Hawks Nest Wines of NZ: Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

Hawks Nest Wines of NZ: Hawks Nest Wines of NZ
People have asked me about our winemaker in NZ and questions about Matakana Valley here in Nashville these last two weeks. Thus for this posting I have pasted in to the blog the text of our initial marketing brochure that we put together last year. Some of you may have read this before but it gives a good summary of our background to date.

Our History Hawks Nest gets its name from the native birds that soar over the hills of the scenic New Zealand coastal area where the vineyard is situated. Hawks Nest is nestled on gently sloping north facing soil in a working orchard block in the midst of picturesque Matakana Valley. At 37 degrees south latitude, Matakana Valley has a climate and soil not dissimilar to some of the great wine growing regions of the world. Less than an hour's drive north of Auckland, the Matakana region is blessed with pristine beaches, grass covered hillsides, and small pastoral communities for which New Zealand is renowned. The small hamlet of Matakana is the first town in the Southern Hemisphere to be officially designated a "Slow Town" and is fast becoming a popular destination for tourists and locals alike.

Hawks Nest has evolved since the late 1980's into an outstanding fruit orchard specializing in Asian Persimmons. Dr. Jim Daniell semi-retired from medicine and moved with his wife to New Zealand part time in 1999 to seek a life 'no less sophisticated but far less complicated.' Be it luck or fate, the Daniells settled on the scenic East Coast of the North Island near Matakana and purchased the orchard property. The orchard block vineyard was developed with plantings in 2002 of Malbec and Cabernet Franc grapes at the edges of the orchard in fertile clay soil that is similar to that in the best regions of Bordeaux. In addition to the grapes now grown on the orchard itself, Hawks Nest has been able to purchase mature quality Merlot grapes from the world famous Hawks Bay grape growing area of New Zealand.

Our winemaker and Premium Bordeaux style Reds

At Hawks Nest, we are passionate about achieving the highest quality wine with no compromises. To that end, Hawks Nest has partnered with John Worth, one of New Zealand's skilled young winemakers with extensive experience in winemaking in France. John received the University of Adelaide Graduate Diploma in Oenology in 1998. Following his stint at University, he worked in harvests in both Australia and France. His four years of French wine making experience includes past harvests at Chateau Giscours in Margaux; F. E. Trimbach, Ribeauville in Alsace; Hugel et fils, Riquewihr in Alsace; Chateau Du Tertre in Margaux, and at Chateau Haut Bailly in Pessac Leognan. Having worked with some of the worlds finest winemakers, John returned to New Zealand in 2004 to pursue his passion to produce premium quality Bordeaux style reds. John approached the Daniells because he felt the Hawks Nest site and vine plantings could allow him to accomplish his goal of making wines of the highest possible quality.

Our first vintage- 2004 Orchard Block Red

We are proud to now offer to Tennesseans our first vintage called Orchard Block Red. This fine wine has been crafted from Merlot and Malbec grapes from Hawkes Bay and Matakana, on the sun drenched East Coast of the North Island. Our goal is to produce savory elegant wines that represent the very best of New Zealand red wine. This, our first vintage, displays ripe rich fruit characters, is strongly structured, and has a long soft tannin finish. The wine was matured for 14 months in small oak barrels. This wine is an ideal partner to red meats and game, it will reward cellaring for up to 3-5 years. So, now you have a bit of our history. Think of us when you taste our wine. More soon. Dr. JIm PS. The photo is our sign at our front roadside gate at the end of the rainbow in this photo.

Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

Great News!!!!!!!

We now have selected our 2005 USA release blend of Hawks Nest Vineyard Orchard Block Red. Sandra and I are excited to announce that from our 2005 harvest (which by the way was the best in over a decade in Matakana Valley as the weather was just perfect) we will be offering a super premium blend of grapes 100% grown on our small property in Matakana Valley,NZ. This outstanding wine consists of 40% Malbec and 60% Cab Franc all from our very own excellent 2005 harvest. The wine has been aging in oak barrels for a year now and we plan to let it sit for another two months before we bottle and ship it to the states. It will be available in Tenn. retail outlets for the year end holiday season.

When we came back to Tenn. for the US summer we brought three different barrel sample blends to let Robert Lipman and his team taste. We wanted to allow them to choose which blend they liked best and then we would specifically bottle that for them to sell in Tennessee. Lucky for us after tasting all three of our presented blends they selected our premium (and our personal favorite) blend. It was very exciting for Sandra and I to share our wine with Robert, Richard and Jason and to see their reaction.

