eMayd 2007 12s36e54

As you will see we have a new e-newsletter format for our Spring Newsletter May 2007. The new format gives us much more flexibility and freedom in that we are not restricted to a specific number of words per article. Obviously we don't want to encourage unnecessarily lengthy pieces as the short, pithy items work very well, but some topics are best covered in depth, such as the Rhône and New Zealand trip reports included in this issue. Members' tasting notes, gathered on the various trips, seminars and tastings we attend will also be included, but to preserve the flow of the newsletter longer tasting notes will be stored in a Tasting Notes Appendix, accessible via hyperlinks from the articles .

Another benefit of the new format is the ability to include photographs. This makes the newsletter more colourful, modern and appealing. Most browsers allow font size to be adjusted to make on-line reading easier on the eyes, but for those who wish to have a paper copy, there is also a printable version without the photographs.

I think we should also be thinking in a much broader context in future. Having an e-newsletter means we can, should we choose to, have shorter updates as and when there has been a seminar or an AWE educational visit, or if there is a topical issue we wish to air our views on, but for the moment we will stick to three newsletters a year, with the next issues due out in July and November.

I would like to invite suggestions from the membership as to what you would like to see in your newsletter, or any ideas you may have for regular features. Articles for submission to the newsletter will always be welcome at any time so please don't wait to be asked for your contributions.

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Following the letter or spirit of the law? Chairman’s Column By Susan Hulme MW
The subject of licensing wine events was first raised by a couple of our AWE members, aired in our newsletter and then discussed officially at our AGM in May last year when Ian Harris, head of WSET, agreed to take things forward on our behalf with the Wine & Spirit Trade Association. At the same time, Anthony Stockbridge offered to provide a seminar for AWE members enabling them to become more knowledgeable about the law (see CBD’s article later in this issue). Anthony also wrote to the Department Of Culture, Media and Sport, headed by Tessa Jowell, asking for wine education to be exempt from the law, and encouraged other members to do the same. At the moment, this law is very much open to interpretation by local councils and it is unclear what is officially required to hold a tasting event.

I do hope that when the DCMS have finished deliberating, they find in favour of wine education being exempt from unnecessary bureaucracy and additional costs. I’m sure that issuing event licences is a very lucrative source of revenue for some local councils but that is surely a cynical and misguided focus on the letter rather than the spirit of the law. We eagerly await the outcome of this issue.

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AWEsome News

Bursary

This year's winner of the 2007 AWE/IMW study bursary is Michael Arditti, a freelance wine consultant and wine educator. Michael is in his second year of his MW studies having passed the MW tasting examination some years ago. He has been involved in wine education for several years and has taught for the WSET and the Wine Education Service among other clients.

Susan Hulme MW and Joanne Locke MW, chairman of the IMW, will present Michael with his certificate and cheque at this year's LIWSTF on the 23rd May between 11:00 and 11:15 at the IMW stand (R70). Please feel free to come along.

Forthcoming events - Diary Planner

25th May 2007 - AWE AGM, followed by a AWE seminar and tasting on New Wave Portuguese wines with Honorary President Charles Metcalfe. This will be followed by lunch at the Portuguese Embassy with Guests of Honour, His Excellency the Ambassador of Portugal, António Santana Carlo and the head of ICEP, António Silva. We would like to express our gratitude to the Portuguese Ambassador for his generous hospitality.

Week commencing 11th June - AWE/CIVB Bordeaux Educational visit.

11th July 2007 - AWE Seminar with Brian Croser, organised by David Lindsay (Lindsay May PR) and Susan Hulme MW). Venue: Mentzendorff & Co Ltd, Albert Embankment, London.

October - AWE Seminar - Agriculture Raisonée organised by Richard Bampfield MW. Location: Central London. Date and venue TBC.

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AWE Trip to the Rhône Valley, November 27th to December 2nd 2006

Château Roubaud; Louis Bernard; Terres D’Avignon; Françoise Drounau; Restaurant 75; Côtes du Luberon; Domaine de la Citadelle ; Domaine des Anges; Château Unang; Institut Rhodanien - Olivier Roustang; Domaine Bonetto Fabrol; Domaine de Grangeneuve; Domaine Saint Apollinaire and Domaine du Coriançon; Caves de Vignerons de Chusclan; Syndicat de Tavel; Cave de Jonquières

27th November, Château Roubaud By Vivienne Franks

The first winery visit on the AWE Rhône trip was a mere 25 kilometers from Nîmes. Château Roubaud is the oldest property in the area and was the first to bottle wines. Founded in 1900, the 5th generation is now running the family property of 84 hectares. In 1986 Château Roubaud was included in the Costières de Nîmes appellation. The vines which grow on stony clay/chalk soils are up to 60 years old, consisting of mainly Grenache (30%) and Syrah (20%) grapes. There is also a proportion of Carignan (20%), Cinsault (10%) Mourvèdre, Roussanne, Clairette, Grenache Blanc and Ugni Blanc vines on the estate. The family make 70% red, 25% rose and 5% white wines. All fruit is hand-harvested, varieties are vinified separately and then blended. There is no oak in any of the wines.

Whites & Rosés

We tasted the Cuvée Prestige white, a blend of 60% Roussanne and 40% Grenache Blanc, followed by the Traditional Reserve Rosé, which is a blend of 40% Syrah, 40% Grenache, and 20% Cinsault, made by the ‘saignée’ method. The Rosé Prestige, a blend of 50% Syrah and 50% Grenache is also a saignée-method produced wine. This had more structure and complexity than the previous rosé, with lovely spicy rich flavours and well-balanced acidity and fruit.

Reds

As with the Rosé, there are 2 styles of red wine. First we tasted the Traditional Reserve red, a blend of 35% Syrah, 35% Grenache and 30% Carignan, then the Cuvée Prestige red, which is produced from 45 year old Syrah vines and 40 year old Mourvèdre vines, with very low yields. The blend is 70% Syrah and 30% Mourvèdre. This wine was much more structured and had richer flavours and texture than the Traditional Reserve red.

This was an interesting first stop on our trip and enabled us to get a feel for the available styles and grape varieties within the Costières de Nîmes appellation.

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28th November, Louis Bernard By Hazel Tattersall

Chartreuse de Bonpas, a 12C fortified monastery was the historic setting for an early morning visit to producer Louis Bernard. Situated at Aumont sur Durance and beautifully restored by the company on moving there 18 months ago, it provides a wonderful visitor and tourist attraction in this southerly part of the Rhône Valley.

History & Philosophy

Stéphane Oudar, general manager gave us a succinct presentation of the company’s structure and philosophy before guiding us through a tasting. Acknowledging the growing quality of Rhône wine, the Boisset group acquired Louis Bernard in 1998, expanding outside Burgundy for the first time. As Stéphane explained ‘the strategy and philosophy of the group is one of partnership with growers and winemakers, working through each step of the winemaking process’. They work with 30/40 different ‘vintner partners’ in over 15 AOCs, including some in the Northern Rhône. This represents a total of about 500ha with a production of 4,500,000 bottles. The ‘hands-on aspect of the partnership’ was stressed and involves an oeneologist with 6 winemaking teams in support.

The wines

The Chartreuse itself has a small vineyard of 22ha with stony soil similar to Châteauneuf du Pape. We tasted wines across the range including a white and a red from the Chartreuse de Bonpas, (AC Côtes du Rhône), also from Gigondas and Chateauneuf du Pape. The white Chartreuse de Bonpas (AOC Côtes du Rhone 60% Clairette, 40% Grenache Blanc) particularly impressed me with its honeyed citrus and floral notes and zesty mouth feel. Nicely integrated oak added some body, giving a well-rounded finish.

Our thanks go to Stéphane for an excellent visit.

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28th November, Terres d’Avignon Co-operative By Christos Ioannou

This cave co-operative situated in the southern Rhône was founded in 1925 and having merged with two other co-ops in 1992 currently has 300 member growers. Their vineyards cover 1128 hectares and are situated within a 10 km radius of the town of Jonquerettes. The soils in this area are similar to the stony outcrops found around Châteauneuf du Pape, so not surprisingly the co-op concentrates on red wine.

Maintaining standards

Frequent visits during the year and a visual inspection of the grapes before harvest by the co-op’s viticulturalists ensures that high standards are maintained by their growers. Grapes are graded into three categories A, B and C, and if no inspection has taken place the crop is automatically graded the lowest quality ‘C’. There is a strong incentive for the growers to meet the stringent standards required for ‘A’ quality grapes as these command a price twice that of ‘B’ grapes, and on average 85% of each year’s crop is graded ‘A’.

Selling the wine

10% of the co-op’s annual production is actually sold at the cave, where visitors are greeted by a very welcoming and colourful atmosphere that wouldn’t be out of place in the New World. The huge domed roof is adorned with an enormous mural depicting local landmarks, wine related objects and pictures of the life in the vineyard. Behind a weighbridge, what looks like a row of petrol pumps are proudly lined up against a wall of ceramic tiles. Above the pumps ‘V de T Rouge and Rosé €1.35, and CDR Rouge and Rosé €2.40’ is stencilled on the wall. At this price per litre it’s little surprise that during our short visit several locals appeared with 10 litre plastic containers in hand to fill up for the week’s requirements.

We tasted a range of wines culminating in the excellent Côtes du Rhône Villages Camp Revès 2003: a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault it had an attractive nose of sweet blackberries, currants and cassis, and on the palate, very ripe fruit, acidity and tannin in balance, and a long finish.

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28th November, Talk by Françoise Drounau, Inter-Rhône By Susan Hulme MW
Our hosts gave us a very good presentation of Rhône facts and figures and marketing data, enabling us to view the Rhône Valley in the context of other AOC regions of France in terms of quantity produced and market position. This provided a very useful framework and background to our trip.

A short summary of the talk follows:

Northern Rhône is only 10% of the total Rhône production and does not produce Côtes du Rhône. The appellation structure is:

1. Côtes du Rhône (CDR)

2. Côtes du Rhône Villages

3. Côtes du Rhône Villages + Name of Village (18 of these village names listed on the Inter Rhône website www.inter-rhône.com although it mentions 19 elsewhere on the same website) This excludes the 2 new AOCs from 2005 - Vinsobres and Beaumes de Venise red because these can either have their own CRU status or have to use the Côtes du Rhône AC.

4. Cru (15 of them plus two for sweet wine)

Côtes du Rhône plantings are 40,000 ha approx. It regularly produces the second largest amount of AC wine after Bordeaux.

Of the CDR produced, 73% is consumed in France and 27% exported. In France in general there has been a big decline in domestic consumption of Vin de Table and Vins de Pays (5-10% down in one year) due to the introduction of stricter drink-driving laws. There has also been a small decline in AC consumption. In volume terms for CDR, the UK is 31% of exports and Germany is next at 16%, so the UK is a very important market. 70% of production is CDR, CDR Villages 20%, Cru 10%. About 2% of CDR is white, the rest rosé and red.

Our trip was very firmly concentrated on what Inter-Rhône call 'La Nouvelle Ecole' which they translate as 'the newcomers'. This includes Côtes du Luberon, Côtes du Ventoux, Coteaux du Tricastin and Costières de Nîmes. The latter although considered for a long time part of the languedoc, forms the western edge of the Southern Rhône.These newcomers are less well known in the UK and are the ones Inter-Rhône are keen to promote. We briefly discussed exceptional 2004 vintage which is on the shelves in the UK. Thanks to idyllic weather conditions – warm from May to June and September with rain in August – we were told that the wines are displaying exceptional quality and they are well structured. Acidity levels are higher than in 2003 and 2000, so most growers compare 2004 with more classic style years, such as 1999. This presentation was followed this by a tasting of 5 very different Côtes du Rhône from the 2004 vintage.

Wines tasted.

1. Buzz CDR 2004

2. Domaine Fond Croze CDR Cuvée 2004

3. Domaine Jaume CDR Generation 2004

4. CDR Village Laudun Victor Contis 2004

5. CDR Village Rasteau Cave de Rasteau 2004

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The 8 Northern Cru:

Côte Rôtie

Condrieu

Château Grillet

Saint-Joseph

Crozes-Hermitage

Hermitage

Cornas

St. Péray

The 7 Southern Cru:

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Gigondas

Tavel

Vacqueryas

Lirac

Vinsobres (new in 2005)

Beaumes de Venise (red, new in 2005)

28th November, dinner at restaurant 75 with Anthony Taylor (Sommelier and PR Director) and Samuel Claes (Export Manager) of Gabriel Meffre By Vivienne Franks

Following a long but interesting day, our final appointment was dinner at restaurant 75 with Anthony Taylor (Sommelier and PR Director) and Samuel Claes Export Manager) of Gabriel Meffre. Anthony outlined the structure of the company which was established by Gabriel Meffre in 1936. The business was acquired by Allied Domecq in 1990 and in 1997 there was a management buyout led by the current CEO Bertrand Bonnet. All the managers are shareholders and there are 9 winemakers and 2 sommeliers in this 120 ha business. Half the wines come from the Rhône Valley, half from the Languedoc and over 70% of the wine is exported.

Our first taste of the evening was the 2001 Laurus Chateauneuf-du-Pape, a blend of 40% Grenache, 25% Roussanne, 20% Clairette and 15% Picardin. This was tasted with a rabbit terrine with foie gras, on an apple and ginger coulis with salad. The wine had a citrus and spicy fruit nose, with an elegant yet richly aromatic fruity flavour.

With the sea bass, artichoke ragout, beans and mange-tout we drank three red wines, none of which in my opinion matched the sea bass. First was the 2005 ‘La Chasse du Pape’ a well known brand in the UK, a blend of 50% Grenache, 40% Syrah, 7% Mourvèdre and 3% Cinsault. At £4.99 this is a pleasant fruity quaffer. Second we tried the 2004 Gigondas, a blend of 65% Grenache and 35% Syrah. This wine had lovely fresh red fruits without a hint of oak. The final wine with the main course was the 2001 Longue Toque Hommage a Gabriel Meffre, 55% Grenache, 32% Syrah and 13% Mourvèdre. This wine, although it did not do justice to the sea bass was in fact a complex and elegant spicy, rich, black, fruity wine. It had a beautiful balance between the intense dark fruits and spicy peppery character.

