We are excited to announce another educational tasting opportunity for our customers. The twenty years of sharing our wine finds with you has been rewarding in many, many ways and our supplier friends wanted a way to show their gratitude. So what better way than to bring them in when they make their visits and let you get to know them and their wines on a personal basis.
Please welcome Matt Dicey winemaker for Mt. Difficulty, to Asheville and come and taste these delicious, exciting wines from the Central Otago region of New Zealand.
This is a drop in, free tasting and we invite you cordially to join us starting at 5 pm on Thursday, September 26th.
Today Mt Difficulty Estate is comprised of six vineyards; Templars Hill, Pipeclay Terrace, Menzies Terrace, Mansons Farm, Target Gully and Long Gully – total plantings of 40 hectares protected by the rain shadow of Mount Difficulty in Bannockburn, Central Otago. The region provides New Zealand’s only “continental” style climate combined with unique soils ideally suited for growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris.
It all began in the early 1990’s, when the owners of five newly-planted vineyards in Bannockburn shook hands and decided to work together to produce wine under one label, Mt Difficulty. The handshake bound the owners of Molyneux, Mansons Farm, Verboeket Estate and Full Circle until 2004 when Mt Difficulty Wines Ltd was formed, and the majority of the individual vineyards passed into the ownership of the company.
As a result, Mt Difficulty Wines Ltd now owns some of the oldest vineyards in the Bannockburn sub-region of Central Otago in New Zealand’s rugged South Island. The vine age gives our wines, particularly the Pinot Noirs, extra complexity and concentration. The Bannockburn area is internationally recognised as one of the few places in the world outside Burgundy where the persnickety Pinot Noir variety has found a home. Parts of New Zealand and cooler areas on the western seaboard of the United States are the only other regions where Pinot Noir seems to truly flourish.
The unique microclimate of the Bannockburn area is partially created by the presence of Mount Difficulty which overlooks the southern Cromwell basin, and is the namesake of Mt Difficulty Wines. Mount Difficulty is integral in providing low rainfall and humidity for the region. Bannockburn enjoys hot summers, a large diurnal temperature variation and long cool autumns; conditions which bring the best out of the Pinot Noir grapes. These conditions, along with soils which are ideal for viticulture, provide an excellent basis not only for Pinot Noir, but also for Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Chardonnay. The soils are a mix of clay and gravels, but all feature a high pH level; grapes produce their best wines on sweet soils.
White Wines to taste:
2012 Roaring Meg Pinot Gris and 2012 Estate Pinot Gris
Red Wines to taste
2011 Roaring Meg Pinot Noir and 2010 Estate Pinot Noir
Wines range in price from $16.99 to $44.99
Special tasting discount: 10% on any bottle or 20% on any full or mixed case!