The second visit to Mazuran’s now, a few weeks ago I chatted with Rado ( Senior ) and today with his youngest of three sons, also called Rado Hladilo. It was great to meet him and see the determination first hand to make sure this vineyard, established in 1938, does not suffer the fate of so many others.
There are a couple of things which amaze me about this vineyard. Firstly that all the fortified wines produced here are from the grapes grown on the site – it seems that this is a rarity in West Auckland now, and secondly that Vintages from 1942 through to 1991 are available off the shelf! Perhaps one day I will get the 1958 Vintage. Throughout this time the labels have remained virtually unchanged.
As I write this, I am enjoying a glass ( or two ) of the 2005 Directors Port. This winery has won many awards through the years – but this Port won a Double Gold at the San Francisco International Wine Fair 2005 – the only in the world to do so – despite entries from all over the world, including the home of Port. Portugal !
A true West Auckland wine.
Today started out with a bit of a hunt for the location of Paul Groshek’s Muaga Vineyard and in particular the underground cellar. I was so intrigued by the stories I have read about this ingenious man – especially as told by Dick Scott in his excellent book ” Fire On The Clay”, which I managed to find recently. Stopped in to chat with Steve Sapich ( Sapich Wines ) as I noticed that the small shed set in amongst his vines ( which I wanted to photograph when the vines next looked their best ) looked to be collapsed, which apparently happened in the past week as a result of the extremely high winds. [ What I did not realise was that this was in fact made of polystyrene and formed part of the set for Vintner’s Luck, the movie … ] Steve was able to give me a general direction to the Groshek property. I did find the house, which has now had a modern annexe. The current owners could not assist with the location of the cellars – something which they were happy to allow further investigation. Would be great if I could get someone who had visited this vineyard in its prime, to have a look. I look forward to taking the owners up on the invitation of come back and photograph what remains of the homestead.
5 Responses to Mazuran’s …Yes !