Mother Nature meets Jack Frost

From far away, YESTERDAY, this vineyard looks great. THIS MORNING, upon closer inspection, it looks less than great. Temperatures in West Melton plummeted overnight to a low of -3.0 which, despite some desperate helicopter action, may well have caused up to 50% of the shoot growth to die.

Some shoots will recover and secondary buds will grow so it isnt all over just yet. Barring another whiteout there will still be a crop here but it will certainly be a smaller crop. And the season now just got shorter for the new growth so we will need it to be a better than average one just to get the full potential out of this fruit. The margin for error in the season just got tighter.

Better news from our other vineyards - no frost issues to date for our Central Otago, Marlborough or Waipara vineyards. Spring Frosts are a major issue on the New Zealand wine industry. The price of protection is huge but the price of total crop loss is worse.

Riesling Rules !

I have just received my free copy of “Riesling Rules”, all the way from the USA. Its published by Pacific Rim Winemakers (but you would hardly know it) who are really leading the charge in helping everyones favourite white varietal get the exposure and limelight it deserves.

This book is 40 pages of Riesling facts, lists and snippets, laced with quotes and tips that keep things light and approachable. ”How to Sound Like a Riesling Geek” is tucked in after some pretty decent information about Riesling Growing Regions, lists of key Mosel and Alsace producers.

Whether you’re already a Riesling aficionado, or just cannot quite figure out why everyone keeps telling you that you should like Riesling, or somewhere in between — this booklet will hold your interest.

“Riesling Rules” is available free — you can view it online here or order a hard copy online.

To quote the rulebook;

The true triumph of Riesling is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it. – Voltaire

New Release...

At Sandihurst we are about to release out first wine of the 2008 vintage - our 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

2/3 of the fruit is from the Wairau Valley and was 'traditionally' handled (in the Marlborough sense) - machine harvested, clean juice and cool fermented to retain aromatics and freshness. The other 1/3 of fruit is from the Awatere Valley, hand harvested, whole bunch pressed and briefly settled before being fermented slightly warmer. Both wines then stayed on full fermentation lees for 3 months to build texture and palate weight before being blended and bottled in August.

The wine is typically Marlborough in style but is understated and restrained. Rather than a straight forward fruit bomb the wine offers texture and additional complexity which adds another dimension to the fruit aromatics and vibrant acidity. It is dry at 3 g/L residual sugar. This is a wine which will benefit from short to mid-term cellaring and should begin to bloom into 2009 as it develops in the bottle.

To celebrate the release Sandihurst is having an afternoon release party on Sunday October 12th. Live music, picnic food and of course a complementary glass of Sauvignon Blanc on our vineyard lawn. Please contact the winery for further details.

At this moment in time...

Here's the inside of the winery and here, at the beginning of October, is the current state of things.

140 barrels of Pinot Noir, 3/4 from Central Otago, 1/4 from Waipara, are all going through Malolactic fermentation at the moment. Yesterday I sent a number of samples to the local hospital who provide a lab service for checking the MLF numbers. I'm hoping most barrels are nearly through.

In the background you can see our tanks. We have about 500L of 2008 Canterbury Pinot Gris which is in tank sitting on light lees. Its really starting to build some texture and develop interesting character over and above the fruit.

Same deal with our 2008 Central Otago Gewurztraminer. About 1000L on lees. A rich full bodied wine which is tending towards Alsace in its style. A little residual sugar, about 14% alcohol and with serious weight behind it.

The other tanks are all Riesling. We have our 2008 Waipara Riesling, about 2500L, which was fermented entirely with natural yeasts and is currently still sitting on full fermentation lees. Ferment stopped naturally at about 25g/L sugar which is wonderfully balanced with its acidity.
My plan at this stage is that this wine will not be cold stabilised or fined in order to keep the wine as natural as possible.

Our other Riesling is our 2008 Canterbury Riesling of which there will be around 19000L. Its made in a lower alcohol (probably around 10-11%) style with around 25-30g/L sugar. The wine actually tastes much drier than it is due to the higher levels of acidity we retain here in Canterbury. On light lees at the moment. Should be a real winner.

Outside most buds are now out and budburst seems relatively uniform with between 1-3 leaves unfolded. No frost issues to date. Everything looking as good as possible at this early stage.

The Road is Long...

