The word on Waipara
Wednesday 9 December
So I’ve made it to New Zealand to start my new life over here. Only three days after landing on Kiwi soil, I’m off on an eight-day tour of Waipara, Central Otago, Marlborough, Nelson and Hawkes Bay. Nothing like easing myself in gently.
The trip kicked off with a whistlestop tour of Waipara – a 45-minute drive north of Christchurch. I have to admit my knowledge of Waipara was pretty patchy but after a full day’s tasting and meeting the producers, I’ll give you an overview.
Waipara’s a small region and there were very few wineries until the mid-90s. Today, it’s mostly family wineries although there are a few big players involved including drinks giant Pernod Ricard, which sells wine under the Camshorn label. However, this is a region that won’t be able to service the volume demands of the supermarkets and its wines seem to be more relevant to the on-trade and independent market anyway.
What’s best in Waipara?
While most wineries produce a range of varietals including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, the region’s Riesling and Pinot Gris are what it does best - in my opinion. Both the Riesling and Pinot Gris are made in an off-dry style and very successfully.
The Rieslings are pure and clean with alcohol levels reaching a refreshingly low 11.5% or 12%. These aren’t as austere as many Aussie Rieslings and by keeping some residual sugar, a touch of sweetness takes the edge of the firm acidity. Look out for Pegasus Bay (stocked by New Generation in the UK) and Waipara Springs (Hayward Bros/Helion Wines).
Hidden hillside gems?
I couldn’t help but notice that the vast majority of vines were planted on the flat gravel lands while there were plenty of hillsides sitting unplanted. There are some producers who are planting on the hillsides but it’s the exception rather than the rule. At the risk of making a massive generalisation, I’ve always believed that hillsides tend to make better wines and could do here. There were plenty of wines from the flatlands that were superb but I wonder if this region has a lot of untapped potential.
Climate
Just in case you’re interested, here’s a bit of geeky info on the climate here. Despite being only 45 minutes north of Christchurch, on most days temperatures in the region are two to three degrees C higher than in the city. I’ll have to take the producers’ word for it as it was Baltic when I visited inappropriately in my flip flops (aka jandals, I believe in New Zealand-speak). You’ll generally find higher temperatures in Waipara because it’s protected from the sea by the Cheviot Hills. It’s also really dry here in summer. If rain does fall a really strong drying north-westerly blows through the vineyards drying the vines out and botrytis is rare. I could go on but I fear you would lose the will to live if I continue harping on about the weather any further.
In short this is a really young region with some impressive wines coming from not-very-old vines. Watch out for it if you’re a Riesling or Pinot Gris freak. There’s still plenty more to come.
A couple of notes on your visit to Waipara, as the hill thing is something I am really interested in.
I agree with your comments regarding hills giving different (maybe better) wines, but certainly see the situation quite differently here in New Zealand, and possibly parts of Chile, than that in Europe.
As you know vines are often planted in hills in Europe for a few reasons, being:
-Less vigour from the soils as the topsoil and silts have been washed down to the fertile valley floors. Growing the vines on high vigour sites obviously gives more leaf, more fruit cover, more disease susceptibility, and usually less intense fruit.
-Better aspect to the sun
-Lesser risk of frost as it falls down the hill
-Better drainage, so no water-logging
The weird thing is that the situation here is nearly exactly opposite as the valley floors were rivers only a couple of hundred years ago so certainly in Marlborough, and I believe in Waipara, the free-draining soils are on the valley floors. The silts and clay soils in most cases are still on the hills so it is quite a different situation to that of Europe.
I really like planting on hills for a few varieties, Pinot Noir in particular, but it is usually for a different reason than Europe, based around the soils. I certainly find that the higher clay based soils, as long as there is still some drainage, assist with palate weight, with a rough generalisation being that the stony soils seem great for the nose and the clay / silt being better for the palate. I think the reason for that is all to do with water relations and that it has the same effect as say chalky soils, where water is retained in the soil and slowly made available to the vine, rather than stony soils where rushes through the soil and the availability is much more sporadic. The vines therefore turn off and on more, which seems to have an effect on the fruit structure.
I think this is also one of the key reasons why older vines are often highly rated.
Cheers, Brian
- by Brian Bicknell, winemaker, Mahi Wines
Hi Brian,
Thanks for your message. Having visited Marlborough since my trip to Waipara, it does seem to be emerging that the free draining gravels found on the valley floors does work for some varieties like Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling rather than the heavier clays.
In Chile, the situation seems to be more of a European one with many heading to the hills and coast at the moment in search of better terroirs.
I’d still like to see more hillside projects but in the current economic climate the word on the street is that no-one can afford to plant and certainly not until the supply-demand situation comes back into balance.
It’s good to get people thinking about it though!
Rebecca
- by Rebecca