of maceration to bleed out the essential anthocyanin pigments. Barrel aged in seasoned 2 and 3 year old French oak barriques gives the final wine some delicate spice nuiances and a backbone and structure that will allow for gentle and considerate bottle development. At around $36 it is a wonderful Burgundian style that I would willingly match with lamb, duck, venison wild boar or cured meats. It's well worth the investment - Superb!