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Raymond Chan’s pivotal role will be remembered

by Joelle Thomson 

I wrote this obituary this morning for Raymond Chan, who was my friend, my mentor and a man who played a pivotal role in championing wine and its producers at a formative time in the modern history of New Zealand wine. It is also published on my website at www.joellethomson.com

Courageous, determined and undeterred. Raymond Chan will leave a legacy of great courage, as well as of good humour and a passion for wine.

He passed away on Sunday 10 February after a long journey with cancer, which lasted the best part of a decade. His long term partner, Sue Davies, was an integral part of this journey, offering unwavering support, putting her own career on hold, much of the time, to ensure Raymond had what he needed.

His bravery will remain as inspiring as his cheeky good humour and his passion for wine, which perhaps shone brightest in his role at Regional Wines & Spirits in Wellington where he ran and hosted great tastings for many years.

Wine never appeared on the family dining table when Chan was growing up. It became important to him when he graduated from the University of Otago in 1978 and worked at Chan’s Garden Restaurant, owned by his family in Dunedin.

“I was amazed by the early New Zealand wines of the day and our whole family got keen on wine through the restaurant,” he once said, when asked how he got into wine.

He and his wine friends, such as Malcolm McIntyre and Chris Staynes then formed the Wine Federation of Otago and entered wine options, a guessing game in the wine industry.

The 1980s were pivotal years in Chan’s early career in wine. He became a wine judge at the Royal Easter Wine Show in 1988 when Master of Wine Bob Campbell was expanding the wine judging system. Then he moved to Wellington in 1989 to work at Wilson Neill as a wine advisor for the late, Jose Hernandez, and, later, when Wilson Neill was taken over by Dominion Breweries (DB), he went to O’Reilly’s on Thorndon Quay where he worked for Zuke Marinkovich from 1991 to 1994.

This role saw him establish Wellington wine tasting programmes, which he spearheaded most influentially at Regional Wines & Spirits, working for the store’s late founder, Grant Jones, who Raymond described as a visionary.

“He opened my eyes to wine,” said one wine friend, on social media this morning.

“Without him, I can’t imagine how I would have gotten into a wine career and he was super supportive even when I knew nothing – he always had time to answer my questions, no matter how trivial I imagine they may have seemed to him,” said another wine industry friend.

I can echo those comments.

The first time I met Raymond was at an upstairs tasting at Regional Wines & Spirits in 1995. I was a young wine writer with very little wine knowledge at the time and, realising I needed to learn, the tastings beckoned. Raymond’s passion for wine was infectious. He was warm and welcoming. He lacked pretension and exuded an openness to teach, which is sorely needed in wine circles today.

It has been my great privilege to know, admire and learn from the man who inspired one of my personal greatest wine passions – German Riesling. It was a passion that he and his partner, Sue Davies, also shared.

Raymond will be very deeply missed and very highly revered, as he deserved to be, for the role he played in championing wine and its producers at a formative time in the modern history of New Zealand wine.

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Committee celebrate the end of 2018

Another successful Cellar Club year started with a BBQ, several tastings, the AGM, another tasting, then mid-year dinner, followed by several more tastings, then finally a very successful end-of-year dinner. 

In upholding tradition, and as a way of celebrating the committees’ work throughout the year, the club’s President hosts an end of year celebration for committee, partners and guests. Each year we celebrate by sampling each other’s favourite wines along with a grand selection of food. This year we were fortunate to sample many labels who have presented to the club and some who have not.  The wines came from the labels La Cilla, Hunters, Clearview, Ruby Bay, Alpha Domus, Awatere River, Rapaura Springs, Lindauer, Okahu Estate, Tyrells, Old Coach Road, Olssens, Ransom, Dry River, Rod MacDonald, Rockburn, and Ash Ridge. A large and diverse range that could have gone down well at any tasting.

Thanks to our gracious hosts, club President Murray and Dina, who organised (with the gods) great weather for the event, along with the committee, wishes members and guests a joyous and safe Christmas. We look forward to seeing you all during 2019 starting with the BBQ in January. Details to come.

Koa Kirihimete
Merry Christmas

From the committee

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Why amateur wine scores are every bit as good as professionals’

By Mark Schatzker and Richard Bazinet | Updated May 25, 2018

Article summary

Few consumer products offer as staggering a range of choice as wine. You can buy a bottle of Dark Horse Big Red Blend for $8. Or for around $500, you can get a 2012 bottle of Sloan Proprietary Red. Yet for each bottle, the same question applies: Is it any good?

