Marlborough’s discount derby
Wednesday 16 December
Marlborough was riding high until the 2008 vintage. They couldn’t make Sauvignon Blanc quickly enough. Then, a record crop coupled with an economic downturn suddenly saw an oversupply situation, which it is still struggling to pull itself out of.
Along came the cut price deals to get rid of stock: £3.99 for a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was previously unheard of; the shelves have since been full of discounted SB. Surely this has damaged the industry’s once premium image? Off the record, producers will admit that it has been a kick in the teeth and the region as a whole will suffer but they won’t be quoted on it.
Everyone you speak to here is positive that the supply-demand balance will come back within the not-too distant future since the global recession will sort the wheat from the chaff.
Ivan Sutherland, winemaker at Dog Point says, “There were many plantings in the Boondocks that should not have – with climates and soils that were unsuitable and the market will force them to drop out of the industry.”
There isn’t much more room left to plant in the current wine growing regions of the Wairau and Awatere Valleys and what is left isn’t particularly attractive. Stuart Smith, owner of Fairhill Downs and also chairman of New Zealand Winegrowers took time out from his staff Christmas barbecue to chat to me about the situation. “Marlborough is almost completely planted and we have little room. What is left is on the margins and it’s likely that the won’t be able to have consistent yields.”
It will take another year or so to get over the overhang from 2008, according to Smith and he believes the days of cheap bulk Sauvignon from Marlborough, lapped up by the supermarkets for cheap own label brands, are numbered – mainly because there’s no profit to be had.
I hope it’s true that Marlborough’s discount derby will come to an end soon. I suspect that it will be some time before that happens. Meanwhile, top quality producers like Framingham and Huia, who are doing great things, will have to fight harder to distance themselves from the Marlborough that many supermarket shoppers have come to know.
Don’t forget Otago’s whites
Monday 14 December
It’s well known that Central Otago does bloody good Pinot Noir so I’m not going to bore you with telling you about its lovely black cherry hue, dark fruits, herbal and savoury notes, and impressive backbone of acidity….Instead, I’m going to talk about its whites.
Sparklers, dry and off-dry Rieslings, and Pinot Gris give this region more strings to its bow. It does some decent Gewurz and a bit of Chardonnay but the Pinots and Rieslings stand out. Inevitably the whites are overshadowed by the Pinot Noirs, which dominate planting and give the region its prestige. But, as more markets and consumers get to know the Pinots of Central, they’ll start to ask ‘What else do you do?’ And the good news is, it ain’t Sauvignon Blanc.
Duncan Forsyth, winemaker at Mount Edward who has a disco ball in his barrel cellar and is making his own chorizo-type sausage, said “We have a name that can carry our region with our reds. Sauvignon Blanc is the leader for New Zealand. We will always be Sauvignon-centric simply because of the volumes of wine but for me the future is all about Riesling.”
David Hogg, director of Amisfield added, “If we just have Pinot Noir at our table that would be too straight. I think we have pretty special Pinot Gris and Riesling.”
Wines that stood out for me (although I can’t mention them all here or I’ll put you to sleep).
Sparkling:
Amisfield Arcadia Brut NV
50/50 Pinot Noir/Chardonnay. A great palate cleanser after a long day’s tasting. Apple skin, savoury note, lean and crisp with elegant mousse and fresh acidity. 17.5/20
2007 Mount Edward Riesling, (£12, Laytons)
A crisp little number. Zesty on entry with green apple, citrus, white flowers and minerally . Lovely texture and concentration. Tight finish thanks to a very low pH of 2.95. Alcohol at 12.5 makes for a wine you can drink plenty of… 18/20
2008 Quartz Reef Pinot Gris
The biodynamic Austrian winemaker makes this in a tight Germanic style with no malo and no oak. It sits somewhere between a Gris and a Grigio style. Full of citrus, apple and pear with a little creaminess. Medium-full body with an alcohol of 14.5% but it’s well balanced so you don’t end up breathing fire after drinking. 17.5/20
Ok so I said I wouldn’t talk about reds but I can’t help but mention Felton Road because all of its Pinots would get you excited (its whites are great too)
2008 Calvert Pinot Noir, Felton Road
Ok, so the jury’s still out on whether I preferred the more expensive Block 3 Pinot or this but, as I’m a tight northerner, I’ve gone for the Calvert. Lovely bright colour. It’s minerally, almost chalky, with sweet fruit on entry with a generous and supple mid-palate. It ends with a lean and smoky, French-oak finish. 18/20
Does wine need vintages?
