Newsletters

WELCOME TO OUR ANNUAL "EN PRIMEUR" NEWSLETTER!

A humid hello from everyone at Clearview Estate and welcome to our annual “en primeur” newsletter. This year we are offering some very special wines:

In addition to our 2009 Reserve Chardonnay and 2008 Enigma we are also offering 2007 Basket Press and 2007 Endeavour - our ultra premium red and white wines.  The wines can be ordered at special ‘en primeur’ prices until the end of April 2010. 

2009 RESERVE CHARDONNAY

This wine was removed from the barrel in mid February 2010 and will be bottled in March.  Samples have been available at the cellar door since late January.  The en primeur price is only $30 which is a discount on the normal cellar door price of $35 per bottle!

The grapes were all hand picked from old vines in our Te Awanga vineyards.  The balance of fruit, acid and oak are impeccable, while maintaining the Reserve’s trademark power. The result is a rounded and integrated wine with a luscious creamy texture.  For the first time ever we held the wine in barrel on lees until February giving extra creaminess and oak integration.  Beautifully ripe tropical, stone-fruit characters and a back bone of toasty oak, integrated with firm acidity means that this wine will cellar well for many years. 

2008 ENIGMA

Enigma, our reserve merlot dominant blend, has developed quite a following in the last few years The 2006 Enigma was a GOLD medal and TROPHY winner and the 2007 vintage was a medal  winner at the 2009 Royal Easter Show prior to gaining 5 stars from Michael Cooper of Winestate magazine.  The 2007 Enigma was so popular it sold out within six months of being released.  So don’t sit on your hands before buying the 2008 Enigma—grab some now!                                      

The 2008 Enigma is a tempting, approachable wine.  A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, the flavours of plum, sweet spicy cassis, mint and earthy violets combine with long fine grained tannins and sweet oak. Our 2008 Enigma can be aged for 3-12 years, or can be consumed earlier for a more fruity style.  The en primeur price is $35 compared to the normal cellar door price of $45 per bottle.

2007 ENDEAVOUR CHARDONNAY

Only the third release of Tim’s ultra premium, limited edition chardonnay in 1.5L magnums. 

Endeavour was made using exceptional hand-picked fruit from our oldest Mendoza Chardonnay vines.  The finest free-run juice was allowed to barrel ferment using wild yeasts present in the winery, before spending 2½ years in new French oak barrels. 

During this time the wine went through a full malo-lactic fermentation.  Big, bold and beautiful the finished wine is a pure expression of the Te Awanga terrôir and is totally unique. 

The boxed magnum bottle is nestled in a red cloth bag which honours the first item traded with local Maori by Captain James Cook at nearby Cape Kidnappers on his visit in 1769.

Tim says he will be drinking this wine in 2012 but it has the pedigree to last to 2015 and beyond.  Helma suggests “enjoying the Endeavour with fresh crayfish or a seafood dish accompanied with a rich sauce – it’s the perfect match!”

2007 BASKET PRESS

Occasionally in an exceptional vintage we find a very special pocket of grapes that are destined for the Basket Press. The resultant wine is the pinnacle of our wine making. Intense opaque purple, red rimmed with a palate of multi-layered fruit, a heady mix of leather, tar and plum held together with smooth tannins and spicy oak.

The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec all hand picked and fermented individually with 3 hourly hand plunging. The individual parcels were blended after 18 months in oak barrels. The wine was aged a total of 2½ years in new French oak barriques.  Due to the limited volume of quality fruit used for this wine, less than 1000 bottles were produced, packed in wooden presentation boxes.

VINEYARD NEWS

After three years we are sad to see Russell Mayne leaving the vineyard, but happy knowing that Kelvyn Collins and Luke Cornwall will continue with us and keep up the high standards that Russell has set.

2010 has been a cooler year (similar to  2007) with enough rain to allow the vines to go into vintage in very high health.  We are excited by the smaller crop that will give us more intense flavours.  If the vintage pans out like 2007 it couldn’t be better. 