Dessert consisted of apple tart and ice-cream which went superbly well with the 2005 Muscat de Beaumes de Venise. This wine had grapey aromas with stone fruit flavours and great acidity. A perfect end to an excellent day in the region.

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29th November, Côtes du Luberon By Lindsay Oram

If it’s Wednesday it must be Côtes du Luberon. Our first stop of the day is Domaine le Royère where the lovely Anne meets us at her family property situated at the western end of the Côtes du Luberon. They have been independent vignerons for 20 years, being the first to leave the co-operative system in 1986. The co-op has not had a great quality image and with increasing competition in the wine world many growers have followed her example. The domaine rents vines from neighbours for €200 a year; to buy would cost €15,000 per hectare, so renting makes economic sense. Anne tells us that for the first time, all of the 2006 vintage has completed its malolactic fermentation due to the mild weather. Another effect of global warming? In 2005 it took 11 months to finish.

Facts & figures

This area looks and feels like Provence but the main reason it has linked itself with the Rhône is the commonality of grape varieties. This is the second of the four newcomers or satellites we are visiting, and the only one of the four and possibly the only wine area in the world in a regional nature reserve. Anne leads us through the facts and figures on the area, firstly grapes, and the surprise here is the amount of white produced - 15% - which is very high for the Rhône. Secondly rosé is growing strongly at 32% of the total at the expense of red, now at 53%. The actual varieties are all the usual suspects.

The area takes its name from the Luberon mountain range which is 50km long, 20km wide and 400 metres high, and which gives a variety of soils, sandy, stony, clay and pebbles. This is a relatively young AOC from 1988 covering 3,300 ha and producing 130,000hl from an average yield of 45hl/ha. The climate is Mediterranean and is affected by the winds. The night time temperature drops considerably aiding fruit quality. The average export figure for the four newcomers is 23%, but Luberon does better at 35% so they must be doing something right. Maybe the tasting will tell.

Tasting the wines

On to a tasting of 10 Côtes du Luberon wines from different producers, there is everything from the modern to the old fashioned, with or without wood, young and fruity to the past-its-best. My pick of the crop was the light and refreshing 2006 rosé Domaine du Douane, (the only 2006 tasted); La Rolliere 2003 with some old Carignan in the blend giving a fresh mineral character and a smooth dry finish; and the youthful 2003 Quercus matured in 50:50 old Bordeaux and Burgundy barrels with baked cherry fruits mixed with coffee, a very silky texture, and smooth tannins (not something all the wines achieved).

So after this, could I pick out Côtes du Luberon from the other newcomers, or even Côtes du Rhône? The answer is no, but most have the same warm ripe feel and good price to quality ratio.

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29th November, Domaine de la Citadelle By Sue Crabtree

Sue Crabtree Yves Rousset-Rouard, Mayor of Ménerbes & former film producer (Les Bronzés & Emmanuelle), has owned La Citadelle since 1980. Following the acquisition of a local farm some 9 years later he developed Domaine de La Citadelle into a showcase winery. First on the agenda was a tour of the Corkscrew Museum which had an amazing display of 1,200 corkscrews including some designed for travellers, others incorporated into daggers & pistols (useful on the battlefield?) and an interesting erotic collection!

Facts & figures

Situated at the confluence of the Rhône & Durance Rivers, the estate practices sustainable agriculture and harvests at lower yields of 39hl/ha for reds (55hl/ha allowed) & 29hl/ha for whites. There is some hand-harvesting & Cordon Royat training.

Grape varieities grown on the estate for AOC Côte du Luberon wines are Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan & Cinsault. For whites they grow Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Ugni Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulenc & Marsanne. Red varieties planted for the Vin de Pays de Vaucluse are Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah & Merlot and for the whites, Chardonnay & Viognier.

The state of the art winery (someone mentioned ‘Star Trek’) is built into the hill, to allow for gravity feed. All the wines go through malolactic fermentation so that the wines do not need to be filtered.

The ultimate wine, Les Ultimes 2003 Côtes du Luberon, a complex, intense blend of 50% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache and 40% Syrah was described as best drunk with game birds! What more can you say!

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29th November, Station Lunch with Domaine des Anges By Hazel Tattersall

The Restaurant de la Gare at Bonnieux (of Peter Mayle fame) was the venue for a lunchtime meeting with Domaine des Anges’s winemaker, Ciaran Rooney. As Irish as his name suggests, Ciaran left Ireland with his family at the age of 8 to live in South Africa. After studying at Stellenbosch University, he worked for Neil Ellis as cellar master. Following some further international experience, he arrived at Domaine des Anges in 1998.

Situated in the foothills of Mount Ventoux, the vineyards enjoy the cooling effect of the evening breezes after the heat of the Provence day. Ciaran had brought several of his wines to accompany a typical French lunch of Daube de Boeuf, cheese and Tarte aux Citron, not forgetting the substantial salad bar to start with! After a lengthy morning of visits and tastings, this lunch was ‘just the ticket’.

The wines

The Côtes du Ventoux Blanc impressed immediately. Made from Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Clairette and Bourboulenc, from vines grown on east facing slopes, it had a complex nose of citrus, pear drops and creamy oak. The Roussanne had been fermented in Allier oak, the others tank fermented to preserve freshness. The L’Archange Côtes du Ventoux Rouge made a splendid match for the Daube. This was a blend of Syrah and Grenache from 40 year old vines planted on sun-baked slopes. There were enticing aromas of black cherries, spice and liquorice with smooth tannins and rich, concentrated fruit mid palate leading to an elegant finish.

With such an interesting and amusing winemaker on hand to answer our questions, and having provided some excellent wines, this was certainly a lunch to remember.

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29th November, Château Unang, Côtes de Ventoux By Andrew Bennett

Château Unang is a secluded 70ha estate situated midway between the villages of Venasque and Methamis and about 30km from Avignon. About 25ha are planted with grapes, 45 ha is woodland. In 867 AD the king of Provence built a château here called Chateau Unango (meaning ‘with water’). There are two springs within the grounds.

The estate is owned and run by English couple Joanna and James King who bought the château around 5 years ago. Their background was in banking. Joanna and James started out by walking us around the estate’s vineyards, situated at about 300m above sea level and occupying an impressive array of aspects and terroirs. A part of the vineyards are planted in a cooler valley close to a river, where 2ha of white grapes (Roussanne and Clairette) are planted in the alluvial soils. These usually ripen 2-3 weeks later than the top of the valley.

Replanting

The mid and upper slopes are planted with Syrah and Grenache. Joanna and James are currently replanting much of the vineyard and are also bulldozing a number of terraces into the hillside. When finished, these will provide an impressive site for their Syrah vines, allowing greater exposure to sun and hence a greater degree of ripeness. They intend to plant in 2009.

They are also planting Cinsault which helps to reduce the high alcohol of Grenache when blended. They have a little bit of Carignan which they vinify by carbonic maceration and they have a number of cherry trees planted too. The average age of the vines is 25 years.

Mount Ventoux

This is one of the most beautiful vineyards you can imagine and everywhere you walk around it, you can see the imposing snow-capped peak of Mount Ventoux in the distance. The soils are a combination of clay and limestone on the mid and upper slopes and alluvial by the river. Their yields are kept very low, typically 30-35hl/ha (the regional average is 50hl/ha) and all grapes are hand picked.

The wines

We tasted a number of their wines. The whites were quite rich and had a fair degree of oak. The reds were impressive, with a degree of cool-climate elegance allied to the typical peppery/herbal character of the region. In the main they were blends of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. Finally we tasted a barrel sample of their Ventoux Rouge 2006 which was 100% Grenache. Judging by this sample, I recommend buying some when it is released!!

As the vines get older, as new improved vines come into use and as Joanna and James move further and further up the steep learning curve, I believe this estate will be producing some of the very best wines of the entire region. Certainly one to watch!!

Château Pesquié

As an added bonus, we were treated to a tasting of the superb wines of neighbouring estate Château Pesquié. In particular, their Quintessence 2005 and 2004 (Roussanne/Clairette and Syrah/Grenache respectively) and their Artemia 2004 and 2005 (Grenache/Syrah) were stunning.

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30th November, Visit to Olivier Roustang, Institut Rhodanien By Susan Hulme MW
I was looking forward to this visit because Olivier had recently delivered an excellent AWE seminar for us in the UK.

The Institut Rhodanien performs all the usual laboratory analysis such as VA, pH, sugar etc to assist winemakers. 330 wineries are members of the Institut and this represents about 25% of the total wines in the Rhône. They have four consultant winemakers who look after 60-80 wines. The Institut has 3 laboratories in the north and the headquarters which we visited in Orange and which can analyse up to 1,200 samples per day.

Clones

We first started with a discussion on clones for the two main varieties. Grenache has 15-20 different clones; the most widely planted is clone 70, but it is not the highest quality. Clones 135 and 136 have small berries with more phenolic compounds. As for Syrah, clones 471, 325, 300 and 174 are the best, the latter two showing more typicity of blackberry, liquorice and pepper, but clones 100 and 99 are the most widely planted at present. Through ENTAV (Etablissement National Technique pour l’Amélioration de la Viticulture), the lab exchanges information on Grenache and Carignan with Spain and with Australia on Syrah.

Dépérissement

We talked briefly about a disease that affects Syrah that most of us had never heard of called ‘Dépérissement’. It kills the vine in three years and is a type of fungus. Leaves go red during the growing season for 1-2 years then the vines die due to fungus in the graft. This seems to affect rootstocks 110 and 99 Richter in particular. Some vines are also affected by apoplexy.

Brettanomyces

We then moved into a smaller lab and had a discussion about Brettanomyces which as we know is a yeast-based problem. Olivier said that Brettanomyces can start with the malo-lactic fermentation well before the maturation period and can be found in the lees. Ways of limiting Brett include draining the wine off the lees quickly, low pH, low temperature and maintaining good levels of SO2. The average pH of Rhône reds however is 3.50-3.55 and is set to rise with global warming; this may lead to an increased incidence of Brett. If Brettanomyces is at a sufficiently high level, possible short-term solutions include blending with unaffected wine to reduce the effect and filtering using reverse osmosis or cross-flow filtration to remove yeasts. Barrels can be treated by cleaning with boiling water but if this is not effective, the barrel must be burned.

Perception of Brett

I was interested to hear Olivier say that in various surveys, consumers had often shown a preference for Brett-affected wines. I felt it may be because of the distinctive and powerful smell. I can easily understand that from my own experience as a wine educator. When describing characteristics on the nose to students, I am often met initially with baffled looks or blank expressions as beginners find it hard both to experience then identify more subtle aromas. Naturally they notice the more obvious things first, like oak or especially pungent aromas. They may be relieved (with a Brett-affected wine) to be smelling something at least!

Spectrum

Another interesting point which we didn’t really get to explore was that at various stages of Brett, there is a different spectrum of aromas. At some stage there is a minty character, or a smell of Elastoplast, or the animally, almost gamey or feral notes that I am particularly intolerant of when it obscures the fruit. Different people are more sensitive to certain parts of the spectrum than others.

I found it all fascinating as lately I have come across an increase in the number of Brett-affected wines.We then went on to a blind tasting of 16 Côtes du Rhône wines and one thing that stood out for me was the very big difference in styles from one wine to another. This was a most professionally organised tasting and I very much appreciated the efforts that Olivier had gone to.

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30th November, Domaine Bonetto Fabrol, Coteaux du Tricastin By Carolyn Bosworth-Davies.

Leaving the Institute, we travelled north from Orange towards the département of Drôme Provencal and to the wine region of the Coteaux du Tricastin. Before our first visit however, lunch beckoned and we were fortunate to be taken to St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to the excellent Villa Augusta. Starting with an excellent Crémant de Die, we followed with escargots, tuna, and the best dessert of the week, a trio of pears.

Good spirits prevailed as we arrived at the Domaine Bonetto Fabrol, where we met with Philippe Fabrol, winemaker and owner for the past sixteen years, who runs the domaine with his wife and one other helper.

Location

The domaine lies on the western part of the appellation of Coteaux du Tricastin close to the scenic hilltop village of La Garde Adhemar. Philippe explained that the estate in Tricastin was only 7 hectares but that they also owned a further 8 hectares on the other side of the Rhône which produces wines that qualify as Vin de Pays d’Oc. Originally the estate was established by his grandfather, but his father only looked after the vines on the other side of the Rhône so when Philippe took over in Grande Adhemar, the vineyard was in a poor condition.

Coteaux du Tricastin

As this was our first visit to the Coteaux du Tricastin, Philppe described the region and appellation generally. He explained that it had been awarded its AOC in 1973, that it covered 2,600 hectares, and uses the same grape varieties permitted for Côtes du Rhône, namely Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, Carignan and Mourvèdre for reds, and Viognier, Rousanne, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc, and Clairette. Tricastin is the most northern AOC of the Southern Rhône and consequently has a more continental influence climatically with much colder night time temperatures than if it were closer to Avignon. Stylistically therefore the wines of Coteaux du Tricastin are much fresher with more colour and acidity than those of the Côtes du Rhône.

Tricastin is a predominantly a red wine appellation (90%), and at Domaine Bonetto Fabrol the focus is very much on the Grenache and Syrah vines.

Masterclass

Philippe is passionate about his vines and an instant masterclass kicked off, explaining to us the differences between these two varieties. Standing between two rows, with Grenache on one side and Syrah on the other, each with forty years of age, he enthused about the differences between them. The Grenache had thicker trunks and its canes were orange/brown in colour and stood upright. The Syrah vines had a much thinner trunk with maroon/red/brown canes that drooped. Syrah vines do not live as long as Grenache vines. The vines were not trained on wires but grow close to the ground because, as Philippe explained, the region has been experiencing severe drought.

