Thanks to the generosity of New Zealand's 'Family of XII' and the down to earth knowledge and presenting skills of Peter McCombie MW the Club enjoyed a remarkable tasting of New Zealand wines.
An almost full house of members gathered at Lady Margaret Hall on 20 March 2017 and was rewarded by a splendid evening.
Much more than a tasting of a dozen fascinating wines, the evening provided a wonderfully precise sketch of New Zealand's short history as a wine-making nation, its regions and soils, its wine-makers and wine personalities - all in ninety minutes. A rare feat indeed.
New Zealand's wine industry - in Peter's telling - is defined by its geographic situation. As far from Australia as London is from Istanbul, New Zealand is geographically isolated. Surrounded by expanses of cold water it's far from the pollution of more populated areas. Over 90% of the wine industry is signed up to a sustainability programme that cuts inputs, emissions and impact. The 'Clean, Green' movement draws strength from the rawness, and energy of the island which is still very young in geological terms. The oldest soils are no more than 10,000 years old and the island has only been populated for around 700 years. Wine-makers know the soil and regions well, but as site selection becomes yet more refined and vine age increases, the wines will improve yet further from their already high standard.
The two islands stretch a long way (8 degrees of latitude) and range from sub-tropical in the north to the southern limits of world wine-growing around Otago. Both the weather and wine-making are dominated by the mountains. Warm moist air hits the mountain ridges and drops as rain onto the east coast vineyard areas. Wine-making began in the alluvial valleys, but has steadily moved up into those spots on the hills where local geography (read 'other hills') creates spots that are warmer or dryer and that wine-makers can exploit.
Although wine-making started in the nineteenth century the main impulse came from Dalmatian immigrants who came to harvest the kauri gum. That, by the way, explains why so many of the great New Zealand wine names end in 'ich'. But a powerful temperance movement which kept many areas 'dry' until well into the second half of the twentieth century impeded the development of the industry - as did the well-meaning but disastrous suggestion of Herr Professor Helmut Becker that Muller-Thurgau was the only grape for New Zealand. In the 70s, however, Frank Yukich planted Sauvignon Blanc vines in Marlborough.
Asked by Peter who didn't like New Zealand's Sauv Blanc a few hands went up. For the rejectors it was simply 'too much', 'too samey'. That was its strength as well but now the winemakers are moving on, creating different styles with techniques that include using wild yeast for complexity, barrel-fermentation for texture and allowing the wines to gain some age. The first two wines illustrated this.
The Lawson's Dry Hills SB comes not from the valley floor but from a high dry spot whose Maori name (Kei puta te Wairau) means the 'hole in the clouds'. The warmth gives not only a broader, fatter wine but also more aromatic passion fruit flavours to supplement the classic gooseberry notes. Some tasters noted a saltiness, perhaps the consequence of the strong sea breezes. By contrast the Nautilus SB had a lighter, brighter colour and rather more restrained gooseberry and grapefruit flavours. There's a percentage of barrel-fermented wine in the blend and part of the wine is made using non-saccharomyces yeasts as a starter to add ‘texture’. This could be an excellent food wine, although we felt it would benefit from a little more age.
Next up was a pair of Chardonnays. The Neudorf (or 'Newdorf') is from Upper Moutere in the Nelson region. This particular site is very sunny, and well protected from the harsher weather coming from the west and north. It's a consciously sturdy Burgundian style using indigenous yeasts which deliver a slower fermentation and more complex flavours, along with a restrained barrel fermentation (only 20% new oak) used for textural effect. The second Chardonnay was the Kumeu River Estate wine produced just west of Auckland on the North Island. This is a wet area but a talented winemaker in Michael Brajkovich, New Zealand’s first MW. The wine itself was a slightly lighter yellow with fine melon and honey flavours. Again, around 20% new oak is used. Age will add greater complexity but the wine is already beautifully balanced and Peter's view was that at £19.50 this was a steal from a great but humble producer.
