If you had a Central Otago monopoly board, who’d be your Old Kent Road and who’d be your Mayfair?
I’ve had a few Old Kent Road Pinots but I shall spare them the Hall of Shame today. However, Felton Road (the road, not the winery) is probably the Mayfair - or “Park Lane” – says Duncan Forsyth, ‘the big cheese’, at Mount Edward.
Likewise, according to Matthew Jukes’ official classification, two of New Zealand’s top three Pinot Noir producers are based along this Bannockburn roadway: Mt Difficulty and Felton Road.
While Mount Edward is a Gibbston Valley-based producer, it bought an orchard here in 2007 at an “exorbitant” price (lucky there were no houses or hotels or it would’ve cost even more). But it’s worth it in Forsyth’s eyes.
“As time goes on I think it will vault ahead of everyone else,” he says. “It is the Park Lane of Central Otago.”
The first vintage of ‘Muirkirk’ Pinot Noir (well, all 65 cases of it) has already been released, made from existing vines planted in 1997. It’s more Oxford Street at the moment but as the vines get older, you can imagine that it could move up to Park Lane.
Despite a recession and a halt to planting throughout the rest of New Zealand, Forsyth planted another 4ha there last year. “I think we were the only fools to plant last year,” he laughs. Well, you’ve got to be a little bit crazy to become a winemaker in the first place.
Clive Dougall, cheeky London chappy-turned winemaker, gets his 60 seconds to wear a crazy hat and tell us about how much he loves Pinot Noir (how predictable!) and why he’s sporting a beard.
I’ve borrowed Monty Waldin’s Biodynamics book from the library. I’ve had the ‘Auckland Library Courtesy email’ informing me it’s almost due back. I’ve had a good read of it but still haven’t quite mustered the motivation to take the notes I meant to, so I guess I’ll be renewing it or face fines.
Waldin’s book is pretty easy to dip in and out of, but ascending phases of the moon and burying cow horns all seems a bit leftfield for a girl from Middlesbrough.
I’ve visited plenty of biodynamic vineyards and despite some of the loony tune theories, it can’t be ignored that the vines and soils seem more balanced and healthier. I love driving up to a biodynamic winery and seeing grass growing under the vines rather than the conventional bare landing strip created by herbicides.
There are some fundamentalist biodynamic producers who do everything to the word but many producers are more laid back in their approach. You can only work to the biodynamic calendar as far as is possible, says Clive Dougall, Londoner and winemaker at Marlborough’s Seresin Estate. They’ve got 110 hectares to harvest and they’d be there all year if they only picked on fruit days.
They produce all their biodynamic preparations while many buy them in, so they’re not messing around. There’s currently a cow’s head under their lake filled with oak bark and the cow horns are buried under a mound. Geese waddle around, horses pull the world’s first biodynamic spray ‘tractor’ and chickens lay eggs for the staff. The only condition for getting a free supply of eggs is you must return the shells, as they add structure to the compost.
Everything should be certified biodynamic by June this year although, unofficially, it already is.
And so, to the wines. Does it make any difference? There’s certainly a balance and textural element in their wines and the winery would make it into my top five producers in New Zealand thus far. But how much is the quality of the wine down to biodynamic practises? The sceptics would argue the extra tender loving care in the vineyard would improve the wines biodynamics or no biodynamics. It’s not scientifically quantifiable, and this is one of the issues Monty Waldin raises too. Speaking of which, I must go and renew that book.
I picked up a copy of Simon Difford’s Class magazine this week. It’s very swish: all bells and whistles but my favourite part of the bartender’s magazine was its Hall of Shame page. Oh, how I laughed: find a crap product and tell people what you think.
Why hasn’t the wine world done that? There’s plenty of rubbish out there that people should be warned off and it’d be a lot more interesting than simply reading about what’s nice. I find it quite refreshing to read honest columns and a ‘What’s Not Hot’ would spice things up a bit.
I’ve also been re-reading Eats Shoots and Leaves this week, a book about the demise of spelling and grammar. Yes I admit it, I’m a stickler. I’ve not had the misfortune to taste any terrible wine this week, so I’m putting the Sussex Wine Company in my Hall of Shame for grammatical reasons. I stumbled across this wine description on their website and it got my goat:
“The Chateau, Lamothe Bergeron, was promoted Cru Middle-class Superior at the time of the revision of the classification of 1932, occurred in June 2003.” Er, I think you might mean Cru Bourgeois and the last bit doesn’t make sense.
“The usual blend is perdominately Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot.” Try spellcheck next time.
I think I might make the Hall of Shame a more regular thing. If you find anything wine-related that is a prime candidate, let me know!
It’s only been a week since I arrived in Marlborough to work part of the 2010 vintage but I’m already in need of a rest!
I thought I was fit before I arrived at Jackson Estate but pulling hoses, plunging unyielding caps and working 12-hour shifts is a real test of stamina. The cellar boys have worked 12 days on the trot and I don’t know how they do it. If you wanted to get fit but hated the gym, taking on a cellar job would do the trick.
I’ve talked to the boys in the winery today and the hours are certainly the worst part of working vintage but the flip side is meeting people from all corners of the globe and seeing those grapes turn into the delicious final product. A glass of wine at lunchtime also makes life more bearable.
It’s back to the day job for me now and while I’m looking forward to resting my aching limbs, I’m sorely tempted to stay on for the vintage party, complete with a pig on a spit.