Philippe harvests mechanically, and prefers to use his own machine so he can harvest exactly when he wants, and he decides this by tasting the grapes, skin, pulp and pips. The old vine Grenache and Syrah yield at between 20 -25 hectolitres per hectare. Usually in the Coteaux du Tricastin the vendage is up to two weeks later than other Côtes du Rhône AOC and Philippe’s estate is one of the latest in Tricastin.

Tasting

During the tasting of his wines, which was held outside a clever little artisanal tasting room, and, as if to enhance the pleasure, in bright autumn sunshine, Philippe explained his winemaking methods which are aimed at achieving wines of fresh, pure fruit. We tried his rosé Le Colombier 2005 and straight Le Colombier red 2005, made with 90% Grenache and 10 % Syrah and 90% Syrah and 10 % Grenache respectively. Both were lively, clean and full of fresh raspberry fruit and great value at €4.50 , cellar door price.

Vielles Vignes Selection

His Vieilles Vignes Selection wines from the vineyards we had toured, were made with equal amounts of Grenache and Syrah. Both were vinified separately, destemmed, with a cold pre-fermentation, pumping over for five days, twice a day for an hour in small tanks. Fermentation was with natural yeasts, manual pigeage for three weeks, with the wines then drawn off and blended together. Half was aged in barriques from Burgundy for 10 months and the other half left in tank. The oak, Philippe explained, gives the wine its richness, intensity and length, whilst the cement helps to preserve the fruit character he wants to achieve.

We tried his Selection 2004 and 2003. Both had a wonderfully pure, ripe cherry fruit character with good pepper and spice. Oak integration was excellent, with ripe tannins. The 2003 was richer and softer. We then tried the 2005 tank sample from the wines currently in cement and due to be blended with the barrique wine shortly. This was delicious – so much so that many of us felt he should bottle it on its own! It was full of vibrant fruit and pepper, firm ripe tannins and had great balance. These wines are €7.00 at the cellar door, where Philippe sells much of his wines, but he also sells to leading restaurants in the region. He only exports 20% of his wines but sadly nothing yet to the UK.

What a great introduction to Coteaux du Tricastin, and for me, Philippe and the Domaine Bonetto Fabrol was a wonderfully simple contrast to the much grander surroundings of Château Unang.

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30th November, Domaine de Grangeneuve, Roussas, Coteaux de Tricastin, (Domaines Bour) By Matt Hudson

In 1978 John Livingstone-Learmouth and Melvyn Master described this estate as producing the best red Tricastin wine. But that the Tricastin region was covered in 4 out of 350 pages of this Faber edition demonstrates that the appellation, created just four years earlier, had not registered to any significant extent with wine drinkers here.

History

Henri Bour's father, a "pied noir" (of French origin but having lived and worked in Algeria) fled the country following the war of independence and founded the estate in 1964. At the time Tricastin would have been a largely uncultivated area, overshadowed by grander winemaking neighbours to the northwest and southwest. To establish a vineyard then must have seemed a massive risk, so Bour Snr must have been heartened when he and his daughters began clearing the land to find evidence of Roman agriculture on their land. The Romans would have had the pick of agricultural land - clearly they liked the look of Grangeneuve.

In 1974, just as the AC was created, the Bours built their winery and bottling line - they were the first to bottle wine in the area. Today with over 40 years experience of their terroir the Bours farm 66ha with an average vine age of 25 years. The mix is 50% Grenache, 35% Syrah, 8% Cinsault & Carignan with small plantings of Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne and Grenache Blanc.

Viti/Vini summary

The calcareous/argilocalcareous soil is typically 60cm chalk and stones, then 150cm gravel above white clay and sand. Bour compares it to St-Julien's soils. Reds are vinified by cépage, with a fermentation over 10-20 days at 25-30ºC; stainless steel and temperature control is used for whites and rosés. Today they produce 300,000 bottles, 55% selling domestically, the balance to UK, Germany, Belgium, USA and Japan.

Click here for tasting notes

Generously M. Bour also showed us the beautifully balanced Cuvée Truffière 2001 and the wild, feral, bittersweet 2003. These were not showy cellar made wines but products of their terroir, balanced, natural and good value. The wines possess fruit and herby perfume; they are ripe and sunny, balanced but not overpowering; a great advertisement for the natural virtue of the Tricastin AOC.

We thank M. Bour and Gilles (and Emma) Hecquet for their hospitality. Domaine de Grangeneuve is represented in the UK by Berry Brothers (bbr.com).www.domainesbour.com.

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30th November, Food, Wine and Poetry - Dinner with Domaine Saint Apollinaire and Domaine du Coriançon By Michelle Cherutti-Lowal

Our final formal dinner of the trip was a demonstration of local cuisine paired with a selection of wines from two properties: Domaine Saint Apollinaire and Domaine du Coriançon.

Domaine Saint Apollinaire

Frédéric Daumas started Domaine Saint Apollinaire in 1963 and turned to biodynamic farming in 1967, one of the earliest wineries to do so. The Domaine, located in the small village of Puyméras is 17ha in total and produces approximately 100,000 bottles. There are eight labels (2 white, 5 red, 1 rosé) under AC Côtes du Rhône and AC Côtes du Rhône-Villages.

Tasting notes

During dinner, a number of wines from the property were sampled, with the most noteworthy being the 2005 L’Exceptionnel. The wine is sourced from 15yrs old viognier vines and in some years a small portion of Grenache Blanc is added. The yields are strictly limited (25-30hl/ha) and wine is left on its lees in older barrels for 12 months and then bottled. The result is a deeply coloured wine with concentrated aromas, dried apricots and honey, with an earthy top note which according to M. Daumas, is typical of these wines during maturation. The earthy note of the wine was echoed by the local truffles in our first course.

Domaine du Coriançon

Domaine du Coriançon was represented by François Vallot and his daughter, the 4th and 5th generation to be making wine at this property. Also certified biodynamic, this 31ha property is located in the village of Vinsobres, the newest of the Rhône crus. Domaine du Coriançon produced approximately 60,000 bottles, 9 labels (2 white, 6 red, 1 rosé) under AC Vinsobres and AC Côtes du Rhône.

Tasting notes

Out of the selection of wines we tasted the most memorable was 2005 Clos del al Magnaneraie, 25yrs old Syrah vines from a tiny vineyard (1 ha) located in the neighbouring town of Nyons. On the nose was a seductive aroma of rich black fruit and aniseed with layers of black pepper, cloves and dried herbs. The texture was silky and rich, matching perfectly with our main course of rabbit.

Our evening was completed with dessert and a poetic tale from Monsieur Daumas about the life of the vine and its journey to our table.

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1st December, Caves de Vignerons de Chusclan By Brian Wheaton MW

Our host for this visit was Mlle. Geraldine Guillot (Winemaker and Head of Quality Control), who told us that the Co-operative had started in 1939, and was originally best known for its rosé ( Chusclan being only ten miles or so due north of Tavel).

New members started coming in over the past decade as the Market became more difficult, and the Co-op. now has 80 growers covering two sites, producing 50/60,000 hectolitres from 1,400 hectares. Today, 80% of production is red wine, 10 – 15% is rosé, and 5 – 10% white. Its AC is Côtes-du-Rhône Villages, although it does produce a fair amount of Vin de Pays.

Thermo-Flash

The Co-op. is known for its pioneering Thermo-Flash (or ‘Flash Détente’) technique for extracting more flavour and colour from the grapes. Fruit is de-stemmed on arrival, then passed to a tank where the berries are heated to a temperature of 80-90 deg F for up to 15 minutes at a certain pressure before being passed into a cold chamber where the pressure is abruptly dropped, causing the actual grape cells to literally explode. After this, the fruit is allowed to macerate for some 12 hours before a normal, cool fermentation at around 14 – 16 deg C (61 deg F), although some reds are macerated for about three days to obtain better colour.

There are three TF machines, each capable of processing some 10 tonnes per hour, and were usually worked up to 100 tonnes per day. Moreover, the plant we saw also had an ingenious heat exchange system, whereby recently heated grapes en route to the cold chamber gave back at least some of their heat to the next, incoming charge – similar in some ways to the system used in Cognac. The process that we saw had been in use for two years, so no doubt it will still be subject to a certain amount of change.

Quality

Mlle Guillot also told us that when she arrived, 60% of the crop was machine-picked, and 40% hand-picked. Now it was virtually the other way around in a drive for quality. A large quantity of rosé was still made in the plant, the grapes being de-stemmed and put through the TF process before being pressed and going through a rotary filter. The must is then cold-fermented at around 12 deg C (54 deg F). Afterwards, we were given a tasting which featured, amongst other wines, a Grenache 06 (made by the ‘Flash’ method) and a Carignan and a Syrah, both made by the Maceration Carbonique method (which is also used in the plant). It was altogether a very interesting visit.

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1st December, Syndicat De Tavel By Carol Brown

Carol Brown After a few days spent visiting the ‘newcomers’ it was good to get in to a more traditional area. Any hopes of finding a typical Tavel were soon blown out of the window during an enlightening tasting in the rustic surroundings of the Auberge De Tavel restaurant. We were joined during one of the best meals of the visit by Richard Maby, winemaker from Domaine Maby and Sandra Gay of the Wine Growers Union of Tavel. An informative press pack and good technical data on each of the 13 wines tasted really allowed us to focus on the task in hand. Each wine hit the spot in its own way and it’s obvious that more than 50 years of specialisation in rosé wines has paid off, with each wine expressing the individuality of both producer and terroir.

The AC covers 960 hectares and there are 9 key grapes (both red and white) including Grenache, Carignan, Mourvedre and Syrah. Soils range from slate, pebbles, sand and stone.

The text book ‘onion skin ‘colour was noticeable by its absence. Richard explained that ‘the colour depends on the desire of the producer and the quality of the grapes.’ The process is traditional with a short maceration and then both press and free run juice are blended together. Some producers macerate the different grapes together whilst others vinify separately and then blend and mature together. There were no disappointments in the tasting; my personal highlights included Domaine De La Mordorée (Wine Society), Château De Manissy, Domaine La Rocalière, La Forcadière from Domaine Maby and Prieuré De Montézargues.

With my passion for all things pink, this was one of the best visits of the week and given the UK’s current love affair with this style, things are certainly looking rosé for this most historic of areas.

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1st December, Cave De Jonquières, Costières De Nîmes By Carol Brown

Carol Brown Confusion as to the location of this co-operative led us to arrive late for our last visit of the trip. The diversion proved worthwhile and our faith in co-operatives was restored by their range of wines and approach to viticulture. We were taken straight into the vineyards to see the contrasting soils with the Châteauneuf-style galets and chalk and clay mix.

The co-op has 70 members and all are encouraged to work with the environment. Machine harvesting takes place at nightand the rigorous grape selection translates into quality in the winery. Wines are released under the Costières De Nîmes AC, Côtes Du Rhône AC and Vin De Pays d’Oc. A selection of domaines from Costières De Nîmes all showed well with good fruit, spice and regional character. The Vin De Pays were modern with sound varietal flavours.

So we finished where we had started, in the Costières De Nîmes, impressed and uplifted.

The AWE is extremely grateful to Inter-Rhône and Sopexa for their support and organisation of this very worthwhile trip.

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Tasting En Primeur Wines By Richard Bampfield MW

Tasting Bordeaux 2006 primeurs in the last 6 weeks, it has become clear to me why tasting such young wines can be so difficult. It is because we are trained to use our eyes and our nose as much as our palate in this country, and that is exactly what we are used to doing.

However, with the primeurs, colours can be relatively consistent and aromas are as yet largely unformed and certainly un-evolved. Consequently we have to rely almost entirely on our palate which isn't as easy as it sounds - particularly when the components in the wines are in widely varying stages of harmonisation.

For instance, how does one assess the oak component of a wine when one knows that it still has another 12 months to spend in barrique? And should one mark one wine lower than another at this stage simply because it appears more disjointed? (hardly a crime when the wine is barely 5% into its life cycle).

It all heightens my admiration of those tasters who have to go public with their notes and scores....... and are often astonishingly accurate!

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AWE Licensing Law Seminar, March 27th 2007, report by Carolyn Bosworth Davies.

On Tuesday March 27th 19 AWE members arrived at the WSET to attend a course run by fellow member Anthony Stockbridge in which he covered the syllabus required for the National Certificate for Person Licence Holders.

All to a man would have preferred to be elsewhere – either at the annual Champagne tasting or the Portuguese tasting, rather than going into the intricacies of the 2003 Licensing Act; indeed some of us were not sure why we there at all!

Most of us wanted to understand more about the Law and its ramifications as it affects us as educators delivering our courses. We also wanted to discover if it might be necessary in the future to become Personal Licence Holders should the current Act be interpreted by local Licensing Authorities to the letter. Taking the examination at the end of the course was at least one step in the direction of achieving this.

We had just three and a half hours to be steered by Anthony through the Act and then take the forty-question multiple choice examination at the end. Normally the course is given over a whole day.

Anthony was simply brilliant. He guided us positively, succinctly and humorously through a huge amount of facts and figures, stressing the need to know issues that would be required for us to pass the examination. Despite many questions, which often reflected the frustration most of us felt at the apparent irrelevance of the Act to us as wine educators, Anthony had pertinent responses and did not allow us to stray from the main objective of covering the course within such a short space of time. He made a very dry seminar hugely worthwhile and almost enjoyable in a strange kind of way.

What does this all mean for us as wine educators? Will we in the future have to have a personal licence and deliver courses from licensed premises? If the Act remains as it is, then most probably the answer will be ‘Yes’, however silly this may seem to most of us. However, the guidance notes accompanying the Act, which allows for exemptions, are currently under review by the Department of Media and Culture and Tessa Jowell. They in turn are being lobbied hard by the WSET, on behalf of those involved in wine education and training, for an exemption within the provisions of the Licensing Act. Anthony though also urged us individually to email directly and as soon as possible to alcohol.entertainment@Culture.gsi.gov.uk to add our own concerns and requests for consideration on this matter.

