{"id":1114,"date":"2020-05-01T19:27:03","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T19:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=1114"},"modified":"2020-05-01T19:40:12","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T19:40:12","slug":"winemaker-series-james-rowan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=1114","title":{"rendered":"Winemaker Series: James Rowan"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"James\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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An occasional series where we corner the best of New Zealand’s winemaking talent. Starting with James Rowan<\/strong>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Tough start to a day at the office \u2013 sun streaming through shutters at the winery at the top of the hill on a bright Spring morning. To be fair, James has been hard at it since 6am; with wines starting to come out of barrel, there\u2019s work to be done – and assistant Winemaker Ren\u00e9e Dale seems happy to see me arrive and cue a break in the barrel cleaning\u2026<\/p>

Quick hellos to other early morning staff at the winery and a toodle around the barrels \u2013 I\u2019m instantly caught by the different labels on the oak \u2013 and have to ask James how many wines they make. The answer, whilst mildly confidential, is surprising \u2013 and \u201ceveryone has a ros\u00e9\u201d he laughs. To say that I\u2019d been somewhere in the last week, and had what I thought was an admirably fine wine given the location\u2019s stellar reputation for things other than wine.. and find out it was made here, by James\u2019 team \u2013 I was surprised, but not surprised.<\/p>

Long lines of tanks \u201care hardly used these days\u201d as the requirements for James\u2019 skills in making drinkable Sav decline. Well regarded (and awarded) for the spectacular Rieslings he can produce; but we both agree that the future is in other varietals \u2013 the chardonnay of course, but scope to do more with syrah, in particular.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Westbrook\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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We start off discussing how much winemaking is \u2018creative\u2019 or \u2018scientific\u2019. With 15 years at Westbrook, learning from the Ivicevich family, James is still first in line at \u201cdragging the lines at Vintage, remembering the physical process of making wine. You\u2019re making quite big steps at the beginning and you don\u2019t want to create an issue where you can\u2019t do anything you want, further down the path. To be truly creative, one first has to know the science behind your craft.\u201d In the vineyard \u201cyou just taste \u2013 eventually you\u2019ll bring in one sample to test, but you\u2019ve already worked it out on the palate. I used to laugh about it myself as young fella \u2013 the old men going through the vineyard tasting the fruit.. but that is exactly what you do. You look at it, and you taste it. And you don\u2019t pick on sugar levels \u2013 you pick on taste. People say you can\u2019t taste pH \u2013 I think you can \u2013 I can. You can also tell whether the grapes are ready or not in other ways \u2013 the skin texture.. the vine will tell you if it\u2019s time to pick \u2013 rule 1 \u2018Always pick with a green canopy\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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James adds that as well as the steps that are followed \u201cwe do end up having a stylistic bent to ourselves\u201d Even as a beginner his father could pick out, from blind tasting, the wines James had made: \u201cthey had my handprint on them, Dad used to say\u201d. Whilst not feeling the pinch of commercial necessity too fiercely \u2013 Westbrook can make \u201ctwo styles of chardonnay \u2013 the Waimauku<\/em> and the Barrique Fermented<\/em>: and one will have lots of oak, certainly some malo \u2013 got a breadth to it rather than a searing acid focus \u2013 but the other can be as austere as we like, because we only make 20 barrels of it \u2013 lovely low-cropped fruit and it will be beautiful anyway. We do it under own steam \u2013 don\u2019t have a big marketing company, and anyway marketing wine is very different from making wine.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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On winning awards, James is clear \u201cit has helped us in the past \u2013 I get a bit cynical about it, and I\u2019m a Senior Judge! It\u2019,s nice to have some gold medals on the bottle – we had a Waimauku Chardonnay that had eight gold medals on it at one point \u2013 and it used to be that if it had a gold medal on it \u2013 it would sell out; and you\u2019d hope that that one winner would help shed light on the house it came from \u2013 you have a whole portfolio of wines. I\u2019m a huge fan of Silver medals \u2013 they tend to be more stylistic. But competitions, critics, magazines \u2013 they all have a part to play.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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We chatted about Brexit, Boomers and democracy before circling back to ideas in winemaking. \u201cYou only ever get to try the great examples of something \u2013 never the experimental ones. When you\u2019re a contract winemaker, you can\u2019t just say \u2018we\u2019re going to make them all this way\u2019 \u2013 you have a moral responsibility to making good, clean wine – to massage it along the way.\u201d<\/p>

