I attended the opening of Waitaki Valley’s first winery recently. It is a handsome and efficient structure with a production capacity of 28,000 cases, about twice the number of cases expected when the company’s 27 ha of vineyards reach full production in 2012.

Around one quarter of grape production will be Pinot Noir with the rest devoted to Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and the norther Italian variety, Arneis, plus Dolcetto.

Antionio is a an eloquent and enthusiastic man who describes himself as a “philosopher” (he has a PhD in philosophy). He owns several farms, including one in the Bay of Islands where he lives with his family, suffering a lengthy commute to keep an eye on his winery near Kurow.

The vineyards are around 29 kilometres from the winery in a drop-dead-gorgeous setting against a backdrop of snow-capped ranges.

One fascinating aspect of this new winery is the “fingerprinting” of every wine using molecular ananlysis that conclusively links wine to the vineyard site that produced it. By entering the Oritain number on the back of each label into the website www.oritain.com you are able to “witness scientific proof of origin that will track the bottling right down to the vineyard itself”. I have yet to do this but am keen to try it out.

 

Wines are made under two labels; Pasquale (top-of-the-line wines made from estate-grown grapes) and Kurow Village (lower-priced wine made from estate-grown and/or purchased grapes). Pasquale wines have a “Reserve” label called Alma Mater, effectively introducing three tiers.

I tasted a number of bottled wines as well as barrel samples (I don’t review work-in-progress). My favourites were:

Kurow Village 2009 Rose: Made from a small amount of Dolcetto with Pinot Noir. My enthusiasm may have been influenced by the fact that it was the first iwne after a long journey but I thought it delicious. Dry, moderately weighty and very pretty wine with attractive cherry flavours.

Pasquale 2009 Riesling: Nearly dry Riesling with just 6 g/l of residual sugar taking the edge off fine and assertive but attractively soft acidity. Very pure with an attractive slate/mineral influence. Will develop well.

Pasquale Alma Mater 2008 Hakataramea Valley: An intriguing blend of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer a residual sugar of 10.9 g/l. Deliciously weighty wine with lovely fresh floral, yeast lees and mineral flavours. Impeccably balanced with a dry-ish finish.

Pasquale 2008 Hakataramea Valley Pinot Noir: Fine-grained, understated (i.e. not a showy fruit bomb) Pinot Noir. Moderately light but with good flavour density and length. Elegant wine.

Available online at www.pasquale.co.nz or www.kurowvillage.co.nz