Finally, he also advised that, given the vagueness and openness to interpretation of the Act, that if members were delivering courses in unlicensed premises they should approach their own Local Authorities to ask them what their position and views are regarding the delivery of wine courses under the Act and to seek local clarification.

At the end of it all we were all a lot wiser about the law thanks to Anthony but none the clearer about what the future may hold for us as wine educators in relation to the Act. We shall have to wait and see.

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AWEsome Visit

Salone del Gusto Torino, Tre Bicchieri 2007 By Michelle Cherutti-Kowal

Every two years, food and wine lovers descend upon Torino, the capital of Piedmonte, for the Salone del Gusto, the Slow Food Movement’s celebration of food and wine. The Salone is five days long, held in the Lingotto Fiat Factory (now a large convention centre and hotel) and draws 40,000 visitors per day. The majority of the conference is about food, sustainable agriculture and the protection of the food industry, so there is no shortage of items to eat, drink or buy. An important part of the Slow Food Movement is the publication of the Gambero Rosso Vini d’Italia Annual Wine Guide. The latest edition is introduced at each Salone del Gusto, accompanied by a Grand Tasting of that year’s Tre Bicchieri awarded wines.

The Guide

The guide on average covers over 16,000 wines from 2200 producers sampled blind by more than 100 experts from a selection of 70,000 samples. The wines are ranked by order of bicchieri (translated wine glasses) uno (one), duo (two) and the top award, tre (three) bicchieri.

Many in the UK wine business complain about the lack of co-ordination amongst the Italian wine industry so attending a wine tasting of the best Italy has to offer was a rare opportunity. The Grand Awards are given out on Saturday morning, with the Grand Tasting held later that afternoon at Fiat’s historic Lingotto test track. The track was featured in the original version of “The Italian Job” starring Michael Caine, and reminded me of the inside of New York’s Guggenheim Museum.

The Winners

In 2007, 282 wines were awarded Tre Bicchieri with Toscana leading the way with 55 wines, Piedmonte close behind with 53, followed by Friuli Venezia Giulia with 29 and the Veneto and Alto Adige with 24 and 23 respectively. In addition, top honours were awarded to the best white, red, sparkling and sweet wines as well as Winery, Oenologist, Viticulturist, Newcomer of the Year and Best Value Wine. The top wines were judged as follows:

Best White Wine: Cantine Pietracupa (Campania) for 2005 Cupo, (100% Fiano)

Best Red Wine: Cerbaiona for 2001 Brunello di Montalcino

Best Sparkling Wine: Enrico Gatti (Franciacorta) for 2002 Saten

Best Sweet Wine: Cantina Viticoltori di Caldaro (Alto Adige) for 2003 Moscato Gialla Passito Serenade

(Full results can be viewed at www.gamberorosso.it)

The Grand Tasting

In celebration of 2007 also being the 20th anniversary of the Gambero Rosso guide, the top 26 wines from that period were announced and 22 of them participated in the Grand Tasting. Here again, Piedmonte and Toscana led the pack with 7 and 6 wines respectively, followed by Veneto and Friuli with 3 each. One wine was selected as being the top wine of the past 20 years - Aldo Conterno’s 1989 Barolo Gran Bussia Riserva.

Later in the afternoon I headed to the test track for the Grand Tasting. It was an appropriate setting with 304 award-winning wines to taste in just three hours. The test track was turned into a race track with hundreds of impatient wine lovers queued up in advance of the starting time. With so many wines, it was impossible to taste everything but I managed to get through about two-thirds of them. I chose to focus on Toscana and Piedmonte, plus anything unusual or unavailable in the UK.

Here are my favourites:

Top Wines from the 2007 Selection

Top wine of the tasting was the 2001 Brunello di Montalcino from Cerbaiona. This was sex in a glass and truly deserved its top red award. The nose was concentrated with baked cherries mingled with spice, leather and tobacco. This wine was voluptuous without being too heavy, with a long silky finish. In 2004, while in Montalcino, I had the opportunity to taste the 2000 Cerbaiona. Despite the difference in vintage, my original tasting notes were similar; concentrated black cherries, sweet spices and a floral top note. At the time, I enjoyed this wine so much that I shipped back a few bottles of the 2001 vintage.

A close second was the 2000 Barolo Bricco Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe Riserva from F. Ili Cavallotto. It had a haunting nose of lilacs, red cherries, with hints of tar, smoke and cloves. This wine contrasted with the sexiness of the Brunello - it was beautiful and elegant. Choosing between the two was a tough call, but in the end, sex nudged out beauty.

Most Interesting Wines from the 2007 Selection

There were many interesting and unusual wines, but my most memorable was the 2004 Etna Rosso from Feudo di Mezzo Quadro delle Rose sourced from 40 -120 year old Nerello Mascalese vines located on Mount Etna at altitudes of 600-900m. As one would expect from such an altitude, the wine was perfumed with notes of sour red cherries, a touch of pepper, and had refreshing acidity.

I also have to mention the stunning 2005 Kerner Aristos from Cantina Produttori Valle Iscaro. An excellent co-operative, the grapes were sourced from steep, stony vineyards located at 600-800m. This wine was deeply concentrated with a floral top note, ripe lemons and a hint of minerality on the finish.

Top Wines from the 20th Anniversary Selection

I wish I could say that Aldo Conterno’s 1989 Barolo Gran Bussia Riserva deserved its top honours but sadly it was not available to taste. Neither was Biondi Santi’s 1995 Brunello, San Giusto a Rentennano’s 1995 Percarlo nor Giacomo Conterno’s 1996 Barolo Monfortino Riserva. Of the remaining 22, I tasted all the reds. If the four missing were anything like the ones I tasted, they must have been fantastic. All of these wines deserved to be in the top 26 and it was hard to pick a favourite. All three Amarones were gorgeous, but I gave the edge to a 1999 Valgrande Barbaresco from Ca’ del Baio. It was incredibly perfumed with notes of roses along with cloves, leather and cherries. The finish was smooth, silky and extremely long.

For anyone who loves food and wine, this is one event not to miss. Mark your calendar for October 2008, reserve tickets, and book hotels and restaurants well in advance. Most importantly, start training up and down ramps so you can race around the test track of the Lingotto with your wine glass.

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Learning to Taste By Phil Cooke

When teaching newcomers how to taste I start with a discussion on how acid, sugar, bitterness and temperature interact. This is followed by a blending session. Sweetness is represented by a bottle of water plus lots of sugar and acidity by water plus lemon juice. Also available is distilled water, mineral water, vodka and Angostura Bitters. Armed with this kit there is a structured blending session.

Comparing water

First they compare the taste of pure water with water plus minerals. This makes them aware that sometimes tasting involves trying to identify what is missing, in this case minerality. Then the sweetened and acidulated water are tested, and neither has an appealing taste. Their surprise when they achieve a blend that actually tastes very refreshing is a lesson they all remember.

Blending

Vodka is used to demonstrate that alcohol has a slightly sweet taste. Finally they put a dash of Angostura Bitters into a small amount of water; and find it does not taste at all nice. However when some is added to their carefully balanced acid/sugar blend they have something that tastes delicious. Each of several components has contributed to a balanced whole.

Here then is an overview of what I believe is an excellent first move in learning how to taste. Feedback is always very good, and the approach is remembered long after the theory has faded from memory. As a scientist and cook it seemed the obvious way to go and it’s an approach that I strongly recommend.

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AWE New Zealand Trip October 2006

Wine New Zealand; Stonyridge; Mudbrick Café; Goldwater Estate; Milton Vineyards; Montana; Hawke's Bay Regional Tasting; Pacifica Dinner; Kemblefield; Trinity Hill; Sileni Estate; Alpha Domus; Craggy Range; Martinborough/Wairarapa Regional Tasting; Sue & Larry McKenna; Seresin Estate; Marlborough Winegrowers Association; Brancott Estate; Cloudy Bay; Villa Maria; Waipara Regional Tasting; Central Otago Regional Tasting; Rippon Vineyards; Felton Road Winery; Quartz Reef Winery.

8th/9th October, Wine New Zealand, Auckland By David Morgan

This 3 day event was opened by Philip Gregan, CEO of New Zealand Winegrowers, who were sponsoring the Association of Wine Educators visit to New Zealand. He spoke about the remarkable achievements for New Zealand in the last 25 years.

Numbers of wineries had grown since 1995 from 190 to 463 and membership had grown from 204 to 516.
Vineyard area from 1998 to 2004 had grown from 7580 to 18112 ha.
New Zealand wine exports had grown from 7.7 million litres in 1995 to 51.3 million litres in 2005.

Seminar - “Wine the Experience”

The key points to this seminar were about getting the message across to the consumer by telling another story rather than about wine; talk about the history, the people and the place. This story would be tougher to sell but could assist in bringing more wine to more people.

Seminar - “Awesome Aromatics”

New Zealand has built its name with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir and the seminar discussed the other three white grapes that could take New Zealand a stage further. Present in the 1800s, it is only since the 1980’s that Riesling has begun to be planted in volume. Now it is the third most planted white variety after Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris are enjoying varying amounts of success. The “in” grape at the moment is Pinot Gris in New Zealand and plantings are expected to grow from 381 ha (2004) to 1,014 ha (2008). It will be interesting to see how Awesome this Aromatic grape called Pinot Gris would be from all the major wine regions in New Zealand. There was a lively discussion about how aromatic Pinot Gris really was among the 4 members of the group.

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10th October, Stonyridge, Waiheke Island By Susan Hulme MW

Stonyridge Winery on Waiheke Island was a place I had wanted to visit for a long time as their Stonyridge Larose 1987 red wine had the enviable reputation as being one of the greatest red wines to come out of New Zealand. The owner and winemaker Stephen White had such an impressive list of letters after his name, including a PhD, MBA and an OBE that I was expecting a rather formal and professional type. Instead I was greeted with a friendly hug like a long-lost friend and we were all enthusiastically welcomed in from the rain to an open fire and coffee.

Climate

Stephen told us that Stonyridge’s site on Waiheke had a very maritime climate, while the latitude was the same as Tarifa in southern Spain. This means Stonyridge Vineyards have a long hang time with harvesting between March and April. Stephen's first vintage here was in 1985. He modestly said they were still discovering what works despite all their success.

The Rhône & Bordeaux connections

Apart from the famous Larose red, another wine they do is a Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre blend he like's to call (tongue in cheek) ‘S & M with a G-spot’. His Syrah clones come from the very respected Rhône producer August Clape and stylistically they are aiming for the middle ground – some pepper and spice but with big fruit. Another fascinating wine called Luna Negra (Black Moon) is mostly Malbec and 10% other varieties, grown on a very steep vineyard. Stephen thinks Malbec needs a bit more tannin although tasting our sample I would have said there was no lack of tannins.

Organic

They grow grapes organically but doesn’t want to go through the business of certification because ‘he’s allergic to admin’. I know how he feels! He’s also interested in moon cycles and biodynamics but feels that real biodynamics has to reflect what is naturally in your own environment and says that cow horn is ‘not very prevalent here’. They are keeping a close watch on global warming and are getting warmer summers which is good but spring storms could be a problem. In three years it could halve the vintage. As if to prove the point, while we were in Waheike that day there was an unexpected hailstorm.

Fallen Angel

Stephen then introduced us to a new range of wines called ‘Fallen Angel’. He recognises that he can’t grow all varieties here and has formed partnerships with other very good quality producers elsewhere in New Zealand to grow the grapes and make the wines but these are made under Stephen’s very specific winemaking directions. They now have 8 different wines under this label of relatively small runs of up to 1,000 cases. We finished off with a very good tasting first of the Fallen Angel sparkling, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Viognier, Mourvèdre and Pinot Noir. These were really pleasurable, deliciously drinkable wines aimed at high-end restaurants.

The wines

We then tried an excellent Chardonnay 2004 Church Bay which has creamy Burgundian characteristics and a lively acidity with some minerality. Unfortunately the Chardonnay has had to be grubbed up to give way to other varieties. This was followed by a tasting of Airfield, a Bordeaux blend which is mid-priced and made from a de-classified Larose.

We moved on to Pilgrim 2004 – a Rhône-style red. This had a deep and softly fragrant notes of violet and sweet, ripe black cherry, with a smooth weighty initial attack and quite firm tannins.

The 2004 Luna Negra was opaque purple toned and darkly brooding in appearance, again with a sweet and deeply perfumed note of dark fruits and crushed rose petals. It had grippy, upfront tannins and a slightly salty, savoury finish.

Finally, we tasted Stonyridge Larose 2004 (55% Cab Sauv, 15% Merlot, 15% P.V, 15% Malbec). Very deep, almost black core with a vibrant purple rim. Wonderfully silky smooth texture. With aromas and flavours of intense sweet cassis and cedar. This was a beautifully balanced wine with seamless structure and elegant, very finely textured tannins and was a great note to end an excellent first visit to Waiheke. And one of the highlights of the trip for me.

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10th October 2006, Mudbrick Café, Waheike By Christos Ioannou

The Mudbrick Café and winery was one of the pioneer vineyards on the atmospheric island of Waheike. The island is only a 30 minute ferry ride from Auckland, and yet its laid back character couldn’t be more different from the nearby bustling big city. The winery was founded and is still owned by Nick and Robyn Jones, who left behind careers in accountancy in search of a more fulfilling life. Nick told us that the land which they bought in 1992, which now houses the winery and restaurant, cost NZ$ 7,000 an acre, but today would command a price of almost half a million! They now have 24 acres of vines, split 50/50 between the original land and a more recent site at Shepherds Point, Onetangi, purchased in 1998.

Two sites

As Nick explained, the two blocks have quite varied terrains, with Shepherds Point lying on gently undulating terrain, within a valley, under the protection of the long Stony Ridge and Mudbrick being planted on mostly north-facing clay slopes with a closer maritime influence. Nick feels that one of the advantages of having two sites is being able to blend separate wines together to produce a more complex and rewarding result.

