{"id":7277,"date":"2022-12-08T07:19:09","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T18:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=7277"},"modified":"2022-12-08T07:19:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T18:19:09","slug":"winemaker-series-matt-connell-pt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=7277","title":{"rendered":"Winemaker series: Matt Connell (pt.2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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It has been a couple of years since I dropped in to see Matt Connell at his original Tasting Room in Cromwell. Since then he has won more awards, and been named Winemaker of the Show at the NZIWS – plus he\u2019s taken over the Aurum Winery and buildings for his ever-expanding business. We start off in the barrel hall.<\/p>

MC<\/b>: We were fairly full in here this year but did about ten clients plus me.This is one of my Chardonnays – Lowburn – twenty year old vines. Same as I do all my chardonnays \u2014 it is all wild fermented initially, and then it drops brix and I inoculate. I struggle to get it dry here – I don\u2019t know why? But I don\u2019t want to stir them to try to keep them up. I inoculate it with yeast that try and highlight the minerality and the acid profile. This \u201922 will come out and be bottled in March.<\/p>

It\u2019s gone well for us. People are liking it and it is selling, which is the main thing. But they do have acid \u2014 it\u2019s probably got a pH of 3.3.\u00a0<\/span><\/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<\/b>: Other than the one you gave me \u2014 the 2018 when I saw you last time; I think I\u2019ve only had the 2019, apart from that.<\/p>

MC<\/b>: The \u201917 Bob Campbell gave that no.3 in his Chardonnays that year, which was nice. But it has always been over 90 points, so that\u2019s been good for us. And it\u2019s been selling, which is the main thing for me \u2014 that people are enjoying it. Chardonnay does well down here. We always used to beat them up too much, but we don\u2019t now. Just leave them alone and highlight the acid line and stonefruit characters without throwing too much new oak at them. I want them to support food not dominate 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

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I don\u2019t have enough \u2014 only a couple of tonnes of fruit that I can get off that particular vineyard. And I don\u2019t want to blend it with anything else. I\u2019ve got two other blocks of Chardonnay to take, and we may end up taking some more and doing another Chardonnay from somewhere else but I don\u2019t wanna mess this one up, because I really like it.<\/p>

WF<\/b>: is that the best Chardonnay blocks that you could get hold of; or are there other places that you would covet?<\/p>

MC<\/b>: No, I have been looking at other blocks. I\u2019ve made a couple of other Chardonnays this year, and I could\u2019ve taken fruit if I\u2019d wanted it. I\u2019m just really picky.\u00a0<\/span><\/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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Because that keeps me out of trouble.\u00a0 <\/span>I make wines that I really want to make, but they can\u2019t just sit around \u2014 they\u2019ve got to sell \u2014 so I can make some more. This whole thing is self-funded. It has taken me six years to get to the stage where I can get an assistant winemaker, so I\u2019ve been doing it all by myself and with my wife Beth.<\/p>

WF<\/b>: The last time I saw you I felt like you were just at that stage where you were just ready to go up to that next level, but then there was COVID. I felt like that took the wind out of your sails at that point. But was it actually a good little breather as well?<\/p>

MC<\/b>: I had a chance to re-look at how we do things.\u2014 We had looked at possibly getting investors involved but I don\u2019t want to do that. I\u2019ve spent a lot of time and energy into this, and for me and my wife, we\u2019re just at the cusp where it is coming right for us. I put a lot of money in here just this vintage – I put in new refrigeration, new concrete, new catwalks \u2014 a lot. So I need that money back over the next couple of years now. We\u2019re consolidating, but in a good way. I made more wines here than I\u2019ve ever made.<\/p>

