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MONIQUE FORD/STUFF Wine emojis to help you choose a bottle.
If you feel lost as to what wine to serve at your Moroccan-inspired dinner party this weekend, one website is on a mission to help – using a database of unique, and very cute, specialised emojis.
When lockdown forced Wellington’s Noble Rot Wine Bar to close in March 2020, three wine experts used the downtime to create a database of wine profiles. The ultimate goal was to simplify the wine-buying process for the average consumer.
Two years later, Wine-oji, is a website featuring 221 emoji-like images designed to help anyone pick the perfect bottle of wine, whether they know what wine they enjoy or not.
Noble Rot owners Josh Pointon and Maciej Zimny, with head sommelier Jessica Wood, launched Wine-oji last December. Wood says the response has been “amazing” from consumers and producers.
But what exactly is Wine-oji, and how does a collection of wine-related emojis help someone pick a bottle of wine?
MONIQUE FORD/STUFF Wine-Oji was an idea born out of lockdown.
The website is a colourful, busy and interactive library of images used to describe flavour profiles, production methods and ideal food pairings for wines.
The list is pretty extensive. Images are allocated to primary aromas, such as fruits and vegetables, as well as floral notes such as jasmine and honeysuckle or earthy tones of oak and wet stone.
Secondary aromas, which come from the winemaking process, oak ageing, oxidation and bottle ageing include popcorn, butterscotch, oak, berries and fruit and tar and rubber, among others.
Wood says while the library of wine emojis is fun, the interactive “find your perfect match” section is where customers can hone in on exactly what they are after in a wine.
“You can search any winery or flavour,” she says. Users can also simply search for the food they plan to eat and find the perfect pairing.
“If you’re cooking snapper tonight, you can type snapper, and it will bring up all the wines that have any of those Wine-ojis allocated to the profile.”
MONIQUE FORD/STUFF The initial idea began when Wood realised she was fielding questions from customers at Noble Rot about what certain wines taste like.
She says the site also allows people to open their minds a bit to try new wines.
“[You can find] things you’ll actually like, rather than based on wine that’s discounted heavily at the store, or because you tried it before, or like the label. It’s actually all about your experience of the wine.”
The initial idea began when Wood realised she was fielding questions from customers at Noble Rot about what certain wines taste like, and what wines pair best with certain foods.
And so the idea of creating a database of flavours, profiles and distributor information began to form.
“We … started composing a list of the key aromas and flavours, and structural components of the wine, that we could then build into a bit of a library. That became the new language – the language of Wine-oji,” she says.
The creation of the images was hugely important, Wood says. They brought in a local graphic designer to help create the library. They needed to be well-designed, but they also had to appeal to people who are not wine experts.
MONIQUE FORD/STUFF People need no previous knowledge of wine to use the emoji wine website.
“They had to be easily recognisable, quite quickly, by the average consumer.”
“There is a huge problem in that people don’t know what wine they like, or what wine they should buy. There’s never really been an understanding of their flavour profile or their taste preferences.”
“We were thinking, how can we translate to people quickly and instantly what’s in their bottle of wine using images rather than words?” she says.
The resulting database is something Wood insists people need no previous knowledge of wine to use.
“You just need to know if you like something or not,” she says.
Using the interactive section of the site, a search for “lemon” results in 33 bottles of wine. Of those, two are Pinot Gris and 12 are Chardonnay. The selections can be further filtered by wine type or vintage.
For each bottle, the full Wine-oji profile can be viewed. There are eight sections: aroma, flavour, sweetness, acidity, body, oak, finish and food. Each is illustrated with the relevant Wine-ojis.
MONIQUE FORD/STUFF Wine-Oji will give you the nous to have a good nose for wine – no experience required.
My 2019 Main Divide Riesling, for instance, had an acidity rating of 4½ lemons out of 5. Its sweetness is only worthy of one lollipop, however, and in terms of the body, my chosen riesling shows 2½ bodybuilders out of a possible 5.
My chosen wine also pairs well with prawn skewers, pad thai, Moroccan couscous and snapper ceviche.
And after two years of creating an extensive database of wine-related imagery, what are Wood’s favourite Wine-ojis?
She has a few, including lily, jasmine and ginger. She is also a fan of the food pairings.
The evening with Everything Pinot was a tippling success, with 37 people turning up for the Club’s own members to present to, plus a special guest for the evening’s last pinot – John Dawson with a whisky distilled in pinot barrels from Central Otago’s Lammermoor, ‘a farm to bottle distillery’: Lammermoor Distillery.
We tasted our way through the Club’s cellar after our opening pinot Waipara Hills Pinot Noir Rose’. Followed up with three 2017 Pinot Gris, from Peregrine Saddleback, Giesen Marlborough and Church Road McDonald series. The comparisons were quite distinct, and the discussion was good.
This was then followed by three 2016 Pinot Noirs, from Peregrine Saddleback Central Otago, Yealands Reserve Marlborough, and Russian Jack Martinborough.
We had a well-attended evening for the wine and food match, with 41 people attending.
