{"id":1686,"date":"2020-07-02T06:52:11","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T06:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=1686"},"modified":"2020-07-02T06:57:56","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T06:57:56","slug":"winemaker-series-richard-painter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=1686","title":{"rendered":"Winemaker series: Richard Painter"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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WineFolio dropped into the Te Awa winery complex, which now houses the Villa Maria family of brands. It\u2019s our first visit since this amalgamation, and we took the chance to talk to one of the winemakers from this stable \u2013 Richard Painter<\/strong>, about the Vidal brand, but also the other wines he is responsible for..<\/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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Richard Painter<\/strong>: Villa Maria is obviously our parent company, still privately owned by Sir George Fistonich and his family, and then we have these brands that come under it. Te Awa and Leftfield are the ones I look after, then we\u2019ve got Vidal and Esk Valley and of course Villa Maria wines. A lot of our vineyards are managed by a viticulture team, but each brand has either its own vineyards or own parts that it works with every year. And then each winemaking style is a bit different as well. The brands are all quite individual, there\u2019s a real difference in style. About three years ago we built the new winery just to consolidate all our winemaking into one facility.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Do people have their own space? Does Gordon still have his concrete fermenters?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: He\u2019s got his concrete fermenters, yes. There are some tanks from Te Awa and some from Vidal also. In terms of barrel cellars, you keep all the barrels together, but we don\u2019t have enough space to be too separated.<\/p>

Vidal was started in 1905 by Antony Vidal, and only moved from their place in Hastings in 2018. The wines we\u2019ll try are all 2017, which was the last vintage at the old winery. We\u2019ll do the Hawke\u2019s Bay classics today \u2013 Chardonnay, Syrah and the red blends. We make loads of Pinot Gris and everything else from Hawke\u2019s Bay, but those are our classic styles.<\/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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WF<\/strong>: What do you think about when someone from Hawke\u2019s Bay \u2013 maybe a classic brand, does something like a Pinot or a Sauvignon Blanc? Those aren\u2019t generally from here \u2013 they could be, and are grown here, but those are considered wine varieties from other regions?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: Vidal is a classic example \u2013 there\u2019s a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and 80% of all sales will be that wine. In New Zealand people are really aware of fine Hawke\u2019s Bay wines, but as soon as you get out of New Zealand, people think that NZ is Sauvignon Blanc and maybe a bit of Pinot. Then it\u2019s about telling stories \u2013 you have to really educate them that we also make great Chardonnay and Syrah. So much of that is just about opening doors and export markets. It\u2019s so much harder to go into a store in London and convince them to buy a 30 quid NZ Chardonnay, when they\u2019ve got Burgundy\u2026 a lot of varieties we\u2019re competing with the rest of the world.\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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Our Sauvignon Blanc is so distinctive there\u2019s nothing else like it. And the price point is so friendly. If you\u2019re a commercial brand with global aspirations it opens those doors and makes it easier to say \u2018well, try this as well\u2019.<\/p>

The Vidal style of Chardonnay is very distinctive and it\u2019s build up a great reputation. We\u2019re a big fan of the more European style of Chardonnays \u2013 a flinty, minerally sort of wine, with quite tight acidity. The Vidal Chardonnays are never big fat buttery styles \u2013 they are tight and elegant in the classic style. The Reserve Chardonnay, which I think is one of the great value wines in New Zealand really; and then we\u2019ll try the Soler range. This was introduced in 2017 and is named after Antony Vidal\u2019s uncle Joseph Soler who grew grapes in Wanganui, so the Soler name has historic links to Vidal. <\/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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We had the Reserve and then the Legacy which sells for about $55, but nothing in between, and that\u2019s where the Soler range comes in. In terms of winemaking you\u2019ll see that the Reserve will have a lot more inoculated ferments \u2013 still barrel ferments but using yeasts to give it a cleaner, more fruit driven style. In Soler you\u2019ll see a lot more whole bunch press, wild ferment, more richness, complexity and a bit more new oak.<\/p>