The Great Alpine Highway runs from Christchurch to the Kumara Junction on the West Coast. Its the driving equivalent of the world famous Tranz-alpine train journey. 255km long and packed with spectacular scenery on both sides of the Southern Alps.

Sandihurst Winery is located about 15kms from the start of the highway on the Christchurch side, just past the small settlement of West Melton. Its the only winery on the whole route and, if you are travelling west, quite probably the last winery you will see before getting to Central Otago, about 750kms down the road !

So dont forget to stop in. You've been warned !

Incroyable !

It appears from the video above that the French people know next to nothing about New Zealand wines. Shame on them. And you might think that people involved in the wine industry would be a little more knowledgeable. Incredible.

Well hopefully that all about to change because Sandihurst will shortly begin exporting some wine to France. No excuses now.

The envelope please...

The results are in from the International Wine and Spirit Competition. We entered 3 of our wines and the good news for us is that they all received an award.

The 2006 Canterbury Riesling was awarded Silver-Best in Class. Here what the judges had to say about it.
Greenish straw colour, showing minerality on the nose with slate and grapefruit pungency. Good fruit concentration, yet much delicacy. The palate is round, crisp, softened by residual sugar which is well balanced by delicate, mouthwatering acidity and gentle flavours. Very refined.

The 2006 Canterbury Pinot Noir was awarded Silver-Best in Class.
Light glossy garnet red. Gentle soft red berried fruits ,light floral notes. Clean soft and ripe in the mouth, delicate pinot character with some weight, fresh and just a bit warm on the finish.

The 2007 Nelson Riesling was awarded Bronze.

It is interesting to chart the recent competition results and tasting feedback. As a rough rule it appears that Sandihurst tends to do better in competitons outside NZ than we do in this country. Why is this? One reason may be partly due to my winemaking style which has been largely influenced by my time living in Germany and in conversation with other European winemakers.

Another noticeable trend is that our wines dont tend to show very well in the first year after bottling. They take a while to settle and develop. Im comfortable with that, they arent built to be fruit bombs, but hopefully to offer added complexity and interest as they develop. I think our wines have great ageing potential. Which, especially for Riesling, is just how it should be. Is there anything better than drinking aged Riesling ?

Growing reputation...

Much more interesting than watching paint dry, and faster too.

Salut Canada

This year Sandihurst began exporting wine to Canada. Our wines are imported through our agent Fred Lewis at Schoolhouse Wines in Ontario and sold through the LCBOs Vintages stores. We began exporting with our 2006 Canterbury Riesling earlier in the year and that wine recently won a silver medal in the 2008 Selections Mondiales des Vins Canada , the largest wine competition in North America.

Heres what NZ wine critic Michael Cooper had to say about the wine.

SANDIHURST RIESLING 2006 Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand

TASTING NOTE: The 2006 vintage was hand-picked in West Melton and Burnham vineyards, south-

west of Christchurch, and matured on its yeast lees for six months. It's a light, lemony, appleyCanterbury wine, gently sweet and crisp, with good flavour depth and slight earthy notes adding a

touch of European-style complexity. Worth cellaring.

Just so you know where to go and buy this wine, heres a list of the Vintages stores near you which stock the wine. Failing that please contact Fred or the team at Schoolhouse.

Fred came out and visited us in August this year and has subsequently added our 2007 Central Otago Pinot Noir and 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to the list. You can contact Fred directly for those too.

Let us spray...

Now that bud burst is here it wont be long before we need to apply the first spray of the season, probably a sulphur spray to prevent Powdery Mildew. It can be a bit time consuming driving up each row with a tractor and if you dotn have a cab on your tractor then it can get really hot in your spray suit & mask. Not the best job to be had in the vineyard.

Heres a video of spraying by helicopter in Burgundy. Looks like a great idea. Its something we dont do much of here in New Zealand and Im wondering why the big companies dont given the size of their vineyards. It looks quick and easy.

Then again it also looks really dangerous.

The sound of the Kiwi...

Another NZ music video. Not that recent but anyway. For anything more recent check out http://www.myspace.com/gregjohnsonmusic. I dont know if putting music videos on a wine site says anything, least of all about me. This one probably tells you I dont have long hair, piercings or tattoos. Stay tuned for some Portugese Fado...

Not all yeasts are good guys

What is Brettanomyces ?