By making more wine than I have before I have been able to cherry pick when blending which has been tougher in the past. I haven\u2019t had that ability, but I am starting to have that. So that\u2019s a good thing. And also I\u2019m looking at exporting a bit more. I only export to California at the moment and that\u2019s because my wife is American. I\u2019ve got really good connection to Oregon especially. Not just business contacts, but good friends that we made when we lived there for four years. And we wanna keep that up, so that\u2019s why we started exporting to the States.<\/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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Domestic visitors to the Cellar Door are important too, but Australians probably make up the main thrust of those. And we don\u2019t have distributors, so that\u2019s always been a challenge. People want to distribute my wine, but I don\u2019t want distributors as it doesn\u2019t fit our model. There would be no money left at all, hardly. We have three agents in the North Island now, and they\u2019re all pretty new for us, but they\u2019re on commission, so it works a lot better and is a lot more personal which is what we are about at our core.<\/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 \u201922 was a good vintage. It wasn\u2019t too hot but it was warm all vintage. And it went on for ages \u2014 we took fruit in from the Waitaki in June, and it was still warm days. It went on and on and on, so it was a great vintage for working outside. Sometimes here it\u2019s bloody miserable at vintage because it gets cold and the water is freezing. It was a good vintage and there was lots of grapes, which kept everyone happy.<\/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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A lot of the smaller producers are making fine wines like Pinot, or Hawke\u2019s Bay Syrah – these are world class wines, but need to be sold at $50 a bottle in order to make any money. If the wheels fall off our premium wines, it will be a race to the bottom. It could be tricky times ahead if we\u2019re not careful.<\/p>

With the Chardonnay, I don\u2019t have much supply \u2014 so even if a restaurant is keen on it, I don\u2019t have enough. That\u2019s why I\u2019m looking at other blocks, because I\u2019d like to keep this and then make something with bigger volume to sell. Kika has got it in Wanaka, and the Bannockburn Hotel obviously. But those are good for me, because people have it and then come in here. That works for us because people are keen to follow up. I\u2019ve gone to By Appointment only and I\u2019m not doing tastings, because I wanna tell the story myself. And I can fit it in when I\u2019ve got time \u2014 because I\u2019m busy! I do this, then do Crossflow for the whole region. Then I do consulting outside Central, so this keeps me busy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

People who make appointments \u2014 it\u2019s like an Open Home – they\u2019ve already committed a bit. It\u2019s way more fun for me – I mean, I enjoy it. And they learn a bit along the way, so it is definitely about teaching people about what we\u2019re about. And also, the region.<\/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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MC<\/b>: This is Clone 5 from Lowburn. 20 year old vineyard that normally makes up half of the Rendition blend, but that\u2019s probably going to go into a Single Vineyard Lowburn wine this vintage. Those Rendition blocks are really consistent. There is vintage variation – I mean the \u201920 is a bit more acidic, but it was a cooler year. The same sort of fruit profile, they\u2019re all really vibrant. I don\u2019t do whole bunches because I don\u2019t really like it. I think it makes Pinot in New Zealand look a bit sappy. It can add some complexity and maybe a little bit more ageability, but at the sacrifice of a bit of vibrancy, and that\u2019s what I like about 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\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/b>: It can mask the character of the wine, and the vineyard signature.<\/p>

MC<\/b>: It\u2019s like adding a whole load of new oak to a wine. It can become the wine. In Central I\u2019m out on a limb by myself a bit, because most people are going the other way. I don\u2019t do any, so i\u2019m out over here. I get parked up as \u2018fruit bomby wines\u2019 but I don\u2019t make any excuse for that because Pinot is a fruit. And funnily enough I think it should taste like one. But I do look for complexity and that\u2019s why I\u2019m looking for older vines. I do look at whole bunch. If the stems are ripe enough I would consider adding some, but they\u2019d have to be really cinnamony. And then I would add some. I did a \u201913 Pinot for Akarua that won the Six Nations Wine Competition – and that had 20% whole bunch in it because it was a really good year for it. So I\u2019m always looking, but it\u2019s just not my rule of thumb.<\/p>

I think winemakers forget about customers at times. People are wanting to drink the wine, and if it\u2019s sappy it puts them off. They have to be wines that you want to go back and have another glass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

It\u2019s been an interesting journey. I don\u2019t know of any other commercial winemakers in Central who have gone out by themselves and funded everything, and got a reasonably big business going. Other people have always had backers from the get-go. Being your own person has its challenges, but being a winemaker in New Zealand is challenging anyway. Going out by myself is the best move I ever did. I want to make the best wine I can, and I\u2019m fortunate to have access to some really good vineyards, but that\u2019s because I\u2019ve been here for twenty plus 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\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/b>: What do you think about that MacArthur Ridge wine doing so well?<\/p>

