{"id":4183,"date":"2021-08-22T19:12:23","date_gmt":"2021-08-22T07:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=4183"},"modified":"2021-09-02T08:42:16","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T20:42:16","slug":"a-morning-at-greystone-waipara-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=4183","title":{"rendered":"A morning at Greystone, Waipara Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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It\u2019s Day 2 of my visit to the Waipara Valley in North Canterbury, and an early morning call in to see Greystone. I\u2019d written earlier this year about their innovative \u2018Vineyard Ferment\u2019 technique and resulting Pinot Noir wine. However, I can\u2019t altogether to claim to quite understand it, and I\u2019m keen to get a look at the vineyards to get a sense of this place. I know the wines are good \u2013 the Pinot having been served to the Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visited, and appearing on the \u2018Fine Wines of New Zealand\u2019 list that I am a huge fan of.<\/p>

I\u2019m met by Nik Mavromatis, GM of Sales and Marketing who has offered to guide me around the property, and then take us down to the winery for a chat and taste with winemaker Dom Maxwell. We start driving up and up, with the valley at our backs, and more vineyards appearing over the steepening hills.<\/p>

Nik Mavromatis<\/strong>: Bruce Thomas already had a vineyard on the flat down on MacKenzies Road, growing mostly Riesling down there. He acquired a taste for expensive Burgundy and really wanted to see what they could do in terms of Pinot, from limestone spots. Bruce found this, which was a sheep farm, and took the soil measurements. They looked fantastic in terms of the limestone-clay mix, so they planted here. On the flat we\u2019ve got the Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Riesling mostly. And then as we get up the hill it\u2019s Pinot Noir. 70% of the plantings are Pinot Noir although it only makes up about 40% of our production due to the yield being so low.<\/p>

We\u2019ve used two clones for our Sauvignon Blanc \u2013 it\u2019s 376 and 530. They\u2019re a totally different style of fruit. It\u2019s more yellow rather than green, and more tropical fruit than that green bell pepper sort of way.<\/p>

Up here is our top block \u2013 the \u2018Thomas Brothers Pinot\u2019 and our \u2018Erin\u2019s Chardonnay\u2019. You can see the limestone \u2013 it\u2019s literally coming out of the hillside. Half a metre of topsoil and then solid limestone. That\u2019s what I think is the defining point of the great sites in North Canterbury when you\u2019re looking at Black Estate<\/strong>, Pyramid Valley<\/strong>, Bell Hill<\/strong>. They\u2019re all on those limestone slope sites. That\u2019s what makes us different.<\/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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WineFolio<\/strong>: It\u2019s beautiful country here.<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: Yes, we should just add some bungy jumping I think, then we\u2019d get a bit more reputation for wine.<\/p>

I\u2019m obviously biased \u2013 I think North Canterbury\u2019s a pretty special site. You can see how dry it is. It\u2019s got really low disease pressure, which helps if you\u2019re organic. Really helps if you\u2019re Pinot Noir. The only negative we\u2019ve got really is the spring frosts and this year we got wasted with them. We\u2019re over 50% down. But it is a cracking vintage so the quality is outstanding. Yields are very, very low. We hand picked everything this year.<\/p>

We drive up to the top of the property, with breathtaking views over the whole valley. Across from Pegasus Bay over to Terrace Edge on the flat, and up to Waipara Hills. <\/em><\/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 get clay out to the edges here on the Omihi parts; then as you get into the central part of the valley with Georges Road<\/strong> and Boneline<\/strong>, it is all gravels. Lovely bright aromatics for Riesling and Pinot Gris, but if you want the heavier, more complex Pinots you look for the limestone and clay. Up here was seashore, it\u2019s literally been pushed up out of the hill as there\u2019s a faultline that runs between Christchurch Port Hills and Kaikoura, and this is it, here.<\/p>

