Cheap Kiwi Pinot Noir lines Oddbins’ shelves
Monday 9 August
£6.99 for a Kiwi Pinot Noir? Surely it can’t be done? Or, at least it can’t be done if anyone’s trying to make a living?
Yet, if you head down to your local Oddbins this week, you’ll find the 2009 Stratum Pinot Noir from Sherborne Estate in Waipara down from £10.99 to less than seven English pounds.
Back in January at New Zealand conference Pinot Noir 2010, producers argued that their Pinot Noir could not be made and sold for under a crisp tenner - unless you wanted to go out of business. You might see some of the bigger Kiwi companies like Villa Maria selling their entry level Pinot Noir at a relative snip but that’s because they’ve secured a deal from their UK distributor to take a specified amount of their higher priced wines.
John Ferris, director of sales and marketing at Villa Maria Estate, said, ‘It is a very low margin for us but if you can strike a deal on selling quantities of your upper ranges in return for cheap prices there’s huge opportunities in the sub £10 category. But it’s essential to keep your cost-of-goods down”
Many other premium producers have said sub £10 Pinot Noir is not viable for most New Zealand wineries, and they should be concentrating on the on-trade and independent sector. Yet the average price for a bottle of New Zealand Pinot Noir in the UK is just under the £9-mark. Or, you can go down to Oddbins and buy a bottle for £6.99. However, things are still comparatively buoyant for New Zealand - the average price for a bottle of Chilean Pinot is around the £6-marker.
Sauvignon producer joins Specialists
Friday 6 August
Cast your minds back to the start of the year. Yes, I know it’s difficult and some of us can’t remember what happened yesterday but you may recall a premium winemaking group lauching: The Specialist Winegrowers of New Zealand.
Sauvignon Blanc accounts for 80% of the wine that leaves Kiwi ports yet the Specialists didn’t have a Savvy in their portfolio, claiming there were few producers who specialised solely in the variety.
It’s also a price-sensitive variety, as Chris Canning of The Hay Paddock, told me in an article for decanter.com ‘Sauvignon Blanc is such a cut-throat market.’
‘There was a little prejudice toward the variety. We want to decouple ourselves from the New Zealand wine brand image that is slanted toward Sauvignon Blanc,’ he said back in January.
However, the group’s tune has changed - they have just announced Marlborough’s Fairbourne Estate will be the sixth member of the Specialists, dedicated to Sauvignon Blanc.
According to the press release, Fairbourne has been on the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc scene since the early 1990’s. Embarrassingly, I have never visited them, tried their wines and heard very little about them, so I can’t tell you whether they are any good! I will endeavour to change that.
Fairbourne joins Waiheke-based The Hay Paddock and Destiny Bay; fizz producers No.1 Family Estate; Gewurztraminer specialists Vinoptima and, Wooing Tree from Central Otago.
Brussel Sprout heaven
Monday 28 June
Big Lobster, Limestone Coast: should the Yarra have a Big Brussel Sprout?
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, brussel sprouts are here to stay. Personally, I think they’re a great vegetable and they should be more highly regarded by the vegetable-eating community. So, when I found out that the Yarra Valley is home not only to stunning Chardonnays but the southern hemisphere’s largest brussel sprout farm, I knew I would like the region
I wondered if there was a Big Sprout for tourists to visit – like the big banana in Coff’s Harbour or the Big Lobster on the Limestone Coast (pictured). The Australians are experts at big things and they have become major tourist attractions - I’d certainly make a special trip to see it. Unfortunately, they haven’t got one…yet. Maybe a facebook campaign is on the cards?!
Other than sprouts, the Yarra Valley is sadly lacking in food specialities: there’s no Pauillac lamb equivalent here. Unfortunately, brussel sprouts are normally lumped in with asparagus and artichokes as foods that are a disaster to match with wine. But I won’t take that lying down…
In an edition of Wine Spectator, New York chef Andrew Carmellini paired his recipe for brussels sprouts, pancetta, rosemary leaves, toasted bread crumbs, Pecorino cheese and black pepper with Syrah. Try Sticks No 29 Shiraz Viognier, which has the peppery note and raspberry fruit to match.
