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Steve Brennan of The Green Circle shows how marc left over from winemaking will be made into biochar. PENNY WARDLE / MARLBOROUGH EXPRESS
The Green Circle, a Blenheim startup company, and Yealands Wine are piloting a method to convert grape waste into 80% pure carbon.
The resulting product, biochar, held up to four times its weight in moisture, provided a home for soil microbes, boosted the value of compost and fertiliser, and could be added to animal feed.
As part of last week’s Climate Action Week Marlborough programme, a demonstration at the Yealands plant near Seddon showed forestry wood-waste and grapevine stumps being fed into one end of a machine and biochar being spat out the other.
The biochar, a charcoal-like substance, was slightly damp from moisture added to reduce its temperature from as high as 1000C.
Brennan encourages people to see, touch and interact with the biochar product. PENNY WARDLE / MARLBOROUGH EXPRESS
The Green Circle founder and director Steve Brennan and chief executive David Savidan said the machine being used for the pilot would dry marc at Yealands this vintage.
Marc is the seeds, skins and stalks left behind when wine is made.
“As much as possible” would be converted to biochar using pyrolysis, which is the burning of organic material at super-hot temperatures with no oxygen.
The biggest challenge would be scaling up to use available waste, improve efficiency and make biochar affordable, Brennan said.
Depending on the size and moisture content of material being fed in, an average of 20 tonnes could be processed per day, Savidan later told the Marlborough Express.
This time next year, the company planned to have several machines with capacity to process 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes. These would be based at a site central to vineyards, ideally in Renwick or Riverlands.
Last year, about 393,865 tonnes of grapes were harvested in Marlborough, according to Marcus Pickens of Wine Marlborough.
About 20%, or almost 80,000 tonnes, of that volume was marc.
Brennan said the 6 million or so vine trunks that were removed from Marlborough vineyards each year and 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes of prunings could also undergo pyrolysis.
Wine companies could dig biochar back into vineyards to sequester carbon for a zero footprint, he suggested.
However, there was not yet New Zealand demand for high-carbon biochar, Savidan said. The Green Circle’s business plan included researching local benefits that would later be shared.
Yealands sustainability manager Andrée Piddington, right, talks about biochar benefits with, from left, Heather Turnbull, John Baldridge and Tracy Taylor. PENNY WARDLE / MARLBOROUGH EXPRESS
Yealands sustainability manager Andrée Piddington said the winemaker was keen for solutions because composting marc could cause leachate runoff.
Even if The Green Circle did nothing but dry marc, she would be happy, Piddington said. It could be stored with no risk of runoff and then sold as livestock feed.
Yealands was planning a trial in which biochar would be added to compost and then applied to soil.
Digging biochar into the ground to lock in carbon was appealing but not practical among the posts and wires of established vineyards, Piddington said. This could be possible as new areas were developed or old areas replaced.
Savidan said The Green Circle would charge clients to process their grape marc, at the cost of disposal. They could buy biochar at discounted rates.
Checking a handful of biochar are, from left, Nick Gerritsen, Gavin Beattie from Port Marlborough, and David Savidan of The Green Circle. PENNY WARDLE / MARLBOROUGH EXPRESS
The company was the sole New Zealand distributor of its pyrolysis machine, bought from an Australian manufacturer that planned to take the technology global, Savidan said. The Green Circle designed and owned the New Zealand-made drier.
The company was also talking with Marlborough forest and aquaculture companies, Savidan said. OneFortyOne was looking into transforming wood waste, while New Zealand King Salmon was considering turning dead fish into soil stimulants.
In June 2020, the Marlborough District Council, Massey University and the Ministry for the Environment analysed five options for repurposing grape marc.
In their report, biochar was said to deliver “far and away the best environmental outcome. Going down the biochar route means the industry potentially has the opportunity to offset the emissions from all other parts of the production and supply chain.”
Napier’s iconic National Tobacco Company factory on Ossian St in Ahuriri has gone from one vice to another. It is now home to a brewery, urban winery and, more recently, The National Distillery Company.
Blair Nicholl is doing the seemingly impossible, turning Hawke’s Bay-grown grapes into wine and gin.
