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Brian was a consummate presenter of his wines and his varied vineyards in the Marlborough region. His whiteboard diagrams and explanations of how, why and what consummated good wines, grounds, countries differences and weather were educational for us all, helped along by his sense of humour.
He reinforced to us that this year’s vintage was very good, very early and very small. And that this may be good for smaller vineyards as the quality is very good. He also thought we could all benefit from some fine wines being drunk.
It was the 21st vintage for Mahi, and because of COVID all of their vintage staff were from NZ!
Brian also had his son Max back from a winery in New York to do his first full crush here at his winery, which was very special for them both.
Because of COVID and the increase of wine consumption at home worldwide (in the developed world), Marlborough went into vintage with hardly any available wine and after a vintage that was down by possibly 30% there will be a supply problem, perhaps for a couple of years, depending on the weather this year.
Our tasting on the evening involved vertical tastings, which was something different for us and most interesting. Wines tasted during the evening were:
2020 Mahi Marlborough Rose’ – welcome tipple
2019 Mahi Marlborough Sauv Blanc
2019 Mahi Boundary Farm Sauv Blanc
2019 Mahi Marlborough Chardonnay
2017 Mahi ‘Twin Valleys’ Chardonnay
2016 Mahi ‘The Trine’ Chardonnay
2019 Mahi Marlborough Pinot Noir
2019 Mahi ‘win Valleys’ Pinot Noir – pre-release, not for sale at the moment.
A dearth of grapes this vintage has forced a family-owned winery in Marlborough to turn down a new customer in Europe. But it’s not just the smaller operations struggling. One of the biggest players in the global drinks industry, Pernod Ricard, is also reporting it is unable to meet the global demand for Marlborough wine this year, in particular sauvignon blanc, due to the region’s low yield.
One estimate puts the take of sauvignon blanc grapes down 30 per cent against long-term averages, due to early frosts and cool weather during the flowering season.
A Pernod Ricard Winemakers spokesperson said the company was in talks with its partners to determine how it should prioritise supply for customers “in the context of the strong ongoing global demand for the sauvignon blanc category”.
The volume shortage meant the family-owned Marisco Vineyards had to walk away from a deal in Germany to make sure it could supply its long-time customer base.
Marisco Vineyards general manager sales and marketing Siobhan Wilson said the winery, which employs about 80 people, didn’t want to sacrifice one market for another.
“The key focus for us this year is to look after the partnerships we’ve developed over the years … We have a long-term contract with annual supply conversations starting around January-February, which is tricky as vintage happens [March-April].
“So I have to take what our customers would like versus what we have got coming in.”
Marisco started blending this week, so it would have a full picture of what was available, and when, in the next couple of weeks, Wilson said.
New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan said Aotearoa hit a record-breaking $2 billion in New Zealand wine exports at the end of last year. “Exports to our key international markets have increased beyond expectations over the past 18 months, and we saw an increase of 19 per cent for the first four months of the new export year (July to October 2020), at the same time in 2019.
“We are already seeing supply and demand tension as a result, and we expect that many wineries will face tough decisions on who they can supply in their key markets over the next year,” Gregan said.
And while increased demand and reduced supply might push up prices, Wilson said they had to be careful.
“We are not just going to put the price up because it is in short supply, because next year what happens if we have a bumper vintage, and we’ve got plenty of wine, do you then discount it?
“What is important when you are selling wine, and when you are building a brand, is a consistency of quality and price.
“So, we all have a responsibility to ensure that we sell at a good price and the right price,” Wilson said.
Ongoing labour shortages, due to the closure of New Zealand’s borders and the restricted number of RSE workers, had also piled pressure onto wine companies.
Wilson said they had challenges coming at them every day and a short vintage was just one of them.
“We have got massive challenges in Marlborough getting wine shipped offshore because of the shortages of boats coming in, the restriction of space … and it is all the result of the pandemic.
“At Marisco Vineyards we are really resilient, my team have been working for me for a long time, and they have experienced many challenges over the year, so we just deal with it.
