{"id":4041,"date":"2021-08-01T10:29:47","date_gmt":"2021-07-31T22:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=4041"},"modified":"2021-08-01T10:37:50","modified_gmt":"2021-07-31T22:37:50","slug":"no-1-family-estate-marlborough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=4041","title":{"rendered":"No.1 Family Estate, Marlborough"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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I\u2019d promised to call into No.1 Family Estate<\/strong> after a visit to Marlborough last year had not found time to drop in and talk to the team about their sensational Methode Traditionelle wine. They recently celebrated their 40th<\/sup> anniversary of making wines in Blenheim, although their roots of course go way back further \u2013 to the home of sparkling wine in the region of Champagne itself!<\/p>

As I arrive I\u2019m greeted at their glamorous Cellar Door with a glass of their No.1<\/strong> Assembl\u00e9<\/strong> wine. It is blend of 65% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir and 5% Pinot Meunier. Deep, rich and complex having spent 3 years on lees. It has a gorgeous toasted brioche autolysis flavour and is just stunning. This would normally be thought of as a wine to have in the sunshine, but I\u2019m all for a winters evening \u2013 cold outside and with the fire going.<\/p>

I\u2019m also treated to the No.1 Ros\u00e9<\/strong> which is a delicate pale pink colour, having had almost no time on skins. It\u2019s soft and smooth, delicate, with a little smokiness, and with a floral lift that\u2019s all musk rose. This wine was, impressively, a big winner in the Champagne Sparkling Wine World Championships. Gold medal, Best in Class and National Trophy.<\/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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Virginie appears just as I spy a bottle I haven\u2019t seen before and ask about it..<\/p>

Virginie Le Brun<\/strong>: 70 calibre. That was a bit of a secret vintage for Papa\u2019s 70th<\/sup>. It was made by Lee our Winemaker and Winery Manager, and Remy, my brother who is now Junior Winemaker. \u00a0It was deliberately produced in the same bottle as the Assembl\u00e9 so that we could quietly manage it, and Papa couldn\u2019t see what it was. It was revealed at his 70th<\/sup> birthday and was a great surprise!<\/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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Also, Cuv\u00e9e Virginie<\/strong> \u2013 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir, zero dosage, so Extra Brut style. The original one was for my 21st<\/sup>, then 2009 and 2016. Years ago when we had the very first Cuv\u00e9e Adele<\/strong> for Mum\u2019s 40th<\/sup>, I was just like \u201cPapa\u2026 Papa\u2026 Papa\u2026\u201d He was not getting away without making a vintage for me. I started working on that very early. We all have our namesake Vintages which is pretty cool. The wording on the back of the Cuv\u00e9e Virginie roughly translates as \u2018dedicated to the well-deserved success of my little girl\u2019 but that\u2019s paraphrasing it as it doesn\u2019t translate directly very well.<\/p>

Would you like to have a look around the winery? The glamour unfortunately ends here and we\u2019ll need to don the fluoro.<\/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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In the corner here \u2013 and I really shouldn\u2019t love it as much as I do, but I really do love it, is our Champagne press. Much of the machinery we have here has come from Champagne but this one in particular I have a soft spot for. We brought this to Marlborough when I was very little \u2013 it arrived in 1984, so it\u2019s just a few years younger than me. She\u2019s been here a while. I brought a friend in here who was doing a vintage at the time for another winery and I said \u201cand this is our press!!\u201d she was like \u201cwow, it\u2019s really old\u201d. I was horrified \u2013 this is like my little sister (laughs). To me this is a pretty important part of our family.<\/p>

It\u2019s a specialist Vaselin Press<\/strong> from Champagne, specifically for pressing grapes for Methode. Over the course of four hours, the steel plates will slowly come in towards each other, to very gently extract juice. We only take about 620 litres per tonne as it\u2019s all about quality not quantity.<\/p>

WineFolio<\/strong>: It\u2019s great, it\u2019s a real character isn\u2019t it? That\u2019s classic, I love that.<\/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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VLB<\/strong>: Like I say, everything comes from Champagne but this one is a little extra-special.<\/p>