Its a yeast, in short. Actually we can say its a a spoilage organism that can in fact, in small doses, be a complexing element in wine. Problem is we cant control the amount. Its more prominent in red wines due to their high polyphenol content and higher pH levels. And it loves wood, lees, tolerates alcohol and doesnt need too many nutrients. It grows slowly just feeding on the little bits of O2 that barrel ageing gives it. Its tough.

There are a number of compounds responsible for the aromatic identification of Brett. The most common are 4-ethylphenol, 4-ethylguaiacol and isovaleric acid. Among the aromas we associate with Brett are medicinal, mousy, smoky, barnyard, bandaid and cheesy. And all these come at the cost of fruit and oak. Basically it all makes for unpleasant drinking and can ruin a wine although as I said earlier in small doses it can be aromatically enhancing for some wines.

Im thinking about this because in our cellar Ive got a bretty barrel. Its at the smoky stage (4-ethylguaiacol) which isnt too bad yet. And out of 140 barrels it isnt going to ruin the blend if it stays like that. But I have to be careful. Firstly when tasting never to transfer any wine from this barrel to others. I'll probably rack this wine off its lees, make sure MLF has finished, adjust the free SO2, clean the barrel, keep it topped and monitor regularly from there. That wont stop it but I can try to make its life harder. At blending time I will need to make some careful decisions because the last thing I want is Brett developing in bottle. One option would be sterile filtration of this barrel and that will stop this portion ruining the final blend. Those decisions will come later.

The Norwester

Heres a photo showing the classic Northwest arch. This type of cloud formation is perculiar to Canterbury and is almost always accompanied by a strong, hot and dry wind. Its a summer thing and is usually at its peak betweeen bud burst and veraison. Its a good wind for the grapes, mostly, as it can have an effect by limiting fruit-set and usually also means that disease pressure is very low when we keep an open canopy for the wind to blow through. On the downside it can be hell to work in if you are out in the vineyard as it saps all you super powers pretty quickly.

The view from above

The Canterbury grape growing region has two sub regions - Waipara, to the north of Christchurch, and the Canterbury Plains to the west. Sandihurst Winery is located on the finges of the plains, about 20 minutes from the centre of Christchurch. As you can see the plains are a large multicoloured patchwork quilt of fields. And flowing the length of the Plains, from the mountains to the sea, are a number of big rivers. The one in the photo above is the Waimakiriri. These stoney, braided rivers have formed the basis of the soils in Cantebury with the majority of our vineyards being loam/loess covered ancient river terraces. Light free draining soils with a mineral edge - perfect for our aromatic wines.

Didier Dagueneau

I read this morning that Didier Dagueneau was killed in a microlite accident in France yesterday. Tragically he was only 52. You can read more about him on Decanter or Jancis Robinson's site.

As a wine student at Lincoln University I really enjoyed watching the Jancis Robinson Wine Course videos. People like Dagueneau, with his 'Wild Man of the Loire' tag, were tremendously inspirational. We loved the individual character and the seemingly obsessive and traditional nature of his viticulture and winemaking. This seemed to capture the essence of why we wanted to get into the industry. No student aspires to join Gallo, Pernod-Ricard or the like but the stories and individual characters of (mostly) European winemakers really got us enthused. Among the other individuals we looked toward also included Henri Jayer and Georg Breuer and they have also sadly passed away relatively recently.

Signs of Life

We've just had three days on 20C temperatures, probably the warmest days in the last six months. Thats really helped push things along in the vineyard.

Yesterday I noticed the first buds of the season had burst. There were a few in our Pinot Gris and, surprisingly, a few in the Riesling which is normally one of the later varieties to burst. Typically these early buds are nearest to the wooden posts and often at the end of the new cane that has been laid down.

This photo shows the unfolding of the first leaf. Amazing to think that already inside that newly opened bud are 2 or 3 bunches of grapes. Basically all they need now is heat, a little water and time...

The Hunt for Red October

The Fine Wine Delivery Company are about to hold their annual NZ Pinot Noir roadshow around the country. This year all the wines will be from the 2007 vintage. This event has been running for the past 5 years and is now one of the major Pinot Noir tasting events in NZ.

The good news for Sandihurst is that both our Waipara and Central Otago wines have been accepted into the event. Just being selected is confirmation that our wines are up there with the best in NZ, especially since they havent even been released yet (October 1st). I like to give the wine 6 months bottle maturation before release so this also tells me weve got it right.

