On the Grapevine March

New Zealand Hosts Wine Elite

During January and February New Zealand played host to some of the world’s most influential wine commentators during a string of events that kicked off in Hawkes Bay in late January and ended in Nelson in February. This influx of visitors caused my blog to go on hold while I worked for NZ Winegrowers on arrangements for some of the guests.

Hawkes Bay Winegrowers hosted two days of intensive discussion, technical research, problem solving and of course tasting, with the Cabernet/Merlot Forum on day one and the Syrah Symposium on day two. Next day the guests were whisked away to Martinborough for the day to celebrate 30 years of Martinborough wines accompanied by some exceptional food from the team at Logan Brown restaurant.

Feeling somewhat weary by now they rolled into Wellington for the big event Pinot Noir 2010 four full on days all about Pinot NZ style with some exceptional food to accompany. After this many also managed to visit the aromatic wine capital of Nelson for the Aromatics Symposium.

I was involved in the itineraries for a number of our important visitors and believe me they worked exceptionally hard during their stay. Not only did most of them attend these three events they also managed to tour many of our wine regions and visit an amazing number of wineries as well. Now NZ Winegrowers must wait to see if it’s all worthwhile, hopefully we will get some good publicity and kudos for both our wines and New Zealand as a destination.

Vintage 2010 Now Underway

Most regions have begun picking what is increasingly looking like a late and possibly condensed vintage, where a lot of grapes, are likely to arrive all at once putting wineries and staff under a lot of pressure.

Happiest grape growers are those in Auckland, Waiheke Island and Northland where perfect weather has allowed grapes to be picked at their optimum time and in an orderly fashion. Both Gisborne and Hawkes Bay have experienced more cold windy and damp weather during the last few months than they would like and other regions have just been plain cold. But March has seen much warmer temperatures so although late there is still plenty of time for grapes to reach full ripeness.

There are still a couple of months to go till all grapes are in, and as always, the proof is in the bottle.

French Wineries to Promote Wine by Variety

This startling information comes from the Aussie newspaper “The Australian”.

French vineyards have been told they must pool their resources to make wines known by grape variety. Naturally many traditionalists are appalled as the French wine industry has long promoted their wines as a unique product of microclimate, soil, and winemaker; labelled by region, district and vineyard.

The call comes from critics of the French wine industry who believe that to survive and recapture market share from its New World rivals there must be change.

French wine exports have fallen for the last two years, especially in the US and Britain.

Chairman of the Federation of French Wine and spirits Claude de Jouvencel has warned that the French lack products with a clear brand name and grape variety, adding his voice to a growing movement in favour of sweeping reforms and the production of varietal wines.

France’s share of the global wine market has fallen from 51% in 1990 to 34% in 2009.