We take a look at the \u2018gyro pallets\u2019 \u2013 again, imported from France, and doing the job of \u2018riddling\u2019 the bottles – what was once painstakingly manual labour.<\/p>

Although Virginie is quick to point out: \u201cThere\u2019s still a great deal of manual labour goes into making m\u00e9thode \u2013 sometimes there\u2019s just no speedy way to do things. People often don\u2019t realise that at all\u201d.<\/p>

We take a look at the disgorging line, which if you haven\u2019t seen before is actually a really fascinating process. First the neck of the bottle is frozen to capture the lees in the form of an ice plug. The pressure in the bottle is around 90psi, so when opened, \u00a0the plug is ejected under pressure. The dosage is added, cork inserted and held in place with capsule and \u00a0muselet (wire cage), the bottle is shaken (to integrate dosage with the wine), washed and labelled all in the space of a couple of metres of technical, semi-robotic wizardry \u2013 supervised of course!<\/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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As we leave the noisily efficient business end behind and head back out, we stop and look at a tank that belonged to Virginie\u2019s Great Grandfather P\u00e9p\u00e8re<\/em> Nestor, a 10th<\/sup> generation winemaker from Champagne. The taps have been changed, but it\u2019s otherwise as it was when it was brought it over from France.<\/p>

VLB<\/strong>: My aunt has just refurbished the old family press room in Champagne, where if you think that tank is old, I\u2019ve a got a photo of a really old girl to show you! It looks beautiful \u2013 so, so cool. That lineage to our family is really important.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Is that still a very active connection? Are there visits?<\/p>

VLB<\/strong>: In a normal world, pre-COVID, Papa goes at least once a year. When I lived in the UK, I was there about once a quarter. Whilst we\u2019re talking of family history let me show you the rings I am wearing – this one belonged to P\u00e9p\u00e8re<\/em> Nestor\u2019s wife M\u00e9m\u00e8re Louise, my Great Grandmother. It\u2019s a gold franc coin and the Lady Liberte is so worn down because she wore it all the time. This rose gold band was my Great Great Grandmother\u2019s, her name was Virginie. I also have a pendant handed down from my Great Grandmother Catherine (on mum\u2019s side). This one is too fragile to wear. So I\u2019m named after all three of them, Virginie Catherine Louise Le Brun.<\/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 only just got this photo last night and I wanted to show you. This is our old family press \u2013 the building was built around it, and it\u2019s been in situ since 1791. My Aunty Isabelle has converted it into a B&B and it\u2019s so exciting to see. The press used to have written, in chalk, above it \u2013 I think it was \u201c1961, then the yield, and underneath that (in French) the year of the great wine\u201d.<\/p>

In the photo are these baskets; and you would get a rod and put it through the handles, one basket on each end, and two people would lift it up on their shoulders and walk it down from the hill to put it into the press \u2013 of course nothing is flat in Champagne \u2013 each full basket weighing about 90kg.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: And how long would one of your bottles be OK to drink \u2013 can you cellar them for years?<\/p>

VLB<\/strong>: We have library stock right from the beginning of No.1 Family Estate, and even some from our Cellier Le Brun days (Mum and Papa\u2019s first venture). Most is drinkable, of course the characteristics and profile change over time. I would say between 5 and 10 years pretty comfortably, providing it is kept correctly. For my own cellar and family consumption, I like to follow vintage charts. My preferred is Berry Brothers & Rudd<\/strong>. Although, in my opinion, it is a little too conservative when it comes to the ageing potential of New Zealand wines, especially sparkling which has the acidity to stand up to longer cellaring. I had a non-vintage magnum of No.1 that was lovely \u2013 still bubbly – more than ten years after I was given it.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: How important would you say that Champagne connection is to the No.1 Family Estate brand?<\/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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VLB<\/strong>: It\u2019s all part of our individual stories, and you have your own connection to your own history. For me it\u2019s very significant because it\u2019s in our blood. 1684 was the first recording of the Le Bruns planting vines in Champagne. So it\u2019s something that has run in our family for generations. There\u2019s all kinds of twists and turns in the road that you think had something happened differently we wouldn\u2019t be where we are today. One example is that Mum met Papa in Rotorua. She was from the north of England. He was from Champagne. She was working at the paper and she said to a friend \u201cI\u2019ve got a do tonight, but I need to take a bloke that\u2019s got a suit \u2013 do you know anyone?\u201d and her friend said \u201cWhat about that Frenchman who\u2019s flatting with such-and-such \u2013 he\u2019ll have a suit\u201d And he did, and it was Daniel. We were cleaning out the storage containers at the back of the winery the other day, and found the suit and I said to \u00a0my brother Remy \u201cLook at that\u2026 If it hadn\u2019t been for that suit, you and I wouldn\u2019t be here\u201d.<\/p>