Geologically speaking when you\u2019re talking about Burgundy<\/strong> and the chalk around Chablis<\/strong>, you\u2019re talking about 25 million plus years. We\u2019re half a million here out of the ocean, so geologically, we\u2019re a baby. Over there, straight ahead there\u2019s a white scar on the landscape. That\u2019s a limestone quarry, that\u2019s where the Boneline is, and over the other side the 3 Deans; and over past there you\u2019ve got Pyramid Valley and Bell Hill. It\u2019s a really fine white chalk, and I think the Chardonnays off that fine white chalk are just the best in New Zealand, hands down.<\/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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You\u2019ve got the more crunchy, grey aglomerate limestone, hence the name \u2013 Greystone, up here. That\u2019s got a bit more of the oyster shell like this. And the whole name Waipara \u2013 Wai \u2013 water, Para \u2013 muddy; because when the limestone breaks down it forms clays. When it rains here the rivers flow dark. Quite unique in terms of that limestone character here. Waitaki is fairly similar but I think they get frosted even worse than us. It\u2019s hard enough here.<\/p>

And we\u2019re trying to convince people of the quality of the wines. That there\u2019s life beyond just Central Otago when it comes to Pinot particularly. We\u2019re certainly getting there. Internationally people know North Canterbury, but it\u2019s harder for Australian and Domestic.<\/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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It\u2019s tough to get the dollars required for the yields that you get. It\u2019s not an easy thing to do, to grow, to get your yields year on year. We want to see high end wines thrive and survive in New Zealand.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: That ties into something I have a tendency to talk about \u2013 which is the concept of Champagne, and drinking that in New Zealand. So, people will spend $50 to $60 on a bottle of French Champagne, but baulk at spending that on a decent bottle of still wine. And do you ever taste Champagne? If I spent $60 on a bottle of wine, I\u2019d for sure want to spend a minute and think about how that tastes. But Champagne \u2013 you take it to a party, and you stand up, talking, drinking Champagne and thinking \u201cI\u2019m having a lovely time, drinking Champagne, life\u2019s good\u201d But what did it taste like. Do you know? So it could have been anything really.<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: I\u2019m a professional, and if someone gave me a glass, blind, of Bollinger<\/strong> and one of Lanson<\/strong> \u2013 I would struggle to know which one was which. Somewhere like Nautilus<\/strong> \u2013 their sparkling is amazing, and I love Huia<\/strong> sparkling. Marlborough sparkling is off the chart, and that\u2019s what they should be doing! We did some market data with Charlotte Read<\/strong> the other day, and wine sales are just falling off the chart. They\u2019re disappearing. As the boomers go, the sales are just disappearing. And the younger people are drinking craft beer, craft gin, and the big growth was sparkling! We did a Pet Nat last year, all organic with no additions whatsoever, and we sold out in record time. It was still made by the team here, concentrating on nice, clean wines \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t mean you have to add a tonne of chemicals.\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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Wine sales are dropping, and the younger generation isn\u2019t getting it. And I\u2019m going \u201chang on, we\u2019re doing the story-telling wrong\u201d We\u2019re still trying to do something that\u2019s effectively forty years ago \u2013 like putting medals on, and in the 1980s that\u2019s how you could tell. We\u2019re a different industry now. There\u2019s a lot more knowledge.<\/p>

Drinkability is important, rather than it shows well in a small amount. We\u2019ve gone too far down that route with Parker-isation, and hopefully we\u2019re getting back to people telling the stories.Why do we grow up here where it\u2019s so dry and really hard? Why not just go down to the flat and put a herd of cows on the land with a tonne of irrigation. Why people are allowed to do dairy finishing in North Canterbury is beyond me\u2026 We are really dry, but very lucky up here too.<\/p>