“The key thing is the communication with our customers and being really honest with them about the situation,” she said.
Wednesday 14th of July is Bastille Day and in keeping with this day, a French-inspired menu has been arranged with Chef Veronique at Le Marche Francais on Thorndon Quay.
This July is the 10th Anniversary of the opening of Le Marche Francais in Thorndon, so this is a triple celebration! A ta Sante! Je leve mon verre a la liberte (Cheers! I raise my glass to freedom.).
The menu etc will be available shortly. However, here is some additional information:
Le Marche Francais is situated on the first floor of the Woolstore Building on Thorndon Quay. Nearby is the motorway overpass and just south of that is bus stop 5492 which is used by bus routes 1, 19e, 24, 25, 26, 52, 56, 57, 58, 60e and 83.
When it comes to going home, you can use bus stop 5024 just north of the motorway overpass. So again, just a short distance away.
Chef Veronique is French, and her café provides authentic French food during the day. However, she has agreed to make her café available for our club dinner and she and her restaurant will certainly be celebrating France’s National Day with style.
This could be the perfect opportunity to bring out a French wine or two from your cellar that you’ve been saving for just such an occasion. And in keeping with the French theme, feel free to dress with a little je ne sais quoi red, white and blue anyone – or perhaps just some French flair!
So, watch your Inbox and be prepared to act quickly.
There was a good turnout for the Club’s AGM with 33 Club members attending.
Agenda items were quickly dealt with and once the AGM ended, members enjoyed wines from the club’s cellar. These were augmented by a donated 2019 Confidencial Rose from Victor Kattenbelt at Confidant Ltd and a vertical tasting of 3 Felton Road Rieslings donated by a club member. All 4 wines were very much enjoyed by everyone present.
A big thanks to all Committee members for the food supplied, as well as to the 2 donors of those wines.
There are AGM details on our website if anyone is interested in full details, including the President’s report and the full Financial Report to come.
This last year has been extremely challenging, yet the club was able to hold several events to celebrate its 40th anniversary. All were very successful, and the committee was very happy with the levels of member support at those events and tastings in general.
I’m sure our President, Murray Jaspers, will refer to these in his report at next week’s AGM.
The last item of that AGM is General Business and that is often the time that your committee will look for feedback from attendees.
Please use your time this week to reflect on our club and when that last item arises, please be prepared to give your views:
On what has been good
On things that you feel could be improved or done differently
Even give feedback on new directions or ideas that you would like the incoming committee to consider.
Remember our club succeeds because of all of our involvement in it.
My wife hosted a party for many of our old friends, some of whom we hadn’t seen for years.
Everyone was encouraged to bring their children and grandchildren along as well.
All throughout dinner, Emma, my wife’s best friend’s four-year-old granddaughter kept staring at me. This beautiful little girl could hardly eat her food for staring at me.
I checked my shirt for spots, felt my face for food and patted my hair in place, but nothing stopped her from staring at me.
Finally, I asked her, “Emma, why are you staring at me so?”
Everyone at the table had noticed her behaviour also, and the table went quiet, waiting for her response.
Little Emma said, “I just wanna see how you drink like a fish.”
Anne Megget & Wayne Kennedy with 27 bags of wine bottle screwcaps for Kidney Kids
The following appeared in the Independent Herald for the last week of April.
Members of a local wine club have been collecting screw caps off wine bottles for the last year and have amassed 27 bags full.
As each bag holds approximately 1300 caps – this is a lot of wine! (Remember 2020 was not a normal year), and that is a lot of metal not going into the landfill.
Vice President Anne Megget collects the caps from members, friends and neighbours, and when her cellar is overflowing with bags Treasurer Wayne Kennedy comes around with his trailer and takes them to Wellington Scrap Metal for recycling and this year they raised $215.40.
The Cellar Club is a Wellington-based social group that focuses on learning about and appreciating wine. It has been in existence for 40 years and provides wine education and experience through monthly presentations at the Community Centre Hall in Johnsonville.
Contact can be made through the website or to Anne.
