On the Grapevine August

Bordeaux Hosts Gimblett Gravels Tasting

If New Zealand wine wants to compete on the world stage then it has to match up or surpass what the rest of the world offers, and the only way to impress is match our quality wines with theirs. So back in June, Steve Smith MW Director of Wine and Viticulture for Craggy Range packed his bags plus a few bottles of exceptional Hawkes Bay wines and headed for the first ever tasting of New Zealand wines to be held in Bordeaux.

The tasting consisted of Bordeaux varietal blends from the Gimblett Gravels region of Hawkes Bay, and was held at Chateau Brane-Cantenac in June this year.
The event was attended by some of the most influential chateau proprietors and oenologists of Bordeaux, as well as press and media. Wines from Craggy Range, Trinity Hill, Church Road, Villa Maria and Sacred Hill across three vintages were presented to the group.

The wines were received with enthusiasm, and comments ranged from, “fresh and well balanced”. To the more personal as Jen Claude Berrouet of Chateau Petrus noted “from New Zealand where men of character enhance an original nature by producing wines with unexpected complexity and subtlety”.

The wines tasted were from the 2005, 2007 vintages and 2009 (barrel samples).
The wines were Craggy Range Sophia, Craggy Range The Quarry, Trinity Hill The Gimblett, Villa Maria Reserve Cabernet Merlot, and Sacred Hill The Helmsman and Tom.

Entries for Air New Zealand Wine Awards Open

This year all entries are required to be 100% sustainably produced which means that grapes must be grown and processed under an independently audited sustainability program. A requirement that has made it tough for many of our smaller vineyards to comply due to the costs associated with the sustainability program. These pose a considerable monetary burden to many of our smaller wineries and it would be a shame to see them cut out of competing with our larger producers; after all the majority of New Zealand’s vineyards started out small, sometimes planted by amateur enthusiasts, before they grew to their present size.

This year’s international judges include two writers Eric Arnold from USA, currently editorial director for Bottlenotes.com. And Stephen Brook from UK, author of The Wines of California and contributor to a number of wine publications based in Austria, Sweden and Korea.
From Australia, Ben Edwards president of Sommeliers Australia and director of The Wine Guide (a global sommelier consultancy); and Philip Rich also from Australia, founder and partner of Prince Wine Store in South Melbourne, one of the largest independent fine wine stores in Australia.

Judging will be from Monday 1st November to Wednesday 3rd November, results will be announced on Wednesday 10th November, and all Trophy winners will be announced at The Wine Awards Gala dinner on Saturday 20th November in Auckland.

NZ Winegrowers Year in Review

Wine Exports grow 5% to $1.04 billion
Grape vintage reduces 7% to 266,000 tonnes
Average value of bottled wine exports declines 11% to $8.70 per litre
Exports of Pinot Noir exceed $100 million for the first time
Membership of Sustainable Winegrowing NZ covers 93% of the producing area and 85% of wine production
MOU signed with Organic Winegrowers New Zealand

Some good and some bad news here, at least exports are still going up but the price per litre drop is not good. New Zealand has prided itself on the high price per litre it has maintained for some time in our export markets. But it is excellent to see Pinot Noir exports increasing; it is now second only to Sauvignon Blanc but a long way behind with  Sauvignon totalling 115,810 million litres exported this year Pinot Noir’s total was 8,207 million litres.