It was notable that the vineyard used compostable plates and utensils for the tasting, so our green miles are good! And this goes in with the vineyard’s practices of being vegan friendly and on their way to being organic certified. Great for the planet.
The wines we tried were:
2020 Waipara Sauvignon Blanc
2018 Waipara Sauvignon Blanc partnered with toast and Bruschetta
2020 Waipara Pinot Gris partnered with Indian dahl
2020 Waipara Viognier
2016 Waipara Riesling partnered with Beef Thai salad
2020 Canterbury Pinot Noir partnered with Pulled Pork slider
2019 Waipara Pinot Noir partnered with spicy lamb koftas with couscous
2017 Waipara Pinot Noir
2016 Dr Khols Waipara Riesling partnered with Banoffee pie
While it would have made the evening more interesting to have a bit more banter about the wine from the presenter, this was a very enjoyable evening and the members were fed well.
A special note of thanks to Nicola Fraher and friends for the food, as well as to our pourers Carolyn & Terry and our food servers Fiona and Evelyn. It really was a great effort by everyone involved.
And it was pleasing to see all that mahi result in significant wine orders on the night, coupled with requests for personally signed cookbooks.
The presenter is Lyn Timms of Lyns Consulting, assisted by Nicola Fraher, daughter of The Crater Rim owner. Nicola is the person preparing the food and wine matches for this evenings wine and food match – the food is appetiser-sized tasty morsels to pair with the wines.
The Crater Rim is a family-owned boutique winery situated in the rolling hills of Waipara, in the South Island. They grow, make and market limited quantities of terroir-specific wines produced from their own two vineyards and contracted sites in the Canterbury sub-regions of Waipara, Omihi and Banks Peninsula and Central Otago.
These sites have been carefully selected for their particular mix of varietal, topography, soil and microclimate – creating high quality, site-specific wines of individual character and drinkability. The Crater Rim manage their vineyards and work closely with each grower to ensure that vines are cropped low and managed sustainably, guaranteeing the best quality fruit possible from each vineyard site. The result is exceptional wines from exceptional regions.
Crater Rim recommended that their wines are enjoyed with a meal that best brings out their flavours and have produced a book so that those who drink their wines may have a range of options to do this.
With the growth of The Crater Rim’s success, it was only natural that Nicola Fraher, one of the daughters of The Crater Rim’s owner, saw an opportunity to combine her passion for food and wine by producing a book that not only told that story but brought the wines together with nutritious recipes that can be easily made and enjoyed. Nicola is a trained nutritionist with her own business; she also works in a marketing role for the family enterprise.
The food and wine matches for the evening:
Start with a tasting of From The Ashes Sauvignon Blanc
Tasting of Waipara Sauvignon Blanc matched with Tomato and Garlic Bruschetta
Tasting of Waipara Pinot Gris matched with Spicey Vegetable and Lentil Dahl
Tasting of Waipara Riesling matched with Thai Beef Salad
Tasting of From The Ashes Pinot Noir matched with Pulled Pork Sliders
Tasting of Waipara Pinot Noir matched with Spiced Beef Kofta on Tabbouleh
Tasting of Dr Kohls Late Harvest Riesling matched with Key Lime Pies
Renowned sailors, the Butterworth Family (Brad & Warren), is the new custodian of Julicher vineyard, planted in the iconic soils of Te Muna. The J-Knot on every bottle, the strongest knot you can tie, is a tribute to their vineyard’s founder, Wim Julicher.
Wim Julicher originally planted the Te Muna vineyard as an Olive Grove, but the site’s unique aspect made it far too cold for the olive trees. Luckily, it creates the perfect amount of pressure for the divine struggle required to produce world-class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
The Butterworth Family has a viticultural heritage dating back to the founding days of the New Zealand wine industry – the original 1890’s vineyard property is still in the family today.
The wines for our evening are from their Te Muna (Butterworth formerly Julicher vineyard and Layline ranges:
The main types of wine include red, white, rosé, sparkling, and fortified and dessert wines.
Exploring new wines can help expand your palette and knowledge of drinks to pair with different dishes.
Grapes from all over the world give wines a range of flavours from fruity to oaky to dry.
Wine types vary and each style has a distinct taste that suits different people’s preferences. d3sign/Getty Images
Humans have produced and enjoyed wine for over 8000 years, so it stands to reason that this grape-based beverage would be easy and stress-free to enjoy, right?
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Wine education covers a great deal of information, from grape types to geographic regions to flavour profiles. While some drinkers love to geek out to the nuances and details of this subject, others can feel a bit overwhelmed when they walk into a wine shop.
While there’s no limit to the amount of information that you can learn, a few basic guidelines will help direct your shopping experience and allow you to get your hands on a bottle that suits your tastes and preferences.
As vast as the world of wine is, most wines can be classified into five main categories: red, white, rosé, sparkling, and fortified and dessert wines. Below, you’ll find a rundown of these categories, with a breakdown of 28 popular variety types.