As background you should know that the most expensive red wine currently and consistently sold in NZ is called Providence . That winery is only three miles from our vineyard and the wine sells for about $250 USD. We feel that our 05 Hawks Nest ORCHARD BLOCK RED tastes very similar which makes us very proud of our winemaker, John Worth, and our vineyard manager, Jeremy Noakes. We can't wait for you to try it as we know you will love it. The good news for Tennessee wine lovers is that they will now be able to taste a really premium NZ red Bordeaux blend previously not available in this entire region. The extra good news is that our upcoming 05 release will not retail for $250 but only in the mid to high $30 range.!!!!!! Thus we feel you will be getting a real bargin for such a high end wine. Once people in Tennesse taste this wine, we will be selling out quickly. Thus you better start your Christmas wish list at your local bottle shop soon.

We are planning a big 4th of July week and want to wish all of you a safe and enjoyable holiday. Remember, American is our country treat it with respect!!!!

DR Jim ( in Nashville for the NZ winter but homesick for Matakana Valley.)

PS: IF you read the food magazine, SAVOUR, there is a super feature article about the wonderful foods and wines of Matakana Valley. IF you get a copy and read the article you will want to move there and join us in our country lifestyle there.

Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

Well, we have settled into muggy and hot Nashville for the northern summer. Sort of a shock after leaving cool NZ. Sorry for the delay in posting anything but we had to pack up in NZ and then stopped off in Denver on our way home to see our two wonderful grandchildren- Cadance and Baylor- and to make sure their "keepers" were taking good care of them. Here is a photo of those two charmers. (sorry to bore you but proud grandfathers just have to share photos of the little ones!!!) So now we are settled back in Nashvegas and completing our re-entry process. Sandra says we are always either saying goodby or hello to our friends in NZ or Tennessee. Who is that guy in the other photo????? That is Josh at the Wine Shoppe in Green Hills in Nashville. I snapped a shot of him holding two of our wine bottles in their store. I must say it was cool to walk in a bottle shop here in Nashville and see our wine on offer on display. (We left for NZ in late March just as the wine hit the stores so this was our first time to visit stores and see the wine smiling back at us) We met this week with Robert Lipman, Jason and Richard of Lipman Brothers who are our importers and wholesalers and shared three of our 2005 blends for their opinion. We are very happy that they really liked our first choice for our 05 release in Tennessee. Thus we now know wha we will blend, bottle, label, and ship to the states before the year end holidays. I bet not many vineyards let their wholesalers actually choose what gets bottled but that is what we are doing. SOOOOOOO, what will Hawks Nest Orchard Block Red taste like this fall and what grapes will it contain???????? Ha, I will keep you on the edge of your keyboards and not share that info with you until my next post. Thus you will have to wait until next time!!!! I promise that I will post all that very soon so tune in again soon. Happy sipping!!!!! Dr. JIm -Not Now Downunder

Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

Hawks Nest Wines of NZ

Well; sorry for the delay in posting an update. We finally got to have our 05 barrel blend wine tastings this last weekend with John and Jeremy (in the photo on the Right they are hard at work) et the "fine palate team of Matakana" They wish to remain unknown to protect their integrity but we did some serious tasting that eve!!! The left photo shows the "lab" with the wine prior to blending.

John offered up to us all 4 different bleds for us to sample and discuss. To refresh your memories, we have CAb Franc and Malbec that is from our own property as well as Merlot from Hawks Bay from 12 year old vines grown in a very famous area of NZ called the Gimblet Gravels. Our 05 two varities are turning out expecially well.

Here are the early opinions on each grape.

Malbec= Excellent dark color and moderate berryfruit aromas. The wine is rich and stewy, with attractive full-flavored fruit, good palate length, and a solid structure. This wine has excellent potential as a decent chunk of any blend

Cab Franc=Moderately colored with nice savoury aromas. Moderate palate weight, very attractive fruit sweetness, very savoury, firm acidity and nice silky tannins. The wine looks extremely attractive at this stage.

Merlot= Good color, lots of fruit, quite rustic, strongly flavored with good solid structure. Good as a stand alone or as a major part of a blend with the Malbec and Cab Franc.

Our Cabernet Franc and Malbec look look particularly exciting as this was a wonderful harvest with very good outcome 12 months later. Sooooooooo, what are our blends? Well, that is still a secret to all. We plan to share our preferred blends with Robert Lipman and has staff in two weeks back in Nashville and see what they like best for the Nashville area drinkers of premium wine. Once Lipman Brothers decides what wine the want us to bottle for them, we will then make up our wine to offer in NZ. The really really good news at this time is that whatever we finally bottle for our 05 release is going to be super wine--we can't go wrong as all the possible blends are really good!!!

So, next time I will let you know what we will be sellling for Christmas in Middle Tennessee this year under our premium Estate Label for Hawks Nest. I do know this, it will be dark red, it will be really good wine, it will be in short supply, and it will be worth the price to buy it.

Meanwhile you can still get some of our 04 Matdakana Red Hawks Nest wine in Nashville but it is going fast so you better snap it up before it is all gone!!!

More soon;

Dr. Jim still but just barely Downunder