The day-long event is to be held in Christchurch on October 11, Wellington October 4 and Auckland October 18, and for the Pinot Noir lover the format of the day is a real treat.

12.30 – 2.30pm International Seminar
Opportunity to taste and discuss 12 different Pinot Noir from around the world: France, America, South Africa, Australia, Chile, NZ. Selected winemakers guided by NZ wine personality & FWDC Propietor Jeff Poole. Where does NZ sit in the context of these wines from around the world?

3.30pm-6pm The Grand NZ Pinot Noir Tasting
Taste your way around 80-100 Pinot Noir from some of NZ’s most exciting producers.

7.30pm – Pinot Noir Dinner
Award winning restaurant pairs Pinot Noir from four of NZ’s exciting wine producing regions. Representative winemakers will discuss their particular wine alongside the dish it is paired with. The perfect environment to unwind, relax and reminisce on Pinot Noir and the day’s events – what more could fellow Pinot aficionado’s ask for…

There is also a consumers choice award and official judging panel to be announced at the Auckland dinner on October 18th. See the FWDC website for more details. The Christchurch dinner will be held at Saggio di Vino which deserves a mention - great food and a superb cellar too.

Bis Spater Gewurztraminer

Apologies for the spelling but I couldnt seem to put any umlauts in the title.

Im currently working through one of the last vineyard jobs before the new season gets underway. A section of our Gewurztraminer vines need to be replaced and so we are removing them from the vineyard. Although not ancient in terms of vine age these vines have not been cropping very well for the last few years. This is partly to do with age but also because they are planted on own roots, are possibly virused and, crucially, are in a section of the vineyard that is prone to frost. Not a good combination really ! Which is a shame because when you get Gewurz right in the vineyard it makes a wonderful wine.

With good budwood and a frost protection system we will replant this vineyard in time. But should we plant Gewurz ?? I mentioned in a previous post we are experimenting this year with Gruner Veltliner (no umlaut again, sorry) so maybe we should try something else - Albarino perhaps?

Still, the trunks in the phot above are not completely wasted yet. They make fantastic Barbeque wood !

Until later Gewurztraminer...

A new season is almost here...

The vines have been cut, the old wood pulled out and mulched, this seasons canes have been trimmed and tied down to the fruiting wire. The undervine area has been weedsprayed. The winter has been and gone and temperatures across the region are on the rise. With it comes a rise in soil temperature too. The cut canes 'bleed' water from the ends as the sap starts to flow. The vines are now active again.

It all adds up to movement in the buds as they begin to swell. The outer scale cracks open first and then the bud gets 'fluffy' as it begins to burst. We are practically 7-10 days away from the first buds to emerge.

At that point we will then start fretting over the possiblity of spring frosts destroying the new growth. More on that later.

The 2009 season is about to begin. Keep an eye on the blog as I will endeavour to monitor each stage of the vines growth throughout the season.

Changes in the winery...

Just a closer view of the barrel fermentation lock that we use while the Malolactic ferment is going on. Nothing too exciting to see save for the occasional bubble as some gas escapes. Inside the barrel is where all the action is as the acidity is lowered and the wine begins to soften and round out.

Perhaps in football terms it would be like Manchester United selling Wayne Rooney but getting TWO Ronaldinho's back.

Bubbling Barrels

Springtime has arrived (sort of) in Canterbury and that means the cellar is starting to warm up a little. All our Pinot Noir will now start its secondary fermentation, the Malolactic fermentation. As the wine warms up the natural bacteria in the wine start eating up all the Malic acid and converting it into Lactic acid. Malic acid is the green apple tasting type that isnt really welcome in Pinot Noir (or, in any great amount, in my whites either for that matter).

Just going back a step, the malic acid in each berry is respired out of the berry during the season with the higher the temperature meaning the more Malic is respired. So in cooler climate winegrowing regions the berry tends to retain more malic acidity, which comes across as green and tart. Unlike the other major acid in grapes, tartaric acid, which is more citric and ripe tasting.

Anyway, so in Pinot Noir (and most reds) we try to lose that Malic by having the bugs turn it into the softer, rounder Lactic acid. For every 1g/L of Malic that is consumed, 0.5g/L of Lactic are produced. This can occur naturally or you can add freeze-dried bacteria to the wine to do the job. Neither of them can handle cold wine or too much sulphur so care is needed.

