Garnet Wine Ny

British market is proving their oyster

Sometimes an innate instinct to hoard stuff pays off. The re-emergence of an old email from Peter Waters at The Arrow River Wine Company inspired an email to see how things were going as we hadn't received any media releases regarding Bracken's Order for a while.

Peter was full of enthusiasm; the company had just secured a sizeable order from UK wine merchants Layton's of London, then just a few days later news came through that Bracken's Order Pinot Noir 2009 had won gold at the Spiegelau International Wine Challenge.

With some bottles of the wine for review, it seems timely to look at the story behind this wine with its intriguing name. Bracken's Order is named after Sergeant Major Hugh William Bracken who arrived in Arrowtown as part of the Otago mounted police in 1862.

Bracken is remembered as being a clever businessman who established the Queen's Arms Hotel in 1863.

This later became the famous Eichardt's Hotel.

The Arrow River Wine Company of Central Otago Limited was established in 2006 by Peter Waters and Wayne Boyd, the current chairman of Telecom New Zealand.

The men leased a four-hectare pinot noir vineyard in the Gibbston Valley from close friend Marc Holtzman (vice-chairman of Barclays Capital, London). Unsurprisingly, the beautiful Holtzman vineyard was named after Marc.

Marc's friend Alex Kaufman had purchased an adjoining piece of land in 2002 and planted pinot gris and pinot noir (total area 4ha). Peter Waters was asked to oversee the management of this vineyard and the establishment of Alex's private label, Kalex Wines. As a result, Peter manages two vineyards and two labels producing small quantities of particularly high-quality wine.

Arrow River produces an average of 500 cases per annum, all under the Bracken's Order label. All grapes are from the Holtzman Vineyard. "The company has just signed an agreement with Laytons of London for half of their annual production to be sold in fine dining restaurants in the UK," says Peter. "And this comes on top of winning either gold medals or 5 stars over four consecutive vintages.

GrapeClub.com - Summary of Ruffino Modus Toscana 2007 750ML ...

The Ruffino Modus Toscana 2007 is an elegant wine that is considered an excellent Italian red that caters to diverse tastes splendidly.

Any New York based wine store would suggest a well received red wine to the customers, but only a true connoisseur would be able to offer a wine that suits the tastes of the consumer. This distinction has set apart the leading wine retailer of NYC from the multitude of sellers available in the city. With buying wine online becoming popular with each passing day and wine reviews being widely available across the World Wide Web, the activity of buying a appreciable wine reviews has become quite easy for one and all.

With umpteen resources being available, the popularity of the Ruffino Modus Toscana 2007 750ML was sure to soar. This Italian red wine is a 2007 vintage wine that is produced from sangiovese (50%), cabernet sauvignon (25%) and merlot (25%) grapes. Produced preponderantly in the Poggio Casciano Estate vineyards, some of the harvest was also taken from the Ruffino Estates located in Tuscany. The slightly clayey soil that is rich in skeleton spread across the hilly land was used for growing the grapes in dynamically changing temperatures, mostly in summers (when the grapes mature the best). The Cordon trained growing system, with vine density of 3300-5000 plants/hectare were laid in vineyards having the modern growing system for all varietals.

While harvesting, only the best grapes are used for making the Modus; the merlot are picked at the end of August, the cabernet sauvignon at end of September and the sangiovese at the commencement of October. After six tonne of each grape per hectare was collected, the three varietals were fermented in heat regulated stainless steel vats at an average temperature of 28O C for a period of half a month, with the help of racking and punching down. Even after the process ended, the post fermentation maceration on skins was carried for the period of ten days. As soon as the malolactic fermentation of the three grapes is over, they are subjected to ageing in 1st and 2nd passage American and French 225 liter oak casks for a year. After this period concludes, the wine is given a resting period in stainless steel vats, after which the bottling and further refinement (for 6 months) are carried out.

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