{"id":2535,"date":"2020-12-07T02:22:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T02:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=2535"},"modified":"2020-12-07T02:34:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-07T02:34:38","slug":"winemaker-series-gordon-russell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=2535","title":{"rendered":"Winemaker series: Gordon Russell"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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It\u2019s the middle of the year as I catch up with Gordon Russell<\/strong>, Head winemaker at Esk Valley<\/strong>, in new surroundings at the Te Awa winery complex now housing the Villa Maria Group\u2019s Hawke\u2019s Bay operations.<\/p>

WineFolio<\/strong>: How are the changes here coming along?<\/p>

Gordon Russell<\/strong>: it\u2019s good to see some actual investment in both money and skills, it\u2019s exciting.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: People often ask me which wineries are my favourites, and amongst my answers will always be Esk Valley, because you have that entry point that\u2019s available in the supermarket, but also the tiers of wines that are a journey you can take; and see the nuances from one to another, as you climb up to The Terraces.<\/p>

GR<\/strong>: Totally, and as much love goes into the Pinot Gris as The Terraces, in some degree. Not in the vineyard – as we couldn\u2019t afford that; but in terms of how they\u2019re made and the philosophies on the wines. I also have been lucky enough, with Sir George\u2019s backing, to be able to push the boundaries. Made New Zealand\u2019s first straight Merlot, first straight Malbec, and first Merlot-Malbec blend – as far as I know – in New Zealand. And now it\u2019s a standard blend. New Zealand\u2019s first Verdelho. Co-fermenting The Terraces. Even our ros\u00e9 was kind of the pioneer back in the day.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: You look back now and you can\u2019t quite remember a time when that wasn\u2019t common, but, yes, actually it was.<\/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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GR<\/strong>: So I\u2019ve just chosen a few things to showcase Esk Valley as it is today. Now this here is 2020 Pinot Gris<\/strong>, and the reason I\u2019ve got this \u2013 literally this morning it was tankered out of the winery to be bottled in Auckland. So I went and saved some before it went out, so I could show you \u2013 and you\u2019re the first person outside our winery environment who will have tried the wine. So I thought it was worth trying. It\u2019s a really good vintage of the wine. It\u2019s 100% from the Keltern vineyard<\/strong>. Back in 2001 when we decided to do a Pinot Gris we encouraged a grower in the Esk Valley to plant Pinot Gris for us \u2013 which, at the time, was a bold move because there\u2019s wasn\u2019t much Pinot Gris in New Zealand. Mission made one, Trinity Hill<\/strong> had just started making one\u2026. Dry River<\/strong> obviously. But it was an obscure variety as such.<\/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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I encouraged the grower because I wanted to make some, effectively. It\u2019s been a long and interesting journey. The vineyard up in the Esk Valley got virus and the yields were dropping off. But there\u2019s quite a lot in Keltern, and I think having it as a variety inland, where it retains its acidity and freshness \u2013 and the drier conditions out there \u2013 it\u2019s a better site ultimately. And proximity to the winery \u2013 to be able to get the fruit straight into the winery and into the press, and not get any pink colour out of the skins and so forth, is a big plus. It\u2019s my block of Pinot Gris in a sea of Chardonnay! It seems to work, for me. Its fermented in barrel old 600 litres demi-muids with wild yeast and also in tank, so it\u2019s a mixture of the two. Texture and perfume. Low acid and a real opulence. I think it should go down a storm.<\/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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Funnily enough we\u2019ve shifted the Esk Valley wine library cellars over to here. And there\u2019s a lot of old vintages of Pinot Gris, under screwcap going back to 2001.<\/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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And so far I\u2019ve opened the 2002, 04, 05 and 07. They\u2019re incredible. The wines mature just absolutely startlingly well. Pinot Gris generally, given its acidity – which tends to be quite low, isn\u2019t a wine you would think of cellaring. If you\u2019d asked me five years ago \u2018which of your white wines is least likely to age well?\u2019 I\u2019d have probably said \u2018Pinot Gris\u2019. I would change that now. I think the Pinot Gris can outlast our Chardonnays, and may ultimately turn into greater bottles of wine. The Verdelho has unfortunately been pulled out now, but I\u2019ve been trying some of the older vintages of that, and they are magnificent.<\/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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This is the Chenin Blanc which you tried recently.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I did, and I liked it a lot. I opened it, tried, it reviewed it and put the review up online as I ran out the door to a tasting\u2026 and less than an hour I was served it again, in a blind tasting. I was like \u201cI know this wine!\u2019 It was at First Glass<\/strong> and it was really well received \u2013 regarded as the best wine of the night. Which considering it\u2019s a room full of Shiraz and Californian Chardonnay drinkers was pleasing. I was out at the vineyard \u2013 at Two Terraces<\/strong> yesterday, and I\u2019ve also tried the other four Chenins off the same vineyard, including Rod Easthope\u2019s \u2013 that was the other one I had about the same time as yours.<\/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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GR<\/strong>: Those two wines couldn\u2019t be more different in some respects. It\u2019s not the wine I set out to make. But it\u2019s the wine that nature gave me, in some respect. My initial aspiration was to make a wine which was probably more in the line of Rod\u2019s \u2013 tight acidity and a lot of tension in the wine and so forth. But, I fermented all of this with wild yeast, both in tank and in barrel. Separated out the 3 different press cuts, and the ferments were really long. A large part of the wine went through malolactic fermentation during that \u2013 which it wasn\u2019t meant to do, believe me. That was not anywhere in the planning. But rather than in any way crowbar it into what I wanted, I let it be what it wanted to be.<\/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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And so ended up with a wine with a lot less acidity, because the malolactic fermentation kind of altered that. If I had more acidity in it, I would have left more sugar in it. This wine doesn\u2019t have that much sugar in it, it\u2019s just that it has a lot of alcohol, softer acidity and some residual sugar. It turned into something unexpected. And I really like it. It smells absolutely incredible. It reminds me sometimes of a young Sauternes wine. And yet the grapes didn\u2019t have any botrytis in them. Perfectly clean, albeit at 24.5 brix or something – so really ripe.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: It\u2019s kind of unexpected to drink too. You smell it and you think it might be one thing, and it tastes like something else. And the texture just blows me away!<\/p>