Climate

Waheike has one of the sunniest climates in all of New Zealand, which is why it’s so well suited to the production of Bordeaux blends. Long hot days are followed by balmy evenings. Nick told us that the main weather problems are strong spring winds during flowering, which can result in the loss of up to 50% of the crop, and frosts at the end of the growing season. As we looked out over the rolling hills across the ocean to Auckland in the distance, a freak hailstorm send us scurrying into the tasting room.

Restaurant

The restaurant is very highly rated amongst foodies, and indeed we enjoyed a delicious lunch there. Dishes such as seared South Island wallabee served with kumara pie, fresh watercress and saki jus; and NZ pure Black Angus eye fillet served with kumara & orange rosti, veal sweetbreads, and red wine jus, went extremely well with the Syrah Reserve. This was one of the best meals we had during our 12 day tour, and it’s not surprising that many Aucklanders take the ferry there just to eat in the classy yet relaxed surroundings.

Of the wines which we tasted, I was very impressed by the Syrah Reserve 2005 - a rich nose of black fruits with peppery notes, dry and peppery on the palate with a silky texture and long finish.

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10th October, Goldwater Estate, Waiheke Island By David Morgan

The third visit on the island involved being shown around Goldwater Estate. Some confusion about our visit was soon sorted out and Gretchen Goldwater gave us a short introduction about the merger with Vavasour and how this would allow her parents to take more time off. This merger would make the group a category three wine company (200,000 cases). A short walk up the hill to the lovely tree that features on the labels gave us a remarkable view of the Island.

Wines tasted included Goldwater New Dog 2006 and a 2005 Sauvignon Blanc. The Roseland Chardonnay 2005 is made entirely from fruit grown in Marlborough. The 2004 Goldwater Zell Waiheke Island Chardonnay 2004 showed how fruit produced on the island could produce a wine with a richer and fuller bouquet and crisper and leaner on the palate.

Wood’s Hill Waiheke Island 2004 (containing Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and matured in American oak) showed how fruit from this warmer region produce a wine that was softer and easy to drink. Only 150 cases of the Esslin Merlot 2002 from Waiheke Island were produced and this was a much bigger and richer style of wine still showing off some tannin which needed time to soften. Goldwater “Goldie” 2002 includes fruit grown on the island and includes Cabernet Franc in the blend. We were also given a tasting of the Goldwater Rosie Rosé from Marlborough fruit which is proving successful at the cellar door.

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11th October, Milton Vineyard, Gisborne By Angela Reddin

Angela Reddin James Milton was in an evangelical mood for our visit, having just completed the paperwork for their Demeter Biodynamic Certification the day before “which was a mini doctorate thesis”. He and wife Annie had been up since 4 am frost fighting. James asked as many questions of us as we attempted to ask of him, testing our understanding and level of knowledge. Millton was the original biodynamic vineyard (first to sell to the UK) and James has not rested in his quest to further understand and promote this philosophy as his way of life and to make wines to please himself, not primarily with a commercial view.

Philosophy

Gisborne was the last place to erupt on the volcanic North Island from the seabed so the soils contain lots of sand, silt, silicas and calcium. James argues that limestone soils give power, or ‘bones’ to a wine; clay, the fat or flesh and sand the containing skin. James had prepared a number of exhibits to explain his philosophy, using different soils, rocks, crystals and preparations. He also showed us his Vebela Flowform energising water system, which brings “rhythm and chaos to the water through the movement of vortexes” (think heart, re-energising the blood). This water then absorbs the “message” from the substance put into it (i.e. quartz, the message being air and light) in the same way that homeopathic energy works. He uses the energised water in his sprays and preparations. A number of wineries choose elements of biodynamics, because they can see they work, and are a more natural way of farming; James really understands what he is doing and when explained by such a passionate and dedicated man, it did make an awful lot of sense!

Millton wines are sealed under cork.

Click here for tasting notes

We then went to the house for dinner; Annie had cooked and we carried on the conversation. James hardly pausing to draw breath, he ended up burning the dessert because he kept running back in from the kitchen to give us another point of wonder he had just remembered.

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12th October, Pernod Ricard Montana Estates, Gisborne By Angela Reddin

Angela Reddin

Our next visit to Montana’s Gisborne estate was very different but a bit of a mission for me as this was the home of Patutahi Gewurztraminer, part of Montana’s icon Letter series, which I fell in love with years ago. It was great to meet the winemaker, Steve Voysey who has guided this style from its inception in 1993, and to hear that the very first vintage was nearly put into bag in box as a blended wine! All three tier levels of Gewurztraminer are produced from the 600 tonnes of fruit processed at this winery, also 10,000 tonnes of Chardonnay, 1,500 tonnes of Pinot Noir, 800 tonnes of Sémillon, 1,000 tonnes Merlot and 500 tonnes of Müller Thurgau. Pinot Gris production is set to increase from 300 to 900 tonnes.

Steve is a quiet, self effacing man, but clearly a huge talent. Winery Manager Roger McLernon claims he must be the oldest person in the NZ industry, having worked through the various changes at the same winery for some 40 years! The facility is large. There is the potential here for some 40% of Pernod Ricard’s total production of NZ Chardonnay to be produced from this winery.

Gisborne is generally seen as New Zealand’s Chardonnay capital, the sunniest place in NZ. This gives great scope to winemakers – the ripeness of fruit lends itself to unoaked styles; a tendency to an oily mid-palate and a typicity of stone fruits is the signature of Gisborne Chardonnay.

Lindauer

The Lindauer sparkling wine facility, which used to be a Penfolds winery, sits across the road from the main winery, producing benchmark styles of NZ’s sparkling wines. As we walked through the facility, Steve gave us a number of tank samples, including ‘06 Pinot Gris, ‘06 Reserve Gewurztraminer, barrel ferment Ormond Chardonnay (single vineyard Letter series) Stuart ‘06 Chardonnay and 2 Pinotage samples, one of which had 10% Viognier added. We tasted a range of the Lindauer sparkling wines. The Lindauer brand is now 25 years old and they are releasing a vintage bottling.

Patutahi 2004 Gewurztraminer – bright shiny pale gold colour, lazily viscous in the glass. Lifted intensely aromatic spicy scented nose, dried citrus peel, sultana, nutmeg, lychee in syrup, cinnamon, honey and gingerbread. Lovely texture in the mouth, rich, full and fat, excellent sweet (some botrytis) fruit/spice balance and a long, layered dry finish. Superb.

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12th October, Hawke's Bay Regional Wine Tasting at Kemblefield Estate By David Morgan

The region is located at 39.4 degrees south (the same as Madrid in the Northern Hemisphere) and is one of the hottest and sunniest areas of New Zealand. With 25 different soil types ranging from clay loam to limestone to sand and gravel, the region offers diversity for wine styles. Add to that a choice of sites from coastal to inland foothills, altitudes from sea level to several hundred metres high and this is a region with limitless grape growing opportunities.

Region summary

By the early 1920’s Mission Estate, Te Mata Estate, Vidal Estate, McDonalds Winery and Glenvale Winery (now Esk Valley Winery) were all established in the region. The early vineyards were close to the towns of Napier, Havelock North and Hastings. Today over 3,300 ha of grapes are planted and the region has the largest planting of red grape varieties and the 2nd largest number of plantings overall.

The Coastal Area is influenced by the Pacific Ocean but the two areas of Bay View and Te Awanga enjoy the effects of the temperate climate and the long growing season.

The Alluvial Plains have a diversity of soil types created by the river’s changing course over a period of 2,000 years. Inland are the newer plantings of the Triangle, Gimblett Gravels and Ohiti.

The River Valleys include the Mohaka, the Esk, the Tutaekurri, the Ngaruroro and the Tukituki Rivers. The Hillside Vineyards are found on the slopes of Te Mata peak, Bay view, Taradale, Roy’s Hill, Bridge Pa and Maraekakaho. The regional tasting included a selection of Chardonnays from the Ngatarawa Triangle including Ngatarawa Alwyn, Te Awa, Sacred Hill and Kemblefield.

The reds were mainly Merlot varietals with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec added. Estates who submitted wines for tasting were CJ Pask, Trinty Hill, Esk Valley, Alpha Domus and Sileni Estate.

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12th October, Dinner at Pacifica By Susan Hulme MW

Our evening programme said dinner at Church Road Winery where David and Christos were staying. Angela and I were staying in the magnificently positioned apartment above the winery at Kemblefield Estate with its panoramic view of Kemblefield’s terraced vineyards and the Nagaruroro River, so John Kemblefield kindly drove us to meet our hosts. We were met by three very dynamic young winemakers - Tony Robb (Corbans), Chris Scott (Church Road) and Peter Hurlstone, regional winemaker for Pernod Ricard Hawke’s Bay – who took us out to dinner at one of the best and currently trendiest restaurants in Hawke’s Bay called Pacifica. With the ratio of winemakers to guests at 3:4, we had such a lively, animated conversation about wine and winemaking. In between tasting a range of really good wines from both Corbans and Church Road and eating Pacifica’s marvellous tasting menu, it was difficult to keep up with the whirlwind of activity and lively discussion.

Loyalty and Pride

Sometimes there can be a certain snobbery on the part of the press and wine educators towards big companies and Pernod Ricard is certainly big, but there was very much the feeling of smaller individual wineries within the bigger operation and fierce loyalty and pride on the part of each winemaker to his own wines. It seemed to me to represent all that was best about Montana and the ground-breaking work they have done for New Zealand wines. These winemakers were as passionate in their intensity about what they do as any small-scale winery making niche and premium wines. The conversation was intense and highly technical in places then light-hearted in others. It was like being carried down a very fast flowing river as we moved from one topic to another.

Sauvignon Blanc

First we tasted two Sauvignon Blancs and I was relieved to find that neither had that intensely herbaceous, exaggerated green pepper aromas and flavours that, in excess, seem to me like a caricature of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The Corbans Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2005 had soft, honey and guava notes on the nose and a rich, mouth-filling texture (due in part to the 4-5 months lees maturation and regular battonage) but still with that lively, zingy acidity you want from this variety. This was tasted alongside the Church Road Cuve series Sauvignon Blanc 2004.

Experimentation

The Cuve Series allows the winemaker to experiment with small batches and various techniques to encourage innovation and is a limited edition series sold mainly through the cellar door. This wine was pale, limpid gold with gentle notes of honey and spice on the nose. It also had a rich, layered texture, with waxy, lanolin qualities like some of the best Bordeaux white wines have but with a zesty, lime-juice acidity and a very long finish. These two wines were a very promising start, I thought.

Pinot Gris

We then moved on to a 2006 Corbans Private Bin Pinot Gris. This wine is made from low yields, as Tony felt that Pinot Gris is very sensitive to yield just like its darker cousin, Pinot Noir and felt that the worst tendency was to overcrop at yields that commonly go up to 10 t/acre. He allows Pinot Gris to shrivel a little in the vineyard and in the winery he allows the juice to oxidise and become more stable; he then barrel-ferments 80% of the juice in old barrels. This one had a spicy pear note which made it more interesting for me than many Pinot Gris, as I must confess I am not a huge lover of this variety, so it has to be really good or different for me to sit up and take notice. In between tasting these wines I asked what had been their biggest step forward they had made in winemaking and Tony said it was learning not to do something and that less is more. He uses no sulphur now in barrels. At Church Road, Chris said, they now hyperoxidise the juice for some varieties. Church Road 2004 Chardonnay was made by allowing the juice to hyperoxidise and it was their first wine to win a gold medal in competitions for a while.

The Reds

We continued onward in the friendly but escalating war of wineries and wines as we tried Corbans Ruahine Cabernet Merlot 2004, followed by the 1998 Church Road Reserve. I was thrilled to be given this vintage as I remember being very impressed with the 1998 Hawke’s Bay reds last time I visited New Zealand in 2000 and this one lived up to my expectations. It was wonderfully smooth and silky on the palate with layers of dark fruit, liquorice and cedar. The last red was Tom, named after Tom McDonald who in the 1940’s to 1960’s had laid the ground work for quality New Zealand red wine at Church Road winery. This wine is a Bordeaux blend and only made in outstanding vintages. I had seen it and tasted it before at the LIWSF and was very impressed. Tom sells for 130NZ$ and this particular wine was a blend of two thirds Cabernet Sauvignon and one third Merlot. It was such a concentrated, intensely powerful wine that it was a bit impenetrable that night, a huge brooding wine that needed several more years to begin to unfold.

Sémillon

We finished the evening with Virtu, a 2000 Noble Sémillon, a lovely wine, orangey gold in colour with a super rich nose with layers of marmalade. It was rich, concentrated and viscous on the palate but balanced by a nervy acidity with the tangy, bitterness of marmalade flavours just enough to keep the sweetness in check. By now any intense discussions about winemaking were beginning to be lost on me but we had had a most enjoyable, lively evening with non-stop conversation, delicious wine and food, as well as good company. Who could ask for more?

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13th October 2006, Kemblefield, Hawke's Bay By Christos Ioannou

John Kemble welcomed us with his infectious laugh and good humoured hospitality. You could tell from his accent, which hovered somewhere in the mid Pacific, that he’s ‘Not from around these parts’! Indeed John used to work at the famous Ravenswood winery in California until 1991, when his search for suitable land for a winery of his own took him on an exploratory expedition to New Zealand. He was impressed by the free-draining gravelly soils in Hawke's Bay which were formed 25-30,000 years ago, and so with a financial partner bought up a farm in the far west of the area in 1992.

Facts & Figures

The estate has 220 acres of vines with a further 125 acres being planted. Of the total output of 20,000 cases 50% is exported to several countries, including Thailand and the Czech Republic. Not content to abandon his heritage completely, John imported 3 different clones of Zinfandel from his native California (he favours the one from Old Hill Ranch near Glen Ellen), and is now one of only 2 producers in New Zealand growing this variety. John’s passion was well rewarded when his Reserve Zinfandel 2002 won a Gold Medal at IWC in 2004.

Of the other Kemblefield wines which we tasted, the one which particularly impressed me was the Chardonnay Distinction 2004: a creamy, nutty nose with vegetal undertones (in fact very Chassagne Montrachet in style), followed by a palate with fine depth of fruit, lovely balance, subtlety and good length.

