Stillwater's first vineyard

Visited a brand new winery in the brand new area of Stillwater 30 minutes north of Auckland on the east coast. Paul Syms was sales and marketing director of a large English plastic company until he headed south to pursue his passion for wine. Syms built a house at Stillwater before realising that the neighbouring land offered a perfect vineyard site. Being a man of action he sold his house, bought the land next door, built another house, planted a seven-acre vineyard and built a winery – the last two with a little help from the owner of Providence Vineyard, Jim Vuletic.

Vines were planted in 2005 with the first harvest in 2008 (currently still in barrel). The vineyard is planted equally in Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Merlot. I visited the winery shortly before the arrival of bottling equipment (the first wines will be bottled in a couple of months).

A tasting of barrel samples revealed three impressive varietal wines – ripe flavours, good ripe tannins and nice acidity. Also tasted a test-blend of all three, which I preferred to any of the component wines, good though they are. This is a very serious wine in the making.

Syms plans to charge aound $60-70 a bottle – a fair price if my assessment is anything go by. There are no plans to run a cellar door although visitors will be welcomed if they make an appointment.

Paul and Cathy Syms

New look for Esk Valley

Villa Maria/Esk Valley/Vidal owner, Sir George, and Esk Valley winemaker, Gordon Russell, dropped around to show off the new Esk Valley label design and share some of the new release wines. The label is a great improvment on its rather old-fashioned replacement (Reserve label shown above – regular label is similar without the numbers and without the word “Winemakers” which replaces “Reserve”).

Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009 was pleasingly intense although just a tad too sweaty to earn a top score from me. I particularly liked Esk Valley Verdelho ($22.99), a wine I’ve been fairly lukewarm about in the past. Quite complex, dry and with a pleasing mineral character. It was significantly better than a Spanish Verdelho opened alongside it (Valdeorras Godello 2008 Gaba do Xil – weighty but too phenolic and drying). A dry-ish Marlborough Riesling 2009 ($22.99) also impressed. Nice purity, great acidity (how do you descibe acidity that is the opposite of hard? Somehow “sweet” doesn’t quite work. The acid was quite strong but pure and taut – it made me shiver slightly and salivate gently – I liked it very much). A weighty and cleverly balanced Pinot Gris 2008 ($22.99) followed. A touch of barrel fermentation added extra interest to a rich, velvet-textured wine that Gordon describes as his best yet. I’ve always liked the Esk Chardonnay and the 2008 regular label ($22.99) didn’t disappoint although it was out-gunned by the deliciously complex Esk Valley Winemaker 2008 Chardonnay.

On to the red wines starting with a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec 2007 ($22.99) that punched well above its weight thanks to a cracker of a vintage. Very Bordeaux-like wine with dusty tannins and an attractive sappy complexity. Syrah 2007 ($22.99) was a wine that Gordon accurately describes as a “Shiraz for Pinot Noir drinkers” – a peppery, supple wine with silky tannins. There was certainly nothing Pinot Noir-like about Esk Valley Winemakers Syrah Gimblett Gravels 2007  which was as bold as its $60 price tag. This is a powerful red in a peppery Rhone-like style with masses of fruit supported by subtle, classy oak.

Esk Valley is in good shape under the enthusiastic stewardship of Gordon Russell.

Sir George (left) and Gordon Russell