Steve who has the sheep around us, is really good at working with organics, so he doesn\u2019t drench his sheep, so we can put them on site and they do all our weeding. And up behind us is actually the largest organic sheep farm in New Zealand \u2013 it runs all the way down to the ocean on the far side. They do the Wash Creek branded organic lamb, which is really good stuff. It\u2019s an amazing site and we just need to do a bit more of that North Canterbury story telling.<\/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>: You\u2019ve won a few awards though?<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: Yes, we won Decanter Magazine<\/strong> \u2018Best Pinot Noir in the World\u2019, \u2018Organic Vineyard of the Year\u2019 a couple of times \u2013 Dom was \u2018Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year\u2019 the first time they did that.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: And that Vineyard Ferment Pinot story got a few column inches after it got named in that list of cool wine things?<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: Yes, we\u2019ll show you that in a second. It\u2019s my favourite here. It\u2019s a wee bit challenging for some people in that it doesn\u2019t have new oak. For a New Zealand Pinot they\u2019re not quite used to that. But we\u2019re trying to tell a story with indigenous yeast, of our place, so let\u2019s not mask it with new oak.<\/p>

We drive back down the hillside towards the winery, across what is a beautiful bit of land \u2013 quite a special site.<\/em><\/p>

NM<\/strong>: This is our Pinot, so a selection of about seven different clones \u2013 you get an idea of the steepness!<\/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>: How much wine do you make?<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: In a good year about 20,000 cases. This year we\u2019ll be lucky to get 9000.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Someone won\u2019t be happy about that.<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: No, we\u2019ve just been having a few meetings, about how we do that. The whole supply and demand thing doesn\u2019t quite work when you can\u2019t just double your price. Over here is where we get our later-pick Riesling and there\u2019s a bit of Gruner Veltliner and St Laurent we\u2019re trialling. We haven\u2019t been very happy with that but we use it in our skin ferment.<\/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>: It probably suits that kind of thing \u2013 the Gruner. I was at Lime Rock and they opened a bottle, which I really liked, and then the only other one I\u2019ve loved was Blank Canvas. Otherwise I\u2019m generally not keen, so far!<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: I do not like Gruner. The worst New Zealand wine I\u2019ve ever drunk was a Gruner from Marlborough, and it was on an Air New Zealand flight. It was like \u2018you\u2019ve got to be kidding me\u2019. It tasted like someone had mixed some white wine, vodka and white pepper together.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I\u2019ve had some shockers. I had one at a decent restaurant and the Sommelier recommended it\u2026and I spat it out into another glass.<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: Yet I love New Zealand Albarino!<\/p>

We head over, past the Cellar Door where an \u2018end of harvest hangi\u2019 is being put in the ground, and on to the Winery down the road.<\/em><\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I noticed Brancott have got a vineyard down here.<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: That was the old Corbans block. If you ever see a bottle of Corbans Amberley Rhine Riesling<\/strong> come up for auction \u2013 buy it. It\u2019s a fantastic Riesling. I think they ripped it out in 2000 and replaced it with Sav Blanc. It was beautiful un-grafted Riesling.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I love Riesling from here, it\u2019s excellent.<\/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 drive back off the highway and past lots of vines<\/em><\/p>

NM<\/strong>: This is Dancing Water<\/strong> \u2013 that\u2019s the building but they\u2019re not making it there. They\u2019re beautiful old vines that Mark Rattray planted in \u201986. There\u2019s some really old Chardonnay on the other side that\u2019s absolutely stunning.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: We need more Chardonnay.<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: Yes, we need more, we always sell out. The vineyard got let go for some time but it\u2019s nice to see that they\u2019re doing it up now.<\/p>

And this is Muddy Water<\/strong>. The oldest organic vineyard in North Canterbury. Set up by the Easts in 1990, planted in 1993 and they retired in 2010. There\u2019s Riesling, Chardonnay and about halfway down it goes Pinot. All ungrafted, wider rows and heavier clay. We\u2019ve done a tonne of planting \u2013 more Pinot.<\/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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At the winery, winemaker Dom Maxwell appears..<\/em><\/p>