Or how about brussel spouts with blue cheese, nuts and bacon with Giant Steps’ elegant 2008 Gladysdale Pinot Noir
It’s unlikely you’re going to eat a whole bowl of brussel sprouts, but if you were so inclined, best match it with a good old Savvy. Try De Bortoli’s 2008 Yarra Sauvignon Blanc
NZ needs to be realistic about US push
Thursday 3 June
The New Zealand government has finally approved funding for a New Zealand high-end initiative in the US, almost two months after I first broke the plans on decanter.com- that’s politics for you.
There was a lot of back slapping on twitter yesterday, with all the Kiwis congratulating each other on the initiative, particularly the 21 wineries involved. Indeed, government-funding of NZ$1.2 million is a welcome boost to the industry and not to be sniffed at. However, this thing isn’t even up and running and everyone’s already heralding it as the best thing since sliced bread.
The government’s target is to add NZ$50 million of additional sales in the US by 2015. Last year, New Zealand wine exports amounted to $214m, so it’s about a 20% increase in five years. That seems achievable.
However, I don’t think it’s time to get carried away. A fellow wine journalist in the US acknowledged that it was a good campaign, but every other country had a similar project – and France alone has a plethora of initiatives. Why is New Zealand’s going to be any different from the rest?
Steve Smith MW, chair of the initiative explained there was a rigorous process for getting into this ‘ultra-premium’ wine selection, of which half are Pinot Noir – not Sauvignon Blanc. “We are going to lead with Pinot Noir,” he said. “It’s a wine style that’s fashionable in the US and can compete with the best from Oregon and California.” In fact, there will only be a “few high-end Sauvignon Blancs” with the remainder coming from the aromatics, Bordeaux blends and Syrah.
The 21 wineries include Nautilus, Craggy Range, Seresin and Mt Difficulty. However, there are a number of wineries that didn’t wish to be part of the initiative, citing prohibitive costs – the wineries involved must raise $400,000 between them. Smith responded, “I would argue that for every dollar put in you get three dollars from the Government. It works out less than $5000 a wine a year so I would not say that was a valid argument.”
I hope this initiative works and it’s effective but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Resveratrol and the men in white coats
Tuesday 25 May
The latest herbal remedy renaissance is resveratrol. I can’t walk into a chemist to buy a packet of plasters without being confronted by an all-singing all-dancing resveratrol offer. Yesterday there was an ad on the radio extolling the virtues of it and I found myself telling the radio it should just have a glass of wine.
Obviously, a radio can’t hear me nor drink wine, and the men in white coats have been alerted of my latest penchant for talking to the radio. But come on, there’s a global wine glut. Why do we need to take a tasteless pill for something we can obtain from a delicious glass of wine? Beats me.
So what wines should you look for if you want to up your resveratrol intake? Reds should be top of your list. Research has found red wines have ten times more resveratrol than whites – damn, there goes my excuse for having another glass of Riesling.
In the red corner, Muscadine has the highest concentration of resveratol of all grape varieties but how often do you see Muscadine on the shelves outside of the USA? And if you did, would you want to drink it?! Pinot Noir also tends to have high levels of resveratrol whereas Cabernet Sauvignon has lower levels. According to the bible, a.k.a The Oxford Companion, cooler regions tend to produce wines higher in resveratrol, so think Burgundy, Washington and New Zealand - not Australia or India.
If there’s a market for selling resveratrol pills, then surely there’s a gap in the market for wines high in resveratrol. Well, so it seems, but that gap has already been identified by a Hunter Valley winery. Pendarves has created a Resveratrol Enhanced Wines that contains between 1,500% and 10,000% of the ‘normal’ levels of the antioxidant resveratrol. It claims resveratrol levels in its ‘Wine Doctor’ red wines are increased from 3-6mg/l to about 100mg/l, and those in its white wines are also increased from 1mg/l to about 100mg/l.
But does it taste any good? I’ll seek out a bottle and let you know. If you’ve already tried it and been impressed/distressed, let us know.