To offer some expert insight, we’ve enlisted sommelier and wine educator Caroline Conner who teaches online courses to wine lovers seeking to enhance their knowledge and broaden their wine-related horizons.
Why is it important to know about different types of wine?
“The best way to learn about wine is to approach it like learning a language,” says Conner. “You can DIY it, but without lots of real-life practice, it’s hard to get anywhere.” Knowing what you’re tasting and why can help you along your wine journey in a number of ways:
Developing your palate: You may have heard the term “palate” tossed around by wine drinkers in the past, but it really just refers to a sense of taste, which can be developed by simply tasting. The more flavours you experience, the more sophisticated your palate will become because you’ll understand how taste elements differ from each other and how they work together to create unforgettable flavours.
Discovering food and wine pairings: Wine and food are a natural match for each other, and when you figure out which wines taste best with which dishes (according to your own palate), then you can take your meals to the next level.
Gaining a global perspective on wine: As corny as it sounds, you really can “travel the world” by tasting wines from different countries, continents, and regions. Learning about the climate and soil conditions of a particular country can help you understand how the wines from that nation develop their flavours. Paying attention to common wine and food pairings from that country will clue you in on how best to enjoy the bottles you purchase.
How to talk about wine
Because flavours are so subjective, it’s easy to dismiss wine-tasting terms as pretentious and less-than-useful. However, understanding a few basic phrases can give you all the vocabulary you need to describe the wines you enjoy (and the ones that you don’t). To get you started, here are a few commonly-used wine words:
Dry: “Dry” essentially translates to “not sweet”. Dry wines don’t contain residual sugar from the fermentation process (or, if they do, it’s in a very low quantity).
Off-dry: An off-dry wine features a small amount of residual sugar, which gives it a gentle sweetness. The French term for off-dry, “demi-sec,” is also frequently used in wine tastings and on bottle labels.
Sweet: A sweet wine — also known as a dessert wine — contains significant amounts of residual sugar and has a pronounced sweetness in its flavour.
Oaky: Many red wines and certain white wines undergo a process of ageing in oak barrels, and said barrels impart a woodsy, toasty flavour to the wine. The more time the wine spends in the oak barrels, the stronger the “oaky” flavour will become.
Full-bodied: This is a term generally used to describe red wines, and it refers to both the flavour of the wine and to its texture. A full-bodied wine boasts rich, complex flavours, a robust texture that coats your mouth and tongue, and (in most cases) a higher alcohol content than a light-bodied or medium-bodied wine.
Tannins/Tannic: Tannins are natural compounds found in wine grapes (particularly in the skins of said grapes). These compounds affect the texture of the wine in the mouth; the drying sensation that you may experience when drinking a glass of red wine comes from tannins. Tannins exist in both white and red wines, but because red wines are produced and aged with the grape skins still in contact, the tannic structure of red wines tends to be more prominent.
Grape: The vast majority of wines produced worldwide use grapes as their core ingredient. Wine grapes differ from “table grapes” designed for eating; they’re typically smaller, juicier, and more acidic. Most wine grapes are of the Vitis vinifera species, a style of grape specifically cultivated for wine production.
Style: Some wines are named after the style of grape used to make them; “Chardonnay”, “Cabernet Sauvignon”, and “Pinot Noir” are all examples of grapes that often lend their names to their wines. However, some wines take their names from the regions where they’re produced. French wines are especially notable for this pattern: “Champagne”, “Bordeaux”, and “Burgundy” all fit into the “wines named after regions” theme.
Now that you know how to talk about it, let’s get into the wines themselves. Below are many of the most popular wine styles you’ll find in stores and at restaurants, along with a few underrated gems.
Red Wines
Merlot
Cabernet Sauvignon is a very popular red wine, while a merlot offers a softer taste. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
Merlot is a red grape that’s grown throughout Europe, South America, Africa, Australia, and the United States. According to Conner, “some of the greatest wines in the world” are Merlots. “It’s plummy and juicy, and a bit softer than Cabernet [Sauvignon], which it is often blended with,” she says. It tastes delicious alongside charcuterie boards, roasted vegetables, and even cheeseburgers.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon can grow in a wide variety of regions and is, therefore, an easy bottle to scoop up at any wine shop. As for flavour, Cabernet Sauvignon is full-bodied and dry. “Cabernet Sauvignon is ‘bigger’ than Merlot, and it has lots of tannins, which are those chewy, drying particles in reds,” says Conner. “It’s wildly popular and you can find stunning examples all over the world.”
Pinot Noir
“Pinot Noir is widely loved because it’s one of the rare lighter reds, but has tons of flavour and complexity,” says Conner. “It’s most famously from Burgundy, but there’s great Pinot all over the place, like in Oregon, New Zealand, and even Germany.” But she does warn that these wines can be fairly pricey: “Pinot is picky and fickle, it’s prone to disease and only thrives in certain climates. You have to be a good winemaker to make the best of it, in any conditions! That’s why it’s so prized, because when it’s good, it’s good, and the winemaker took these grapes from the right place, treated them right, and made them sing.”
