Waitaki awakening
Sunday 3 January
On my tour of New Zealand’s wine regions, there have been a few wineries pulling out a surprise wine or two from Waitaki. Where the hell is that? Until I landed here a month ago, I’d never even heard of this region but from what I’ve since tasted, it is worth getting excited about. I’m planning on heading down there in the next few weeks to see what’s going on but here’s the latest.
Waitaki is in north Otago and is really pushing it in terms of viticultural possibility. A handful of growers have been attracted here in search of the next central Otago – a cool climate and the holy grail of soils: limestone. However, this region showed how susceptible it is to the elements in 2007 with a virtually non-existent crop. Cool weather and winds can ruin flowering and towards harvest, grapes can struggle to ripen.
The region’s pioneer, Howard Paterson, planted his first vines at the start of this century with John Forrest of Marlborough-based Forrest Wines making the first wine from the grapes - the 2003 Doctors Creek Pinot Noir. It’s still showing well six years later with a nose of peppery spice, Worcestershire sauce, smoked sausage and tarragon. For a first crop, it had real depth and lovely texture. Paterson sadly passed away before he could taste the fruits of his labour but he has left a legacy with around eight wineries now producing Waitaki wines and producer Pasquale opening the region’s first winery and cellar door at Kurow in November.
You’ll find surprisingly taut yet textured Pinot Gris; intense and bony Riesling; peppery and damson-ey Pinot Noir with a minerally almost chalky quality, plus Gewurz and Chardonnay.
Rod Easthope, winemaker at Craggy Range, which makes a few Waitaki stunners under the Otago Station label, says, “It’s ridiculously on the edge because in some years, we are not going to make any wine there.”
“They could be another Riesling/ Pinot Gris/Sauvignon Blanc region competing with the rest so I’ve suggested that each producer does an aromatic white blend not a varietal as the region’s USP.”
That’s a snapshot of Waitaki for you. More soon…
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.