The \u2018Lighter Wine\u2019 project also came up in conversation. I, personally don\u2019t drink wine to get drunk \u2013 I love wine and often wish it wasn\u2019t alcoholic at all. \u201cMaking lighter wines viticulturally, rather than spinning cone technology \u2013 again, there is science involved \u2013 but alcohol carries different aromatics and flavours, and has a sweetness about it. You get these Cote du Rhone and ChateauNeuf wines from the superhot 2015 & 2016 vintages; so the brix and alcohols and pH are all high – ending up with a hot, soapy wine and the alcohol\u2019s out of balance\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Westbrook\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Talk turns to Chardonnay, of course. We taste through some wines \u2013 starting with the 2016 Waimauku Chardonnay \u201cWe make 20 barrels or so, and the first crop off these vines was 2004 \u2013 we get quite vibrant flavours off these \u2018teenage\u2019 vines. You get different structures from different ages \u2013 wines from Waiheke, we saw the tannin structures change at ten years, but I\u2019m very much an old vine fan. Older vines also help us through hard vintages, they\u2019ve got the reserves there and the fruit doesn\u2019t become so fragile. Our fruit here is low-cropping and is hand-picked \u2013 we can\u2019t use a machine here. Rather than whole-bunch press our chardonnay, we crush and press it \u2013 there\u2019s a time factor on that \u2013 and I actually like the extraction we get from the skins, even though we then juice-fine\u2026 we don\u2019t often do wine-fining. Just to take those rough edges off \u2013 then once it\u2019s gone through the process you are just playing in the shadows at the end. The lightest polish, and it\u2019s worked brilliantly for us.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201c2017 was a difficult year, but we worked through it. It looks a little bit different, and deeper, little bit smokey \u2013 the smokiness isn\u2019t actually oak, it\u2019s from the fruit. We get an interesting almost roast fennel character here. In 2010 everything had this anise flavor \u2013 across all the varietals \u2013 the Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Malbec. The Pinot Noir looked Rhone-ish \u2013 the vines had gone deep into the clay and pulled out some saline characters. We haven\u2019t released this (the \u201918 Chardonnay) yet. I do like acidity, it just helps to carry the wine through. Our first wine, the 2004 had searing acidity, we loved it! And for 2008 we decided to just make one wine \u2013 too often you\u2019re taking reserve material out; and of course that wine won all those gold medals.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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“2018 challenging again, but a stylish wine \u2013 quite tight and closed, it may take a while to open up. Like the Kumeu River Mat\u00e9s Chardonnay that has that lovely acid line, the citrus acidity \u2013 I want to see that tightness! We can get slightly obsessed about drinking young wine. This has a lot going on\u201d. Ren\u00e9e recalls \u201cwalking through the vineyard and tasting the Clone 95 Chardonnay and tasting lemons and hazelnuts, whilst eating the grapes\u2026.it was bizarre!\u201d<\/p>

On experimentation.. \u201cwe do look at barrel coopers \u2013 some say oak is a flavouring; but it\u2019s got to suit the fruit you are doing it with. Each of the coopers have that different phenolic structure, different forests. You\u2019re trying to sculpt a palate line and we made a couple of changes to the cooperage we were using \u2013 when you\u2019re blending even 2% makes a huge difference. Using maybe 20 barrels, and 20% new oak \u2013 one barrel extra can make quite a difference.\u201d<\/p>

Earlier we\u2019d touched on the number of ros\u00e9 wines around. James chips in that they \u201cmake one for every client we make wine for. The volumes have just been increasing and increasing. I drink it all day, all night, summer and winter \u2013 I love ros\u00e9! Especially the style we\u2019re making it, where it\u2019s got tannin and acid. A freshness, a little bit of sweetness. I say Riesling\u2019s like a gin and tonic \u2013 well, ros\u00e9 is a pink gin and tonic, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I like to talk to people about story telling, and the importance that I think it still has in modern life. James seems like a kindred spirit. \u201cEverything\u2019s got to be put into a context. Another winemaker once said \u2018don\u2019t send people a bottle of wine, take a bottle of wine to them\u2019 so that you\u2019re sitting there telling that story. Because it is your story.\u201d I talk about the story behind the wines; and great stories like Sir George Fistonich – but even a story like Villa Maria has a context. \u201cAny winery that has market issues in their history, especially financial struggles \u2013 they don\u2019t want to go through that again. Look at Delegats and Villa Maria\u2026 and they\u2019ve both gone in and said \u2018right, we\u2019re doing this\u2019 and look at those two businesses! And they support each other as well.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Outdoor\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cWines are never just that moment \u2013 well, they are obviously\u2026 but it transfers into something else, somewhere else. Here in the winery \u2013 this is where we benchmark and taste. I was doing some syrah blending and took some samples home just to see how it evolved over the night.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re quite big on the people we work with. You just have to trust everyone to do their job. Because you can\u2019t be everywhere. So Brick Bay, Soho\u2026 they supply the fruit, doing the best job they can; and we do the best job we can. That\u2019s the only way you can do it. Sometimes the juice comes up to us and we just do our bit. We do try to keep wines slightly different. Our Rieslings \u2013 I like acid and I like sugar \u2013 look at the 2018 and 2019 – they are both about 18g of residual sugar, both about 11 and a half-ish alcohol, pH both about 2.7, 2.8. pH can change the texture of the palate \u2013 it\u2019s how we make wine, it\u2019s so important. Wine, like life, is about texture \u2013 I believe that strongly.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I wanted to discuss the influence of other wines, and being a judge, tasting lots of other people\u2019s wines. First James: \u201cWe taste a lot of wine, well, I do. But when were making our wine it\u2019s not relevant \u2013 it won\u2019t be there next to it when we\u2019re blending.\u201d Then Ren\u00e9e adds \u201cultimately it comes down to \u2018do you like that being on your palate\u2019. We\u2019ve spent so many hours talking about what we could do here and there \u2013 different ferments and barrels and whatever; and then when we actually get to the crunch, we go \u2018do we like it?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An occasional series where we corner the best of New Zealand’s winemaking talent. Starting with James Rowan. Tough start to a day at the office \u2013 sun streaming through shutters … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews-with-nz-winemakers"],"yoast_head":"\nWinemaker Series: James Rowan - WineFolio<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=1114\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Winemaker Series: James Rowan - WineFolio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An occasional series where we corner the best of New Zealand’s winemaking talent. 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