Syrah/Shiraz
Wines made with this red grape can claim two names, depending on where the grapes are grown and where the wines are produced. In the Rhȏne Valley region of France, these wines are called Syrah, but in Australia, they’re known as Shiraz. In both cases, you’ll find a rich, deeply-hued red wine with strong dark-berry notes and high tannins.
Zinfandel
Like Syrah/Shiraz, the Zinfandel grape produces “big” red wines with lots of stage presence. Notes of dark fruit, tobacco, and leather are common when tasting Zinfandels. It’s a popular grape in California vineyards (and most Zinfandel is indeed grown in the Golden State), but you can also find it in Italy, South Africa, and New Zealand.
Gamay
The Gamay grape is perhaps best known as the primary grape used to make Beaujolais. Made in France, Beaujolais wines are beloved for their light texture, high acidity, low tannins, and bright fruit flavours. Every November, the first release of Beaujolais bottles (known as “Beaujolais Nouveau”) makes a huge splash in the wine market both in the U.S. and abroad.
Sangiovese
If you’ve ever enjoyed a glass of Chianti at an Italian restaurant, then you’ve experienced the Sangiovese grape. This purple-red grape produces many styles of wine made throughout Italy, all notable for their medium body, high tannins, red fruit flavours, and hints of spice. If you need a wine to pour at a red-sauce dinner, then Sangiovese will do you right.
White Wines
Chardonnay
Some well-known white wines include Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Albariño. Mykhailo Lukashuk/Getty Images
“Chardonnay is a true winemaker’s grape; it can really do it all,” says Conner. “A lot of people think they don’t like it because all they’ve tried is their mom’s oak-bomb, buttered-popcorn ’90s Chardonnay. This style still exists, but it’s not very trendy anymore, so it’s easy to find Chards with less oak, more fruit, and more balance. Try Chablis from France if you want to taste a spectacular unoaked Chardonnay.”
Sauvignon Blanc
This white grape famously makes lightweight wines with clean acidity and pronounced fruitiness. “Sauvignon Blanc is all about that fruit,” says Conner. “It has two main styles: the super-intense version with passion fruit aromas coming out of New Zealand, and the more restrained, grassy French style from Sancerre. There are great Sauvignon Blancs from Chile and the USA too.”
Riesling
White grapes are typically easier to grow in cooler climates than red grapes, and Riesling, which originally hails from Germany, serves as a prime example. Riesling wine is highly versatile; it can be sweet, dry, still, sparkling, and anything in between. Its fruity, floral flavours tend to pair well with white meat, fish, and anything spicy.
Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris
Known as Pinot Grigio in Italy and Pinot Gris in France, this white grape makes a highly approachable and popular wine with citrus notes, zingy acidity, and a pleasant undercurrent of minerality. Alongside a platter of fresh seafood or a cheese plate, Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris truly shines.
Gewürztraminer
The Gewürztraminer grape is native to Germany, and wines made with it tend to feature fruit flavours like apricot and pear, along with herbaceous notes. In the US, Gewürztraminer proves especially popular at Thanksgiving, thanks to the fact that the wine’s gentle fruit and herbal aromas pair perfectly with turkey, stuffing, and all of the fixings.
Chenin Blanc
Commonly grown in the Loire Valley of France and in South Africa, the Chenin Blanc grape translates to a white wine that’s light-bodied, appealingly tart, and easy to pair with a variety of dishes. Try it with soft cow’s milk cheeses like brie or with grilled or roasted veggies.
Albariño
If you’re a fan of Sauvignon Blanc but want a white wine with even more fruit presence, then Albariño, a wine style native to Spain, could be perfect for you. Albariño is a medium-bodied white, which means it works very well as a food wine. Pair it with shellfish, white meat, or an entrée salad.
Rosé
Rosé wine is made by removing skins from red grapes. Dulin/Getty Images
Contrary to popular belief, most rosé wines aren’t made by combining white grape juice with red grape juice. Instead, they’re made by removing the skins from red grapes after a brief period of time, resulting in a wine that’s light, refreshing, and a pretty shade of pink.
Provençal Rosé
Some rosés are made with only one type of red grape, but many — like the mega-popular, super-refreshing pale-pink rosés that come from Provençe, France — come from a blend of grapes. Conner urges us to embrace blended wines like Provençal rosés: “I think that blends are underrated,” she says. “Many of the famous European wines are blends, and all the better for it! Blending is part of the art of winemaking, and especially with climate change disrupting vineyards, it will continue to be important in order to achieve balanced wines.”
Zinfandel Rosé
Zinfandel rosés got a bad rap for many years due to the perception of “White Zinfandel” as overly sweet and not especially nuanced. However, you can now find plenty of quality Zinfandel rosés on the market, and many feature a delicate sweetness that makes them a great partner for BBQ dishes or grilled salmon.
Grenache Rosé
Grenache is one of the grapes most commonly used in the Provençal rosé blend, but you can also find rosés made solely from this red grape. Grenache rosés burst with summery fruit flavours like strawberry and watermelon, and they’re delicious with Caprese salads, grilled eggplant, and Mediterranean fare.