Pellenc

When John told us about his state of the art, multi-tasking Pellenc machine bought 5 years ago, it didn’t take much arm twisting to persuade him to show it to us. This extraordinary piece of equipment ploughs the soil, sprays and prunes the vines, and can be finely tuned to cleanly and gently pick the fruit at harvest under all sorts of conditions and terrain. The £150,000 investment has clearly paid off as shown in the quality of the wines.

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13th October 2006, Trinity Hill, Hawke's Bay By David Morgan

John Hancock the founding partner and general manager of Trinity Hill was unfortunately abroad. However we were delighted to meet up with Warren Gibson, a well respected winemaker in his own right. Warren took us above the property to show us the view overlooking the various regions that lay before us.

The microclimate of Gimblett Road, in the lee of “Roy’s Hill” is well known. Vines reach into the depth of the stony, free draining soil of the old Ngaruroro riverbed. Warren explained that in the mid-1800’s the river had changed direction leaving behind the gravel/stony soil, of what is now known as Gimblett Road.

The wines

At the regional tasting of Hawke's Bay wines we tasted the Trinty Hill Merlot 2004 which the winery has a great reputation for. 2004 seemed to work for them in Hawke's Bay leading to good fruit being produced allowing them to make a flavoursome wine with elegance, finesse and concentration. Some Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon is used in this Bordeaux style wine.

Trinty Hill’s Homage 2002 was made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah and at the winery we tasted the Homage 2004 Syrah with a little Viognier added in. I enjoyed the 2004. It had a strong peppery nose, black fruit with some violets showing through on the nose. It was a well structured wine with complex layers of flavour that had the potential to really be classy.

A straight Viognier 2006 proved very attractive and the other interesting varieties were wines made from Tempranillo and Montepulciano (for more information on these wines contact the UK agent Laurent Perrier on 01628 475404).

Warren Gibson

Warren Gibson purchased land in 1997 just above the Trinity Hill Estate for his own label, Bilancia, and he has 1 hectare of Syrah planted with 4,000 vines producing 300 cases. His Viognier also only produces about 300 cases. Warren explained that the hillsides were becoming more popular with vine growers. His Syrah is labelled La Collina (the Hill) and this vintage 2004 was showing signs of peppery fruit with just that touch of floral hint. 100% new oak gave the wine an elegance of taste but with well structured tannins which will develop well over the next few years.

Some of us enjoyed the Pinot Gris made by Warren and I was given a bottle by Warren to enjoy back home in Scotland. Sadly, forgetting to pack it into my luggage it was taken off me at Heathrow Airport security.

I hope whoever drinks it will have the same enjoyment I had !!

See www.bilancia.co.nz for further information.

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13th October, Sileni Estate, Hawke's Bay By Angela Reddin

Angela Reddin

The Hawke's Bay region is known as generally warm and dry. The sheltering effect of inland mountain ranges, means long sunshine hours with low rainfall and humidity. Sileni is a relatively new winery in Hawke's Bay, opening for business in 1998 and very quickly establishing a reputation for serious quality with fruit from its two vineyard sites; around the winery the Triangle vineyards of Merlot and Sémillon are planted on old river valley gravels. Planted 100 metres higher on a dry river gravel terrace, the second cooler vineyard site is planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Sustainable Winegrowing

Our host was winemaker Nigel Davies who very enthusiastically explained the Sustainable Winegrowing scheme that Sileni vineyards operate under. In order to keep to the logo “the riches of a clean, green land”, accreditation is offered to growers and wineries to continually work towards improving and protecting the environment, by requiring that each winery looks at their inputs and outputs and the effects these have on the environment. In 2003 a scorecard was brought out that means a 100% accredited vineyard can use the sustainable winegrowing logo on a wine that has come from a 100% accredited vineyard. Areas that have been addressed include winery waste disposal and what effects these have on the disposal area. Sileni constructed a compost site which will in future supply composted marc back to the vineyards, thus returning the nutrients taken by the vines in the growing process back to the soil.

Oak

In the Barrel room, Nigel explained that he wants to get away from overt oak flavours in the wine and they were trialling French barriques that had been water soaked during the toasting process, as this leached some of the uptakeable tannin out of the wood, thus reducing the amount of vanillin available to influence the wines.

The winery also boasts a superb restaurant offering the best of Pacific Rim and pure New Zealand tastes, stunning service, fabulous views over the vineyards and of course, very good wines.

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13th October 2006, Alpha Domus, Hawke's Bay By Christos Ioannou

Alpha Domus was established in 1991 when the Ham family purchased 20 ha of land on the western Heretaunga Plains, an area which had not previously been developed for viticulture. The first wines were released onto the market in 1996, after Stage 1 of the winery had been completed, and they now have 35 ha. of vines with an annual production of 20,000 cases.

Climate

The vineyard lies 20 km from the coast, where during the hot dry summers temperatures consistently reach 30◦C. The Hawke’s Bay region averages 750mm rain annually, but as the vineyard is located in a natural rain shadow, the site receives considerably less than this regional average. With 600mm of silt loam overlaying river gravels, the soil type is ideal for quality wine production.

The name Alpha Domus represents how the venture came into being. Domus is the Latin word for house or home. Alpha represents the first initial of each member of the family: Ton (Anthonius) and Lea who emigrated to New Zealand in the early 1960’s from Holland, and their sons Paul, Henry and Anthony.

Challenging

We were welcomed by Kate Galloway, winemaker and Jude Scott, marketing manager. Kate was refreshingly honest about the problems faced in the 2004 and 2005 vintages both of which she called challenging for winemakers in the area. Kate told us that having all of their vineyards around the winery was a huge advantage, as they could then easily check the condition of the grapes 2 to 3 times a day during harvest. Grapes could be ‘clean’ in the morning, but then 25% affected by botrytis later the same day. If necessary Kate adds Gallo tannin (from gall nuts) to the white grapes during pressing, as this binds up botrytis and has a good stabilising effect.

Alpha Domus are best known for their Bordeaux blends, and indeed the 2000 ‘Aviator’ won Decanter Magazine’s award for ‘Best New Zealand Red’ in 2004. But it was the ‘Navigator’ 2004 at less than half the price which represented exceptional value - a nose of smoky blackcurrant and blackberries with a hint of tobacco behind; on the palate - dry, earthy black fruit, good weight and structure with a long finish. Selling for around £12 a bottle in the UK, this is quite a steal.

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13th October, Dinner at Craggy Range, Hawke's Bay By Susan Hulme MW

The evening visit was to Craggy Range and dinner with one of New Zealand’s most highly-regarded viticulturalists and winemakers, Steve Smith MW. We arrived at dusk in gale force winds, to the rather brooding mountain setting of Craggy Range. It is tucked directly under the shadow of Te Mata Mountain (Maori for sleeping giant) in a very imposing but strangely calming site.

Concept

Craggy Range is something Steve had wanted to do since 1987 but it was only in 1999 he found the right business partner. The concept of the wines at Craggy Range is that they are all single vineyard wines where the variety has been ideally chosen to suit the soils and the climate of a particular site. The wines are sourced through a series of partnerships. They also have a second label, ‘Wild Rock’, started as a way to declassify some of their wines.

Gimblett Gravels

Steve believes that the soils of Gimblett Gravels are the only soils capable of consistently growing Bordeaux varieties and Syrah and refutes the suggestion that these are hydroponic soils. Hence the Craggy Range Shiraz and Bordeaux varieties are grown on the Gimblett Gravels in Hawke's Bay. They have a 100 ha site on the highest point nearest the river. It was the last parcel and Steve managed to snap it up. In keeping with this philosophy, their Old Renwick Sauvignon Blanc comes from a vineyard in Marlborough on the South Island and their Pinot Noir is grown in Central Otago.

Circular Winery

We had a brief tour of the immaculate Circular Winery with large wooden fermentation vats arranged in a circle, in fact in a very similar style to Jacques Lardière’s winery at Louis Jadot in Burgundy. The cellar was equally immaculate like the very best of Bordeaux cellars; Steve’s eagle-eye noticed that one or two barrels were slightly out of alignment and he made a mental note to fix it. We then were taken to dinner in Craggy Range’s very stylish but not overly formal restaurant.

The wines

At dinner we tasted two Rieslings and although different in style I really like both of these. We also tasted Old Renwick Sauvignon Blanc (exclusively sold by Waitrose and here at the winery). I liked the very firm style, concentrated with a dry, flinty style – almost Savennières-like though a different variety.

Other highlights of the wines we tasted were:

Sophia 2004 – their top Bordeaux-blend which had a very good texture and was quite tightly knit but a bit closed at present.

The Syrah 2004 Le Sol (14.5%) - this has some classic Rhône-like smokey, singed meat qualities with a voluptuous silky texture and lots of layers of intense flavours and fruit. Steve called it ‘a cross dresser’ saying that, for him, it had the spice and elegance of the Northern Rhône and the fruit of Australian Shiraz.

We finished dinner with a noble Riesling 2005 from the oldest vineyard in New Zealand on the Rapaura Road. It was deliciously sweet and honeyed but balanced by a grapefruit tanginess and fresh acidity.

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14th October, Martinborough/Wairarapa Regional Tasting By Angela Reddin

Angela Reddin

A relatively small region, making around 2% of New Zealand’s wine but with the cachet of being the first area in NZ to have the 19th century Bragato recommendation for premium grape production, in particular Pinot Noir. This therefore is the region that first emphasised the enormous potential for Pinot Noir in NZ and some major players are now wanting to re-establish their pre-eminent position as the first, and best, producers of Pinot Noir in New Zealand.

Wine village

First plantings of the legendary Pinot Noir Abel (or Gumboot) clone were in Martinborough, known as the only “wine village” in New Zealand. It is a small, intimate and very pretty town and you can walk to some 30 vineyards from the village square. The climate here is dry but cool and windy with generally a long dry warm autumn. The sheltered valley is in a rain shadow and the vineyards are planted in the main on the free draining gravels formed by the river terrace around 20,000 years ago. Frost, as everywhere in NZ, is a problem. They do not have water resources for aspersion (mini windmill look-alikes which whirl and spray water onto the vines) so they rely on windmills, heat (brazier/burners) or, in extreme situations, helicopters. Depending on what size of helicopter is used, the costs can be staggering.

The first established vineyards in the early 1980s were Ata Rangi, Chifney, Dry River and Martinborough and these vineyards now have a vine age of around 30 years, positively ancient for New Zealand.

Blind tasting

The regional tasting took place in one half of a large airy converted barnlike building; probably more used to seeing local bands than four AWE tasters. It had been set up professionally, wines bagged and neckbands removed - a proper blind tasting. The fact that it was a standing tasting suited me, with enough room to park yourself somewhere and write, and wander around and think. After the tasting we met with the winemakers who had been arriving as we tasted and gave them our objective opinions. This tasting was friendly and intimate yet still very professional. I liked the region and the genuine active response of the wineries to come and meet us and communicate.

Click here for tasting notes

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14th October, Dinner with Sue and Larry McKenna, By Susan Hulme MW

Larry and Sue McKenna welcomed us into their home in a very friendly, informal way as if we were friends rather than visiting wine educators. There was no sniffy formality or standing on ceremony, just a bluff, open-hearted ease of manner which has been my experience with Larry on both occasions that I’ve met him.

Larry, originally from Australia, came to Martinborough from Auckland in 1986 to make Pinot Noir. In those days, no-one was interested in Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon got all the priorities. He was at college with his great friend John Hancock of Trinity Hill (a famous Cabernet aficionado) and he says John was the reason he got into winemaking.

Pinot Noir

Larry already had an inkling of what was possible with Pinot Noir in Martinborough because he’d been winemaker at Delegat’s when Clive Paton of Ata Rangi had done a vintage. Having really put Martinborough Vineyards on the map, Larry left to set up his own 60 acre vineyard, Escarpment, with wife Sue and other partners in 1999-2000.

The focus is to produce 10,000 – 15,000 cases. The majority of plantings will be 60% Pinot Noir with some Riesling, Pinot Gris, Viognier and Chardonnay. He wants to make a Burgundian style, barrel-fermented Chardonnay and come up with a really classic white blend.

Focus

Apart from these varieties he’s not interested in any others much. He wants to avoid Sauvignon Blanc as there are already enough people doing this. Gewurztraminer would be interesting but it is too difficult and he only has 2 ha. He feels it is important to narrow the range and get focus and he is trying to simplify his offering.

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15th October 2006, Seresin Estate, Marlborough By Christos Ioannou

Waterfall Bay in the Marlborough Sounds is a very special place where you can almost breathe in the serenity that permeates the atmosphere. It is here that American cinematographer, Michael Seresin built a house entirely from wood and other natural elements, where we enjoyed a wonderful tasting and dinner hosted by newly appointed winemaker Clive Dougall, whose roots are in Chiswick, West London, and viticulturist Colin Ross who had worked for several years in the Margaret River.

Summary

The estate was founded in 1992 by Michael Seresin whose philosophy is to blend tradition with technology, to work with natural elements and to elicit a true Marlborough character in the wines and extra virgin olive oils. The vineyards are situated on two different Wairau river terraces, which are sheltered by the sweep of parallel mountain ranges. On the lower terrace, silty loam over free-draining river gravels lends elegance to the white wines, while Pinot Noir thrives on the upper level tongue of clay. To work in harmony with nature, the vines are organically managed, hand-tended and wild yeasts are used as much as possible to elicit complex flavours and palate texture. Colin told us that grapes are hand-picked and whole bunch pressed, not because this necessarily gives better quality, but because it produces wines that are stylistically closer to what they are looking for.

Tasting

We were treated to a fascinating mini vertical tasting of the estate’s Sauvignon which enabled us to see how the variety ages: the 2006 was pleasantly restrained compared to many other blowsy Marlborough examples. This had been achieved by adding 7% Sémillon and also barrel fermenting 7% of the blend, which gave richness, weight and texture. The 2003 and 2000 were both more developed, but it was the 1997 which was a revelation: still lively and retaining its fruit.