MC<\/b>: I think Alexandra is really under-rated. Because it ripens later, it has time to build a bit of flavour, and it\u2019s a different profile from the Cromwell Basin. A little bit more herbaceous, but in a good way \u2014 more complex \u2014 but I really like that. They still get plenty ripe, but with an interesting malic profile \u2014 a lot of malic acid.<\/p>

In the winery, we have a range of tanks and fermenters. It gets pretty busy and we ferment a whole lot of tanks on the ground \u2014 lots of small lots. I\u2019ve got some clients that only do ten tonne of Pinot, so we might do a six tonne fermenter for the core of it, but then we break it down into four singles. Try and give them five options, instead of one or two. The more you have the better. My own wines is all one tonne lots. I don\u2019t do anything over that for me, because I want heaps of choices. And one tonne is big enough that it gets enough heat for extraction, but it can maintain and look after itself.<\/p>

WF<\/b>: When I saw you in the old tasting room, you said you\u2019d love to have a room that had your art on the walls as well.<\/p>

MC<\/b>: This is still a work in progress but we are getting there. We ideally want to offer a wine experience rather than a simple tasting and that\u2019s what we are working on at present.<\/p>

WF<\/b>: Sounds fun. Is there anything else you\u2019d like to do once you\u2019re all fully settled in here?<\/p>

MC<\/b>: Wine wise?<\/p>

WF<\/b>: Well, when we talked before you said one of the things that appealed to you at Akarua was the opportunity to work on Sparkling wine.<\/p>

MC<\/b>: Oh, I\u2019ve done a sparkling. It\u2019s not released yet though. I\u2019ve done a blanc de blanc in 2020. That\u2019s at Daniel le Brun\u2019s at the moment. Not off the same block as the Chardonnay, but it is Chardonnay from Lowburn. The vineyard behind it. It looks good. It\u2019s very citrussy but I\u2019m very pleased with it. Then I was going to do a riesling this year but only a small volume. I want to do a dry riesling, but the fruit I had pinned down didn\u2019t really come to the party so I din\u2019t take it in the end. That\u2019s about it. I don\u2019t want to get too broad really \u2014 want to stick with my knitting a bit.\u00a0<\/span><\/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 Pinot Gris is a new wine for us, but riesling interests me a little bit more \u2014 in terms of its ageability certainly. If I could take fruit off a block long term and then alternate years \u2014 with a dry and then a late harvest. It\u2019s nice to have a range to show people, but you\u2019ve got to fund it all. I don\u2019t want to be one of those companies that has fifty different wines off fifty different blocks. The Single Vineyard Pinots that I do, I\u2019m always looking to increase the number of those. But I don\u2019t make them every year.<\/p>

WF<\/b>: Tell me about the Pinot Gris and what you\u2019re doing with 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

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MC<\/b>: I like Gris. I do struggle with New Zealand Gris a bit because I don\u2019t think we have the greatest clone selection. I think a lot of them taste fairly similar because of that. If it’s not going to a percentage of neutral oak, which a lot of people do so they can stir it and get a bit of texture going on, then it really comes down to the balance and when you stop it. A lot of them have been off dry. This one is six grams and if I had my time again I\u2019d probably take it a bit drier. But when you look at them and they\u2019re in tank and really yeasty it\u2019s hard to say whether when it drops clear its going to lose a bit of sweetness. It is a balancing act. I um and ah over it for hours. And if its really cranking and you don\u2019t make a decision \u2014 when you go back to it and its dropped half gram in a day and it’s gone too far.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I live in town, so this is way better for me than Alex. I was coming here at four o\u2019clock in the morning and trying ferments just to see if I needed to stop them. But I could do that, and I\u2019d be back in bed fifteen minutes later \u2014 instead of an hour. Especially over vintage as we had no overseas help so it was busy. There was Elliot, me, Brook and Lucy so it is a lot of work. None of us had a day off for three months. But I did enjoy vintage this year. Having the kitchen here made a huge difference, so you could have a proper meal.<\/p>

WF<\/b>: Is there something that you wouldn\u2019t do, if you had your time over again?<\/p>