Tuesday 17 November
Do we really need vintages? Most Champagne don’t and they’re doing quite nicely.
This was the challenge laid down by Robert Joseph at Winefuture last week and he left listeners mulling over it.
He asked producers why they thought they could get away with being so inconsistent. He has a point. While most wine geeks are interested in the vintage and how the rain/sun/hail affected the taste and structure of a wine; most couldn’t give a monkeys. They want consistent quality year in, year out. If the 2009 isn’t as good as the 2008 and they are the same price, how can that be understood by the average punter?
OK, many wine laws require the vintage to be stated on the bottle but it really wouldn’t make any difference to the consumer if Casillero del Diablo or Hardys had the vintage on the bottle or not. Plus, if you had a poor year then blending from older stocks (like they do in Champagne and in some parts of the new world), you would be able to deliver greater consistency. That’s all consumers want and what they expect from a brand. Joseph said: “The wine industry has no idea at all about brand identity…Consumers like simplicity and consistency: everything that wine doesn’t stand for.”
What do you reckon?
Winefuture limps into action
Thursday 12 November
Winefuture should’ve started with a bang – it was more like a wet weekend.
I can’t say it’s been that enlightening. There haven’t been many new and interesting things said to be honest with you. I am covering the event for a number of magazines and boy oh boy has it been hard to find anything really newsworthy.
Plenty of speakers have had their chance to unabashedly promote their company – Xavier Pages, CEO at Codorniu told us about his grandfather and the history of the company for the first ten minutes before he actually got to something interesting. And while I like Stephen Spurrier his speech on the future of wine writing was a Decanter advertorial. The twitterati at the event had a field day. The magazine should’ve sent a real journalist like Adam Lechmere or Guy Woodward (editors) who could’ve made a real contribution to the debate.
I sloped off before the “How to improve sales and consumption through fairs and competitions” but from all the tweets, it seems that I didn’t miss much. Rob McIntosh of wineconversation.com tweeted from the event: “BREAKING NEWS: Mel Dick announces a wine event in Florida experienced great weather”
If I had been paying for the ticket, I might be feeling robbed by now if it weren’t for Ryan Opaz of Catavino and Gary Vaynerchuk livening the day up
Nevertheless I’ve met a lot of old and new faces, which is great, and I’m ever the optimist for a better day tomorrow.
Quotes of the day
“People are obsessed with wine scores…scores have become involuntary sellers of wine or a defence tribunal for consumers” - Jose Penin, founder of Penin guides
I don’t give a crap about about facebook and twitter but I care about consumers. “You should be embarrassed if you don’t recognised that this platform allows you to talk to them.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
“Bordeaux Grands Crus are the Champs Elysee of Bordeaux but also the Silicon Valley”- Matthieu Chardronier, CEO CVBG Dourthe
Wine Future, felt tips and a safety pin
Tuesday 10 November
The wine world is descending on Rioja this week for Winefuture, a conference asking: what are the major challenges and opportunities facing the wine industry in 2009?
Big names including Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson MW and Constellation’s Troy Christensen will be speaking at the event so I’m heading along with more than 900 others to see what they have to say.
The technical director of Winefuture, Kevin Zraly, said: “Not many events in this industry focus on global sales and marketing of wine. Moreover, not only the event will bring together the most important wine industry professionals but also the most prestigious wine writers in the world.”
Does that “prestigious wine writers” bit include me Kevin?! I don’t think so. There was a bit of confusion over my press accreditation yesterday. The organisers couldn’t find any trace of me despite sending confirmation of my place by email back in July. Luckily I still had the official email and the conference has happily found me again. Confusion caused by a changeover of staff, they said. I will wait to see if I get a name badge or I’ll have to make my own. Perhaps I should take some card, a felt tip and a safety pin to Rioja with me, just in case.