The two main Vidal Chardonnay vineyards are the Keltern vineyard and the Kokako farms vineyard which is Ohiti Valley. We work with a grower there who is our main Hawke\u2019s Bay grower. Quality focus, boutique grower, and a lot of it comes from there, and bit from the Lyons vineyard which is Gimblett Gravels, down towards the river. It\u2019s quite small batch winemaking \u2013 some of the batches only have 7-8 barrels. The Soler will be hand-picked, the Reserve a bit more machine harvested, but those machines are getting so good now anyway. With the winery here, and it\u2019s one of the main motivations, is that it\u2019s all within ten minutes of here. Esk Valley is 45 minutes away by truck, Vidal is 30 minutes that way by truck. We can machine harvest and get whole berries and they\u2019ll be in the winery much quicker. That\u2019s one of the main production differences really \u2013 hand harvest or machine. By using a lot of solids in the ferment, so quite high lees and the juice isn\u2019t really clarified \u2013 it goes into ferment on the same day that it\u2019s pressed. So using the solids gives that flinty character and richness.<\/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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WF<\/strong>: do you think that \u2018modern\u2019 style with the struck match reductive character was a fad? You talk to someone in Burgundy and they\u2019re adamant that \u201cit\u2019s the terroir\u201d, and I don\u2019t believe that it is only from the soil in the vineyard \u2013 at least to the extent that it\u2019s been passed off as in the past?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: But there is a direct correlation between how nutrient-rich the soil is and the nitrogen in the must or the juice \u2013 and how the yeast performs. We notice it with Gimblett Gravels reds \u2013 there\u2019s no soil, it\u2019s just stones – so no nitrogen for the yeasts; and we notice that reduction in our reds. We have to supplement our red musts with an organic nutrient to provide food for the yeast. So you can argue there\u2019s a relationship there.<\/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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But I think with Chardonnay it probably is more about solids in the juice. It\u2019s often about not \u2018fixing the ferment\u2019. If you\u2019re making a commercial fruit-forward wine, you can ferment it at a cool temperature, make sure the yeast is really healthy, inoculate it, feed it \u2013 and you won\u2019t get this sulphide character. But if you just press the juice to a barrel \u2013 no matter what it is \u2013 it\u2019s going to go a bit funky. So it\u2019s almost a more natural way of making wine.<\/p>

The way I like to think about it, wine shouldn\u2019t have elbows – nothing should stick out too much. Whether that be the oak, the malolactic character, sulphides, acid\u2026 it should all be seamless. It comes back to balance.<\/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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But there\u2019s a lot to say about a house style. I think Vidal\u2019s in particular made a name for itself making a more minerally, flinty style of Chardonnay. And there\u2019s nothing wrong with just saying \u201cthis is our style, we\u2019ve got a market that enjoy this style, and we\u2019re happy to produce it in that way\u201d. But at the same time it is a very distinctive style of wine. There\u2019s going to be the odd personal taste that will hate it.<\/p>

