Wood on Wine - Family wine benefits food

By Hugh Wood, Hmailton Press

The Kimpton family have dairy farming interests close to Hamilton and, for some time have had "run off" land around Opoutere beach on the Coromandel Peninsula.

They like drinking wine, so decided to make their own and in 2000 planted 3500 vines on a northeastern slope facing the sea. They planted what they liked drinking, cabarnet sauvignon, merlot and syrah. Later came some chardonnay and this winter they planted some sauvignon blanc. In all, there are now about 2 hectares planted in grapes. All the grapes are hand picked and the wine is made by Emmanuel Bollinger at Rongopai Wines.

The intention is to make wine that reflects the "terroir" and compliments the foods of the region.

There are four wines available at present, but I have so far only tried two. The others I will report on at a later date.

Their first white wine is a chardonnay from local fruit augmented with fruit bought in from Gisborne to boost quantity. Ohui Greta Chardonnay 2006 is an aromatic wine with fresh fruit aromas. It is light on the palate, with nicely balanced fruit and unobtrusive oak. Not totally dry, but in keeping with their philosophy - ideal with the sorts of food you are likely to encounter on a Coromandel summer’s day. A charming wine with a target price of about $25.

Ohui Syrah 2005 is medium-bodied with a colour similar to a Cotes du Ventoux from the Rhone Valley. The nose is a mixture of gamey fruit and older French oak. The palate is nicely textured with some white pepper notes overlaying red berry fruit flavours. The finish is quite long and satisfying with sufficient soft tannins. The wine has not ben long in the bottle and will fill out even more with some time. Again, not a blockbuster but a thoroughly pleasant wine to be drunk over the next year or so. Similar target price to the wine above.

Don’t expect to find these wines in the supermarket. The volume will always be small and most of the marketing effort is getting them known in restaurants and specialist stores around the Coromandel.

Some are available at Hamilton Wine Co in the city and Flagstaff, at Hillcrest Fine Wines and some local Liqourland stores. I believe there is also a website. There is an email address - ohuivineyards@xtra.co.nz - or you can contact their sales agent, family member John Davies on 021 294-1807.