The rise of the wine-rating crowd

CellarTracker, a site where amateur wine enthusiasts can rate wines.
CellarTracker, a site where amateur wine enthusiasts can rate wines.

In 2004, Eric LeVine — then a group program manager at Microsoft — launched CellarTracker, a site where amateur wine enthusiasts can rate wines. Today, CellarTracker is the web’s most popular “community” or “crowdsourced” wine review website, containing 6.3 million reviews from 113,000-plus users for more than 2.2 million different wines.

Amateur and professional wine scores correlate very tightly

How similar? We ran a statistical tool called a Spearman correlation and got a figure of 0.576. A perfect correlation is 1. An utter non-correlation is 0. A score of 0.576 may not sound impressive at first, but it can actually get worse than 0 — a negative correlation, which is what you would see if you compared, say, shortness with the likelihood of playing professional basketball.

Amateurs appear more expert than the experts

It looks very much like the enthusiasts actually do a better job of agreeing with the experts than the experts do with each other. That might sound odd, but out of thousands of wines we analyzed, only a handful contradicted this pattern. Simply put, if you want to know what the experts think, the best place to look appears to be, of all places, CellarTracker.

The better the wine, the more experts agree with the amateurs

How do wine enthusiasts compare with the experts like Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson? Very well. Javier Zarracina How do wine enthusiasts compare with experts like Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson? Very well.

There is also a tendency for scores to converge as wines improve in quality. This is evident in the arrow shape of the clusters in figures comparing CellarTracker with Wine Advocate and CellarTracker with International Wine Cellar. Average scores, furthermore, are high. On Wine Advocate, the average score was 89, on International Wine Cellar it was 91, and it was 17 out of 20 for Jancis Robinson. On CellarTracker, it was 89. This tells us that experts and enthusiasts alike don’t seem to be spending a great deal of time scoring mediocre wines.

Read the full article

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‘Frankenstein wine’ warning over French supergrapes

Hybrid super grapes will produce ‘FRANKENSTEIN’ French wines that won’t have the same flavour as classic varieties, say purists (but they will be cheaper)

By Imogen Blake for MailOnline | 8 August 2018

  • France develops four new types of grape that are resistant to mildew attacks
  • Critics say wines made from the new varieties won’t have as much ‘personality’
  • It will bring in a generation of ‘cut-price wines’ to compete with Spain, they say
  • But others say the new varieties will cut down on the use of fungicides

Disease-resistant ‘super grapes’ developed to reduce the use of fungicides will result in ‘Frankenstein’ wines that lack the flavour of classic French varieties, according to purists.

Four new hybrid varieties of grapes have recently been created in laboratories that are artificially resistant to diseases such as mildew, which have decimated French vineyards in the last few years.

There are four new varieties of hybrid super grape that are disease-resistant without being genetically modified: Voltis, Artaban, Floreal, and Vidoc (pictured: red wine grapes in a French vineyard)

The French National Institute for Agronomic Research (Inra) says the new varieties will help the environment as it will reduce the need to spray vineyards with eco-unfriendly fungicide chemicals.

But winemakers say the new grapes were really developed to launch a new generation of ‘cut-price wines’ that will taste more artificial and less flavoursome than classic bottles.

The new grapes are not genetically modified but are hybrid varieties created by mixing American vine genes with European ones.

But winemaker and researcher, Thomas Dormegnies, from Vendée, in western France, told The Telegraph that the inter-continental varieties would result in ‘artificial and unnatural ‘Frankenstein wine’.

He added: ‘This is like crossing a monkey with and a man: it may be technically possible but it goes against nature.’

Critics have said wines made from the new hybrid grapes won’t have as much ‘personality’ and will be cheaper industrial plonk – but others say they were ‘seduced’ by the flavours (pictured: stock photo of red and white wines with grapes in front)

He also told The Times: ‘These laboratory varieties are for industrial winemaking and aim to compete with cheap wines from Spain. They are preparing us for a generation of cut-price wines.’

The new grape varieties have been in development for some years but they were officially authorised by the French government this year after downy mildew destroyed grape crops across the country.

Some vineyards in Bordeaux estimate that up to 70 per cent of this year’s grape harvest was ruined compared to a normal winemaking year, according to The Times.

Inra claims that ‘the winegrowing sector will be able to sustain its image of quality and excellence’ by using the new varieties.

