On Thursday we continued drinking our way around the world of wine as part of our weekly wine events here in Barcelona. This week we decided to look at arguably the newest ‘New World’ country, and one of the most successful most domestically and internationally; New Zealand. This small country is more famed for its dairy farming and rugby than anything else, but since the 1970’s wine production has really taken off. This late start and the relative isolation of the country (the closest country is Australia, almost 1600km away!) simply makes the success story of the wine industry here all the more remarkable.
The first vines were actually planted almost 200 years ago in 1819 by missionaries, but it would take almost 150 years for anyone to fully realise the potential of producing wine here on any sort of scale. Beer and imported wines (mainly Australian) dominated the local scene and even as recently as 1960, the most planted vine on the islands was the American hybrid known as Isabella, the complete lack of which is now a pretty good indication of just how awful wine must have been! In fact, this same year was the first time that restaurants were allowed to sell wine officially, a relaxation of alcohol licencing that wouldn’t make its way to supermarkets and general stores until 1990. With all these obstacles, it’s little wonder that the New Zealand wine industry was so slow in getting off the ground.
One of the greatest natural obstacles the New Zealand wine industry faced was its green and fertile land; wonderful for most crops and livestock but a complete hindrance to the production of good quality wine. Excessive vine vigour meant huge labour costs in the vineyard and under-ripe, green fruit that would carry these overtly green flavours over into the wine. Dr Richard Smart, the government head of viticulture from 1982-1990, would go on to make huge improvements and create trellising systems and ways of managing the vineyards that have been key to the rapid changes in the New Zealand wine industry and have also rightly catapulted Dr Smart to fame and international acclaim. With the basics of viticulture established, the 1990’s became a land-rush to try and find the most suitable vineyard sites. Marlborough became the centre of attention and slowly pulled ahead just after the turn of the decade in terms of size. Today it is 5 times larger than any other region in the country and is the centre of production for most large brands, as well as being globally recognised for its characteristic Sauvignon Blanc.
Today, 36,000 hectares are planted across the two islands; if New Zealand currently has a problem it’s that the country has no more room for vineyards! Almost 90% of vines are located in Marlborough with the vast majority being Sauvignon Blanc. There is no major wine producing country in the world that is so dominated by a single variety, but the crisp, aromatic and intensely flavoured Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand has taken the world by storm and seems unlikely to slow down anytime soon, much to the annoyance of neighbouring Australian wine-makers who have lost 40% of their market to this export! Pinot Noir is the second most widely planted grape variety and continues to improve year on year, with distinctive styles being produced across the country; Martinborough and Central Otago are the two heavyweights of this grape variety, although more is grown in Marlborough. Chardonnay is another widely planted variety, often used for local sparkling wine although some more serious dry wines are now being made from this grape. The future looks to be exciting, with many aromatic varieties slowly gaining traction; Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris and even Spanish Albariño are all finding their homes here!
Our tasting consisted of 6 wines from all across the country, paying special attention to the comparative styles of both Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.
Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2016 – Brancott Estate, formerly known as Montana, is the largest producer of wine in New Zealand by a significant margin and is currently part of the Pernod Ricard group. They were the first producer to start planting heavily in Marlborough in 1973, a tactic that has paid off handsomely since, and by 2005 was producing over half the countries entire production. They have since sold off their projects in Gisbourne and Hawkes Bay, focusing solely on high quality production within Marlborough itself. Their Sauvignon Blanc is New Zealand in a glass; intensely aromatic, very fresh and screaming with fresh green fruit, gooseberries, nettles and citrus fruit. A quintessential wine that any student would love to be presented with in a blind tasting! At 9 euros a bottle in Spain, this is extraordinarily good value and goes some way to explain the success of the brand.
Neudorf Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2014 – By point of comparison, our second wine is a slightly older Sauvignon Blanc from neighbouring Nelson. It’s hard to generalise about the climate here due to the variations in topography and soil, but it’s generally a little cooler and wetter than Marlbourough. Neudorf have been producing wines here since 1978 and own some of the oldest vines in the country. Their Sauvignon Blanc is stylistically very different to the Brancott, with deeper, richer aromas of ripe citrus, asparagus, elderflower and green fruit. Slightly creamy on the palate and much softer than most Sauvignon Blancs, this is really delicious stuff. A complete contrast of styles!
Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay 2011 – This is the best Chardonnay I’ve so far had the pleasure of trying from New Zealand. The winery itself is in the far north of the country, in the region of Kumeu next to Auckland. Famous for their various expressions of Chardonnay and Burgundian vinification techniques, these wines rightly sell for high prices, so it’s a pleasure to be able to present a mature example in Barcelona! 100% Chardonnay vinified with indigenous yeast in French oak, then matured for a further 11 months from a single vineyard “Hunting Hill”. The result is an incredibly mineral, steely expression of Chardonnay with a beautiful citrus and floral characteristic, lots of natural acidity and an enormous intensity of flavour. Stunning stuff and the clear winner of our “Wine of the Night” award with 5/10 votes!
Palliser Estate Pinot Noir 2014 – Our first red wine of the evening and it hails from the quite boutique region of Martinborough, to the south of the north island. Despite it’s relatively small size (3% of the countries total vines) it continues to outperform and the producers here have a general philosophy of ‘quality at any cost’. Whilst admirable, this does tend to drive the prices up quite significantly! However, the result is a spicy, dark and ripe style of Pinot Noir that I’ve come to love. Palliser Estate are a great example of this and their signature wine is produced from 18 year old vineyards. A light oaking regime allows the fruit to shine, and shine it does! Ripe aromas of strawberries, cherries and plums sit nicely on top of subtle black pepper and cloves from 25% new oak, with the tell-tale smoky, undergrowth aromas just starting to come through. Structured and fresh, this is drinking deliciously already, which is certainly much of the appeal of Pinot Noir from New Zealand.
Burn Cottage Pinot Noir 2011 – Now for something completely different; a Pinot Noir from the very south of the country in Central Otago, produced by one of the countries only 100% biodynamic producers. Burn Cottage is a relatively new project having been started in 2002, and focuses heavily on sustainable agriculture through biodynamic viticultural practices, helped by consultant Ted Lemon of Littorai in Sonoma. Central Otago is a far more extreme climate than Martinborough and vintage variation is far more pronounced as a result, in fact the most southerly vineyards in the world are located here! Pinot Noir represents 75% of all plantings and tends to be lighter in both colour and flavour profile than their northern brethren. This wine is a far more delicate, silky expression of Pinot Noir with soft red fruit, smoke, leather and a developing meaty aroma. Still fresh on the palate with completely integrated tannins, this a very sophisticated wine. A close runner up for Wine of the Night with 3/10 votes!
Te Mata Bullnose Syrah 2013 – Our final wine of the evening and it comes from one of the countries leading producers; in fact, when putting this tasting together I was amazed at how many truly excellent producers there are in a country that has barely 10% of the production of Australia! Te Mata was revived as a producer in 1978 (Their first vineyards were planted in 1892 making them the oldest producer in the country!) and have gone on to achieve huge success, not least due to their balanced portfolio of excellent wine. All of their vineyards are located in the Hawkes Bay area on the warmer north Island, particularly suited to the production of red varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. To finish with, we’ve gone for their incredibly stylish Bullnose Syrah, an elegant, peppery expression of Syrah full of crisp blackberry and red cherry fruit, pungent violets and coffee aromas. Firm, beautifully grainy tannins and a cool, 13% alcohol deliver the flavours with verve on the palate. An excellent wine and a lovely way to finish the tasting.