Sangiovese Rosé
Italian “Rosato” wine often comes from the Sangiovese grape, which gives this varietal a darker hue than some competitors and makes it a robust and spicy wine with plenty of red fruit flavour. There’s no better partner for Sangiovese rosé than pizza (especially grilled pizza).
Tempranillo Rosé
Spanish Tempranillo (also grown in the US and South America) has an almost savoury quality to it, which gives this medium-bodied rosé an advantage where food friendliness is concerned. Enjoy it with anything from grilled meats to tacos to seafood to Spanish classics.
Sparkling Wines
Champagne
Champagne isn’t the only type of sparkling wine — there’s also Crémant, prosecco, cava, and Lambrusco. Yulia Naumenko/Getty Images
Some drinkers use “Champagne” as a catch-all term for “sparkling wine,” but the only wines that can truly claim the Champagne name must be produced in the Champagne region of France from grapes grown there. You can use white grapes to make a Champagne (called a “blanc des blancs”) or red grapes (a “blanc des noir”), but either way, you’ll end up with a phenomenal bottle packed with citrus notes, a bit of yeastiness, and a prominent fizz.
Crémant
Not all sparkling wines produced in France fall into the Champagne category. If a wine is made using the same techniques as Champagne but isn’t from the Champagne region, then it’s known as a Crémant. Crémants boast many of the same flavour characteristics as Champagne, but they can often be purchased at a far lower price, making them one of the best bargains in the wine world.
Prosecco
These once-obscure sparkling wines of Venice now claim a major share in the wine market, and these Italian sparklers are bright, crisp, fresh, and very reasonably priced. Drink with a cheese and charcuterie board for a great start to a fun evening.
Cava
Cava, the sparkling wine most closely associated with Spain, uses the same production process as Champagne, but it’s made with a different range of grapes. The result is a dry and lively wine with a pleasant minerality — an almost flinty taste that comes from the soil where the grapes are grown. In fact, this minerality makes Cava a smart pairing choice for creamy dishes and sauces, since the wine has enough fortitude to cut through those weightier ingredients.
Lambrusco
All of the sparklers listed above are whites — even the Champagnes that are made from red grapes. But you can also find sparkling reds, a great example of which is a Lambrusco. Lambrusco comes from Italy and is made from grapes of the same name. It can be either sweet or dry, but all versions have a relatively light body and a potent fizziness that makes it a whimsical choice for pizza or pasta night.
Fortified and dessert wines
Port
Fortified and dessert wines include Port, Sherry, Madeira, and Moscato. Westend61/Getty Images
One of the most popular sweet wines on the market, Port takes its name from its country of origin, Portugal. It’s a fortified wine, which means that it has a distilled spirit added to it, upping its alcohol content. Port comes in four different varieties: Ruby (a red Port), Tawny (a barrel-aged Port), White (a Port made with white grapes), and Rosé (a Port made the same way a typical rosé wine would be made). Bold cheeses, BBQ with a sweeter glaze, and, of course, desserts all pair beautifully with Port.
Sherry
Like Port, Sherry qualifies as a fortified wine. It comes from the Andalusia region of Spain, and while all Sherry undergoes some level of ageing, darker versions (like Oloroso Sherry and Amontillado Sherry) spend more time in the barrel than lighter versions (like Fino Sherry). Sherry can be drier than other fortified wines, which gives it more food flexibility. It works just as well with an appetizer spread as it does with dessert.
Madeira
Madeira, a fortified wine from a Portuguese island off the coast of Africa, bears many similarities to Port and Sherry. It often features nutty flavours and a hint of caramel, along with fruit notes like orange and peach.
Moscato
A sweet Italian wine made from the Muscat Blanc grape, Moscato can be either still, sparkling, or semi-sparkling (with a lighter level of effervescence). The most popular Moscato, known as Moscato d’Asti, falls into the latter category. Moscato’s pronounced but not overwhelming sweetness lets it pair nicely with spicy dishes, savoury cheeses, and fruit-based desserts.
Insider’s takeaway
At the end of the day, a “good wine” is any wine that you enjoy. Spending serious bucks on high-end bottles isn’t necessary for a great tasting experience, but a bit of know-how will help simplify your shopping and will increase your chances of ending up with a wine that’s exactly what you want to drink.
Nautilus harvest 2021. Photo Credit: Richard Briggs
Grape yields across the country have taken a hit from poor flowering, but growers and winemakers are welcoming beautiful fruit and a kind ripening season.
Nautilus Estate Winemaker and General Manager Clive Jones said on 18 March that vintage ’21 in Marlborough was progressing well. “The fruit is pristine in quality but down across the board in quantity – particularly for Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris,” he said.
“At the halfway stage through the Sauvignon harvest, crops are moderate but flavours are fantastic.
Clive said the weather had been close to perfect, “with barely a glance required at the weather forecast”, and Nautilus was on track to have completed picking before the end of March, “our earliest finish ever”.
