Early development - a Waitaki vineyard in 2003

I wasn’t able to attend an extensive tasting of wines from the still new Waitaki region recently but the organisers kindly sent me a selection of the wines that featured at the tasting.

Waitaki is centred around the town of Kurow in North Otago just south of the Canterbury border. If you’re still not sure where that is it’s inland and up a bit from the coastal town of Oamaru.

The region has the feel of wine country. Unlike Central Otago it has a maritime influence although a range of hills separate it from the coast. Vineyards tend to be concentrated on the western side of the magnificent, braided Waitaki River on plains and slopes. Further to the west are the snow-capped peaks shown in the above photograph. The soils (again, unlike those of Central Otago) often have a limestone influence. They tend to be stoney and relatively free-draining.

After tasting the 14 bottles received and checking my earlier tasting notes on Waitaki wines I am becoming more enthusiastic about the region’s potential. It is a cool region that will probably struggle to achieve full physiological ripeness in every grape variety every vintage although warmer, sheltered sites might just achieve that.

The most exciting wine I’ve tasted to date (and sadly have no tasting record because it was tasted informally) was Forrest Estate 2006 (or was it 2007?) Chardonnay. This is an extraordinary wine with the purity, power and character of grand cru chablis from a good vintage. The 2008 vintage featured at the tasting but the bottle in my pack had been opened and was oxidised. I hope to taste a good sample soon.

Craggy Range 2006 Pinot Gris was another standout wine. It had intensity and, like the Chardonnay, impressvie purity. I tasted it on first release and haven’t had another chance to re-visit it as a microscopic amount was made. Craggy’s 2008 Pinot Gris is good, but not as good as the 2006.

I’m sure that Waitaki’s winemakers want Pinot Noir to be their signature wine but the best have fallen short of the standard set by Central Otago’s first division wineries. Waitaki tends to make fine-boned Pinot Noir with red fruit, floral and herb characters. It teeters on the border between being excessively vegetal and being an exquisite cool climate wine with nervy elegance.

The region’s Riesling is similarly “almost there” but needs fine-tuning to really convince me that it can challenge the country’s best.

Waitaki wines are at an exciting experimental stage. I’d like to see more winemakers move into the region and really start to exploit what appears to be pretty exciting potential.

The world's most popular Sauvignon Blanc in pill form

A few minutes ago I finished tasting 41 examples of Sauvignon Blanc from the 2009 vintage – an estimated 15% of all wines produced. 26 were tank samples. A few of those were cloudy although most had been blended and fined ready for bottling. 31 samples were from Marlborough with the rest from Nelson (4), Hawke’s Bay (2), Gisborne (1), Wairarapa (1), Martinborough (1) and Waipara (1).

I’m reluctant to post tasting notes of individual wines because they are work-in-progress. Most of the bottled samples are not ready for review with release dates months away in some cases.

However the tasting gives me a chance to assess the vintage, although that assessment may change once I’ve reviewed a wider range of more mature wines.

After an emarassingly large and extremely variable 2008 Marlborough vintage most growers and winemakers dropped crop in pursuit of quality rather than quantity. That was good news for the 2009 vintage and spelled a change in attitude which promises to boost the quality of future Marlborough vintages.

February was very wet but March had half the average rainfall and April was fairly dry. That’s good news for Marlborough Sauvignon which mostly gets picked in the first half of April although one viticulturist told me, “God smiled on the greedy this year. We did a severe shoot and bunch thinning to massively reduce crop and our grapes were at their most succeptible (for botrytis and other rots) when the March rain hit. We had an outbreak of bot. while other greedier growers emerged unscathed”.

There has been a fair amount of over-the-top praise for the vintage by winemakers who, it’s fair to say, have a lot at stake if the vintage is indifferent or bad.

I don’t believe that 2009 was a great Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc vintage. It does seem to be at least a good vintage and significantly better than the previous year but perhaps not as good as 2007. As I said before, that view might change in time.

Flavours are ripe without showing a lot of very ripe tropical fruit and passion fruit characters. Acidities are high but the wines show good purity and energy. Variation in quality was less than I expected although the handful of truly excellent wines in the tasting did stand out from the field. Their was a thankful absence of bad wines.

Two wine producers are worth a mention. Saint Clair seem to have achieved its usual high standard with its flagship wines while Pernod Ricard also deserves praise for lifting the quality level in its whole range, at least all of the wines featured in the tasting.

James Halliday, wine wizard of Oz, venturing an opinion

Just received an email from the “wine wizard of OZ” James Halliday. He was incontinent with joy at the success of Australia and New Zealand and the dismal performance of California in an international Chardonnay competition. James wrote: 

“I couldn’t resist sending you the outcome of an international chardonnay tasting held in conjunction with the Winewise annual Small Winemaker Competition.  It will probably come as no surprise to you to see that the Californian chardonnays performed as dismally as ever, and, at the other end of the scale, that Australia and New Zealand shared the first nine places (there were five Australian and five kiwi wines).  I didn’t know the Coldstream Hills was in the tasting, but was one of many who thought it was by far the best wine, with much conjecture as to what it might be.  Of course, the tasting was blind, and all the points collated before there was any discussion between the 20 judges.”