However, Mr Dormegnies told The Telegraph that he was ‘underwhelmed’ by the taste of wines made using the new hybrid grapes.

Vice president of France Vin Bio, Jacques Frélin, told NouvelObsmagazine: ‘It’s obvious that a hybrid grape variety will produce a wine with less personality.’

Some winemakers are more enthusiastic, however, with one wine producer telling The Times he was ‘seduced’ by the flavours.

What are the four new varieties of disease-resistant hybrid grapes?

  • Voltis – Inra says wines made from these grapes are ‘supple, ample and persistent’
  • Artaban – Said to produce ‘light and silky’ wines
  • Floreal – ‘Expressive, aromatic and pleasantly fresh’
  • Vidoc – Makes wines that Inra calls ‘robust’

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Lots of news from Ash Ridge

With another great vintage in the winery, we can all take a small breath and focus on having a little bit of downtime, and enjoying some older vintages! As always, there are lots of new things happening at the winery, and more to come, here are the current highlights.

Online Ordering is now live

New York Brownie with Raspberry Compote

As promised you can now go to our website http://www.ashridgewines.co.nz, and order online. Get your wine club discount of 25% by simply using ASHRIDGECLUB181 in the coupon code. We have updated the site with all of our current release wines. Hopefully, this will make life more convenient for you. We aim to have orders dispatched within 24 hours. If you prefer to order via email, simply send me the details to cellar@ashridgewines.co.nz.

As the home of Ash Ridge our cellar door has been a major focus, and we are constantly upgrading everything we do. The latest change is the new menu we have just launched. We are moving to a more Bistro style menu with entree, main and dessert options. So if you feel like a treat please book in for a lunch! Please remember that as a Wine Club member you get 25% off food as well as wine.

Functions and Weddings

Our new facility really opens up a myriad of options for us and you. The new building capacity is 100 people, so we can host functions for much larger groups in beautiful and comfortable surroundings. Our dining area allows for group sizes of 40-45 people seated, and we are also looking at hosting weddings. We are licensed until 10 pm, so we are able to accommodate evening functions as well.

If you have any interest in any of these options, please contact me at cellar@ashridgewines.co.nz.

Wine Boxes all now sent

We have completed the May deliveries. Thank you for your patience, we have tried to ensure that all packages have been delivered in a timely manner through Toll, but if for any reason your box has not arrived please contact me at cellar@ashridgewines.co.nz, and we will hunt down the delivery.

I really want to thank you, everyone, for all your support. As a small winery, we can only do what we do with your ongoing support. In a world were access to retail channels is becoming harder and harder, having the direct support of wine lovers is what keeps us going, and we appreciate your current and ongoing support.

Chris and the Team at Ash Ridge.

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Hawke’s Bay Wine – Autumn/Winter edition

Click cover image to view the autumn & winter issue. Opens in a new tab
Click cover image to view the autumn & winter issue. Opens in a new tab.

Hawke’s Bay Winegrowers presents your digital issue of Hawke’s Bay Wine – Autumn/Winter edition

  • Studying Syrah berry size
  • Turning vision into reality – a business strategy for Hawke’s Bay Wine
  • Ngaruroro WCO – cautious optimism

In every issue we profile Hawke’s Bay Wine companies and personalities, wine from our region and associated sectors. We offer up a number of informed viewpoints, cover the news and present a range of wine-related feature stories.

Do you have news relating to Hawke’s Bay Wine Sector?
Email: hawkesbaywinemag@xtra.co.nz.

Advertising enquiries can be directed to Kite Communications

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Montana Wines dumps Kiwi grapes in favour of Australian

Belinda Feek | NZ Herald reporter based in Hamilton | belinda.feek@nzherald.co.nz | @ought2bee

A top Kiwi wine brand has ditched its award-winning Marlborough grapes for some of its wines – in favour of those from Australia.

A Kiwi wine reviewer has slammed one of the country’s best-known wine labels for its decision to start using Australian grapes in some of its wines.

Montana has ditched its award-winning Marlborough grapes for those from across the ditch to keep it cheap for consumers.

And many consumers looking for a well-priced New Zealand wine will not be aware of the change unless they check the back of the bottle.

At this stage, the move is just for its Montana Classic 2017 sauvignon blanc and Montana Classic 2016 pinot noir. Wine aficionado Bob Campbell wrote about his disgust in the move in his latest column online.