Postscript
Wayne recently provided a plastic bread bag fill with wine tops and neck labels. The latter is also aluminium and equally collectable. Being retired he decided to check out just how many bottles had been consumed. The bag weighed 556 grams and contained 167 tops and 107 neck labels. The problem was Lynne was nearby and not being a wine drinker, she asked ‘what was the likely value of the wine consumed?’, to which he replied, ‘Using an $18 average bottle cost, about $3000! But it was more than a year’s worth!’ he pleaded. Lynne just smiled and, as she walked away, said there was a lot more wool coming.
But having done this weighing, and looking at the money raised above, he thinks the club collected close to 50,000 tops and even if we were to use a cost of $15 per bottle consumed, that’s $750,000 of wine drunk by the club, friends and neighbours.
One final point
Those neck labels on wine bottles will aluminium tops are 1.3 times heavier than the tops, so are well worth collecting. Just be very careful and work away from yourself as you attempt to remove one from the bottle.
Our Del Mundo tasting in April was a premium European tasting with Lucas. The wines we indulged in were:
Terra Serena Prosecco DOC Treviso Brut – Italian
Tonon Prosecco Conegliano Vablobbiadene Extra Dry DOCG – Italian
2017 Great Five Pinotage Reserve – South African – first released in 1945
2010 Camilo de Lellis Biferno Montepulciano/Aglianico Trebbiaio DOCG – Italian
2016 Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG – Italian
2012 Estola Gran reserve Tempranillo Cabernet – Spanish
2008 Faustino First Tempranillo – Spanish
Del Mundo Wines – April 2021
Lucas’s presentation was lively and informative, and many attendees were surprised to learn that in Italy and Spain there are strict rules around what can be labelled reserve. Requirements vary on a regional basis, though essentially, they have to have an extended period in both the barrel and the bottle before being released.
Typically, wines at the higher end of the spectrum are aged for many years. While Chianti has to be aged for a minimum of two years, Amarone, which we tasted on the night, can only be released after four years. A grand reserve has even more stringent requirements. For a Spanish wine to be labelled as a Gran Reserva, the law requires that it be aged for a minimum of five years, with two of those years in an oak cask or barrel.
Other tidbits we picked up during the evening:
Del Mondo means ‘of the world’
Prosecco means ‘path through the woods’
In 2009, Italy Prosecco was recognised as a geographical indication (GI) by Italian law (in the same vein as Champagne in France) and the Prosecco grape variety was renamed Glera
Tempranillo was first planted in the year 800, given Royal assent in 1100
Tempranillo is also the world’s third-largest crop
The Great Five Pinotage Reserve was first released in 1945
The opportunity to try labels we were unfamiliar with made for an interesting time and the Faustino, which normally retails for $105, was a special treat.
Note from Editor
A big thanks to all Club members for mucking in and helping set up the tables & chairs, etc for our last tasting. The JCC has explained that the Fijian group present when we arrived had got their dates mixed up for their bookings and they (JCC) have given us a rent-free evening for our troubles.
This event is a Martinborough school fundraiser event and was held on Saturday 20th March, with participants able to choose their distance, either 10 or 21kms, as well as whether they wished to walk or run.
This was a well-organised event and was followed by live entertainment and prize-giving in Martinborough Square.
This event not only provided a lot of fun and an opportunity to see a little more of Martinborough’s landscape, but it also had the added novelty of the entry fee encompassing wines for you to taste at the many ‘water stops’ along the way.
If you want to know more or want to plan for the next event, I would recommend you go to and keep a watchful eye for the date of the next event.
Here are some photos of this year’s event to whet your appetite.
In this article Sophie Preece has canvassed feedback from around NZ and besides the obvious comment evident in the articles heading, it is interesting to note how early picking started in some areas.
Sadly, the article leaves you wondering where this will leave bottle prices. One can’t help thinking that demand from both inside and outside of NZ, when yields are low and quality high, will inevitably lead to a rise in prices. Heaven forbid it follows the housing price model.