GR<\/strong>: Well that\u2019s the story in all my wines. The Pinot Gris \u2013 Villa Maria want to enter some into the New World Wine Awards, which, for me, means an earlier bottling than I would prefer. I understand, and that\u2019s business. We\u2019ve blended up a volume of wine and bottled a quarter of it. The other three quarters are still in tank on full fermentation lees and will get stirred and stirred, and will become richer, creamier and so forth. The same wine, but, to my mind, the later bottling will have reached my idea of where that wine should be. This wine here (the Chenin Blanc) spent a year in the cellar before bottling. Once again, pushing the boundaries, but it\u2019s got a lot of alcohol and weight, and I just wanted to bring all those things together \u2013 until I thought it was ready. That\u2019s become the \u2018style\u2018 of Esk Valley wines.<\/p>

I spend an inordinate amount of my time going to live music, spending money on music. Music\u2019s my forte rather than art, but then music is art isn\u2019t 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>: Arguably wine is such a personal thing, like music is, that is comes down to taste. And I think that\u2019s important. I liked that thing you did in lockdown with some of your music.<\/p>

GR<\/strong>: I had a stack of records that high, and a story woven around them, and it took five minutes. And it\u2019s like \u201cno-one\u2019s going to watch that for five minutes..\u201d so it became a totally condensed one minute version and didn\u2019t quite gel as I meant it to. But it was fun doing it anyway. In my career I feel so incredibly fortunate to have had a job which obviously at its core is winemaking but its that mix of history, romance, design, food and culture. Wine and wine culture is all-encompassing.<\/p>

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WF: <\/strong>It\u2019s a nice craft isn\u2019t it? It has that sense of artisan craftsmanship to it.<\/p>

GR<\/strong>: Have you read or come across Andrew Jefford\u2019s work? He writes in a way that is so poetic and evocative. His choice of words \u2013 he\u2019s an absolutely brilliant writer, who happens to write about wine.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I\u2019ll have to look it up, because you\u2019re not the first person to have mentioned him to me. I do wonder where wine writing is heading in this world of click bait journalism and influencers? Obviously we do need young people to be drinking wine \u2013 it can\u2019t just be about oldies drinking bottles of wine for hundreds of dollars \u2013 that\u2019s not the future either. I hope wine doesn\u2019t become an old fashioned thing.<\/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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GR<\/strong>: Possibly, but not for ever. Wine is forever reinventing itself. In terms of style, labelling and packaging. I\u2019ve got a daughter who\u2019s absolutely fixated on wine and as much as she loves pet-nats and orange wines, she still wants to drink and learn about these sorts of wines. She\u2019s not alone in that. The more things are underground, the more chance they have again of becoming popular.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: That\u2019s interesting. It\u2019s like music again isn\u2019t it? Starts off as weird and underground and hardly anyone likes it; then before you know it, it becomes mainstream.<\/p>

