Meadowbank's sparkling line up.

  What makes you break into your happy dance? Is it watching video clips of people falling down? Or do you agree with Homer Simpson who said 'ball in the groin - it works on so many levels'. Well for our resident sparkling wine expert Michelle it's the thought of a vertical tasting of sparkling wines from one of her favourite producers.

Here at Winepunters HQ we live by the maxim 'what Michelle wants Michelle gets' and it appears that so do the fine people at Meadowbank vineyard.  Why else would they put on a vertical tasting of all the vintages of their Mardi sparkling wine? Maybe they do it to show punters how well a sparkling can age. Whatever the reason, Michelle ran to take advantage of this opportunity (the rest of us followed at a more dignified stroll - Ed).  

Meadowbank held the vertical tasting on the last weekend in February and for $15.00 we were able to taste the 2006 through to the 2002.  This turned out to be quite good value for money as the tasting sizes were generous without being excessive.  
 

For the record we found that all the wines presented very well and we would have happily purchased them all.  However we felt the 2002 vintage (the bottle without the label in the photo) was the standout.  This recently disgorged wine has had 6 years on yeast lees and was based on the 1997 Grace Elizabeth Chardonnay.  With that sort of treatment and pedigree we expected something special and we all agreed that it delivered.  Well worth the $50.00 asking price.

We're not sure how widely the event was advertised (we heard about it through Meadowbank's email newsletter) but these sorts of opportunities are well worth the effort. It's not often that you get the chance to see how wines age and to compare the various blends used to make these sparkling wines. So keep and eye out in the future - you won't be disappointed.  

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