Dom Maxwell<\/strong>: Good to see you. I was just saying I was up at Pyramid Valley yesterday. I said I\u2019m going to bring Peter over here. And say we need this, and this, and this, and that. They\u2019ve got a wooden egg and these beautiful concrete fermenters and storage tanks that are like that thick, and inside the concrete they\u2019ve got the same system as underfloor heating and cooling. So you can heat and cool with a slow release and just dial up whatever temperature you want. And the same with the wooden cuves. As opposed to us who have to put it a pallet jack and wheel it outside into the sunshine. The interesting that Huw was saying is that \u201cit\u2019s awesome having all this stuff, but I\u2019ve got to work out how to use it\u201d. And I don\u2019t think he meant literally how to use it, but how to have it not take away that personality that you\u2019ve got with Pyramid Valley wines. There\u2019s an element of control that you leave up to nature.<\/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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NM<\/strong>: The temptation with things like that I guess is to have complete control. It\u2019s Bob Dylan in the 80s with a synthesiser \u2013 and \u2018oh let\u2019s use this\u2019. Er, let\u2019s not.<\/p>

DM<\/strong>: The plantings are amazing. They really are trying to best follow in those footsteps, as well as grow it. We\u2019re fairly quiet here this vintage. We had about half the amount of fruit in the winery compared to last year. We\u2019re getting towards the end of red pressing \u2013 it was quite an early harvest as well as small. The wines will be really good.<\/p>

Dom grabs a winethief and suggests a few barrel samples..<\/em><\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I\u2019m keen to try the Vineyard Ferment as it\u2019s one I\u2019ve not had before<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: Have you pressed that off yet?<\/p>

DM<\/strong>: Yes, we have and we\u2019ve also got 2020 still in barrel, which is quite good. Then we can look at pressed-off as well but it\u2019s pretty raw.<\/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>: How long has this winery been here?<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: This part was about 1998. When they built it, it was the largest Straw Bale construction in the Southern Hemisphere. We\u2019ve extended it through here just to give us more room.<\/p>

DM<\/strong>: We have fruit off both vineyards coming through here \u2013 Muddy Water and Greystone. Muddy Water is 40% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir and a little bit of Pinotage and Riesling. The Greystone we\u2019ve got almost 40% planted to Pinot Noir and then about 15 to Chardonnay. So Chardonnay and Pinot are our two main varieties, and perhaps we could have a look at that. Let\u2019s start with some 2020s and then we can look at some younger wines. We have a small amount of our Vineyard Ferment and Erin\u2019s Chardonnay here, and then we\u2019ve got some more barrels out at our Viticulture Shed which works as our Barrel storage over winter.<\/p>

2020 was also a very beautiful vintage, so this is from what we call \u2018Erin\u2019s Block\u2019 our steepest block that\u2019s got the most active limestone of any of our blocks. Mendoza clone, planted to low vigour rootstock which works pretty well as limestone can be quite vigorous. We get a lot of intensity coming through. This is a new barrel though so it\u2019s going to show a bit of oak. That is through malo. We\u2019ll let that rest on whole yeast lees for another 3-4 months before we put it to bottle in late August. It will be part of a five barrel blend. What we like about the limestone is that length and the integration of the acidity. It gets quite expansive on the back palate. It\u2019s early days \u2013 this wine will be in bottle for about eight months before we release it. Even then it would be, and should be, quite tight as it has good ageability. So you\u2019re looking for that length and that oyster-shell minerality.<\/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>: If you sell out of this, there\u2019s no pressure to rush the next one through then? You just say \u2018we\u2019re out of that\u2019<\/p>

DM<\/strong>: Particularly with these one, absolutely. In fact that\u2019s not a bad way to go. We\u2019re only making five barrels, and many years it\u2019s only three, so we\u2019d expect it to sell pretty quickly. That first 75% goes quite quickly and then we like to keep a little bit for the Cellar Door and Restaurant. Other wines, like our Estate Pinot Gris that we don\u2019t want to have gaps because we work hard to get restaurant listings.<\/p>