Should take a few weeks and then I can finally add some SO2 to the wine for the remainder of its life in barrel.

Killing the Goose...

Sauvignon Blanc is NZs most planted grape variety by a country mile. It’s the grape we made our name internationally on. Its cheap to make and one of the earliest wines into the marketplace. Its our cash cow.

BUT, all may not be well in the land of cat pee. Heres the numbers...

In 2008 the total harvest in NZ was 282319 tonnes.

SB nationally accounted for 169613 tonnes ( 60%) of which 90.6% came from Marlborough, so 153669 tonnes.

The producing area for Sauvignon in Marlborough is around 11000ha.

This makes the average tones harvested per hectare to be around 14. Or on normal 3m x 1.5m plantings that’s well over 6kgs per vine. Surely outrageous.

The average across the whole of NZ for 2008 was 10.5t/ha. This means the average crop levels for everything else other than SB was about 5.5t/ha. At around 2500-3000 vines per hectare this represents good quality conscious viticulture.

But whats going on with Sauvignon Blanc, and why isn’t anyone worried about it?

The Marlborough Research Centre tells us ‘there are a number of reasons for the increase in Marlaborough – none of them to do with overcropping.’ They point to lower than average bunch numbers but a huge increase in berry weights and to the amount of new plantings coming on stream.

So they are saying 14 tonnes per hectare ISNT overcropping ??

This huge increase in berry weights caught most growers and wineries by surprise to the point where processing capacity was full and fruit had to be left on the vine. So, in fact the total tonnage could well have been higher.

Philip Gregan, our NZ Wine chief, quoted in the UK press, (and by Jancis Robinson here), was tactful to say the least.
“The increased harvest is a real opportunity to grow sales in new and existing export markets in the year ahead towards our target of $1 billion of exports by 2010. At the same time, the larger harvest will present a challenge to winery sales and marketing efforts to ensure that New Zealand’s premium image continues to go from strength to strength,”

One of those ‘challenges’ he referred to was illustrated recently when a certain large NZ wine company ‘dumped’ a million litres on the Australian market at $3.50/L. That might be generously inflating the total value of NZ wine exports but what is it doing to our image?

It still doesn’t add up to me. Maintaining our image for quality and above average price points in export markets should be paramount. The last thing we need to do is, as the saying goes, kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

Four Seasons In One Day...

New Zealand weather is often described as like having four seasons in one day. We can blame our maritime climate. September now so its officially spring. Yesterday, here in Canterbury the temperature got as high as 21C which is as hot as its been in almost 6 months. Today it is raining heavily and is about 8C.

No point in having another rainy photo so heres a weather related video from Crowded House, an iconic Kiwi band if ever there was one. Looking back at it now it looks quite dated (1991!) but anyway...

Blind Faith...

Entering wine shows seems to be a necessary evil in the battle to sell wine. Statistics seem to show that stickers sell wine and that the perception of that wine as a quality product is also enhanced. As we know, that is often not the case.

As a winemaker, I cant see that there is any basis in comparing wines from different terroirs, from different winemakers or across different judges who all have differing tasting preferences and palates. A wine should stand or fall on its own merit. But then Im not the one trying to sell the wine.

So I read with interest a comment from the Central Otago Winemakers Association president arising from the recent Bragato awards.

Despite the success of many vineyards, he also said wine judges could favour particular styles at different times, and for those vineyard entries which were not recognised with medals, it could be simply because the style of wine was not preferable, as opposed to poor quality. It's a bit of a lottery. While it's good to see so many Central Otago wines featuring so well, there are a number of others of equal quality which don't feature, because of style and trends," he said.

That gives us confidence. Not !

Look out NZ...

The Decanter World Wine Awards results for 2008 are out and theres more than a surprise or two amongst the winners.

The trophy for International Pinot Noir went to a German wine from the Ahr, the Dernauer Pfarrwingert Spätburgunder Grosses Gewächs 2005 from Weingut Meyer-Näkel. It beat out competition from NZ, Chile and a Burgundian Grand Cru to win.

And to rub salt in the NZ wound, South Africa were not only the most successful country overall but they also took out the International Sauvignon Blanc Under £10 Trophy Best Sauvignon Blanc award.

Its a tough world out there.