We have finished plucking the fruit zone by hand and dropping excess fruit on the red vines, so now the    labour intensive job of fully netting the vineyard continues. 

Hundreds of kilometres of white and black shrouds keep the birds at bay.  We net in the same order as we pick -Gewurtz first, then Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Gris (a new planting for Clearview - watch this space) Semillon, Chambourcin (Blush) and then the reds. 

We become weather forecasters from now on watching the satellite inputs and concocting our own forecasts up until picking.  It can be quite a stressful time, but none the less exciting! 

CREATIVE HAWKE'S BAY INVITATIONAL 2010

Clearview Estate is proud to once again sponsor the Creative Hawke’s Bay Invitational art exhibition at the Hastings City Art Gallery. Clearview has been a sponsor for the last few years and we are proud to be associated with this innovative event by providing wine for the opening event. 

The exhibition opens on Friday, 9 April at 6.30 pm with a cocktail function and runs through to 27 June.

WINERY NEWS 

Tim and I are extremely happy with our bottlings of ‘08 reds.  The whites from ‘09 are exemplary and will be bottled one month later as they are responding well to their extended time in oak.  It’s very exciting to release our top two wines together - Endeavour Chardonnay and  Basket Press - again another first!  Those of you that may have sampled the wines in barrels along their 2½ year journey will be impressed by the wines’ complexities and their intensity. 

We’ll soon be racking the Reserve Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc from barrel in preparation for bottling.  We will then go straight into vintage - long hours and lots of late nights.      To help with the exacting work we have the return of vintage assistants Aaron Kendall from the US and local Zoe White.

 For those of you that loved the ‘07 and ‘08 Semillon the 2009 vintage is now released - it’s absolutely awesome!

 See you soon - the red eyed, unshaven, men in blue overalls, still smiling! Cheers!   Barry & Tim

BE A WINEMAKER FOR A DAY

 Easter - Good Friday - 2 April 2010 

This is your chance to meet Tim Turvey, along with our winemaker Barry Riwai and to get involved with the process of wine making from vine to barrel.  Meet at the winery dressed for grape picking and processing - and receive a bottle of the wine in the style that you helped to make. These workshops are great fun and always fill up quickly, so contact us for tickets on 06 875 0150 or e-mail wine@clearviewestate.co.nz

Tickets: $110 including lunch with the winemakers and a bottle of wine the same style as you helped make.

RESTAURANT NEWS 

What a fabulous team I have in the restaurant!

 Our modest Christmas celebrations recognised their professionalism, confidence and team work: the chefs lead by the steady hand of Kerry Mackay, now in his third year as Head Chef and well supported by Peter Hallgarth& Kieran Fisher. The front-of-house team of Rozz, Marcia & Anna, so  dynamically lead by Kelly Smith who first worked in the cellar door before moving into the role of Food & Beverage Manager.

 A strong feature of the restaurant is the culture of teamwork and cooperation, along with their diversity of skills, boosted by local students who return each summer season.

 2009 was the most challenging year ever as we rose to face the winter    recession. Together we created the Gloombuster menu.  So popular was this small-plates, fixed price menu that it stayed on as our SUMMER  EXPRESS, currently two courses at $25.

But this all seems a distant memory as the restaurant swells to capacity with holiday visitors and we enjoy some record trading days with the big weekends of the Mission Concert, Harvest HB and Art Deco!

 Kerry’s dishes  continue to receive   industry recognition:

¨ a Beef & Lamb award for 2010, our ninth such honour since 1998.

¨ finalist in the HB Signature Dish Awards with his classic goat’s cheese soufflé with rocket, pear & candied walnut salad.

 We actively seek customer feedback with a brief written survey and from these responses we have built a  database for our new FOOD e NEWS   letter. If you’d like to receive a copy, please let us know, we would  love to hear from you.   Helma

UPCOMING EVENTS 

FOOD SHOWS

Look out for the Clearview Estate stand at the Wellington and Auckland Foodshows.  They are both fun events - a great way to come and try our wines, say hello to the Clearview team (Charles, Kelly & Roz) and for us to meet you!