GR<\/strong>: Now this wine here follows a similar track. This is the Winemaker\u2019s Reserve Chardonnay<\/strong>. Bay View fruit. It\u2019s a vineyard that I\u2019ve been making wine from since 1994. It\u2019s in the backstreets of Bay View \u2013 not somewhere you ordinarily associate with fine wine, but it makes our best Chardonnay, so I bottle it on its own.<\/p>

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It\u2019s planted behind the Crab Farm Winery<\/strong>, literally over their back fence. Prior to the 1931 earthquake it was under water. Where Bay View township and this vineyard are located, used to be the old tidal flat for the Esk River. Dig into the soils of this vineyard \u2013 shell, marine clay..so it\u2019s growing in ex-marine soils which I always think gives this wine a briney note that I really like. An incredibly complex, rich, smoky wine, with a texture and plushness which is heading more towards Gisborne style of wine. There\u2019s a noticeable difference in the structure and nature to somewhere like Keltern which is inland, and I always cherish that. I like what I\u2019ve got and it\u2019s a point of difference. 2018 \u2013 the Chardonnay was slightly lean, but saying that, the earlier we end up picking our Chardonnays, the more we seem to like them anyway. There\u2019s something to be said for that. Given that the wines were slightly skeletal in a way, my role, and goal, in the whole thing was to put flesh on the wine\u2019s bones. Everyone bottled theirs and I left this in barrel for another 5 to 6 months. I stirred it, personally, every week. By the time we took it out it had been in barrel almost 18 months, and it didn\u2019t need any fining, any cold stabilisation, any bentonite \u2013 nothing. It was totally just stable, in barrel. This was now very much an Esk Valley style of wine.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I have this list of Chardonnays that I keep, and this is well up there! It\u2019s quite smoky isn\u2019t it?<\/p>

GR<\/strong>: It\u2019s not the barrels. The new oak would be 30%. I see that slightly salty, briney note in the wine as well. At the end of the palate \u2013 I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s salty to me. I would say that everything about this wine is about the vineyard. I loved every week just going over and trying it again, coming to a stage where I thought I\u2019d achieved what I wanted. I\u2019d say \u201cI think next week is going to be it..\u201d<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: And yet the Chenin didn\u2019t behave and still came out quite beautifully \u2013 so you can\u2019t control it all.<\/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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GR<\/strong>: the only way you can control it is using a lot more science than I generally tend to use. I like knowing what\u2019s going on and I like knowing how much sugar and acidity \u00a0we\u2019re starting off with. But it\u2019s working around what we\u2019ve got rather than wanting to change that.<\/p>

The next wine we\u2019ve got is Syrah \u2013 2014. I poured this last night at Hawke\u2019s Bay Winegrowers<\/strong> event, and we\u2019ve been making this Winemaker\u2019s Reserve Syrah<\/strong> since 2002. It has always come from \u2013 if you back up the road there and see the Gimblett Gravels sign on the corner of Gimblett road \u2013 the vines that are on that corner right where the sign is \u2013 the Cornerstone Vineyard<\/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

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Planted in 1996 and, as far as I know, when the first cuttings of vines came from Alan Limmer<\/strong> at Stonecroft<\/strong>, they went to Cornerstone and Trinity Hill. This is the second generation of plantings in Hawke\u2019s Bay. I have always since the first vintage of this wine, in 2001, realised that this particular block of grapes makes our finest syrah. So when it meets my aspirations, we bottle it separately. And this is the 2014 version of it. It was a ripe year but the one thing that separates that block from all our others is, yes it gets ripe, but it also has amazing acidity.\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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There\u2019s this weird juxtaposition where it has both sugar, alcohol and acidity at the same time. Concrete fermentation, wild yeast, classic Esk Valley style. If you have a wine cellar this is one you\u2019re going to put aside for twenty years, without ever thinking \u2018I need to drink that wine\u2019. If you like, the 2014 is more Hermitage<\/strong>, where the ones after are more Cote Rotie<\/strong>.<\/p>