People say it\u2019s more of a Burgundian style of wine, but I feel that there are just as many Burgundian chardonnays that are quite broad and rich. It\u2019s almost a bit of a myth that they\u2019re all tight and minerally. Or maybe I just can\u2019t afford the ones that are!<\/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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WF<\/strong>: As New Zealanders, the wines we would consider our classics and sometimes \u2018outrageous prices\u2019 \u2013 of course, globally, they\u2019re not! When you get a Quartz Reef Methode against a top Champagne and it stands up alongside, but one is $40 and the other $300 \u2013 how do you bridge that gap? How do you say to someone \u2018 this is as good as that\u2019. I don\u2019t just mean Champagne, but Chardonnay for example\u2026 like in \u2018A Seat at the Table<\/em>\u2019 Is Legacy going to become a $150 wine? Or is that not going to happen?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: Bob Campbell wrote an article I read last year and he said \u2018five years ago I reviewed all the New Zealand wines over $100, and there were five of them. Now there\u2019s about thirty\u201d Or words to that effect! I think people are really thinking we should charge more for our wines. And weirdly sometimes it\u2019s easier to sell a $150 bottle of wine than it is a $50 one. They just want to feel like they\u2019re drinking something expensive. People have done studies where they give people the same wine, but tell them it\u2019s worth $20, then give them the same wine and tell them it\u2019s worth $80. And they actually scan the brain, and the \u201cexpensive\u201d one triggers off pleasure centres in the brain, knowing that it\u2019s more expensive. And so they feel better about drinking it.<\/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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WF<\/strong>: It\u2019s good that with Vidal there\u2019s an identifiable progression through the range \u2013 is that intentional? You have an entry point and then a ladder to climb?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: It\u2019s one of the benefits of working for a company like Villa Maria. It\u2019s nice to have those cheaper wines because what it does is improve the quality of those more expensive wines. Because you\u2019re not having to hide wine that should go into a $20 bottle in an $85 bottle of wine. There is a logical progression in quality, concentration and complexity as you move through the range, from the fruit forward everyday drinking style of the Estate range to the hedonistic and age worthy Legacy range.<\/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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RP: Both Vidal syrahs we\u2019re trying today are Gimblett Gravels. We have two main vineyards \u2013 one is Omahu vineyard, and then there\u2019s the Twyford Gravels vineyard. Omahu you\u2019ll get lovely peppery characters that\u2019s so distinctive of syrah; and then the Twyford Gravels tends to give a bit more dark fruit and floral characters. We make the syrah like we make Pinot \u2013 treat it similar \u2013 sometimes whole bunch, certainly whole berry and we don\u2019t extract the bejezzus out of it. Gentle extraction, and we don\u2019t give it as much racking as we would a Bordeaux blend, so it\u2019s about preserving some of those gentle floral aromatics that makes syrah so nice.<\/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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WF<\/strong>: can you explain to our readers what racking \u2018does\u2019 to a wine?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: Very traditional Bordeaux winemaking technique would be to have the red wines in barrel for two years. And two or three times during that lifecycle you take it out of barrel and any solids that have sunk to the bottom \u2013 you wash those out, as they can make the wine go a bit reductive. And part of the process is you just get a little dose of oxygen into the wine, and that helps soften those tannins. But Pinot Noir is quite different from that in that you press it out after fermentation and you put it into barrel but you won\u2019t actually touch it until you blend it. So Syrah falls somewhere in between the two. Some people will go the whole Pinot method, or if it\u2019s a really big, more Shiraz-style, they might go more towards the Bordeaux method. Here in Hawke\u2019s Bay we\u2019re somewhere in between the two.<\/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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Vidal wines are all aged in French oak barrels. The Reserve you\u2019ll see a little less new oak and a more easy drinking style wine; then the Soler is a bit more serious and structured, with a bit more new oak. Two quite different vintages \u2013 2018 was warm but a little bit wet, but the wines are soft and light. \u201917 we had the most amazing summer \u2013 it was perfect drought conditions. Then in March it just starting raining so the Vintage itself was pretty trying. Both of them produces lighter wines, lower in alcohol and easier drinking styles, not necessarily ones to put away for 15 years.<\/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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WF<\/strong>: I\u2019ve heard people talk about great Vintages \u2013 the great 2013s, and how good the \u201819s are going to be \u2013 so that plays a part in the longevity?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: I think so. For me, only now are some of those 2013 wines starting to come around. It\u2019s that tannin structure, and that can only be resolved in time. Whereas a lot of people say \u201914 was an amazing vintage too, but the wines were so much more approachable when they were young \u2013 softer and rounder in the mouth. The \u201919 wines we\u2019ve got in barrel, they\u2019re going to be more like \u201913, really long-lived ones. And 2020 is looking the same to be honest.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Yes, tell me about that \u2013 how was it?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: It was amazing. So, it was really random with COVID-19 but luckily we had a really early harvest here in Hawke\u2019s Bay and were about 80% done by the time we went into Lockdown. Here at Te Awa our Chardonnay was all in before March, and normally wouldn\u2019t start picking that until 10th<\/sup>\u00a0March, so we were about two weeks ahead of normal. It was a bit of a stressful week because we didn\u2019t know if we were going to be classed as essential workers until about 5.30pm on the Monday and we were worried that the Government might change their mind. We had a few red blocks out but we harvested the rest of our grapes that week.<\/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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WF<\/strong>: So were you in a campervan out the back?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: We had to put in really strict procedures. The way we ran is was anyone who lived with other people who were in Essential Services or were in risk of ‘Community Infection’, had to move on site, living in a campervan, fed three meals a day. I got lucky because Julz (my partner) was making wine too, but she moved out to her parents with our daughter Addy, so I just stayed home on my own rather than stick it out in a campervan. Normally you\u2019d work a 12-14 hour day, so you just work and sleep. But we had to split the winery into three shifts and they couldn\u2019t overlap, so if one person on a shift got sick, we could pull out those people but we didn\u2019t have to shut the winery<\/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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So we only did 8 hours a day rather than 14 hours, and I was starting at two in the afternoon. So I\u2019d wake up in the morning, cook myself breakfast, work in the garden for four hours \u2013 my garden has never looked better. So it was weird. I missed my family but I kind of enjoyed the solitude \u2013 having a bit of time out. So in respect of hours worked, it was the cruisiest harvest I\u2019ve ever worked however those 8 hours could be quite intense. But we had to change the whole way we did things, so I think we took a lot of learnings from it to be honest and it may change how we tackle harvest in the future for the wellbeing of our staff.