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.