The whiter side of Hawkes Bay
Monday 28 December
White varieties in New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay cover more than half of the region’s vineyard land despite being better known for its reds internationally. This statistic was a bit of a shock to me, coming from the UK. Isn’t Hawkes Bay dominated by Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah? Clearly not.
In fact, Chardonnay is the most planted variety with Sauvignon Blanc only beaten into third spot by Merlot.
I tried some really classy Chardonnays from here as well as some decent Viognier. But Sauvignon and Riesling? I understand that the world wants to drink New Zealand Sauvignon and there are distributors looking for anything but Marlborough SB but with prices falling faster than the Titanic, Hawkes Bay should focus on what it’s good at. The days are gone when Hawkes Bay could produce Sauvignon at an attractive price compared to Marlborough. In my opinion, this is the time to focus on its warmer climate whites and reds.
With the heat degree day summation in the Gimblett Gravels area exceeding that of Valence in the Rhone valley, Tony Bish, winemaker at Sacred Hill said: “We have to break the paradigm that all of New Zealand is cool climate.”
“Hawkes Bay Sauvignon Blanc is not as varietally intense because we don’t have the cool nights that Marlborough does, so we get riper wines with lower acids.” If the region is going to have a go at Sauvignon, why not throw in a bit of Semillon, a little bit of French oak and make a Graves/Pessac Leognan style? It would fit with the region’s Bordeaux blend reds.
The Chardonnays from producers including Clearview Estate, Sacred Hill’s Rifleman’s Chardonnay and Mission Estate’s Reserve all impressed. They’ve all got white stone fruit and citrus with some nicely balanced new french oak but the warmer climate in Hawkes Bay is definitely reflected by the 14% alcohol levels.
As well as doing a pretty good northern Rhone-style red, Gimblett producers are also doing some promising Rhone-style whites, including Craggy Range. Many other producers showed some lovely peach and apricotty character with decent concentration and typical Viognier structure but there was often too much oak covering that lovely Viognier fragrance.
There are some interesting spots in Hawkes Bay on the coast for whites - take German-owned Elephant Hill. It’s a newcomer to the region but already its whites are showing a delicacy and nimbleness that is surely a reflection of the cooler site - and perhaps its Germanic ownership. Clearview Estate, also situated on the coast, also shows a freshness that those further inland could not emulate. As always, it’s always about location, location, location.
Syrah vs Cabernet in Hawkes Bay
Wednesday 23 December
Hawkes Bay Syrah hit the headlines in the early 2000s. Its Rhone-style aromas of black and white pepper, violets and blackberries have since found many fans including yours truly, who like the extra ripeness and purity of New Zealand.
It is the new darling of the wine media and the variety has overshadowed Cabernet/Merlot in recent years. But Syrah’s column inches have been out of proportion to volumes produced here: it makes up just 3% of total plantings in Hawkes Bay while Cabernet and Merlot makes up 34%. Interestingly, Sauvignon Blanc covers 15% of the vineyard area here – and let’s face it, how many articles have you read about Hawkes Sauvignon?
Tony Bish, winemaker at Sacred Hill and a Green Day fan agreed, “There is more media than sales of Syrah at the moment but we are working on that because we like it too.
“Syrah has grown and grown and the accolades are still coming. Some people are planting Syrah with some are taking out Cabernet and Merlot,” he added. But the region still represents 73% of New Zealand’s Cab/Merlot plantings, so it’s not exactly a massive uprising.
What I wanted to know is what will Hawkes Bay focus on in the future as its flagship wine: Bordeaux or the Rhone? Can it do both or is that giving a mixed message? I talked to Rod Easthope, winemaker at Craggy Range and chair of Gimblett Gravels Winegrowers Association about this and he had some interesting ideas.
“Syrah is making all the noise: the wines are good and distinctive. The wines look like they come from here. People compare it to the Rhone but it has a distinctive character that I don’t see anywhere else.”
“Bordeaux wine relies on blending and oak so you will see a blurring of site-driven characteristics. Syrah more closely reflects its site into taste.
“The flagship should not be a varietal. We have always looked to replicate the classics in our formative years. But we are now getting to the stage where we are confident with our fruit and winemaking. Why not do a Cab/Syrah blend?”
He suggested it to the Association at its last meeting so let’s see if 2010 brings some new blends. It would certainly be a new take on the Aussie classic.
I’ll be attending the Cab/Merlot forum and the Syrah Symposium in Hawkes Bay at the end of January so watch this space for more on this. For more information on these events click here
In my next blog, I’ll take a look at whites in Hawkes Bay.
Highs and lows in Nelson
Monday 21 December
Nelson has had plenty praise from the wine literati. The region’s press pack proudly contained quotes like:
“Nelson is home to New Zealand’s finest aromatics”
-Steven Spurrier, Decanter UK
“Nelson produces outstanding Pinot Noir which can equal the best from anywhere”
-Nick Bulleid MW, Australian Gourmet Wine Traveller
As you’d expect from such comments, I went there with high expectations. Apart from a few shining stars, I came away slightly disappointed by the general standard. Perhaps I was having an off day or it was the 2008 that let the region down…
What did excite me was Neudorf’s Chardonnay and Pinot Noir – but then that’s nothing unexpected. It has had write up after write up for its Puligny-like Chardonnay. I’ve turned up late to join the party of admirers. The 2008 (18.5-19/20) has a beautiful streak of acidity coupled with elegant nectarine fruit, minerality and well integrated hazelnutty new French oak (£14.50, Richards Walford). I also started waxing lyrical on my tasting notes for its ’08 Tom’s Block Pinot Noir and ’07 Moutere Pinot. In brief, both were tight and focused with good mid-palate weight with fresh acid and firm chalky notes and savoury complexity. I won’t bore you with the other tasty adjectives.
