We had some great news with the results from The Sydney International Wine Show – a truly international show with a formidable line up of winery entries.
Our results;
• 2009 Wild Rock Elevation Sauvignon Blanc – Blue-Gold Award
• 2008 Wild Rock Strugglers Flat Pinot Noir – Blue-Gold Award, Top 100 (on top of the Blue Gold!)
• 2007 Wild Rock Angels Dust Reserve Syrah – Blue-Gold Award, Top 100 (on top of the Blue Gold as well!)
Had a tasting in Havelock North comparing the newly bottled (& soon to be released) 2009 Wild Rock Sur Lie Otago Pinot Gris vs the 2008 Wild Rock Sur Lie Hawkes Bay Pinot Gris – very interesting, both were divine but the Otago stood out to me, I loved the crisp green apple taste up front and the light floral notes and a subtle hint of Turkish delight - another clean balanced wine to be proud of.
A couple of days before my flight I was tearing down Te Mata Peak on my mountain bike (down the Craggy Range side) on my way to work and I flipped the bike a couple of times – the first was sweet, just hit a rock and went over the bars – the second was a killer. The sheep hadn’t been doing their job in chewing down the grass so a nasty hole was hiding just for me – this time it crunched my ribs and buggered me from doing anything full on during my trip to Hawaii – luck of the Irish!
Hawaii Week One
My internal flight was delayed so I got to experience AIRNZ’s fantastic service – they had a lovely chaperone pick me up from the Auckland domestic airport, whisk me over to the international, and take me through all the secret back door routes onto the plane on time – thanks AIRNZ!
Rented a Jeep Cherokee soft top and headed over the Island of Oahu from Honolulu to the North Shore, a beautiful and somewhat remote and rugged part of the island with absolutely huge waves.
I had a early morning surf with our importer and I struggled, managing a couple of basic rides and packed it in after an hour– gave myself a week more to recover from the MTB spill (If my HR manager is reading this – I know I promised not to surf or MTB over here – I had a good reason & I tell you later)…
The O’Neill World Cup is the second Jewel in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing competition and we had our stand there in a tent on the Sunset Beach – totally cool. Supporting SurfAid International along with Billabong we received plenty of awareness and publicity – with verbiage over the loud speakers and hundreds of people visiting our stand. It’s really good fun and the surfing does not get better.
A very strange landlady booted me out after one night in the beach condo – she was worried about The Wild Rock Guy & the Billabong guys being too wild (she claimed to have some bad experience with them in the past competitions) - so I moved into Turtle Bay Resort – very nice. In reality it was more of a relief than a problem!
Tasted our wine at a couple of Foodland supermarkets and it was really well received selling heaps in both places – one almost sold out! The American’s who tasted Wild Rock loved the fruit up front and the interesting mid palate notes (like the wild thyme in the Cupids Arrow Pinot Noir) and the balance.
The O’Neill World Cup final was really exciting with some great surfing through barrels and some air and lots of wicked turns – great to see the Billabong pro Joel Parkinson win on the day.
Cheers
Ash - The Wild Rock Guy