 Wellington    14 - 16 May, Westpac Stadium

Auckland       29 July - 1 August, ASB Showgrounds 

HOT RED HAWKE'S BAY

In July Tim will be back on the road again with the other Hawke’s Bay winemakers travelling to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, shouting the praises of Hawke’s Bay’s fabulous red wines. 

 Come along and you’ll get to meet the winemakers and sample the best red wines Hawke’s Bay has to offer.

Christchurch Tuesday, 15 June, Chch Town Hall

Wellington  Wednesday, 16 June, Wtgn Town Hall

Auckland Thursday, 17 June, Rendezvous Hotel

Each session will run from 4:00pm - 8:00pm

For further info on the event visit: www.winehawkesbay.co.nz 

CHARITY WINE AUCTION 2010

We are proud to again support New Zealand’s oldest wine auction having entered auction lots for several years.

The auction this year will be held on Saturday, 5 June at Church Road Winery, Taradale.

Tickets are limited and sell out so it is best to book your tables early. For reservations, or for more information please contact the event co-ordinator:

Carol-Ann StubbS

Phone (06)855 8365

NEW RELEASES & OFFERS

Amongst our new releases we have two stars of note: 

Reserve Semillon ’09 -       $25

Our Semillon is creating quite a buzz.  The limited production and small bottling runs mean the Semillon doesn’t last long, so be in quick!  This concentrated wine is vibrant and fleshy with inviting citrus blossom and lime zest flavours, complimented by warm toasty oak and a flinty minerality.

Pinot Noir des Trois ’08 - $40

The 08 vintage has delivered a pinot noir that is more subtle than our usual block buster.  Cherry, mocha and red berries dominate the front palate, underpinned with a brambly, earthy solidity of ripe tannins and cedary oak.  “Something to appeal to the true pinotphile” says Tim.   Since we don’t grow Pinot Noir in our vineyards in Te Awanga, Tim has sourced the grapes from three of New Zealand’s best Pinot regions.  Each region had its own unique attributes.  Central Otago displayed lifted berries in a primary fruit cake style.  Waipara was very full bodied and structured and the Martinborough fruit showed earthy tones with underlying tannin.

LIMITED RELEASE

ENDEAVOUR & BASKET PRESS - MAGNUM 2 PACK

As a special offer we have both       Endeavour Chardonnay and Basket Press in 1.5L magnums for a special price of $495 for both wines.  Our Endeavour is only available as a magnum and Basket Press is normally only on sale in 750ml bottles.  This is strictly limited offer as only a handful of these 1.5L twin packs have been produced.  The total value of the wine is over the $495 price.  This offer is only available to our valued customers via this newsletter.

SALES & MARKETING 

If you are a mail order or trade customer you will have spoken with Charles Gear or Maarea Karetai on the phone. These two are the people who  manage the sale and distribution of our wines within  New Zealand and throughout the world. 

China is a growing export market for us and recently we supported the    region with a wine sponsorship of WETA Studios’ “World of Dr Grordbort Exhibition” in Chengdu. We also ship to Japan, Australia, Canada, USA,   Brazil, Sweden,  Austria & Finland and our wines appear in over 20 NZ embassies off shore. 

It was a most challenging winter with the recession coupled with a bountiful vintage from 2009. Charles and Maarea got creative and we all worked as a team examining and re-evaluating our core business, our brand and our sales direction.  We head into 2010 with a lot more confidence as our sales both domestically and internationally continue to pick up. 

As a result despatch and delivery continues to be busy as Bernie Kelly juggles storage, delivery trucks and courier pickups daily from the back room! 

HAWKE'S BAY WINE COUNTRY CYCLING & WALKING TRACKS

In Hawke’s Bay we have an extensive system of some 45 km of cycling and walking tracks established by local Rotary clubs and city councils.  

The network is about to be extended with three themed trails: wineries, water, landscapes. 

One trail will pass our gate and with six cycle racks, wine, food, accommodation and a friendly welcome - we are ready! 

We look forward to seeing you soon!