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to No. 8 Cuvée tasting notes
Top 12 N.Z. Sparkling Wine 92 points 4 stars
The owners, Daniel and Adele Le Brun, were one of the earliest Marlborough wine producers and the country's first specialist sparkling winemakers. Cuvee Number 8 Brut is made from a blend of chardonnay and pinot noir grapes. Rich and quite creamy wine with plenty of weight and nutty yeast autolysis flavours. Quite bready with a good texture and drying finish. Impressive wine in a crowd-pleasing style
A classic blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the nose is gently fragrant showing yeast, floral and a hint of nutty characters. It's rounded and beautifully textured on the palate with bright acidity and a pleasant lingering finish. This is very easy to like as it flows so smoothly through the palate. $30.00 Widely available. 12.5% Traditional sparkling cork. Nov 2009.
4 Stars
Gourmet Traveller Wine December 2008. The cuvee numbers in this range of wines have little relevance to quality or price. In fact, the gold, red and black label designs, including the use of “8” represent good luck, achievement, abundance and success in Chinese culture. This is a fine, tight wine with flinty chardonnay qualities evident on the nose, along with a subtle, bready, yeasty autolysis character. There are green apple and lemon flavours, and it’s bone dry with a delicate texture. A very attractive wine and certainly the best example under this label I’ve tasted.
"Fine, tight wine with flinty Chardonnay characters evident on the nose together with a subtle bready yeast autolysis character. Green apple and lemon. Bone dry with an ethereal texture. A very attractive wine and certainly the best example under this label I've tasted".
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Light straw-pink; the strawberry component is very obvious, but not the least heavy or unbalanced; almost juicy flavours have a come-hither impact.
San Francisco International Wine Competition 2008
“Fine, tight wine with flinty Chardonnay characters evident on the nose together with a subtle bready yeast autolysis character. Green apple and lemon. Bone dry with an ethereal texture. A very attractive wine and certainly the best example under this label I've tasted.” Bob Campbell, MW September 2008.
Light straw-pink; the strawberry component is very obvious, but not the least heavy or unbalanced; almost juicy flavours have a come-hither impact.
International Cool Climate Wine Show, Australia, March 2008
– Gourmet Traveller WINE, Bob Campbell MW. Dec/Jan08
Red Hill Cool Climate Wine Show, Australia, 2007
"Golden with a deep straw hue. Fully developed aromas with savoury toasty attributes. A medium weight palate with plenty of acid supports the toasty and mild savoury notes whilst providing balance and crispness. The pronounced bubble carries the flavours through a medium finish. Drink now and with fine foods.
"Food Match: I would suggest whitebait fritter with a dash of fresh lemon juice."
Cameron Douglas, F&B, October 2006
San Francisco Wine Competition 2006
“This latest brew is even better! Fresh, alive and with lots of fruit-balance with a hint of sweetness. Tasty and refreshing any time, heaps of drinkability after work or with fresh oysters or mussels.”
Peter Saunder’s Picks, F&B, June 2006
"The more expansive, forthright of the Family Estate trio, a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and winning many gold awards because of its balance and harmony. A stylish sparkling with a lot to say, pretty dry and able to fit well into the wide spectrum of places and occasions for quality sparkling."
Peter Saunders, F&B Magazine November 2004.
"A clean, yeasty sparkling white with citrus characteristics and quite good length."
Winewise Small Vigneron Awards, Australia, 2004.
"Attractive, full-bodied wine with lifted biscuity, smoky, brown-bread, yeast autolysis flavours. Very Champagne-like sparkling with plenty of weight and flavour."
Cuisine, November 2003.
StarWine, USA, 2004.
Wine Enthusiast, USA, 2003.
Cuisine September 2003.
Winestate Magazine May/June 2002.
"Another big and beaut wine from this maker, showing pronounced autolysis/bready flavours with a hint of aldehyde and firmness on the back palate. It's long and fresh, with abundant mousse and plenty of crisp acidity on the finish."
Winewise Small Vigneron Awards, Australia, 2003.
"One of the best New Zealand sparklings at this price. 50-50 Chardonnay and Pinot. Drinking very well; alive, perky with excellent balance. Everything working for a fine aperitif."
Peter Saunders, F&B Best of the Best Wine Guide 2003.
"It was called Le Brun Silver Label but the name changed just as the guide went to print. In Chinese the number eight represents good luck, achievement, abundance and success. And that's what this wine is all about, or so say the winery marketers. As far as flavour goes, this is incredibly refined with lingering lemon tastes."
Joelle Thomson's Wine Guide, 2002, NZ Herald July 2002.
"Launched a year ago as Le Brun Family Estate Methode Traditionnelle Brut NV, then rebranded in 2002, this 'easy-drinking aperitif style' is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, grown in Marlborough and disgorged after three years on its yeast lees. Pale straw, fresh and lively, it has a fragrant, yeasty, biscuity bouquet and citrusy, yeasty palate with fine, steady bubbles and lovely freshness, vigour and harmony."
Michael Cooper's Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Wines 2003.
New Zealand Wine Society Royal Easter Wine Show 2003.
"Made at No1 Family Estate by Daniel Le Brun, the Frenchman who put the sparkle in Marlborough wine. Runner-up to best sparkling wine at the prestigious Winestate magazine awards in Melbourne last month. Biscuits, yeast and citrus transported on a heady, steady stream of bubbles. Fresh. Frisky."
Warren Barton's TOP 100 Wines for Christmas, The Dominion Post, December 2002.
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