German Pinot Noir has come to the attention of the wine world in the past week when it won seven of the top 10 spots in an international Pinot Noir tasting held in London.
And at the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair, the German Wine Institute was keen to show how important Pinot Noir has become.
Known as Spatburgunder, Germany has more hectares of Pinot Noir planted than New Zealand and Australia combined. It is also the third biggest producer of Pinot Noir after France and the USA, with 11,800 ha, Yet it has not enjoyed the same attention as new world Pinot, as most of it doesn’t leave Germany. Clearly they like to keep it all for themselves.
Red grape plantings have been rising since 1980, from just 11% of all plantings to 36% today. But we haven’t heard much about it until now.
“We just talked about Riesling and that did work but we came to a point where we had to broaden that. It’s important not to be a one-trick pony,” said the German Wine Institute’s Steffen Schindler.
While Baden is the leading region for Pinot Noir production with more plantings than Australia, it has failed to market its wines effectively beyond German borders. Having tasted a small selection today, it’s clear that Baden’s Spatburgunders offer an old world savoury style of Pinot with slightly riper fruit than you’d find in Burgundy, giving an appealing generosity. If they are affordably priced, they would be a big success in the UK and beyond. They just have to get out there and strike while the iron’s hot.
My pick:
Weingut Bercher Burkheim Pinot Noir 2008
A broody, pale Pinot Noir with classic old world savoury characters. The fruit is a little more generous than you’d expect from a Burgundy Pinot Noir and offers fine grained, drawn out tannins.
August is a quiet month for the wine industry – most of France, Italy and Spain go on holiday. Yet, there’s been plenty to write about this week at Decanter.com, where I’m acting as news and commissioning editor. So here’s a digest of the main news stories in the wine industry this week…
Champagne
The Champenois have announced the yield for the 2011 vintage – 12,500kg – which is approximately 20% more than last year due to increased demand for bubbly. The Champagne houses wanted a higher yield with their sales up 13% last year but the growers weren’t so keen, and this was the compromise.
The Champagne region is now recovering from a blip during the economic crash of late 2008 and if sales continue on the upward curve it is now on, they’ll have a shortage. The industry is currently undertaking research to figures out a way to manage supply and demand. With a restricted area that is planted to bursting point, they will struggle to make more, so it will be interesting to see what solution they come up with.
Burgundy
In Burgundy, five grands crus vineyards are banning the use of machine harvesting from the coming vintage. I spoke to president of the Union of Burgundy Grands Crus, Louis-Michel Liger-Belair, during his holiday in Tuscany to ask him why they’d done this. There are 5% of the grands crus that use machines and it gives us a bad image. Hand harvesting does cost a bit more but the quality is much better,’ he said.
At the end of the week, Domaine de l’Arlot’s winemaker of 13 years has also left to establish his own domaine down in the Ardeche. More on that next week, I hope.
USA
Over in the US, there have been acquisitions aplenty. At the start of the week, Fiji water billionaire, Stewart Resnick bought Chardonnay specialist Landmark Vineyards of Sonoma. It’s the second purchase for his company Roll Global in eight months.
Roll Global is one to watch, as is Alejandro Bulgheroni. While most magazines reported his acquisition of Renwood Vineyard from the company’s press release, there seemed to be more to this one. A 20-minute chat with Alejandro, revealed he was not only a charming businessman that has made his millions in oil and gas, he’s also got grand designs for a wine empire, aspiring to run six wineries, including what’s thought to be the world’s southernmost vineyard.
UK
London rioters stormed Michelin-star restaurant The Ledbury at the start of the week, smashing windows and stealing personal items from customers. The Ledbury’s kitchen staff managed to chase away the rioters, armed with a variety of kitchen items. While it must have been terrifying for diners, The Ledbury offered them all Champagne to ease their anxiety.
Further restaurant news in London: Spanish chef Jose Pizarro will be opening a Cava bar at his new restaurant Pizarro. It is in Bermondsey Street – the same road as his newly-opened tapas and sherry bar. It should open in October. Should….
Mortgagee sales are becoming an increasingly common theme in the New Zealand wine industry, as vineyard owners are forced to put their properties up for sale.
The latest victim of the glut and economic downturn has been Clansman Vineyards, which had holdings in both the Wairarapa and Marlborough.
A quick website search of real estate agent, Bayleys, shows that in the last 6 weeks River Farm in Marlborough has gone on the market. Another mortgagee sale of a 167ha vineyard site 7km outside of Blenheim is also on the books, as well as pages of vineyard sales throughout the country.
Wineries that are handling the downturn could grab a bargain: estate agents report land prices have halved in the past four years plus interest rates are also relatively low, making it seem like a good time to buy. But who has the money to invest? Planting has come to a virtual standstill and inflation is high.
And foreign investors will be put off by the strong dollar – it’s value has increased by more than 30% in value in the past two years against the British pound, and 20% against the US dollar.
Then again, anyone who invests in a vineyard needs their heads checked in my opinion.
The first ever female on Unfiltered (apart from me, of course) is Anna Flowerday, co-owner of Te Whare Ra in Marlborough, formerly known as Beavertown (yes, really). She takes a break from the 2011 vintage and her two sets of twin daughters (yes, two sets!) to star on Unfiltered.
Matt Thomson, globe trotting winemaker, joins me to discuss New Zealand wine, his love of kayaking and who he would go gay for. Plus a funny out-take at the end…
I heard the name Matt Thomson everywhere but he’s a difficult man to pin down, taking 170 flights a year.
Being a consultant winemaker in Marlborough, I was keen to pick his brain on its Pinot Noir, as I’ve been largely unimpressed with the region’s offerings thus far.
He is quick to defend Pinot Noir in Marlborough. “I find it really frustrating. If you look historically at what the region has won in terms of trophies for our Pinot Noirs, we have done better than other regions.”
But what about structure? Isn’t the region lacking a bit in its Pinots? “I think New Zealand Pinot Noir lacks structure,” he admits.
Perhaps it’s a soil thing, or maybe it’s vine age or climate…
Stem trials
Here’s where I get technical…Some winemakers are getting more structure by adding stems to the ferment. I like this. It adds a bit of chew and a linear finish, plus gives the wine more longevity. “As a component, get the level right and the wine sings,” says Thomson.
Not that everyone can do this successfully, however. Add too many stems, or if they aren’t ripe, you’ll get a green, sappy character in the wine. If you’ve ever chewed on a grape stem, you’ll know what I mean. It’s pretty unpleasant.
The problem is stems in Pinot Noir struggle to get ripe – what’s called lignification. By the time your stems lignify in Pinot, your fruit is overripe and knackered. Throughout New Zealand, there appears to be a struggle to get stems ripe. Some say it is a climate thing, others think it is clonal thing, while there’s the argument it could be a vine age thing. Which, leaves me very confused. But then again, there’s very rarely a definitive answer in the wine industry.
If anyone would like to offer their views, I’d be interested…