We\u2019ve actually got our Vineyard Ferment here as well. We\u2019ve been fermenting some Pinot Noir out in the vineyard since 2012. We wanted to really delve in deeper in our search for vineyard yeast. The belief was that if we left the fruit out where it was grown, we\u2019d get the true vineyard yeast before fermentation.\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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At the initial stage we didn\u2019t factor in the influence of weather. And that has a massive part to play, and it sounds simple now, looking back. You have cool vintages, therefore you have longer cold soaks, which affects colour, affects aromatics. Warmer vintages you end up with a very short cold soak, or almost none at all. But also different peaks of ferment temperature and post-maceration temperatures as well. It all has an effect on the palate and line, which we\u2019ve come to really love and see that as increasing that seasonal influence in the wine.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I don\u2019t know if consumers understand what a \u2018good year, cold year, warm year\u2019 really means. They hear these things\u00a0 – some might walk into a fine wine shop and be told \u201cOh yes it\u2019s from a very good year\u201d but they don\u2019t understand it, and I don\u2019t think they know about, or even want to have \u2018vintage variation\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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DM<\/strong>: I think when you look at Pinot Noir, it\u2019s climbed to heights that no other wine can do. I\u2019m thinking about its homeland in Burgundy. But then in other years it can be frustratingly different, and for some people they see that as being worse, or better! But what we wanted to do was really celebrate that seasonal aspect. And I think by making the sort of wine we are trying to make \u2013 with complexity and layers and less of the obvious fruit, then we are attracting the sort of people who are interested in that.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Well not everything is for everyone.<\/p>

DM<\/strong>: We\u2019ve been really thrilled by the people who have been really into this wine. And interestingly it has upset certain wine critics because it\u2019s outside the mould. It\u2019s outside the box of what a premium New Zealand Pinot Noir would be like, you know? Whilst its not performed poorly in that area, but to compare it to our Thomas Brothers which has got more oak and it a bigger wine. A little bit more glamour. Whereas this is the wine for us that has the intrigue, that we think Pinot Noir should be all about. There\u2019s other varieties that you can drink if you want big fruit.<\/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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For this Vineyard-Fermented wine, we\u2019ve set up one of our fermenters in the row before we start picking. We\u2019ve got our little single phase destemmer which we put on top and just hook it up to the generator. We do roughly 20% whole bunch to start with.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I put the story up in the News section when it won that innovation award thing, but I can\u2019t say that I fully understood the photos!! So it doesn\u2019t come to the winery at 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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DM<\/strong>: Initially when we say to people that we\u2019re doing a vineyard ferment they\u2019ll view that as just doing a wild ferment. And they\u2019ll be like \u2018yep, that\u2019s cool\u2019. Then when you get in a bit deeper they\u2019re \u201cwait, what..? it stays out there?\u201d We don\u2019t bring it in until the day of pressing which is typically for us about a month after harvest. It\u2019s had its four weeks on skins, gone through ferment, post ferment maceration. We\u2019ve tasted it and we think it\u2019s ready to go to barrel. So we go out there with buckets and bins and bring it back to the winery, press it the same day, and then the next day we go into barrels. No new oak, just three year old wood.<\/p>

The good part of the ferment for complexity is that initial stage of so many yeast species performing their thing. After a couple of days of that happening you start to get a bit of alcohol and then saccharomyces start to take over. But if you\u2019ve got a lot of strains of saccharomyces you get a lovely mix of the different species.<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: Especially when you realise that the saccharomyces isn\u2019t present in the grapes at all. There\u2019s a sort of myth that they\u2019re the film on the outside of the grapes. They\u2019re not at all.\u00a0<\/p>

The most common place to find them is on bark, on trees and grapevines. It just happens to be floating round and if the conditions are right \u2013 like with alcohol that kills all the other yeasts. Then it\u2019s \u2018sweet, I\u2019m in my happy place now\u2019 and goes crazy. So trying to get that indigenous saccharomyces when that alcohol fermentation is taking place\u2026<\/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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DM<\/strong>: The yeast will live in those places where there\u2019s permanent residence for them, so bark or soil, whereas the leaves or fruit are only there for a short period of time. There\u2019s a very low population on that part of the vine. So when you pick and you bring it in, you\u2019re going to bring a very limited amount in. So you\u2019ll still get wild ferment happening in here, but how accurate it is, of that site, is something we\u2019re not sure about, which led us to exploring that.<\/p>