‘Marama’ 2005, a fascinating Sauvignon which is all barrel fermented and 15% aged in new oak, was a perfect match for the entrée of scallops. The Chardonnay 2005, Pinot Noir ‘Leah’ 2005 and Pinot Noir Tatu 2004 completed an outstanding line up of wines.

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16th October, Marlborough Winegrowers Association, By Susan Hulme MW

During the night and the early hours of the morning there had been the steady whirring noises of helicopters as they tried their best to prevent the current frosty spell from destroying part of the vintage. Later we saw evidence of frost-destroyed shoots at another winery, where the new leaves and shoots looked shrivelled as if they had been burned.

Breathtaking

We were met bright and early at 8:30 am by our hosts Tom Trolove (from the Association) and winemaker Jules Taylor (from Kim Crawford Wines) and taken to a high viewing point called Rob’s Knob (seriously, I kid you not) to get an overview of the lay of the land. Our host had a large map to spread out before us so that he could explain even more effectively exactly where we were. The views were breathtaking as the sun rose over the mountains. After this brief foray into the landscape we were taken to one of the most professional wine tastings we had on the trip.

The tasting

The only problem being that there were rather too many wines (48 in total) for us to taste in the time allotted.. We set to our task though with great gusto and kept up a brisk pace. The tasting comprised of 8 Rieslings, 7 Pinot Gris, 4 Gewurztraminers, 17 Sauvignon Blancs, 1 Sauvignon Blanc/Sémillon, 3 Chardonnays and 12 Pinot Noirs.

All of these wines were served blind in a professional tasting room with a blank tasting sheet to accompany them listing the wines by number.

Riesling

For me, the Rieslings as a group were the most successful and I awarded them some of my highest marks. I especially liked Spy Valley, Foxes Island and Kim Crawford although they were 3 very different styles but all were good.

Pinot Gris

The Pinot Gris also displayed a variety of styles, some had the lively, zippy acidity of a Riseling almost. There were some bitter phenolics (bearing in mind Pinot Gris has a lot of phenolics for a white grape, perhaps this was not surprising) and a range of styles from dry to off-dry to medium. There seemed to be a lack of clear direction for the style of Marlborough Pinot Gris which I think could be confusing for the customer when purchasing these wines. I found this to be generally true all over New Zealand, apart from Central Otago, where there was more consistency of style. Some Pinot Gris were more textural, full-bodied and honied in the Alsace mould; others were fairly neutral, dry wines with a bitter twist in the Italian Pinot Grigio style.

I was rather hoping that New Zealand would coax more aromatics from the low aroma varietal or at least develop its own identifiable style, but it is still early days for Pinot Gris in New Zealand. Personally, I felt the Rislings were much more exciting and had more to offer.

Sauvignon Blanc

As for the range of Sauvignon Blancs that day, some were disappointing, with overly exaggerated green pepper, grassy, nettle aromas but dilute and bitter mid-palates. There were a few with much more substance, concentration and depth of flavour and these got my highest scores. My particular favourites were Vavasour Goldwater, Vavasour Dashwood, Johanneshof Cellars, TerraVin and Kim Crawford.

Chardonnay

Of the three Chardonnays tasted one stood out above the others and that was Staete Landt which had richer, more peach and apricot aromas and oatmealy characteristics, but on the palate, it was taut, lean and elegant with leesy flavours adding richness.

Pinot Noir

The Pinot Noirs were all very densely coloured, some almost black, and you would easily be forgiven for thinking they were not Pinot Noirs. There were a few that really stood out for me and they were Nautilus Estate, Spy Valley and TerraVin. All three had a firm, four-square style on the palate with very lively acidity and firm tannins but sufficiently balanced by ripe redcurrant fruit and hints of Pinot delicacy though in a more robust form.

After this mammoth tasting we had very little time left which was a pity because one of the leading experts in Marlborough, Dr. Mike Trought, Research Leader at Marlborough Research Centre, popped in to say a few words. It would have been fascinating to talk to him for longer but sadly we had to go as we were already late for our next appointment.

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16th October, Pernod Ricard Brancott Estate, Marlborough By Angela Reddin

Angela Reddin

The Montana vineyards dominate the valley floors of Marlborough. Although this company has by far the highest production capacity in the whole of New Zealand, quality is not compromised. The reverse in fact. Seen as the Queen Mum of New Zealand wine production and innovative development, this gives a terrific legacy to the people who work with the company now.

Brancott Winery

The incredible Brancott winery first opened in 1977. Having gone through many trials and tribulations (including initially planting the vines the wrong way up!), this is still the biggest and oldest winery in Marlborough. The main focus of production is all quality levels of Sauvignon Blanc unsurprisingly, although the letter series Pinot Noir T is sourced and made here. This was my second visit to Brancott Estate and I was interested to see the tipping tanks. They have a revolutionary design by which huge outside sited steel tanks with pneumatic leverage tumble themselves in situ in order to facilitate maceration and phenolic extraction in a very gentle way. This moves the must and juice into presses gently without manual intervention, giving winemakers greater control and scope over all these processes. They are not used for the entire production, but more are being installed. Proof of a successful innovation!

Brancott also pioneered pumping a large bubble of gas through their stainless steel tanks, not for (micro or macro) oxidation (the bubble moves too fast for the juice to grab the oxygen), the intention is to break the cap from underneath and then and submerge it inside the tank by gas pressure. Very clever stuff, now being used in all the Montana wineries.

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16th October 2006, Cloudy Bay, Marlborough By David Morgan

Due to other commitments the main winemakers and viticulturists were otherwise engaged. It was left to Tim Heath who explained that he had been with Cloudy Bay for two years as winemaker. Tim was very professional in preparing a Cloudy Bay Portfolio tasting sheet for us.

NV Pelorus

The NV Pelorus and the 2002 were on show for tasting and Tim was able to explain that the NV had 70% Chardonnay with 30% Pinot Noir and the vintage with 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. The NV is 2 years on the lees with 3 years for the Vintage. The vintage uses wild ferment while the NV is inoculated with a pure strain of Montrachet yeast. The base wines are fermented and aged in stainless steel, large 6,000 litre oak barrels and small oak barrels. The NV is left for a period of 8 months where it is then blended and put into bottle for further ageing. After the minimum ageing of 2 years the wine is disgorged and then bottled. The 2002 vintage that we were tasting had just recently been disgorged and bottled and was due for release.

Te Koko

The Cloudy Bay Te Koko we had was a pre-release sample. The wine was to be released in February 2007 and had smaller yields than the 2003 (9.5 tonnes/ha in 2003 and 7.5 tonnes/ha in 2004). It had 18 months in barrel with wild ferments and a long slow fermentation. It underwent full malo-lactic fermentation before being bottled for 18 months prior to release.

The Cloudy Bay Sauvignon 2006 was as good as you would expect from this well-known winery. Other wines tasted were the Chardonnay 2004, a Gewurztraminer 2004, Pinot Noir 2004 and a late harvest Riesling 2002.

Pinot Gris

Some of us asked about Pinot Gris and Tim raced off to the cellar to produce a Cloudy Bay 2005 of which three trial barrels had been made (13.5 alcohol and 6g residual sugar). Tim explained that he is mucking about with Pinot Gris until he gets the right formula. We wished him well with it as there is obviously a market out there for all shapes and sizes of this variety. It will be interesting to see what style of Pinot Gris will eventually be made in New Zealand. Long may they experiment with it as I am sure it has a big future.

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9th & 16th October 2006, Villa Maria By Christos Ioannou

Villa Maria is one of the greatest wine success stories not just in New Zealand but in the whole world. Founded by George Fistonich in 1961 it is still entirely NZ owned, and today produces an annual output of 800,000 cases, ¾ of which is white. 75% is exported to 50 different countries. In spite of the huge scale of operations, quality wines are produced at all levels throughout the company’s portfolio from Private Bin to Single Vineyard bottlings.

Impressive headquarters

Ian Clark showed us round the impressive new headquarters which is conveniently located near Auckland airport. The huge winery, warehouse and administrative centre were officially opened by NZ premier Helen Clark in February 2005, and Tony Blair also paid a visit there last year. The warehouse was built with an interesting eco-friendly feature, Night Air Cooling – when the outside temperature is colder than inside, cool air is automatically sucked into the building through vents so that wines stored there remain cool 365 days a year without the need for air conditioning.

Bottling

The entire company’s bottling is done on site, as juice from other regions is shipped to Auckland in 5-20,000 litre containers. The bottling line can handle 50,000 units a day and this will double next year with the introduction of a new state of the art machine. The largest fermentation tanks have a capacity of 140,000 litres and are 4 storeys high!

The winery

A few days later in Marlborough we stayed in the spacious Villa Maria apartment situated above the winery, and were shown round the facility by viticulturist Mike Croad, and winemaker Jeremy McKenzie. Again everything here was on a big scale – 4 large 20 tonne presses, 16 silos of 157,000 litres each just to hold the Private Bin Sauvignon juice and massive power generators on standby. And yet all of the wines we tasted showed character and individuality. Three single vineyard wines in particular were really outstanding – Sauvignon Graham 2006, Chardonnay Taylor’s Pass 2004, and Pinot Noir Rutherford 2004. Mike and Jeremy showed us the full range of their talents when they donned their aprons to cook some succulent steaks on the BBQ on the balcony outside the apartment. We half expected them to be flying the frost-fighting helicopters the next morning, but maybe that would have been too much to ask!

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17th October 2006, Waipara Regional Tasting By Christos Ioannou

Waipara Valley is situated 50 km north of Christchurch, and although one of the youngest of New Zealand’s wine regions it is also one of the fastest growing. Grapes have been grown in Waipara since the early 1980s when visionary and influential viticulturists such as Ivan Donaldson at Pegasus Bay, Danny Schuster at Omihi Hills and John McCaskey at Glenmark realised the potential of the area. Mark Jones, President of the Waipara Winegrowers told us that there are currently 2,300 acres of vines split between 52 different wineries, but Pernod Ricard have already recently planted a further 800 acres.

Region summary

Waipara is significantly warmer than the Canterbury Plains, and can be between 3 and 7 degrees warmer than Christchurch on any given afternoon. The Teviotdale Hills protect it from the cool easterly winds, whilst it benefits from summer winds from the northwest. The valley has three general sites – valley floor, hill slopes and river terraces. There are gravelly deposits on flats and terraces in the central and west of the valley, limestone-derived clays on the hillsides, and gravelly loams over alluvial subsoil in the southern part of the region.

Regional tasting

The regional blind tasting was held at Canterbury House Winery, a striking wood and stone structure built in the late 1990s to house this now well-established estate. Of the 15 wines which we tasted, 5 were Rieslings, a variety which is particularly well suited to the area as its late budding helps it to avoid the spring frosts. Greystone’s 2006 and Bascand’s 2005 stood out for me, which was an impressive performance considering that these were both their first vintages. Otherwise there were a sprinkling of Sauvignon, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which showed what a diverse range the area can produce.

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18th October 2006, Central Otago Regional Tasting By David Morgan

The flight into Queenstown was truly remarkable. Why is the mountain range called the Remarkables? Were the wines going to live up to the remarkable scenery all around the lovely region of Central Otago?

Four regions

Central Otago has 4 distinct sub regions: Cromwell Basin – which includes 70% of the region’s vineyards and includes Bannockburn, Lowburn, Wanaka Road and Bendigo to the north; Gibbston Valley where a further 20% of the vineyards are found; the regions of Clyde and Alexandra in the southwest (7%); Lake Wanaka, where 3% are situated.

Blind tasting

Sarah-Kate and Dan Dineen had just completed their new winery and the tasting was being hosted by them on behalf of the Central Otago Winegrowers Association. This was another blind tasting which consisted of wines from the following wineries: Akarua, Amisfield Winery, Carrick, Chantemarie Vineyard, Kawarau Estate, Mount Maude, Mt Difficulty, Nevis Bluff Wines, Northburn Wine Company, Pisa Range Estate, Prophets Rock, Quartz Reef, Rockburn, Two Paddocks, van Asch Wines and Wooing Tree Vineyard.

The Marc Chauvet Methode Traditionelle from Rudi Bauer of Quarts Reef was a great example of fruit produced in the Bendigo region, and this wine cleansed our palate for a further 34 wines.

A Sauvignon Blanc 2006 from Carrick started our look at the whites. This was followed by a selection of 6 Pinot Gris. With a retail price of £12 -£18 they will obviously find a niche market. The 6 Rieslings were all attractive and with retail prices in the UK at £12 -14 they should appeal to the Riesling fan. One Chardonnay and one rosé left the way open for 19 Pinot Noirs. One or two of the wines were either falling apart or were showing reductive hints.

It seemed strange that it took us so long to actually agree on a wine. All four of us said nice things about the Wooing Tree Pinot Noir 2005. Things are looking good for 2006 and provided the helicopters are called out in time 2007 could be OK.

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19th October 2006, Rippon Vineyards, Central Otago By Susan Hulme MW

Our first visit on our first full day in central Otago was to Rippon. This is the most photographed vineyard in New Zealand because of its stunning position at 330 metres altitude on the edge of Lake Wanaka. The lake is seemingly embraced at one end by the snowcapped ridgeline between Mount Avalanche and Rob Roy Peak. Central Otago is situated on the 45 degrees south latitude line and it is on the eastern side of Australasia’s largest mountain range, the Southern Alps. Central Otago is NZ’s only viticultural region with a truly continental climate.

Special Place

I had visited Lake Wanaka before and once again I found it a very spiritual and calming place. But Rippon itself is a very special site in more ways than one. There is a lot of schist in the soil because Wanaka was the terminus of a glacier that retreated 16, 000 years ago. Rippon is also the most northerly vineyard in Central Otago. The ‘Roaring Forties’ wind passes over the Southern Alps depositing most of its rainfall on the western side of this range forming an important rain shadow to the east, leaving Rippon surprisingly dry. Up to five metres (5000mm) of rain can fall each year on the Western Ranges, whereas at Rippon, only fifty kilometres away, the annual rainfall is around 600mm. It was very wild and windy that day. Was this the ‘Roaring Forties’ perhaps?

