We’re staying the night at the Calvert Vineyard on Felton Road in Bannockburn, and the neighbouring property now houses the Te Kano Cellar door, so the chance to drop in and chat with General Manager Nick Hunter seems like a logical step at the end of our busy week.
The first wine we’re poured is the 2022 Blanc de Noir, which is from the lower terrace just down from the Cellar Door, and their other Bannockburn Vineyard – Jerome, on Cairnmuir Road, near Akarua. The soils at Jerome are wind-blown sands, being at the head of the valley. Clones are 115 and Abel. It really leaps out of the glass. It is gorgeous. I’ve had it before at a tasting amongst dozens of wines. Almost Riesling like aromatics, but with strawberries and cream on the nose as well. They have to treat the wine very gently to minimise the colour extraction. At Te Kano they go for quite a long, slow champagne press cycle on it. And then a long, extended fermentation. Bouquet, freshness, texture.
There is a first vintage of Sauvignon Blanc 2021, from the Northburn vineyard. A mix of three clones – 905, 376 and MS. Fairly subtle on the nose. A portion is put to stainless steel, with cultured yeast, and then the rest goes to old barrels and is left to wild ferment. Kept on lees for about eleven months, so it is quite textural. The vineyard team work at getting a bit of light exposure into the canopy, avoiding the green, herbaceous fruit. It could easily be the best example I think I’ve had from Central Otago. You come to Central for the Pinots, but some of the whites have been sensational.
Te Kano are now doing a set of ‘ranges’ of wines. ‘Life’ is multi-site blends, ‘Land’ is particular to either Northburn, Waitaki or Bannockburn. And ‘Legacy’ has not been made yet.
Central Otago is producing some really lovely, elegant Chardonnays now. But you try and tell most people in Auckland that. They would have no idea. Even someone with a reasonable reputation, like Matt Connell – Aucklanders might know his Pinot, but no-one would have tried, or heard of, his Chardonnay! Te Kano made their first Waitaki Chardonnay this year — they purchased the Pasquale Vineyard and Winery two years ago, and resurrected the vineyards, which had not been farmed for some time.
An off-dry Pinot Gris is a blend of the Jerome and Northburn Vineyards. There’s a signature through the first three wines — a strand of ‘family’ that appears a little in each. A precocious, pretty, clean, focussed but generous line. The next wine we try — a 2021 Chardonnay is also a blend of those two vineyards. Made from three clones – Mendoza, 1066 and 548. The last time I tried this, it didn’t have any Northburn fruit in it, and I found it lacking in character. This ’21 is quite good, fairly straight up and down. Their ‘Bannockburn’ Chardonnay is a different beast — 100% Mendoza, fully organic, and all from the sand hill vineyard. It is attention-grabbing, with a certain amount of oak in it, and well-set for cellaring. Good juice, good weight — a pale colour but showing a ripe golden flavour. These rich ‘old school’ styles have their place, and, to be fair, always put a smile on my dial.
We talk about the issues currently facing hospitality but also across New Zealand – staffing shortages and supply chain slowdowns. We were looking ahead to a day of Cellar Door hopping in Gibbston, and the reality of having to book to make appointments to visit. We laugh that it was probably good (and bad) timing to have built the magnificent Te Kano Cellar Door when they did — otherwise Nick wonders “We’d still be building it otherwise. This building was finished in February 2020, but then closed almost as quickly to a lockdown” But I like to take my time over a visit to a Cellar Door, and try to understand the place and why the wines are as they are. The Cellar Door here is gorgeous — a rusty metal box, lined with warm woods, and with an unfettered view down the valley across fields and vines.
Nick explains his thoughts on our first red of the visit – Marcel (Giesen) used to drum this into us — “A Pinot Noir should be like an aromatic red”. I, of course agree — the most important part of a Pinot is the smell of it. To me, it is more than 50% of the value of a Pinot. I don’t tend to think of the colour as very important at all — as long as the colour is bright and fixed — the aromatics are what draw me in.
I love wines like the Clayvin Pinot Noir, and Nick tells me “I’ve been fortunate enough to work in that vineyard, for the Giesens. It’s a special piece of land. It’s hard back-breaking work, but the rewards are certainly worth it.”
I wonder if their intention is to produce one of those ‘classic Central Otago Pinot Noirs’, but Nick is quick to clear up “That’s what the Kin is for. This Te Kano Pinot Noir is a bit more structured. A blend of all three vineyards, and a big range of clones”.
It’s not a fruit bomb, fairly dry and savoury, but with enough juiciness. It has some distinctive ‘hedgerow’ flavours like bramble, rosehip and thyme. With a campari-like edge that borders on bitter orange and cherry. And a prickly, tickle combination of tannin and flavour. It has the taste that I’d expect from the landscape – if you look around Bannockburn, these are the flavours that I might expect to find in a product from here – whether that is an Apertivo like they make at Terra Sancta, or a honey, or this Pinot Noir. I like the dry, edgy finish on this, and it is a great wine ‘of place’.
Good article, just as I remember the visit !