I met Angela Clifford (the ‘Tongue’) in North Canterbury at Easter this year, and fell in love – with this project, with these wacky labels, but above all with the wines.
Tongue in Groove Riesling Label
Angela talked about the effect of the Christchurch earthquake of February 2011, which shocked Christchurch and the surrounding Canterbury area out of its reactionary habit. “Conservatism was replaced by a soft creativity” she told me, “everyone is trying to work out who they are now, and that makes it an interesting place.”
When we visited, Christchurch was remarkable for the graffiti art, which had even taken over the main art gallery as well as many of the hoardings surrounding damaged buildings and construction sites. You can see a little taste of this here:
This quake was the catalyst for six friends, five of them Roseworthy graduates (although the winemaker, Lynette Hudson, is a graduate of Lincoln) to form this ‘perfect fit’ team and realise their dream of doing something themselves as well as working for others.
The Tongue in Groovers
Angela is pretty good at explaining it all herself, (except for the bit about who all these people really are), so do look at the website www.tongueingroove.co.nz for all the detail that is not ‘withheld’. It’s also worth following them in Instagram if you’re that way inclined.
I just love the way they work here:
The only way to foot stomp when you weigh less than 40kgs
and you can also see the delight in my face when these wines finally landed!
They’re here!
Read more about the wines on our website, and get on and try them quick!