If you gave an Australian winemaker who\u2019d never tried Cote Rotie before, they would probably dismiss it, and not like it, because it\u2019s not what they\u2019re used to. You\u2019ve got to have an open mind. When I first starting making wine, the concept that I would ever be imagining that we\u2019d be making shiraz in new Zealand? I imagined it was a warm climate grape and just impossible to grow in New Zealand. But it\u2019s not. It\u2019s a mid-climate grape in the respect that it doesn\u2019t need the heat of Cabernet. It\u2019s closer to Pinot Noir as I see it. And I make this wine exactly as I would make Pinot Noir. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s too much difference between this wine and a ripe Bannockburn Pinot Noir.<\/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> <The Terraces gets poured> Oh, here we go \u2013 Malbec, merlot, Cabernet franc.. all picked on the same day, from the one vineyard?<\/p>

GR<\/strong>: Fermented together, aged together and bottled without fining or filtration. When we first decided that was a good thing to do, back in 2001, there was no role model for this in the world. There was Marcel Deiss<\/strong> in Alsace, Paul Draper<\/strong> in Napa who were doing their own version generally. But it just seemed to me that if I wanted to make a wine that spoke of the most beautiful vineyard I get to make wine from \u2013 I couldn\u2019t make a blend that was the best post harvest. We needed put all our energy into the vineyard and then let that season and nature decide. So that\u2019s where it\u2019s come from.<\/p>

I\u2019ve learnt a lot over the years, and it depends on the season, but it\u2019s very Pinot-esque in some respects this wine. We\u2019re not trying to make the biggest, blackest wine \u2013 the vineyard doesn\u2019t usually do that. To me it\u2019s about elegance, complexity, soft and mouthfilling.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I find it a very \u2018evolving\u2019 wine. One you back to and find more in it. I love having it decanted, and keeping a bit to try the next day; and then it\u2019s whole different wine. \u00a0It\u2019s very of its place. It\u2019s the most \u201cHawke\u2019s Bay\u201d wine that I know of having been made. Talk about a wine that\u2019s \u2018made in the vineyard!\u2019<\/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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GR<\/strong>: We\u2019ve even now, with the 2018 vintage, taken the varietals off the front. But it\u2019s always different anyway. The 2014 is a big muscular wine. 2013 is really tight and got an incredible iron fist in it. That\u2019s the nature of that harvest.<\/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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You\u2019ll drink the 2014 for years before you\u2019ll drink the 2013. Ultimately I think the 2013 will be the great wine of that pair. This 2016 is soft and generous, but there\u2019s tannin lurking in the background. Sometimes when I\u2019ve opened up the older ones at tastings, they\u2019ve looked like Italian wine \u2013 they\u2019ve got the acidity in some respect of Chianti, or central italian reds that smell of Bordeaux. We sell a lot of it \u2018en primeur\u2019 and some of it goes to Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong. I mean there\u2019s not much of it 350 dozen would be a big year for it. It sells. Some people have got bottles of every vintage and have become friends of the Estate as such.<\/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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The second label we created called \u2018The Hillside\u2019<\/strong> is a really good wine as well. The first vintage was 2010 and that was because we just couldn\u2019t make up our minds whether we wanted to release it as The Terraces or not. So we ended up deciding, just by a small margin, that we wouldn\u2019t. But equally thought \u2018we can\u2019t sell this off cheap\u201d, given everything that\u2019s gone into it. Then in 2013, I had both too much fruit to fit into the fermenter, and too much merlot in particular. If I\u2019d put it all in it would have made a Merlot-based wine, and I like the Malbec origin. So then I\u2019m defeating everything I\u2019m saying about letting nature decide! So I faced a bit of a conundrum there. There was a small part of the vineyard with some younger vines in it, and I fermented them separately. So in 2013 we have a Terraces and a Hillside, which is pretty damn good. Now 2017 was not a great year for red wines in Hawke\u2019s Bay. It was a very very challenging year. The Terraces withstood everything that was thrown at it. The fruit was phenomenal \u2013 really good condition. We harvested late and still got to 23 brix. We decided like in 2010 that it probably didn\u2019t quite get there, but that was a tough call because it\u2019s a remarkably good wine. I\u2019d be very surprised if any other red in Hawke\u2019s Bay matches 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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To round it off, this is our\u00a0Late Harvest Chenin Blanc<\/strong>, a rare wine. A bit of fun. Some vintages, given the opportunity, we have a crack at making something interesting.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: You know I\u2019ve got that old one \u2013 I think it\u2019s a 1992, with the old label?<\/p>