Here are the results, with average score and cost in Australian dollars (apologies for the wonky formatting):

                                                                                                                                  points

1.       2006 Coldstream Hills Reserve                                                                    18.7       $50

2.       2006 Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Vineyard                                           18.3       $45 ($29 in NZ)

3.       2006 Voyager Estate Margaret River                                                           18           $37

4.       2006 Giaconda                                                                                              17.8        $105

5.       2006 Cloudy Bay                                                                                           17.7        $38

6.       2006 Kumeu River Coddington VY                                                                17.6        $50

7.       2006 Leeuwin Estate Art Series                                                                    17.4        $80

8.       2006 Ata Rangi Craighall                                                                              17.4        $60

9.       2006 Chablis Grenouilles (Louis Michel)                                                      17.4        $75

10.   2005 Bindi Quartz                                                                                          17           $75

11.   2006 Church Road Tom                                                                                  17           Not released

12.   2006 Meursault Perrières (Pierre Morey)                                                      16.9        $225

13.   2005 Corton Charlemagne (Marc Colin)                                                        16.9        $180

14.   2005 Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles (Louis Jadot)                          16.7        $490

15.   2006 Peter Michael Winery “Ma Belle Fille” Sonoma County                       16.3        $140

16.   2006 Bâtard-Montrachet (Domaine Leflaive)                                                16.1        $520

17.   2005 Kenwood Family Vineyards Tor Sonoma County                                   16           $92

18.   2006 Kongsgaard Napa Valley                                                                       15.9        $180

19.   2005 Kistler Dutton Ranch Russian River Valley                                           15.8        $125

20.   2005 Mount Eden Estate                                                                                15.5        $100

Putting my feet up - for a couple of months!

Beware the deadly donkey

Falling slowly from the sky

You can choose the way you live my friend,

But not the way you die

Edward Monkton

A week ago I had a close brush with the deadly donkey. It was Saturday evening, Marion was cooking boeuf bourguignon, house guest Richard was reading a book and I was trying to decide what to drink while we watched the six o’clock news. There was just time to change the spa pool filter before we settled down for the evening. I strolled out onto the cold, rain-swept deck and slipped on a short piece of hose. My leg buckled under me.  I collapsed in agony.  Certain that I’d broken a femur I writhed on the slippery deck until Marion and Richard rushed to my aid.

I often think of peculiar things in times of great stress. It occurred to me that I hadn’t cursed when I hit the deck. Then I thought of gangster movies. If someone fires a shot and it narrowly misses its target the intended victim will often exclaim “shit”, or perhaps “shit, you nearly hit me”. If the bullet inflicts a minor wound the curse might be upgraded to “fuck!” or “fuck, I’m hit”. But if someone receives a fatal shot they never curse. Instead they utter a throaty “Aaaargh!” before dropping dead. Cussing is beginning to lose its impact. Even respectable TV presenters now utter the odd obscenity that might have once landed a man in jail. Perhaps they should consider a good old primeval “Aaaaargh” for more impact. It worked for me. I gave such a genuine, back-to-basics “Aaaarg!!” that help arrived in seconds. “Fuck” might have taken minutes while nobody seems to give a shit about “shit” anymore.

Neither leg seemed to work. If I moved a muscle I received the sort of spasm that makes childbirth look like a doddle. Eventually I was dragged inside and checked by a doctor as I downed a therapeutic glass of Moss Wood 2007 Cabernet Merlot. Spinal column intact, no broken bones apparent but there could be muscle and/or ligament damage. Four hours in the Accident and Emergency Department of our local hospital produced a similar diagnosis. I was given pain-killers and crutches despite my assurance that it was impossible for me to use crutches. They didn’t supply wheelchairs because patients nicked them.

I had a new class starting on a couple of days. Borrowed a wheelchair from a rest home and with the help of Marion; who set up, cleared up and chauffeured; it was a success.

Returning home at 9.30pm I called a friend and orthopaedic surgeon for his opinion. I explained how the accident happened to which he said, “I know what it is, I’ll be there in five minutes.” I’d apparently, and unusually, broken the quadriceps tendons in both thighs. I needed an operation or I’d never walk again. “Be at the hospital by 8am tomorrow morning”, I was told.

I quite enjoyed a spell in hospital. The food was crap but the portions were so small they tasted great. Didn’t feel much pain, slept a lot and read a bit. Marion arrived with a bottle of decent wine every evening but seldom had more than a sip – plastic tumblers kill good wine.

HIGH POINT:  While giving me a sponge bath at 3am the night nurse commented, “You’re in quite good shape for a man your age”.

LOW POINT:  Back home. Hadn’t had a shower for a week (but was enjoying the sponge baths). A ramp had been constructed to allow me access to my shower. I stripped butt-naked and taped a plastic rubbish bag to each leg to protect my leg braces. The wheelchair wouldn’t go up the ramp. Marion grabbed her camera but couldn’t focus due to tears in her eyes. I was in a dark mood for the rest of the evening.

I’ll be in leg braces for 6-8 weeks then in rehab. for a while to get my legs working. At least the deadly donkey didn’t make a direct hit.