My Great Grandfather P\u00e9p\u00e8re<\/em> Nestor, was a leader of the Resistance in our village, and we apparently had guns hidden in the attic. So if the Nazis had found that, everything would be different again. Throughout all this time we have produced wine. It\u2019s so deeply ingrained in who we are and what our identity is. It was from P\u00e9p\u00e8re<\/em> Nestor that Papa really found his passion for wine. With Remy and I \u2013 we both had our respective careers before we came deeply into the family business. The last time my Grandfather P\u00e9p\u00e8re<\/em> Rene (Daniel\u2019s father) visited New Zealand – he would have been about 93 at the time \u2013 he said to Remy \u201cyou need to come to Champagne and you need to see where it is that you are from\u201d. So Remy went over and that was it \u2013 the penny dropped. He hadn\u2019t been there since he was a kid. So that\u2019s what changed Remy\u2019s mind; and for Papa it was his Grandfather P\u00e9p\u00e8re<\/em> Nestor. Sometimes the connection skips a generation.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Do you think there will ever be a time when the New Zealand version can sit on the same level as Champagne?<\/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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VLB<\/strong>: Absolutely. I think it\u2019s possible. Arguably there\u2019s no stronger brand on the planet than Champagne. It\u2019s why they fight so hard to keep the parameters of that as tight as they are. Even to the point where Yves St Laurent did a perfume called Champagne, and the Appellation put a stop to 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>: I\u2018m really interested in the smell of things. When I was at college I had a flatmate doing some sort of chemistry course and she aimed to get into one of the big perfume houses and work in that industry. She would bring back all these little bottles of scents and I\u2019d have to describe what I could smell in them. So, even now, if I get dragged around shops by my wife, I\u2019m OK if the shop has some candles that I can stand and investigate. Shopkeepers probably think \u201cwho\u2019s the old fella over there sniffing the candles..weirdo!\u201d<\/p>

I think you can get a huge amount out of wine by the aroma \u2013 at least 50% of what\u2019s to be found in it comes from the smell of it, to me.<\/p>

VLB<\/strong>: There\u2019s something almost more emotive about the sense of smell. Maybe more than any of the other senses.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: And Champagne, and Methode has that doesn\u2019t it? It\u2019s a beautifully aromatic wine<\/p>

VLB<\/strong>: There you go, we\u2019ve come back round! (laughs) Yes of course.<\/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 back to your initial question \u2013 about Champagne, and I\u2019d answer it in two parts. One \u2013 will anything challenge the brand of \u2018Champagne\u2019? Perhaps not. But, will the wine that we are capable of making in New Zealand \u2013 can that parallel the product of Champagne? I\u2019ll answer you that by reading something. This was written in 2018 for Decanter by Elin McCoy<\/p>

\u201cYou think you know New Zealand wine. Think again. Just before the annual Central Otago Pinot Noir Festival in January, I was dutifully working my way through an Air New Zealand Tasting in a boring Hotel Conference Room in Queenstown. When I was bowled over by a sparkling wine I\u2019d never heard of before. The non-vintage No.1 Family Estate Reserve from Marlborough had the fresh, complex, salty, biscuity, rich finesse that you only find in Champagne. And very good Champagne at that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