Jules Taylor, Gourmet Traveller Wine’s 2021 New Zealand Winemaker of the Year says all varieties are lower than the long-term average and agrees Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris are particularly light, “which is a shame”, but is also the reality of horticulture.
The silver lining is that the fruit is beautiful and clean, thanks to a great summer.
“The weather is playing the game and the mood is so different to last year, with Covid,” she says. “It’s back to the old days, with all the banter in the field.”
Jules says the 2020 harvest was a case of keeping the panic at bay and getting the fruit off as fast as possible, “in case Covid decided to rear its ugly head”.
The contrast with 2021 is extreme. “This year we can pick exactly when we want to, in terms of capturing the essence of Marlborough at its best – it’s a delight.”
In Central Otago, Viticulturist James Dicey says yields are variable, with some subregions doing “really well”, while others are “exceptionally” low, with expectations of as little as two tonnes to the hectare predicted for some blocks.
That’s due to a cold initiation period that resulted in smaller bunches, and unsettled weather during flowering, causing some hen and chicken and poorly set bunches.
He says the weather averages for the season look typical but have resulted from big blocks of extreme conditions. “We have been seeing quite big swings in weather variability, which has stressed the grapevines and stressed out the viticulturists.
However, he has been pleased by a “really nice” and consistent ripening period and “coolish” nights and says the positive of the small yields is the “really high-quality fruit” and lack of disease pressure.
That gives growers “the luxury of time with picking decisions”, and the option of leaving fruit out for longer, if required. And that could be key to getting fruit in this harvest, with labour at “dire” levels due to border closures, he says.
James has spent more time and money than ever before advertising harvest roles, including to viticulture and oenology students, in backpacker lodges and on all bulletin boards, and directed to the remaining hospitality staff in the area.
The main pressure is on staff for hand picking, with little of the area suitable for machine harvesting.
James says some blocks that have never been machine picked before now have that option as a backup plan, but in many cases, a handpick is the only option, because of a steep aspect or small size. Two of the blocks he works with, for example, are 0.3 hectares, “so it’s not economical to have a machine turn up”.
James says staff are “trickling” in, “but if we don’t get what we want or quite what we need, then the harvest will be delayed or protracted… we are encouraging wineries to pick early and pick hard”.
In Hawke’s Bay, Esk Valley Winemaker Gordon Russell says they have experienced lower yields, with a general drop of around 20 per cent, due largely to poor flowering.
He says Sauvignon Blanc yields have done better than Chardonnay and the reds, which have small berries and loose bunches. The low yields and lack of rain means there has been no disease pressure, and cooling conditions are creating an enviable ripening period, allowing acids to drop without sugars climbing too high. “There seems no hurry at the moment.”
Esk Valley picked white varieties up to 19 March, and Gordon says the harvest to date has delivered grapes of excellent quality.
He expects wine to be “bright, fresh and pure”.
The labour situation has been manageable in Hawke’s Bay, with viticulture sharing picking gangs with other horticulture industries, he says. “We seem to have been able to get in what we wanted when we wanted it, so it hasn’t been an issue.”
However, that’s also down to a strategic approach, which has seen handpicking tonnages drop slightly, allowing selective machine harvesting to ease some labour pressure.”
At Matawhero, Owner Kristen Searle says tonnages are about average for a Gisborne season “and with great ripening weather it will be a great vintage for Gisborne wines”.
Kirsten says apart from some frost damage at budburst in some vineyards, the season generally has been good and has produced “some exceptional fruit”.
Matawhero began picking on 22 February, which is their earliest start ever.
“The season saw higher growing degree days and heat summation during the season which would have ensured the early pick. We also experienced low disease pressure and good brix, acid and Ph balance at harvest.”
Cellar Club members celebrating the club’s 40th-anniversary wine trip to Wairarapa Feb 2021
It was a brilliant day weather-wise, to travel via train, then bus to Martinborough. The three vineyards that were organised for us to visit, thanks to Gayl’s marvellous efforts, were Nga Waka, Tiwaiwaka and Grava/Alana.
We were divided into three groups, with each group assigned to two of the three vineyards to taste at – for ease of the smaller cellar tasting rooms, and the exuberance of the people attending.
Each of the vineyards was fully welcoming and at the Grava tasting room, if you asked, you could taste the Alana version of the wine being tasted, which was great if you were tasting with a partner.