Family History

We were met by Nick Sargood Mills, the young winemaker who has run Rippon with his brother and sister since their father Rolfe died in 2000. Nick comes from a long line of family ownership since the property was first bought in 1912 by his great-grandfather Percy Sargood. Nick gave us a bit of the family history before conducting us on a walk around the vineyards.

Biodynamics

It quickly became clear that Nick was very dedicated to preserving the heritage of the land. He was very articulate about the benefits of biodynamic viticulture and was keen to get everyone to dig their hands into his compost heap (which we obligingly did) to feel the warmth and to smell the how clean it was. Nick enthusiastically told us he was to share a platform with Claude Bourguignon in the forthcoming Pinot Noir conference in Wellington in January 2007. And that connection with Burgundy goes deeper – not only had he spent time there but Central Otago winemakers had set up an exchange system with Burgundy so that young winemakers can do a vintage in each other’s region.

The wines

We moved out of the wind and into the winery and tasted some very good barrel samples, some named after people who had worked there. No matter how exciting a compost heap might be to a biodynamic producer, the wines are what really excited me. The Pinots had a gentleness and unforced quality that I really liked. They were beautifully balanced and harmonious wines that had a combination of elegance and power. This showed great assurance of winemaking. I was also very impressed with the concentration and depth of flavour of the Riesling 2005. In fact, all of the wines here were very impressive without being the least bit showy.

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19th October, Felton Road Winery, Central Otago By Angela Reddin

Angela Reddin

And so to Bannockburn, one of the warmer sub regions of Central. The scenery is breathtaking, almost daunting with snow- capped mountain ranges, deep valleys, pristine lakes, tumbling rivers and vineyards. Wild thyme covers the hillsides in blobs of bright purple flowers, scenting the air. 40 minutes from Wanaka and the sun was blazing down, but the ever present norwesterly wind did not let up.

Blair Walter, Felton Road’s winemaker met us at the Cornish Point vineyard, where he informed us that this was the height of verdant spring – in less than a month all the greenery on the hills would be gone in this very dry climate.

Cornish Point

Cornish Point was planted in 1998 as an experimental vineyard. 7 hectares are planted mainly with 18 different combinations of Pinot Noir clones and rootstocks, separated into 25 different blocks (#4 is planted with Dijon clone 95 Chardonnay). The Cornish Point vineyard is sited about 5 kilometres from the Elms Vineyard at the Cromwell Dam and junction of the Clutha and Kawarau rivers. Felton Road control 3 separate vineyard plots totalling 28 hectares: the original Elms vineyard, 14 hectares of which surrounds the winery; Calvert, which is a leased vineyard totally controlled by Gareth and his viti team, sited just across the Felton Road from the winery; and Cornish Point, a sister label to Felton Road whose first Pinot vintage was released in 2003.

Gareth King, Felton’s viticulturist and his astonishingly hardworking team, enthusiastically tend the vineyards biodynamically, though they do not seek certification. Gareth expansively claims that his compost heap is worth more than all the wines produced from it.

The Cornish Point vineyard was planted deliberately with a clonal/rootstock focus to enable each block to be vinified in 3 tonne fermentors, so that the performance of the combinations could be closely monitored. The vines are planted on a hillside slope which, in this extremely frost prone region, enjoys the mediation of the flows of both rivers. Also, the valleys behind the vineyard have differing air pressures giving a lot of air movement.

Winery

Felton Road’s unique winery design is on 3 levels, enabling the movement of grapes, must and wine to be achieved by gravity. It is built into the hillside with the fruit receival area being the highest point, the fruit processing area on the 2nd level and the barrel cellars on the lowest level. The winery is open on 3 sides, the naturally cool evening temperatures making refrigeration non-essential. The fruit arrives, is fed by gravity flow to the fermenting tanks, is sulphured then basically left to its own devices for wild yeast ferment. Open top fermenters are hand plunged. The Chardonnay and Riesling grapes are pressed on arrival and again fed by a series of gravity pipes to stainless steel tanks or barrels for the Chardonnay, depending on the style that Blair wants to create. There are 2 humidity controlled Pinot barrel rooms and one for Chardonnay.

Click here for tasting notes

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19th October, Quartz Reef Winery By Angela Reddin

Angela Reddin

Austrian born Rudi Bauer is quite a legend in Central. Although there were others making wine here before he arrived, they were more hobbyists; Rudi being the first qualified winemaker to work in the region. Rudi planted Pinot in 1996 and teamed up with Clotilde Chauvet from Champagne to produce traditional method sparkling wines. Clotilde had also worked at Rippon and saw the potential of Central’s soils. Rudi’s bubbles are a serious testament both to the quality of his winemaking and the influence of a major Champagne family. A complete traditionalist, Rudi still hand riddles his sparkling wines.

Soils

The warm vineyard site in Bendigo has a gentle slope flowing down over soils which vary in sand content, with loess/loam and some clay, all with high mica quartz component. A big problem is soil erosion on these generally barren slopes but the site has proved to be much better than expected. Rudi is constantly questioning both himself and the quality of what he produces, always seeking to improve. It is clear to him that understanding the soils is key. Rudi has produced under contract a lot of wines from other sites and labels and although it is and should be the site that produces the wine, you still need a damn fine winemaker handling your precious grapes to ensure their best expression is revealed.

Click here for tasting notes

The AWE would like to thank Warren Adamson for the generous sponsorship and all the NZ team in New Zealand for their support for this trip.

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AWEsome Books

The Wine Diet, Roger Corder £9.99 Little Brown, Review by Carol Brown

Carol Brown

The nature of this business means that I’ve become a slave to the diet books over the last few years. A diet that allows red wine (in moderation) and chocolate (dark and minimum 70% cocoa solids mind you) has got to be worth a try. The Wine Diet encourages a life style change based on a Mediterranean style diet and one that is rich in polyphenols. Just in case old vine, slow ripened, low yielding, high altitude red wines are not your thing, polyphenols can also come from foodstuffs such as nuts, cranberries, walnuts, pomegranates and raspberries.

It’s not just about weight loss, it’s also about protection from cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's to name a few. The diet is backed by varied and sound research with a guide to nutrition, menu planning and recipes. It’s certainly the only diet book that I’ve ever read and thought ‘I like the sound of that’. I’ll let you know how it goes!

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AWEsome Visit

Rioja By John Ducker

To visit La Rioja after the 2006 harvest is one thing, but to accompany a whistle-stopping group of eight very sophisticated ‘millionaire’ oenophiles whose regular tipple is of top classed-growth Bordeaux and Burgundy in all the most exclusive vintages is quite another. This group of friends had chosen specifically to visit the region, and may have been hoping that Tempranillo would perform in equal measure to its classic Bordelais counterparts. True, we did light upon a bottle of 1964 Marques de Riscal Gran Reserva (recorked in 1996) which had more than a little affinity with a well developed classed growth from the Haut-Medoc, the cépage being 50/50 Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon. Brilliant in its maturity, but nowadays, under DOCa rules, an unrepeatable phenomenon.

Lopez de Heredia

Whether by luck or design, the tour organizer had started us off at the venerable bodegas of Lopez de Heredia in Haro, an unmissable place of pilgrimage for those seeking Rioja in its most traditional style – arguably ‘Rioja as it used to be’ - attested by the serried ranks of mould-covered bottles and spidery webs covering the cellar ceilings. “The spiders catch the moths that otherwise lay their eggs in the crevices of the corks” - or so we’re told. A chance, too, to buy some really old white Rioja, the Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva Blanco 1964 for an evening tasting:

Clean star-bright appearance. Colour of 24-carat gold. Nose offers sweet caramel with hints of some slight oxidation. Lightweight on the palate, with a dry, ‘raw honey’ note of exceptional delicacy. Good acidity, a little expected oxidation as the style dictates. Long persistent finish. Old-fashioned white Rioja, 100% Viura. Much enjoyed. 12% abv.

Marques de Riscal

At the other end of the production scale, a bus ride away and viewed a couple of days later was the startling contrast of the computer-driven futuristic Marques de Riscal bodega – the ‘city of wine’ in Elciego, graced by the undulating roofs of its Frank O. Gehry designed hotel which presides like a mother hen over the vineyards and winery beyond. Here the concept of winery–as-visitor-centre is absolute, with uniformed guides to make one appropriately brand-aware and to accompany one every step of the way around the huge and gleaming facility.

Bodegas Muga

However, were brand-awareness a virtue in itself then the palm must surely go to Bodegas Muga back in Haro where everything in sight was stamped with the family name except, perhaps, our host Jorge Muga whose very parentage may have excused his need to be stamped with a badge! Prior to our arrival there he had invited us to a ‘brunch’ of chorizo sausages cooked over vine twigs at the edge of one of the vineyards overlooking the Ebro, with a Muga ‘metodo tradicional’ and a delicious Garnacha Rosado to help wash everything down.

Two climates

He explained the geological complexity of the terrain and the fact that tectonic shifts had completely altered the course of the R. Ebro over the millennia; that the area was subject to two climates, ‘atlantic’ on the hills and ‘mediterranean’ further down the seven valleys that make up la Rioja Alta. Satellite technology was on hand in the vineyard to keep track of weather patterns, but everything else was left as close to nature as could be, with cover crops of sorrel and wild geranium between the vines and, perhaps surprisingly, some virus-infected vines retained in order to moderate the speed of the overall growth in the vineyard. He didn’t seem fazed by the depradations of wild deer, nibbling at the vine shoots in the Spring, neither by the wild boar who have a penchant for ripe grapes in the autumn: “After all we shoot them and eat them, so at one time or another we get our own back”.

Sustainability

When, back at the bodega itself, Jorge was asked for his views on cooperage – a significant issue in Rioja production - he stressed the importance of a three-year pre-order period for oak. No fewer than eighteen forests worldwide are called upon by Muga, with sustainability seen as the key: “We need to know that a forest will still be there ten years from now”. So, at Muga, with 2,500 small barriques crafted by their toneleros for each vintage the oak ‘split’ is between 60% French; 30% American; and 10% from central Europe, particularly from Hungary.

Viñedos Contino

Given the importance of differential microclimates in the Rioja, a visit to the Rioja Alavesa and the château-style property of Viñedos Contino was particularly revealing. Here, under the ample shelter of a conveniently placed hill, harvests usually finish well before those in the rest of Rioja begin. The vineyards lie within the arm of a wide loop of the R. Ebro and boast three distinct types of soil: alluvial, clay and limestone ideally to suit individual plots of vines, including those in the warmest part of the estate planted around a thousand-year-old olive tree – a legacy of Moorish settlement in the region. The concentration of the young (2003) vintage of the ‘Viña del Olivo’ was astonishing – and I look forward to seeing it at its peak at around 2010.

"Gracia –no"

Here, too, we tasted a 100% Graciano – a rare experience in Rioja. Winemaker Jesús de Madrazo Mateo tells us that this tricky varietal is synonymous with the Morrastel of the Midi, and that Brown Brothers have been experimenting with it in Victoria. The vine’s usual place in Rioja is as provider of a little acidity and backbone for the more delicate Tempranillo. Seen tout court it showed as firm and a little earthy on the palate, and in Jesús proffered example of the 2004 vintage it certainly belied its wider reputation as being colourless, fruitless and thin...“Gracia –no” - the ‘no thank you’ grape, roughly translated, brilliantly vindicated here in expert hands.

End of the trip

A straight run of five more than acceptable vintages in the Rioja had to end somewhere I suppose, and the thirty percent higher rainfall of the 2006 vintage seemed perhaps to have dampened the spirits of the rather dour and earnest townsfolk of Haro where, primarily, our group was based. At the end of our study trip the well-heeled group I had been accompanying appeared to be beginning to suffer from Bodega fatigue, and passed up the opportunity of yet another tasting lecture at the wonderful ‘chateau’ of Torre de Oña, surrounded by its own pago of vines below Laguardia. At least they were all now fully conversant with the basic parameters of what Rioja of whatever age and distinction tastes like, and doubtless they flew off to their respective homes in their respective tax havens for a little change of scenery and, who knows, possibly a touch of Iberian variety in their drinking. Me? Whether accompanied by millionaires or not I hope to be heading back independently to catch up with the 2007 vintage in Rioja … which may offer quite a different story.

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AWEsome Internet

Wink Lorch has launched Wine Travel Guides, a web site with comprehensive travel guides for visiting wine regions. Over 40 guides are currently available for France; guides to other countries will be added in the future. Each Guide includes recommendations of wine producers to visit, places to stay and eat, shops, attractions and much more. They are linked with interactive Michelin maps to show you how to find each location and the very useful Green Guides for extra tourist information. The Guides are available by subscription and are completely independent with no advertising.

Wink has worked with 12 contributors each providing the inside track on their regions - they include Tom Stevenson for Champagne, Richard James for Languedoc-Roussillon, former AWE member Liz Gabay MW for Provence, Liz Berry MW, Jane Anson and Jean-Pierre Renard, who some AWE members may remember from the Burgundy trip in 2003. The site www.winetravelguides.com goes live in May 2007. If any member wishes to promote the site to their students, by offering a discount voucher, they should contact Wink at wink@winklorch.com.

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AWE Member Updates

Please update your Directory of Members with the following changes:

Martin Ward/Wine Educators International - new fax number + 44 (0) 1327 358333

Brian Davis - new email address - brian.davis77@ntlworld.com

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AWE Inspiring News
This is the newsletter of the Association of Wine Educators. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Association.

Editor: Susan Hulme MW

Proof-reader: Paul Howard

AWE Administrative Office:
Andrea Warren
Scots Firs, 70 Joiners Lane,
Chalfont St Peter,
Bucks, SL9 0AU
Tel/Fax: 01494 589201

E-mail: admin@wineeducators.com
Web Site: www.wineeducators.com

© AWE Inspiring News

No part of this newsletter may be reproduced without permission.

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