WF<\/strong>: But. Even if the product is seen to be as good \u2013 how do you climb that mountain that gets you on a level footing with the \u2018aura\u2019 of Champagne. Because I do believe that our sparkling product is as good as most Champagne product \u2013 certainly that the ones that most people would have come across. They\u2019re fantastic.<\/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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VLB<\/strong>: They are. They categorically are. And I\u2019m so proud of the fact that there is so much out there from New Zealand. It\u2019s wonderful. It\u2019s not just a case of \u201cI like mine better\u201d and all that. The fact that someone is prepared to go the extra mile to make Methode.. I take my hat off to a producer, just for that! Because if you want to make a quick buck, Methode ain\u2019t the way to do it (laughs)<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I thought it was interesting that you\u2019ve got Marlborough as the region, and such a powerhouse of New Zealand wine. And then develop things like Methode Marlborough <\/strong>and now Appellation Marlborough.<\/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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VLB<\/strong>: Methode Marlborough<\/strong>. The tricky thing is it takes a long time and is costly to make Methode. I know we can turn Sauvignon Blanc round in a matter of months, and to me, to be honest, it\u2019s still a challenge to see the vintage year that we\u2019re still living in on a label of a wine bottle. But that\u2019s just me. I know that Sauvignon Blanc has put us on the world stage. Wine can be quite contentious. There\u2019s snobbery and all of that.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Do you think there\u2019s something about that that\u2019s leading to the downturn in consumption? Do you think young people might look at wine as something that old people drink?<\/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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VLB<\/strong>: I don\u2019t know, that\u2019s a good question. Natural wines, for example, have been a wonderful way for people to find their way into wine drinking and appreciating different styles.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Like the music that you liked as a young person and your parents didn\u2019t, so it\u2019s something just for you. \u201cDad hates this. Great. I love it\u201d<\/p>

VLB<\/strong>: Hahaha. Yes. And arguably a gateway. Maybe they\u2019re just more discerning and other things are being considered. There\u2019s not as much excess as there was for us previous generations. They\u2019re living more consciously.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: And they do less of others things too. But then more. They do more protesting for example, which I think is great. I hope they are happier, because I look back on my childhood and think it was idyllic. Without mobile phones and connectivity and all that. Having children of my own, I do hope that they are happy. I hope they continue to drink wine, and sparkling wine of course!<\/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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VLB<\/strong>: Certainly in the UK I found that it wasn\u2019t even so much about celebrations \u2013 it was just a Friday!<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I like it for lunch I have to say. Because people often want to have ros\u00e9 and I\u2019m like \u2018can\u2019t we have some sparkling ros\u00e9 then?\u2019 And I don\u2019t think that\u2019s over the top. I love wine with food that makes the meal better, and a good sparkling wine is that, completely.<\/p>

VLB<\/strong>: What we\u2019ve found during COVID is that certainly there is an upswing in the interest around vintages, the Reserve, and the higher end. And people are keeping it local, so thinking of New Zealand which is great.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Do you see a point where you may struggle to keep up with demand?<\/p>

VLB<\/strong>: Well, if I keep selling like I am, then, yes. Turns out I\u2019m really good at what I do!! That has absolutely been a silver lining to COVID. There\u2019s wonderful support. It\u2019s not even about selling wine \u2013 it\u2019s about relationships and connections. I honestly never anticipated that I would have as much passion for what I do now. In truth it\u2019s become more fulfilling and bringing me much more happiness than the stuff I used to do.<\/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":"

I\u2019d promised to call into No.1 Family Estate after a visit to Marlborough last year had not found time to drop in and talk to the team about their sensational … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-about-wine"],"yoast_head":"\nNo.1 Family Estate, Marlborough - 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=4041\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"No.1 Family Estate, Marlborough - WineFolio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019d promised to call into No.1 Family Estate after a visit to Marlborough last year had not found time to drop in and talk to the team about their sensational …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=4041\" \/>\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=\"2021-07-31T22:29:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-31T22:37:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Cellar-Door_-o1-Family-Estate.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"843\" \/>\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=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=4041#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=4041\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Walker Bell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8b8706e15ba32f9782222c431fa75d9f\"},\"headline\":\"No.1 Family Estate, Marlborough\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-31T22:29:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-31T22:37:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=4041\"},\"wordCount\":2850,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=4041#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/Cellar-Door_-o1-Family-Estate.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Features\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=4041#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=4041\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/winefolio.co.nz\\\/?p=4041\",\"name\":\"No.1 Family Estate, Marlborough - 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