GR<\/strong>: That will be a cracker. So this is a folly \u2013 an Esk Valley folly. I\u2019m trying to teach people in some respect that this isn\u2019t necessarily a dessert wine, a pudding wine. Go to France and you start your meal with this. Have your foie gras, and start sweet, and then you drink dry after that. This is sweet, yes, but Chenin Blanc has incredible acidity, and it\u2019s a great grape to make sweet wine from.<\/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>: Can you make a sweet wine from lots of different varietals?<\/p>

GR<\/strong>: Generally I think the best ones are the ones with high acidity, so you\u2019re going to get good acidity from something like Riesling. Some just don\u2019t rot \u2013 Verdelho, Albarino..<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Aha \u2013 you\u2019ve said the magic word! This is what I wanted to know\u2026tell me about your Albarino<\/strong>!? What are you doing with it?<\/p>

GR<\/strong>: It comes from Two Terraces, but once again, this was a challenging pick. When we got the grapes here they were 25 brix, which is stupidly high, and yet the grapes did not look ripe. They were either bright green or a some golden ones, and you taste the green ones think \u2018I can\u2019t make wine from this\u2019 but finally you get to the stage where you can believe the sample result. Ran the juice to the same vessels as the Chenin Blanc \u2013 tank and barrel, wild yeast, and they\u2019re still there. Looked at them yesterday. I\u2019ve got three different portions \u2013 some free run that I ran to tank; middle cut that I ran to tank, and then the last, harder pressings \u2013 and with this variety that has lots of flavours in the skins \u2013 kept separate as I thought it would have lots of interesting flavour. And these are first crop grapes as well. What came out the press and went to barrel was 25 brix and an acid of about 10. Nick and Rich said neither of them had tasted a wine that was so assaulting. Smells fabulous and it\u2019s rich, and then it\u2019s got searing acidity. It\u2019s so bizarre and challenging.\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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What I fermented in tank, I left a few grams of sugar in, knowing that I would blend the two together, to tame the acidity a bit. And when we looked at it yesterday, the pressings were tasting really good, and I ended up blending the whole lot up together \u2013 every drop that came out of those grapes. And I got it tested in the lab, and I don\u2019t know what the alcohol is on it, but all the results fitted together almost perfectly. It\u2019s going to be a robust wine. It\u2019s probably, once again, not what I was expecting of an albarino. I was thinking of more of 12.5% alcohol, and a really quenching summer wine. Instead what we\u2019ve got is a really rich, intensely flavoured wine which will be totally memorable. I\u2019m in no hurry to bottle that, I\u2019m looking to mellow it with lees stirring and soften the edges. Most of it will go to the UK and we\u2019ll keep maybe 80 cases to sell through the Cellar Door here. In fact, make a note to contact me in 6 months time and I\u2019ll send you a bottle!<\/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\"Gordon\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<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the middle of the year as I catch up with Gordon Russell, Head winemaker at Esk Valley, in new surroundings at the Te Awa winery complex now housing the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2536,"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-2535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews-with-nz-winemakers"],"yoast_head":"\nWinemaker series: Gordon Russell - 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=2535\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Winemaker series: Gordon Russell - WineFolio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s the middle of the year as I catch up with Gordon Russell, Head winemaker at Esk Valley, in new surroundings at the Te Awa winery complex now housing the …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=2535\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WineFolio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wine.folio.1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-07T02:22:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-07T02:34:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Gordon-cropped.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"573\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"368\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Walker Bell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Walker Bell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"19 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=2535#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=2535\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Walker Bell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8b8706e15ba32f9782222c431fa75d9f\"},\"headline\":\"Winemaker series: Gordon Russell\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-07T02:22:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-07T02:34:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=2535\"},\"wordCount\":3860,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=2535#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/Gordon-cropped.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Winemaker Series\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=2535#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=2535\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=2535\",\"name\":\"Winemaker series: Gordon Russell - 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