Grava/Alana
At Grava/Alana where Lunar are the new owners, the vineyards brands are kept very separate. Grava has its vines on the Lake Ferry Road which has gravelly/alluvial soil and Alana’s wines are made from vineyards further in around Martinborough. The wines tasted were:
2018 Sauvignon Blanc – 12 months in oak/12 months in barrel fermented
2020 Alana Pinot Gris
2016 Riesling [also tasted the 2016 Alana Riesling]
2017 Alana Pinot Noir
2018 Pinot Noir
2017 Late Harvest – Sauvignon Blanc harvested mid-May
Nga Waka
At Nga Waka – where the new American owners are stuck in Nevada – the wines tasted were:
2020 Sauvignon Blanc – planted in 1988/89, the first wines made in 1993
2019 Chardonnay – fermented in oak barrels for 10 months
2019 Rose – from Pinot Noir grapes
2018 Pinot Noir
Tiwaiwaka
At Tiwaiwaka the tastings were conducted under the branches of a lovely oak tree. The wines tasted were:
2020 Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon Blend – an excellent surprise to start with 2019 Semillon
2018 Rose
2020 Chardonnay
2018 Pinot Noir
2019 Cabbage Tree Pinot Noir – the second favoured tasting for group B
2019 Merlot
Orders were good for all vineyards and many have been delivered directly to members already, with the delivery of the smaller lots being arranged by Wayne and Murray in the coming days.
The bus driver, Craig, was brilliant and was always where he was needed.
Coney’s
Tim Coney welcoming members for a tasting & celebration lunch
Our tasting and lunch at Coney’s was entertaining, with one of the owners Tim Coney regaling us with his stories of the vineyard, his band and his love of opera (which is where the musical names for the wines come from), and life in general in the Wairarapa.
To accompany the wines each table as served with a small platter of food. The wines tasted during this session were:
2020 Rallentando Riesling
2018 Riesling
2020 Ragtime Riesling
Piccolo Pinot Gris
2019 Foxy Lady Syrah Rose’
2016 Reserve Pizzicato Noir – a gold medal winner made to go with food
The lunch was well-received when served. The train trip to the Wairarapa and back was an added highlight for everyone, with many having never travelled that line before.
Thanks to Gayl and Wayne for your efforts in making this event such a memorable occasion.
Finally, if you are interested in viewing the various photos taken on this wine trip, they are on the club’s gallery page.
New Zealand’s wine industry built its name on sav, but we’ve been putting all our eggs in one basket for too long, writes Jules van Costello.
Savvy represents 63% of New Zealand’s area under vine, 74% of our wine production and a whopping 88% of our exports by volume, meaning for every dozen bottles of wine we export, over 10 of those are sauvignon blanc. Photo: Getty Images
I like to think of sauvignon blanc as the IPA of wine. It’s brash, bombastic and a little bit basic (in a good way). Like IPA, its tropical aromas of guava, passionfruit, lemongrass and a little bit of sweat jump forth from the glass. In the words of wine educator Oz Clark: “There had never before been a wine that crackled and spat its flavours at you from the glass”. It should not be surprising that some of the flavours in savvies and IPAs are the same – New Zealand’s most acclaimed hop variety, Nelson Sauvin, is named for its olfactory similarity to Marlborough sauvignon blanc.
Savvy is easy to understand and even easier to like. In the world of wine, which has a tendency to disempower consumers by letting so-called “experts” hoard knowledge, this is unequivocally a good thing.
Sauvignon blanc put New Zealand on the map. It is the foundation on which the entire export side of our wine industry has been built. But sadly, there can be too much of a good thing. While writing my new book, Beyond the Vines: The Changing Landscape of New Zealand Wine, I’ve had to wrestle with the fact that while sauvignon blanc is amazing, the New Zealand wine industry has too many eggs in one basket. It represents 63% of New Zealand’s area under vine, 74% of our wine production and a whopping 88% of our exports by volume, meaning for every dozen bottles of wine we export, over 10 of those are sauvignon blanc.
In August 2020, New Zealand Winegrowers released their annual report which stated that, despite six months of Covid-19 affecting sales, we’d actually exported more wine than ever before. Big grocery brands have done incredibly well but many smaller producers are feeling the pinch. The smaller the producer, the more likely they are to be selling wine in restaurants, which is hard when restaurants are shut or diners are too scared to go out. Secondary lockdowns in Melbourne, London and even in Auckland, as well as the huge mishandling of Covid in our biggest markets – the USA and UK – have had profoundly negative effects for many Kiwi producers.
New Zealand, the forward-thinking upstart that it is, committed to free trade in the mid-1980s. We are an export economy and from my position, this has generally helped us do business. However, one of the consequences of this is that no industry is too big to fail. Our producers, unlike those in Europe, for instance, cannot rely on government intervention to keep them afloat if the arse drops out of the market.
Ripening white grapes at a vineyard in Marlborough Region, country’s largest winegrowing region with distinctive soils and climatic conditions, South Island of New Zealand. Photo: Getty Images
Sauvignon blanc is popular now across the globe, but what happens when the bubble bursts? We could face a quick trend shift à la Sideways that saw merlot’s demise, or even a sudden global event change how the wine world works overnight. Most of the players who are making big bucks on industrial sauvignon blanc will not care. They will move onto something else. The growers and the wineries will be hurting. The wine world is a slow-moving beast, but it is also a fickle one. At this stage, New Zealand does not have an exit strategy.
Savvy is important – we can make relatively high-quality juice relatively cheaply. This is what got us into this problem in the first place. But we can also make world-class wine all over New Zealand. We need to champion more serious styles of sauvignon blanc, which we excel at.
