I recently had a the pleasure of tasting six wines from Milcrest Estate, a New Zealand, boutique vineyard established in 2006, and privately owned by Terry Milton and Christine Cook. It’s situated in Hope, Nelson at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. They produce 6 premium award winning wine varieties including Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir and Syrah. I’ve yet to taste the Chardonnay or Syrah but enjoyed the opportunity to explore their other 5 varieties. Finally had a chance to pull my notes together….
Milcrest Estate Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2013
Pale straw in the glass with delightful tropical notes in the nose of passion-fruit, citrus and gooseberry with a really nice refreshing acidity on the palate. Made a pleasant change from all the Marlborough Savvy I’ve been tasting LOL.
Milcrest Estate Nelson Pinot Gris 2010
Onion skin / yellow / gold with an oily viscosity in the glass. Pears and spice in the nose with some sweet honeyed notes, and intense lush pear and spice on the palate too. Nice finish off dry style – great food wine – Spicy Thai Yes!
Milcrest Estate Nelson Pinot Gris 2013
This Pinot Gris is quite different to the ’10 – lighter in colour, but more tropical & citrus notes in the nose, but on the palate the same intensity of pear and succulent oily-ness that makes a delicious mouthful – again has layers of texture and would also be great with Thai food.
Milcrest Estate Nelson Riesling 2012
Bright lemon / gold in the glass with floral lemon blossom and lime juice notes in the nose. Clean, off dry on the palate with a little honey sweetness (15gs/l) balance with fresh lemon and limes citrus acidity and a juicy mineral finish… Love to see what this is like in 3-5 years…
Milcrest Estate Nelson Gewurztraminer 2010
A wee surprise – Light gold coloured in the glass with a few years age now. I got mango, tropical fruit and rose petal / Turkish delight on the nose, off-dry on the palate with mango, apricot kernel & spice – very textural and with a long spicy finish… not sure if available as it’s not listed on their website. Worth looking for.
Last but not least…. A Gold Medal New Zealand International Wine Show for the…
Milcrest Estate Nelson Pinot Noir 2010
Dark cherry / purple in colour with immediate red cherry, dark summer berries and spice on the nose, tempered with some earthiness and dried herb characters. Bold ripe and fruit forward on the palate, with juicy acid and soft fine tannins that hang on for quite some time – should continue to improve for a few years yet.
A great line up of wines that I can recommend to all to try and if you can get up / down to Nelson go and pay them a visit.
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