This will stay on the fine lees in barrel until August. We have roughly ten barrels which we\u2019ll then blend together for our 2020, and we\u2019ve got a bottling line on-site so we bottle everything ourselves. Unfined and unfiltered so we hold on to that true sense of place.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: That was quite a complex wine to get my head around. I love the tannins in it \u2013 quite fine and subtle. Not a \u2018big\u2019 wine, but it\u2019s got a lot going on \u2013 quite jazzy and yet ethereal.<\/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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DM<\/strong>: This is our Vineyard Ferment 2021 \u2013 pressed two weeks ago. It\u2019s in a four year old barrel which is part of our research that we\u2019re doing with Kelleher Innovation linked with the University. The last three vintages we\u2019re sampling comparative ferments \u2013 winery versus vineyard from the same fruit. Dealt with exactly the same way, pressed at the same time, aged in the same barrels. A pHD student has got about another fifteen months of analysing that before she writes her thesis. There\u2019s going to be some pretty interesting stuff to come out.<\/p>

We believe that through using some of the practices that we are with the Vineyard Ferment, we can use them in the winery to make our estate Pinot Noir a more beautiful wine as well. We\u2019ve certainly pulled back on plunging, seeking warm temperatures and that sort of thing. I think back even five or six years ago and there would be three plunges a day and some of them would be quite vigorous. There would be sulphur going in at the crush.<\/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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That myth that you need to plunge for structure, it\u2019s not right. Especially when you have a good vineyard set up giving you good fruit. You get that natural structure coming through from the fruit. You look at vine age and so many vineyards are turning a corner at the moment. And that coincides probably with the people who are working with them, you know?<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Does it take a while to understand a vineyard?<\/p>

DM<\/strong>: Absolutely and overlay that with the fact that the vineyards are changing pretty rapidly when they\u2019re young. What you did a few years ago might be the wrong thing to do now. Because this patch of vines have matured and now you\u2019re perhaps getting thicker skins, smaller grapes. There\u2019s a certain level you can get to pretty quickly, but as far as \u2018showing the place\u2019 then you need to understand the place. That goes back to what Pinot and Chardonnay is all about. Working with a light touch and getting everything right in the vineyard, so that we don\u2019t do a lot in the winery. That is perhaps something that has been missing in the early years in New Zealand, but that is definitely changing. Part of that is a confidence thing as well. There\u2019s no such thing as a perfect wine \u2013 all you can do is show the place, and that\u2019s the best way.<\/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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NM<\/strong>: It\u2019s a pretty cool spot and I definitely think the wines are getting more and more interesting. Trying to tell the story of place is not necessarily the same as trying to fit into the WSET box. It used to crack me up when I was at Pyramid Valley \u2013 people would come up and give their 100 point scores to one of the two Pinots there. And they\u2019re made identically \u2013 if you like one better than the other then all you\u2019re saying is that hill is not as good as that hill!<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I\u2019m still finding scoring a tricky thing to navigate. It wasn\u2019t my intention to go down that path, but I think it\u2019s all \u2018learning\u2019 so I\u2019m doing my best!<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: Customers want it.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: Exactly, and that\u2019s the main reason I need to have a go. People said to me \u2013 anyone reading your thoughts on a wine will expect to see a number at the end.<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: Medals on the bottles \u2013 we use them.<\/p>

Nik and I return to the Cellar door and quickly trot through a few \u2018finished\u2019 wines \u2013 including\u00a0 start off on the 2019 Vineyard Ferment Pinot that we\u2019d talked about\u2026<\/em><\/p>