<\/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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WF<\/strong>: What do you think the impact post COVID-19 might be for wine, and Cellar Doors?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: We\u2019re in the process of deciding what to do with this space \u2013 we\u2019ve closed for winter. We might make it a bit more casual and fun. Hawke\u2019s bay is in a really good position because we\u2019re not a place where tourist come to go bungy jumping, or take a helicopter ride. Only about 25% of visitors here are international tourists, so we\u2019re not missing out at the moment and we\u2019re quietly confident that people who might have gone to the Gold Coast or Fiji will come here and stay in a nice Air B’n’B and go to the great restaurants they\u2019ve heard about.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I like the fact that you can come here and try a range of wines \u2013 I think that really works. If you\u2019ve driven through the Bay to get to where the bulk of the wineries out here, you\u2019re not going to detour back to Esk Valley. Out in west Auckland, there\u2019s a range of places \u2013 from Kumeu River that is quite formal, and then The Hunting lodge where they have craft beer and food trucks, as well as a Tasting Counter. I think Food and Wine Tourism could be quite important for the next year as we shift to a domestic tourism scenario. I believe we have great food \u2018ingredients\u2019 \u2013 it literally is a Land of Milk and Honey \u2013 that\u2019s New Zealand! But what have we done with them \u2013 what is our identifiable cuisine? If you go to Italy, Food and Wine should be high on your list of experiences, and they\u2019ve taken great ingredients and made amazing cuisine from that. The only thing that I can really put my finger on, for New Zealand, that has taken that farmed ingredient and transformed it – is wine.<\/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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RP<\/strong>: I travel a lot and presenting wines overseas, and around the table the question will come up \u2013 \u2018what\u2019s a quintessential New Zealand food?\u201d And I\u2019ll say a classic New Zealand dinner might be a roast lamb. But then that could be in Greece or Wales. So you\u2019ll say what else have we got, and normally end up talking about some of the seafood like paua, which is quite unique? Chefs here in Hawke\u2019s Bay if they\u2019re using lamb it\u2019s from a local farm, and other local produce.<\/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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WF<\/strong>: how is wine likely to be affected by the situation we\u2019re in now?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: We had record sales over March and April. But I\u2019ll caveat that with it\u2019s all in the sub-$20 range. So, wine that is sold in supermarkets at under $20 just flew off the shelf. Not just here but in the UK was really strong too. The US has tanked for us a bit, but we have a lot more on-premise weighting there.\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\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/strong>: any thoughts on Climate Change \u2013 am I going to be drinking fine wine out of Tetrapaks in my Retirement Home?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: I was in Norway last year \u2013 they buy a lot of LeftField wines, so they took me to one of the State wine stores, and I couldn\u2019t get over the packaging \u2013 they had Tetrapaks, bag-in-box, but not cheap wine. And even they had these pouches, like we buy soup in a pouch\u2026 We\u2019ve been doing a lot of work with canning, but canning wine is really hard. It\u2019s not like any other product, with its acid and sulphur. I think what you\u2019ll start to find is more fine wines going into lighter weight bottles, and the end of really heavy bottles. The thing about glass is that it\u2019s the only product that can be recycled back to exactly the same grade product. Whereas every other product in the world that gets recycled gets downgraded across its lifecycle. That\u2019s one aspect. Another thing is that is someone is careless and drops a bottle in the river or the ocean, it gets broken back down to sand, so it\u2019s less impactful than other products.<\/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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WF<\/strong>: Looking into your crystal ball is there anything else ahead?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: We make the Te Awa Tempranillo, but Albarino is the big one for us. It\u2019s a crisp white wine, that fits with NZ\u2019s reputation from Sauvignon Blanc and people expect it. We are having good success in export markets with Albarino. Overseas, and the UK in particular, people know what it is \u2013 here you have to explain it. In the UK with Leftfield, we have a Sauvignon Blanc but the next biggest sellers are Rose, Albarino and a straight Malbec. It\u2019s easier to sell a Malbec than a Merlot.<\/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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One of the reasons we like Albarino is that it\u2019s future-proofing \u2013 it\u2019s a very robust grape. Thick-skinned, loose bunches and not susceptible to fungal diseases at all. In Hawke’s Bay we\u2019re leaning towards Chardonnay being our hero variety \u2013 we know we can make it really well every year. Warm vintage or cool vintage, and a nice style that blends richness but fruit and acidity. Even Kumeu River have bought a big vineyard up the road, and start converting it to Chardonnay. There\u2019s so much room to imprint your own style on Chardonnay \u2013 it\u2019s a real winemakers variety, probably more so than any other wine.<\/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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WF<\/strong>: What\u2019s your take on the thinking that Hawke\u2019s Bay could\/should be doing more Syrah \u2013 that it\u2019s better than the Bordeaux blends the region is perhaps best known for?<\/p>

RP<\/strong>: I love Bordeaux Blends personally to drink, but I think Syrah is really distinctive. There\u2019s great Cabernet made all around the world, but not the same for Syrah. The northern Rhone, the Australian version of shiraz\u2026 but the Hawke\u2019s Bay version of Syrah, it\u2019s much more like Pinot \u2013 it\u2019s got that delicacy, that floral character. But there\u2019s only 800 hectares in the whole country and it\u2019s really finicky to grow. People say Pinot Noir is the hard one, but Syrah is so tricky to grow. It\u2019s very temperamental, doesn\u2019t like big temperature swings, doesn\u2019t like wind, doesn\u2019t like it too dry. It\u2019s really tough to get right actually. <\/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":"

WineFolio dropped into the Te Awa winery complex, which now houses the Villa Maria family of brands. 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