Another shining light is Richmond Plains/Te Mania. Same winemaker, two labels. Richmond is biodynamic; Te Mania isn’t but sticks to organic principles. There’s clearly been a lot of work put in here since converting to Rudolf Steiner’s tenets from making compost tea to regular oil sprays against powdery mildew. I’ve seen many vineyards recently and even if they grow cover crops down the middle of the rows, under the row you’ll still see a strip of bare earth where weeds have been hoed or killed with herbicides. Not here. The vineyard is almost meadow-like. The vines look incredibly balanced here with shoot growth appearing to be much less vigorous than in other vineyards I’ve visited.
Balance in the vineyard is reflected in the wines. The majority of my notes included the phrase ‘great balance’, which many wines fail to achieve. Alcohol levels are in check - as low as 12% in the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc – with structure and some old world-esque restraint.
Neudorf, Richmond Plains plus Seifried’s Decanter trophy-winning ’08 Sweet Agnes Riesling showed what Nelson can do when it’s on form but many lacked the wow-factor that I had come searching for.
Across the board the Rieslings and Sauvignon Blancs didn’t do it for me when compared to Central Otago, Waipara and Marlborough. The Sauvignons were certainly more food friendly than those of Marlborough, which tend to jump out of the glass and bop you on the nose. But from the cross section I tasted in the region, many wineries need to up their game to warrant the praise Nelson has received, rather than basing their reputation on a small clutch of award-winning wines.
Harsh? Maybe, and I’d like to be proven wrong.
Nelson’s “tiddlywinks” need to shout louder
Sunday 20 December
So, I’m in Nelson – a 90-minute drive from Marlborough. It’s very different to Marlborough with most wineries less than 6km from the sea, 50% more rainfall and less diurnal temperature difference. Everyone you meet here will tell you that it is the wine region with the most sunshine hours too – apparently Marlborough tries to make that claim in the same way as Australia and New Zealand fight over who invented the pavlova, but Mike Brown, GM of Waimea Estates and chairman of Nelson Wineart (the regional winegrowers’ association) set the record straight: “In the last seven out of eight years we had had the most sunshine.” I’ll let you fight it out amongst yourselves.
The region is pretty small, making up just 4% of the country’s total production and boasting only 24 wineries. Most producers are small too. Seifried who produces 130,000 cases each year and Waimea Estate are the major players and even that pales in comparison to other major wineries, says Chris Seifried: “We are tiddlywinks compared to Kim Crawford, Wither Hills, Cloudy Bay and the likes.”
With all these small players, making a greater push internationally has been a hard task. Seifried added, “We have not been as loud as other regions. Many wineries sell all their production locally so they don’t need to go to the international wine shows. Nelson needs more people telling our story.”
Its story is currently focused on aromatic white varieties. But, you could argue so is Waipara’s and Marlborough’s, so I’m not sure how that’s a point of difference. Nevertheless, it isn’t Marlborough and, according to Brown that’s a big positive. “Where there’s a swathe of Marlborough wine on offer, people want something different. Many distributors are taking us on because we can offer that.”
Even though they aren’t Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc leads the charge for the region, followed by Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. However sales of SB haven’t been without difficulty this year, says Lars Jensen, director of sales and marketing at Te Mania Wines. “There’s huge demand for Sauvignon but small companies can’t compete with the big boys. Our distributors are looking for something else to sell. We sold everything but Sauvignon to our US distributor and we had to really work on him to take a pallet of it on consignment.” There’s always two sides to the story.
Tomorrow: did I set my expectations too high in Nelson?
Kekerengu: Marlborough’s new grape source
Thursday 17 December
While many parts of Marlborough are planted out to the max, drive 50 minutes down the coast from Blenheim towards the whale-watching hub of Kaikoura. You’ll hit a small place called Kekerengu. It’s still technically Marlborough but this place is quite different to the two main Marlborough valleys: the Awatere and Wairau.
The vineyards sit right on the coast and some isolated grape growers are producing fruit for wineries including Montana and Astrolabe. There’s likely to be more vintage variation here compared to the Awatere and Wairau and arriving at the vineyard just two hours after 120km/hr winds swept through it, there’s certainly tough conditions to fight. A few of the vines looked a bit sorry for themselves after the gusts.
There are pockets of limestone soils on the terraces where Pinot Noir is planted while the Sauvignon Blanc is planted on gravels down on the flats by the river. Sitting right by the ocean, there are also plans to plant Albarino (the real stuff, not the Savignan imposter) and Astrolabe is high up on the waiting list for vine material. The climate’s not too far away from the home of Albarino (Rias Baixas and Vinho Verde on Spain and Portugal’s Atlantic coast). In theory, it’s a great idea to try it out.
Fruit from its Kekerengu vineyard has been bottled as a single vineyard wine by Astrolabe under its Discovery Range. The 2009 Sauvignon Blanc is lean with lots of elderflower and citrus rather than peapod or passion fruit although the acid’s a little eye-watering. The Pinot Gris is also minerally and lean with balanced alcohol (13.5%) but I think the vines need a bit more time for both whites to achieve more structure and length. I’ll be interested to try the Pinot Noir when it’s ready.