We also need to diversify, and quickly. Despite having over 55 commercial varieties being grown, land devoted to most varieties has been dwindling (all but sauvignon blanc, of course, pinot noir, pinot gris and syrah).
I myself am heavily invested in the natural and lo-fi wine game with my businesses Cult Wine and Te Aro Wine but, strangely enough, I do not think this is the saviour of the industry, nor is making more and more serious wine. We need to find something we can make relatively cheaply, well, and for which there is an international demand.
I believe light red wines are part of the answer to the problem of the sav bubble – Montepulciano from Italy, St Lauren from Austria and Gamay are all contenders. In Australia, these light reds have taken off domestically and are making waves internationally. Like sav, we can make affordable pinot relatively well so there is no reason why we cannot apply these skills to grape varieties that are a little easier to grow. I happen to like drinking light reds but this is one solution that should also suit consumers in Australia, USA and the growing Chinese market.
We also need to experiment, throw grapes at the wall to see what sticks. The bubble will pop. We need to be ready.
Saint Clair Family Estate from Marlborough with Alison Downs presenting.
Last month we had Saint Clair Family Estate from Marlborough with Alison Downs presenting.
This was an extremely well-presented evening and was enjoyed by all club members present – 40 of us!
It was interesting hearing Alison’s wine journey from the UK and Europe to the New World and her enduring wine passion and growing knowledge and experience.
The committee was unanimous in their agreement that Alison is probably the best presenter we have had in recent memory.
Our orders from the evening were substantial with people enjoying all the wines presented, especially interesting to get to sample the Pinot Blanc, a new white grape for most.
By Walt Dickson. First published in Wairarapa Lifestyle Magazine, Winter 2020.
The new owner of Gladstone Vineyard Eddie McDougall, also known as the Flying Winemaker. PHOTO/EMMA BROWN
Contrary to what the name might suggest, The Flying Winemaker doesn’t own a plane, nor does he hold a pilot’s licence. But there is sincerity in Eddie McDougall’s moniker, yes, he does literally jet in to make the wine.
Born in Hong Kong, based in Australia, Eddie might be relatively new on the scene in Wairarapa, but he is an established name in other parts of the world; an award-winning winemaker, chairman of the Asian Wine Review, wine judge and TV personality behind one of Asia-Pacific’s most dynamic wine brands, The Flying Winemaker.
He swooped into the region in late 2018 buying the Gladstone Vineyard with lofty ambitions to make the best and most expensive wine in New Zealand.
Last year, his first vintage, he made two special wines at Gladstone that he says, will turn heads when they’re released: a field blend of three aromatic white varietals and an icon Pinot Noir that will be positioned as ‘New Zealand’s most expensive wine and best pinot’.
Eddie grew up in Brisbane and was studying for a business degree and working as a waiter in the early 2000s when he had a wine epiphany one night. Someone handed him a glass of Alsace pinot blanc and he was hooked. He enrolled in a winemaking degree and worked vintages across Australia and Italy. In 2009, he launched his wine label, making wine in the King Valley (Victoria), and later, Margaret River (Western Australia), buying fruit and leasing space in other people’s wineries.
His big break came in 2009, when he moved back to Hong Kong to set up the city’s first urban winery, shipping frozen grapes in from Europe and Australia. That’s when he earned his Flying Winemaker name, attracting the attention of television producers. Fast-track to 2018 and he was again looking for opportunities, initially in Australia, but when nothing caught his fancy, he looked across the Tasman.
‘I was happy to go wherever good wine is made, and Gladstone ticked all the right boxes
Making it such a great acquisition was that at Gladstone, all the ‘really hard work’ has been done, he says. ‘We believe that it is still the oldest white wine vineyard in the area – the first Sauvignon Blanc grapes were planted in 1986’.
Pinot Gris and Riesling have also since been planted, and instead of making three wines, Eddie makes a blend of all three.
‘Coming here we want to represent the region, and on a brand, level to represent what our true unique selling point is …we think we can make some serious, serious wines’.
In addition to the winery site, Gladstone Vineyard also owns considerably larger blocks of vines at nearby Dakin Road, as well as leasing crops from other growers. It is from the Dakins Road block that Eddie hopes to produce his icon Pinot Noir – to be called The Wairarapa – which he says will be the most definitive wine of the region, only made in the best possible years, 2019 is one of them.
The Flying Winemaker Team
With a global team based in Hong Kong and currently exporting throughout Asia, Australia, Norway, UK and USA, the sky is the limit. But he is not ignoring the domestic market and is determined to continue Gladstone Vineyard’s reputation for hosting terrific events.
Building on the success of the nearby Harvest Festive, Eddie aims to run up to four events a year at the winery. Exactly what they will be and when, wine lovers won’t want to miss out if his super cool Rose’ Revolutions, a mainstay on the calendar in Asia, are anything to go by.
Meanwhile, if you are in the neighbourhood, the cellar door is open daily from 11 am – 5 pm (except public holidays), but don’t expect to see Eddie, after all, when you have wings you gotta fly.