He dubs the move legal but “deceptive” and says the Montana brand is “as Kiwi as Buzzy Bee, Jaffas and Fred Dagg”.

Montana was bought by alcohol distribution giant Pernod Ricard in 2010 and eventually renamed Brancott Estate to avoid confusion in the United States.

An image of a Montana Sauvignon Blanc from 2010 proudly boasts that it’s from Marlborough. The company is using grapes from Australia for its 2017 wine.

Montana’s classic range has been selling for $9.99 recently, a price Campbell believed now justly depicts the quality of the wine.

Campbell said that although he is yet to taste the drop, there was a reason for the price difference.

“Australian sauvignon blanc is, by and large, inferior.”

Campbell told the Herald Montana wine was close to his heart as he was working for it in 1973 when it planted its first grapes.

“I began my wine industry career in 1973 as an accountant with Montana so I guess it’s kind of personal. I might be overstating the case but it’s just that, to me, Montana and Marlborough are inextricably linked.”

The sauvignon blanc was due to be released this month, he said.

He described Marlborough sauvignon grapes typically producing “punchy, aromatic, zesty, tropical” flavours, as opposed to Australian grapes having “much less” character.

He’d been in touch with Pernod Ricard, which had confirmed the company had been trialling Australian grapes for two of its wines last year. It was also keen to keep delivering good wines in the under-$10 category.

Pernod Ricard New Zealand managing director Kevin Mapson said increased demand and the rising costs of New Zealand grapes meant it was increasingly challenging to produce New Zealand-sourced wine that could be sold for under $10.

“By sourcing grapes from Australia, we can continue to make wines of the quality that Montana consumers expect at the same price point. This sourcing transition only applies to the Montana Classics and Montana Affinity ranges. All the other Montana ranges will continue to be made from New Zealand grapes,” Mapson said.

He said the company had worked hard to minimise the change in style but said it was true Australian sauvignon blanc was less “aromatic” than that from Marlborough so would seem more “subdued” but disagreed the grapes were inferior to New Zealand’s.

Mapson said the company had adhered to all the legal requirements for labelling so consumers were aware of the country of origin and were communicating the change to trade customers.

Over time most of the Montana Classic and Affinity wines would be made from Australian grapes, he said.

But he maintained the company was committed to its Kiwi heritage and had recently invested in the Montana Reserve range and that, along with its Montana Festival Block and Winemaker Series, would all continue to be sourced from New Zealand grapes.

Marcus Pickens, the general manager of Wine Marlborough, said they were aware of the move and it would be discussed at their next board meeting.

He said there were rules in New Zealand around the labelling of wine, which Montana would be aware of, as there was evidence it caused confusion for customers.

NZ Wine Growers Association declined to comment.

When Montana wines made with Australian grapes will hit the shelves:

  • Montana Classic pinot noir 2016 – December 2017
  • Montana Classic sauvignon blanc 2017 – January 2018
  • Montana Classic chardonnay 2017 – August 2018
  • Montana Classic merlot cabernet – August 2018
  • Montana Affinity sauvignon blanc 2018 – November 2018
  • Montana Affinity pinot gris 2018 – November 2018

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Chilled red wines and warmer white wines have more flavour

Wine is a complicated beast, but best rules to follow are: chill your reds lightly and let your whites warm a little.

Thomas Heaton | January 25 2018

Kiwis are drinking their red wines too warm and our whites too cold, according to expert sommeliers.

Refrigeration leaves white too cold, and chances are red is too warm in the current summer weather.

Wellington wine bar Noblerot served its wines at a range of temperatures according to the varietal; the prime range for red wine was between 18 and 22 degrees.

Noblerot Chef Joshua Dodd with co-owner and sommelier Maciej Zimny

Co-owner and sommelier Maciej Zimny said lighter, fruitier reds, such as pinot noir, lent themselves to being chilled to the bottom of that range.

During warmer summer weather, Zimny recommended chilling red wine from up to 10 minutes before serving, which would reduce the temperature by between three and five degrees.

“When you taste the wine, at a lower temperature it seems complete,” he said.

“Even when it’s slightly colder that it should be it will provide much more pleasure.”

That’s because of the alcoholic smell was exaggerated when it was warm, which was unappetising, according sommelier at Auckland’s French Cafe, Stephanie Guth.

She said. however, the sight of a chilled red wine was odd for customers.

