CSB - Michael Cooper - Wine

Weekly wine chat with the Guru. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sport, the Latest from the Land and just great rock.
It's the Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on Gold Sport,
your home of live commentary.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Routing a lovely bottle of memorable wine today catching up
with Michael Cooper Mortie Michael.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Good morning, Brian.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, the subject today. We're talking about a few wines
that you've recently tried that you put into a category
of memorable. So what does that mean?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Well, that's a good question. The school of thought that,
for example, we take Morlever certainly on Bloc where it's
probably what you know, about five hundred out there, and
a lot of them. Really you'd be really hard put
to find any difference between them. You know, they're quite
sort of formulaic some of them. Others have got really

(00:56):
good personality. They're in the minority, but they're the ones
that you remember long after you've had your last or
you know, drain the bottle. And so there's just a
few wines I've had recently from around the country, different varieties,
different regions, where boy, they really stick in your mind.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Okay, well let's start. I mean, I know, personally I
love Central Otago noirs and every now and again, I'll
buy one and go, Wow, that's lovely.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
I agree. Well, let's start with one that's attracted a
bit of attention recently, and that's Arcaua, and it's been
attracting attention because it was bought by the French about
a year ago by members of the Rothschild family. Wow,
and they're really determined to not only carry on Arquerua's
tradition of making high quality pino noir, but elevate it.

(01:48):
They really want to move Central Otago into an ultra
luxury ultra luxury category. So I think there's going to
be a wine that's going to be coming out costing
a few hundred dollars a bottle, but that waits to
be seen. But in the meantime, what we can do
is taste their larger volume offering, which is Akarua Bannock

(02:12):
Verned Central Otago Pino Noir twenty twenty three. Now listeners
can buy this for forty five dollars. It's extremely good,
state grown, handpacked. The vines are twenty four years old,
so it does all the right things in terms of
the tech details. It's been matured in French oak bariques,
partly new. It's a very refined wine. It's lively, it's savory,

(02:37):
it's got impressive concentration of flavors, cherry, plum, spice, their
complex flavors, and it's got a really sort of beautifully
balanced lingering finish. It's already delicious. But if you could
buy a few bottles and open, say one year, for
the next few years, that'd be a great idea. And really,

(02:57):
to me, at forty five dollars, that's you know, reasonably
high priced, but arguably it over delivers in terms of quality.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Alright, So that's the po the pino noir selection.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
What's next, Well, let's let's talk about a great that
is quite rarely seen in New Zealand, yet it's grown
all over the Mediterranean, and that's Pegasus Bay Muscat twenty nineteen.
The Muscat variety. Listeners will have tried often Asti spemente,
the bubbly now that's made for muscat grapes. But in

(03:31):
New Zealand we go a little bit of muscat. In Gisbon,
it just tends to get blended into other wines, and
we very rarely see muscat as a single variety of wine. Well,
Pegasus Bay in North Canterbury Show just what you can
do with muscat when you treat it as a standalone

(03:51):
white wine variety. It's really full bodied. It's fourteen percent alcohol,
so it's quite weighty and rich in the mouth. It's
a medium style, so it's got a splash of sweetness.
It's very enticingly perfumed, which of course muscat tends to be.
And it's got strong, vibrant, peachey flavors. It's got good

(04:14):
acidity which matches that splash of sweetness, and it's got
a slightly oivy richness, so it's quite a powerful wine.
So that's Pegasus Bay Muscat twenty nineteen at thirty dollars.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
We're talking memorable wines here with Michael Cooper. All right,
good another one for us, Michael, Let's.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Go for one more. And it's a variety that in
New Zealand has never really won a huge following. And
so i'll mention this one for listeners who haven't yet
really become excited by Reasling. Here's one that might get
you excited. Wild Earth, North Otago Reasling twenty twenty two.

(04:52):
Now this one's thirty dollars. It's full of character, it's
a single vineyard wine that was grown in the White
Hackie Valley that's North Otago. It's attractively scentered, it's light bodied,
it's got very penetrating flavors peachees, citrus sees, slightly spicy.

(05:12):
It's got a sliver of sweetness that's balanced by a
mouthwatering acidity. And it's got lovely viggor, lovely depth, lovely harmony.
It's all about you know what reasling can be wild Earth,
north Otago Reasling twenty twenty two thirty dollars.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Well, there we go. Three memorable wines to try from
the man who knows all about wine, Michael Cooper. Michael,
great to chat. Let's do it again next week.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Great bright with.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Wine, like talking to Michael Cooper. And of course tomorrow
we have a man with us who talks barbecuing as
well as it talks beer on a Tuesday as well,
all over the place with lovely food and wine. This
is Gold Squad