The third pairing was of aromatic whites. The first was the Milton Riverpoint Viognier. Produced in Poverty Bay, near Gisborne on the North Island, this is made by James Millton, grower with a claim to be New Zealand's first commercially successful biodynamic producer. Some members will remember that James visited the club to show his wines (then classified as organic) some years ago. The climate there is sub-tropical climate and this wine (which has a small amount of Marsanne in the blend) had both the typical apricot notes but also a touch of lime and honeysuckle. The second wine of the pair was the Pegasus Bay Bel Canto Rieslng from just north of Canterbury in the South Island. This botrytised wine was the revelation of the evening to many members. It's rich in texture with aromas of lime marmalade and griddled pineapple but vinified dry. Well worth its £15.75 price tag and should age well.
In response to a question from the audience about the temperature of the white wines, Peter reckoned that in general we serve white wines too cold and red wines too hot. Let the whites warm up a bit to release flavour (and don't serve them in ISO glasses whatever you do); put the reds in an ice bucket for five minutes. This last recommendation, he made clear, is not for every red but in hot climates it suppresses the effect of alcohol and brings out the essential freshness of the wine. Ignore the raised eyebrows of the sommelier. Good ones will understand...
From the whites we moved over to the reds. Peter gave us the challenge of four 2014 Pinot Noirs served blind: Ata Rangi Crimson, Palliser Estate, Fromm La Strada and Felton Road Bannockburn. He outlined the main PN regions of NZ: Martinborough (more muscular, darker fruit), Marlborough (more red fruit, even floral), Central Otago (fleshy in warm areas, more edgy in cooler areas such as Gibbston and consistent dried herb notes). Our challenge was to spot the differences and assign the four wines to three regions. As Peter said "we all know what to say when we know what we are drinking" and provided some conclusive stories of experiments with MRI scans (drinking through straws) and variously 'doctored' wines and bottles. The takeout was: "if you're serving expensive wine make sure you tell your guests, they'll appreciate it more".
After we had tasted and discussed heatedly on our tables, Peter took pity on us and demanded nothing more than that we vote on our preferred wine. The two dominant choices were wines no 8 and 10: the Palliser Estate wine from Martinborough and the Felton Road wine of Nigel Greening (another past speaker at the Club). But it was a very hard choice. All four of these very different wines had their partisans and Peter was able to explain the locations (summed up as "find warm spots in cool places"), the winemakers' philosophies and practices and just why each wine was worthy of our attention and our praise.
The last pair were a 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot blend from Villa Maria, the largest privately owned producer in New Zealand, and the 2013 Craggy Range Syrah from the Peabody family owned property. Both wines were grown on the extraordinary Gimblett Gravels (previously army firing range, stock car race site and home to a few scrawny sheep). The Gravels are deep areas of greywacke stones laid down by the Ngaururoro River and exposed by a flood some 150 years ago, quick to drain and, like the pudding stones in the Rhone, heat-retaining, making the Gravels 3-4 degrees warmer than the rest of Hawkes Bay. This Cab Sauv had a complex, Bordeaux-like nose with a touch of 'sous-bois'. Highly drinkable already, but with the capacity to improve further with age. The Syrah was also young; deep in colour it still had a pink rim and a youthful nose of violets and black pepper with a touch of TCP or ‘medicinal’ (better that as a description than 'zit cream'). Lots of freshness and life and a bit of a bite. A good food wine.
Having tasted this set of wines it was easy to understand just why New Zealand has a remarkable 25% share of the £10 plus wine market in the UK - despite producing just 1% of the world's wines. All these wines were interesting, together they offered a far more nuanced view of New Zealand's winemaking than we normally get. Peter's overall take was that top New Zealand winemakers such as the Family of XII were steadily becoming more confident, more willing to experiment and more willing to shift away from a single dominant style and let the regions speak for themselves.
We could only applaud - and we did. Thanks and congratulations to both the winemakers and our presenter.
GH: 22/3/17