MC<\/b>: I love Central Otago and its definitely our home and has been for a long time. But I really was very happy making Pinot in Oregon. But I was there in the early 2000s and there were a lot of start-up wineries then, but they were backed by big intel companies in Oregon, and hiring well-known winemakers, from California especially, at the time. It was really hard to break in, and although I worked for a good company I just couldn\u2019t find a good position as a winemaker. If I had my time again, I probably would have looked a bit harder at that.<\/p>

At the same time my wines have done very well here, but if you\u2019re doing very well with your wines in New Zealand, it doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re making any money. If I had the same results as I had in New Zealand, as if I was living in Oregon, it would be a whole different story financially.<\/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<\/b>: How do you think that is a reflection on New Zealand?<\/p>

MC<\/b>: It is a reflection on our population.<\/p>

WF<\/b>: Can we be sure though? Just because you\u2019ve been a success here, does it necessarily mean you would be everywhere? There has been criticism that New Zealand is quite parochial and that our critics and judges over-value local wines \u2014 give everything big scores \u2014 so are we just talking to ourselves \u2014 that we think we\u2019re great, with rose-tinted glasses?<\/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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MC<\/b>: I\u2019ve been to a lot of overseas events and New Zealand wines get a very good reception. I think New Zealanders are very good at drinking New Zealand wines. That\u2019s one of the things that were really do have going for us. Overseas, I think people understand that it is a newer area and gets a lot of interest for that. If we\u2019d had that Pinot Celebration, there were really good wine writers coming down who wanted to write about the wines.<\/p>

I went to Healdsburg in Russian River, and just off the town square was a wine tasting room \u2014 not a whole lot bigger than this. There was a young guy behind the counter and he was the winemaker. I asked him \u2018What do you pay to lease the building?\u2019 and he said it was $100,000US a year. And all his Pinot was about $30US, so it wasn\u2019t mega-dollars; but he was making 30,000 cases and selling them all through his tasting room. So that\u2019s a whole different scale. Everyone comes down from San Francisco for the weekend \u2014 and like New Zealand they\u2019re very good at supporting their own wines.<\/p>

WF<\/b>: Well, you\u2019re young enough to be able to go and take on the world then \u2014 and you\u2019d back your ability to do that?!<\/p>

MC<\/b>: It\u2019s like you say though \u2014 that doesn\u2019t necessarily translate overseas. They might not know what the New Zealand International Wine Show is, or know who Bob Campbell is? The tough thing for New Zealand producers is we just don\u2019t have the population, so to try and stay in it long-term is very challenging financially. And in order to go to export, you have to have a scale to make that work for you. And maybe find an importer that doesn\u2019t have a New Zealand wine already, and understands what you\u2019re trying to do. Our company motto is \u201cDon\u2019t deal with dicks\u201d. I want to make the best wines I can, but also work with good people that care about customers, and people generally.<\/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<\/b>: Is there something that you don\u2019t like, and you would change about the wine industry then?<\/p>

MC<\/b>: I don\u2019t like wine snobs. Most winemakers would say the same thing. If it is 96 points or 75 points, if someone has put a lot of effort into it, then I acknowledge that and I think that\u2019s a good thing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

All the legislation that goes in behind New Zealand wine is challenging for small wine producers. There\u2019s a lot of really positive things about wine – I wouldn\u2019t be doing it otherwise. I love wine. And the main thing I\u2019ve enjoyed is I\u2019ve got to deal with people I really care about, and care for. And they look after me by giving me the best fruit they can find.\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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Beth is the brains behind the strategy of our business; and she and I banter about what we want to do for our business all the time, and I really enjoy that.<\/p>

We went to Te Anau a couple of weeks ago, just for a Saturday night, to stay with some Wine Club members who have a B&B there, but we\u2019ve never been down and checked out their business. So it\u2019s good to go and support their business. Those sort of interactions just add another dimension to why we want to do it. There\u2019s been some hard bumps in the road, but that keeps the wheels turning. It has taken me six years to get here. If I had the opportunity to go back to Oregon tomorrow, I wouldn\u2019t. I really love it here and this is me for the long haul, but I would think seriously about doing an Oregon Pinot and bringing it back here. I talked to Adam at Elk Cove where I worked, and he\u2019d be happy for me to do that if I wanted to.<\/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 has been a couple of years since I dropped in to see Matt Connell at his original Tasting Room in Cromwell. 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