Family of 12 - more

The other wineries I found interesting at the Family of 12 tasting were Kumeu River who have a fantastic range of Chardonnays at various levels of quality and intensity, but I thought they were all good at their respective levels. They also had a Pinot Noir, but I wasn't mad about it, thought it was a bit green.

Millton intrigued me as I was sure I had seen their wines before somewhere, but couldn't place them and they are looking for representation in Ireland. It was later that I realised they had in the past been distributed by an organic wine distributor who we used to have some dealings with. Anyway, the wines were very nice, an especially nice Chenin blanc (apparently house white in Gordon Ramsay in London), a nice unaoked Chardonnay and a viognier which was a bit flowery for me. Their Pinot was good too.

Fromm had the most intriguing wines of all there. There was a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir from Clayvin Vineyard that were more mineral than anything I have ever tasted from NZ before, very intense, tightly coiled wines, much more European in style than New Zealand. Very interesting wines - also as yet unavailable in Ireland and quite a hard sell, I would think.