On Feb 10, 2:42*am, Mark Lipton > wrote:
> Today, Ian and Jacquie Hoare arrived in Christchurch fresh from a trip
> to Thailand and accepted our offer of a room for the night. *To
> celebrate, I made a paella Valenciana (or as close to it as I could
> come) and we opened a few local wines:
>
> NV Quartz Reef "Methode Traditionelle" (Central Otago)
> n: green apples, minerals
> p: crisp, fairly rich, fine mousse, fairly dry
>
> Ian said that this wine had a lot of Pinot Noir character, but later
> confessed that he'd known from the label what to expect. *Quite a
> pleasant wine, but nothing profound.
>
> 2009 Wild Earth Pinot Noir (Central Otago)
> n: dark fruit, spice
> p: decent acidity, medium body, soft texture
>
> I had purchased this wine on the recommendation of a local retailer who
> thought that it would comport with my tastes in Pinot Noir, and I opened
> it tonight to see if the winery would be worth visiting with Ian and
> Jacquie next week. *While it was a bit darker complected and bigger than
> is my wont, it still bears more investigation ;-)
>
> With some cherries after dinner:
>
> 2010 Clearwater "Sea View" (Hawke's Bay)
> n: cherries, stones
> p: off dry, balancing acidity, slightly tannic, clean finish
>
> Ian and Jacquie had brought this from their travels up North in NZ and
> quite a curiosity it proved to be! *A late harvest Merlot with residual
> sugar, it was only moderately sweet and not at all Port-like, but quite
> good with the cherries and positively brilliant with some dark
> chocolate. *Ian likened it to a vin doux naturelle from Rasteau.
>
> All is all, a very fun night was had of food, wine and great company.
>
> Mark Lipton

So are you in New Zealand for a while?