Well not exactly Merlot the grape variety more the restaurant. It is a beautiful little restaurant set in O'Connell Street, here in Auckland. With slightly shabby chic interior juxtaposed to the food and wine they serve.
The wine list is good and the menu nice and compact so as to concentrate on quality rather than quantity. It is, as the name suggests, French inspired with a twist of pacific fusion.
Our first course was a glass of Fromm Riesling 2005 which was full of fruit layered with citrus and honey held together with acid and very zesty, a great aperitif and good choice.
Next we had a few bits of bread and olives with our Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay 2006. Full of butter and ripe citrus fruit with a stave of oak, it more than dominated the entries.
I opted for the pork belly, because I cannot cook this at home. I was beautifully cooked and extremely well presented. The wine of choice was a Craggy Range Sophia 2006 with its well balanced black fruit and pencil shavings amongst a restrained use of oak. There are beautifully fine cocoa tannins with some earthy tones. This was a great choice for our pork belly, so thank you Andy.
Our next wine was just me getting a little tipsy but what the heck. We asked for the Felton Road Pinot Noir 2007 and were bitterly disappointed with a below average effort of a Central Otago wine. To say it was bad is going too far but it was not great. The fruit was over ripe and there was a lack of any earthiness and structure to this wine.
Felton Road winery has long been a 5 star winery, judged by Robert Parker Jnr., and one of only five here in New Zealand, so the expectations were high right from the start. The next wine was the Uncut Shiraz from Gemtree. This wine was much better than the Felton Road despite the fact that I had it down a Bannockburn Pinot Noir!
The food was great and the wines interesting. Thank you again Andy, although I did end up a little worst for wear and in trouble with the misses!
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