Growing Legacy
Thirty-six years after Dave and Chris Macdonald followed a vineyard dream to Marlborough, and 28 years after they named a wine label for their children Blair and Deni, the family is devoted to Bladen, says Deni Hopkins
When I drew the curtains this morning a good chunk of the view was taken up by the largest cruise ship to visit Auckland, ‘Ovation of the seas’ or, as my wife calls it, “Ovulation of the Seas”. There are three cruise ships in town. It is 31 December so I guess they are here to view Auckland’s New Year’s firework display.
I have only been on a cruise ship once. I can’t remember the name of the ship but it was a short three-day cruise between Los Angeles and Mexico. We had a cabin with a balcony, which was nice. I spotted sealions, dolphins, a sun fish, a hammerhead shark and a whale. We attended a wine tasting which was disappointing. The wine list was fairly bland. I had packed a few bottles of interesting wines but they were confiscated and subsequently returned on debarkation.
Ovation of the Seas is clearly a luxurious liner. I felt sure that it would stock a carefully chosen wine list. With the help of Mr Google (try royalcaribbean.com) I located an onboard wine bar called “Vintages.” Under “Menu Highlights” they enthused “If Sauvignon Blanc is more your speed, the menu at Vintages offers several great options from Marlborough, New Zealand.”
The Vintages wine list offered a range of around 66 wines including Peter Yealands Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough US$49. Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough US$75, Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough US$59 and Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir, Marlborough US$75. Irritatingly, they didn’t reveal vintages. I wondered whether they might have made a mistake by line pricing Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc with Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir. The most expensive wine on the list is Opus One at US$379 with Opus One “Overture” US$162 in second place.
The wine list is disappointing with too many rock-bottom wines at inflated prices.