WF<\/strong>: This is a \u2018cult wine\u2019 I would imagine!?<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: Well that depends. If you\u2019re in Sweden, yes! People over there were waiting for the moment at midnight when it was released on the Systembolaget to buy it all. New Zealanders still haven\u2019t quite wrapped their head around it. Internationally, all our distributors are like \u201cthis is amazing\u201d but for some reason New Zealand hasn\u2019t quite got into it. Dom alluded to having to tell the story, and even with the articles and stuff, I don\u2019t think people quite understood what was happening. The reason we\u2019ve got the funding to have a pHD student out there, monitoring, is because we don\u2019t know why it\u2019s doing this.<\/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\u2019ve done it since 2012 and we\u2019d always known it was half a percent lower alcohol. We were just blending it away as one of our weird and wonderful experiments. Then at Pinot \u201917, Michael Brajkovich, Dom, Jancis Robinson were speaking about wild ferments and things like this specifically. Michael Brajkovich has worked with Mat Goddard which showed the variation of yeast species within about five hundred metres. It varies on the plants, wildlife, bees and everything else that transport those yeasts.<\/p>

But also you have years that are really cold, so it takes longer for everything to kick off, because it\u2019s sitting outside in a cold autumn! So we are extending that vintage influence into the wine. Before, if you pick it, it goes into the winery, into an ambient set temperature, and vintage is done.\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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Here vintage influence is carried through in temperature as well. It\u2019s about removing all the other parts of that. At the Pinot conference everyone was like \u2019you guys should sell that\u2019.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I think it\u2019s an intriguing way to delve into that sense of site. It\u2019s quite brilliant actually!<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: It tends to be winemakers having a bit of a fiddle and it disappears when the Marketing guys go \u201caaah I\u2019m not selling that\u201d. I\u2019m trying to tell people that this is actually us having a real go at this. We\u2019ve got a totally separate de-stemmer that lives out there. We\u2019ve got different different vineyards and block, but we\u2019re trying to get a sense of the site. That row is picked and put into the fermenter right there.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I can see people really getting into this and seeing how the wines are different each year, and how they develop over time \u2013 almost having a relationship with this wine, and wanting to visit the place and so on. So not in an awkward wine-collector kind of way, but quite personal?<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: This is the Estate Pinot 2018 and not sure why but it is the lightest colour we\u2019ve ever had for our Estate. All of the 2018 Vineyard ferment was a light colour as well \u2013 and our neighbours.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: All the flavour is there though.<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: It\u2019s a wee bit tricky for people to wrap their head around that. It\u2019s quite full-bodied, it\u2019s still got tannins and structure and everything else in there but the colour.<\/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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Now, this is our Sauvignon. 100% barrel fermented and malolactic in there as well, so you get that creaminess that really softens the acidity. Everything that is done in the vineyard and then to Dom\u2019s winemaking is about getting pristine fruit. When we\u2019re growing really expensive organic fruit, we want it taste like fruit. So a long 48-hour settle on this, to get all the solids out so you don\u2019t get that reduction that you might find in some. Sauvignon\u2019s really prone to reduction if you handle it in that way. There is lees-stirring in here as well.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I can see what you meant about the Loire clones \u2013 this is much more golden in flavour than the usual green we\u2019d expect from a Sauvignon. Roasted pineapple, melon, golden kiwifruit. That\u2019s utterly delicious, that.<\/p>

NM<\/strong>: And the fruit is yellow versus green when it\u2019s picked. You do get that colour palette of golden flavours in it. Waitrose in the UK love it, as their premium Sauvignon. New Zealanders \u2013 I can\u2019t get to buy it. Everyone in New Zealand who tries it says \u201cI don\u2019t like Sav, but I like that\u201d and we were really reliant on sommeliers, so when COVID hit, that one almost stopped.<\/p>

Finally \u2013 this is our Chardonnay. Same deal as before, all barrel fermented. I always seem to get that same Roses Lime Juice character. This does full, natural, 100% malolactic.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: The fruit purity through all those wines is a real thing. Dry, clean, simplicity in a great way. Like when minimalism is done really well and it\u2019s not so much an absence of something, as a pure sense of space \u2013 or in this case \u2013 of \u2018place\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<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Day 2 of my visit to the Waipara Valley in North Canterbury, and an early morning call in to see Greystone. 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