A Cool Trip
This week John has been making his way down from his home base in Marlborough to Queenstown, for the Air New Zealand Wine Awards ceremony, along the way it would not have been right if he did not stop off at his vineyards in the Waitaki Valley, North Otago.
John stopped off to take a look at his newly acquired vineyard site on the famous Waitaki Limestone Soils, John has also been hanging out with our friends at Ostler Vineyards.
The Waitaki Valley is proving to be a real gem in the New Zealand wine industry, last month our very own John Forrest Collection Waitaki Pinot Noir 2010 was recognised at the Decanter Asia wine awards for its outstanding quality, and our friends Ostler have been highlighted by Wine Spectator wine writer Matt Kramer for their wines from the Waitaki. Exciting times ahead we think.
John's passion of searching for land holding great terroir is never ending and the Waitaki was identified early on by him for its rich Limestone soils, in his opinion It is the closest wine region in the New World to some of the famous Burgundy sites of great stature. As Matt Kramer noted in the Wine Spectator, ‘What’s it got? It has what Pinot Noir lovers around the world know are the two magic words: coolness and limestone’
Clos Carluke Vineyard is the newest edition to the Forrest land in the Waitaki valley and will be planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, two varieties naturally showing exceptional quality from the region, we will keep you updated with photos and stories as we go.
Remember if you are in this beautiful part of New Zealand, a must visit is the Riverstone Kitchen an award winning restaurant, you can relax there and enjoy some Forrest and Ostler Waitaki wines from off their excellent wine list.
The Waitaki wine story does not finish there, next week the wine will be shown by John Forrest at one of Hong Kongs most anticipated wine events, the ‘Rendezvous with Fine Wine’ at the Island Shangri-La.
In the meantime enjoy some pics of the early days planting the Waitaki and the new vineyard with a very happy John in front of the new site.