“You want to do it justice but it’s such a weird thing for people to see, red wine in an ice bucket, even though you know it might benefit from it,” Guth said.

Twenty minutes in an ice-bucket before opening and drinking might help to boost the flavour in a pinot noir.

“The more complex the wine you have, the warmer it should be served,” Zimny said, referring to rich red wines such as merlot or Bordeaux varietals.

Conversely white wine should be served chilled, however complex oaky chardonnays should be served slightly warmer than other whites.

So chardonnay’s flavours lent better to slightly warmer temperatures than sauvignon blanc, about 14 degrees as opposed to 10 degrees, because it was important to make sure oak flavours were prominent.

Pinot noir and chardonnay hailed from the Burgundy region of France, and both were classically stored in the same cellar under the same conditions. He said wines have either been served too warm or too cold since the invention of refrigerators.

Cellar temperature was perceived as something quite different to what was initially intended, room temperature, Guth said.

Leaving white wine to warm up slightly released flavours hidden by colder temperatures.

“It doesn’t harm the wine but you tend to get a little more out of the aromas.”

The only reason one should drink a bottle straight out of the fridge was “if you don’t want to taste your wine”, she said.

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Dinner, Cashmere Lounge, BBQ

December 2017 – Dinner, Cashmere Lounge

Cashmere Lounge: Those attending, and they were plentiful, have indicated that the dinner was excellent. People enjoyed the evening with great food. If there was a drawback it was that the dinner was held over two rooms, however, lost seemed to be able to work around that and share stories and excellent wine. The dinner was well organised and the owner’s feedback was that we
were fun crowd and he was rapt with the dinner. The special bubbles went down well. We are pleased to be able present this brand again at our February tasting.

January 2018 – Cellar Club BBQ

Not much to be said except to say it was another fine day and everyone seemed to enjoy the occasion. This continues to be a great venue for a gathering of this nature, the food was excellent, the wine very nice and the company superb. As always we give special thanks to Derek Thompson
for making his excellent facilities available.

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Cool our reds, Programme taking shape, BBQ leftovers

Cool our reds

Those of you who know me will know that my preference clearly lies with red wines, however, even I have to admit that the weather has been rather too hot for the heavier reds. It has been suggested that we should cool our reds a little and not refrigerate the living daylight out of our whites. I’m straight into experimentation with the concept.

See the right temperature to serve every type of wine

Programme taking shape

The programme for the year is now taking shape with some good tastings in prospect. We will keep you updated as we go and we hope we can have a year of exceptional tastings.

BBQ leftovers

Invariably someone leaves something at Derek’s place after the January BBQ. This time he has found a squarish white plastic bowl that does not belong to him. Let us know if this is your bowl and we will work out a way to return it.

Cheers
Robin Semmens, Editor

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Spanish Festive Wines, November 2017

Wayne reports, Olé indeed. From arriving to Spanish music to being seated in a horseshoe and enjoying some tapas with the wines, this was truly a night with a difference.

The meet and greet wine was the very affordable Torres Sangre de Toro Rosado 2016. I’ve always liked this wine because of the red bull that hangs from the neck of each bottle. But the contents weren’t bad either with the Rose being a bright raspberry colour with good fruit flavour. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to try a Rose that was made from grapes we don’t find here in NZ, namely Carnena and Garnacha (known respectively as Carignan and Grenache in other parts of the world).

The first tasting wine was a delightful white sherry, Lustau Puerto Fino.  It’s been quite a while since I’ve tasted this light dry sherry that is famous around the world, so I particularly loved the match with the Crumbed Olive tapas that showed the versatility of this wine when matched with salty briny foods. And Keith’s comments about Sherry’s famous solera system added to our appreciation of this wonderful wine style which seems to have fallen out of favour here in NZ.

Next to follow were the Vina Esmeralda Moscatel-Gewurztraminer 2016 and the 2013 Gran Vina Sol Chardonnay.  The first was matched with a delicious Serrano ham and honeydew melon tapas which matched perfectly the wonderful floral aromas of the 85% dominant Moscatel grape.  The Chardonnay was a nice addition to the whites being tasted.  It was fermented in stainless steel with a third of the wine fermented and aged for 5 months in new oak.

I enjoyed the freshness of this wine and its lingering aftertaste, and given the tasting notes suggest that this is excellent with fish, paella and turkey, it’s hardly surprising that the match on the night with the warm Spanish shrimp dish was excellent.

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