It is there that Blair Nicholl is doing the seemingly impossible, turning Hawke’s Bay-grown grapes into wine, then into gin.
A bartender by trade, he has seen firsthand the “ebbs and flows” of the wine and craft beer industries.
He says that New Zealand is one of the biggest wine exporters to the United States and could soon be the powerhouse of the spirit industry.
“It’s what the New Zealand spirits industry has got ahead of them if we band together.”
Nicholl’s foray into distilling came when he, best friend, and business partner Ricardo Reis made a gin using botanicals found in women’s luxury beauty products for a Wānaka event in 2018. Their gin caught the eye of Cardrona’s head distiller, who invited them for a tour.
Bloody Syrah is available exclusively direct from the National Distillery Company.
They relocated to Napier, where Nicholl began distilling from his kitchen. A chance opportunity brought them to the building that had been on his vision board for ten years.
Like the dynamic duo, the owners were from Kāpiti and eager to see what these “Kiwi blokes with a dream” could do.
In early 2020, Nicholl and Reis found themselves in New York – dressed in jandals and T-shirts despite the cold – promoting their gins alongside New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.
“We stood out because we don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we’re deadly serious.”
Interest was growing in their product, and they would soon go on to win many accolades and awards in spirit-making competitions, beating big brands such as Beefeater, Bombay Sapphire and Tanqueray.
A bartender by trade, Nicholl has seen firsthand the “ebbs and flows” of the wine and craft beer industries.
But when Covid-19 hit, the pair “thought the National Distillery dream was over,” Nicholl says.
Bloody Syrah is available exclusively direct from the National Distillery Company.
With no means to sell alcohol, he and Reis began making hand sanitiser using grapes from Clearview winery, owned by long-time friend Tim Turvey, where the pandemic had also brought production to a near halt.
While it allowed them to keep the business going, it was terribly boring for a creative like Nicholl.
Then he got the idea for what became known as Bloody Syrah: a gin made from wine.
“I’m all about trying things that people haven’t done before or say can’t be done.”
“Wine is my first love. It’s something I’m extremely passionate about,” Nicholl says.
But he thought he could go a step further.
Using grapes from the coastal vineyard, Nicholl and Reis made a syrah, aged it in barrels, and played around distilling it into a clear, neutral spirit. Then they added the gin botanicals, distilled it again, put it back into oak, and left it for 12 months, turning it amber.
“We were trying to capture white pepper, and intense berry and earthy tones – the type of syrah that Hawke’s Bay is famous for.”
They bottled about 130 all up, corked and waxed, also like wine. The label draws inspiration from Penfolds, one of Australasia’s oldest wineries, and includes a dedication to Turvey.
Nicholl isn’t sure if his syrah gin is a world first, but it might well be, and it is certainly something he is happy to cross off his bucket list.
“I’m all about trying things that people haven’t done before or say can’t be done.”
At 44% alcohol by volume (ABV), Nicholl describes Bloody Syrah as the “cognac of gins”.
“Sit on one of these at a dinner party, and you only need one or two to be the life of the party. As long as Tim Turvey and myself aren’t there,” he laughs.
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.
Roy Kellahan grew up in Johnsonville in Wellington, in an era when it was affectionately known as Cow Town.
Roy Kellahan, a well-known equestrian enthusiast and entrepreneur, at his Johnsonville riding school.
In the 1940s and 50s, stock drovers moved sheep and cattle along the main road to the stockyards, many of the youth had horses as their mode of transport, and the main social entertainment was seeing a movie at the Empress Theatre on a Saturday afternoon.
Kellahan was born with a passion for horses, and all things Western and Spanish.
At age 10, he surprised his parents by buying his first horse – a lame old mare from the Johnsonville pound, called Betsy.
He would later admit he had not considered how he would look after Betsy.
“In my frantic haste to buy a horse, I didn’t give a paddock a second thought. That would come after I got the horse. During that night, the Kellahan household didn’t get much sleep. The mare was tied to the base of dad’s bean trellis on a long rope, where she could graze on the back lawn.
Roy Kellahan was well known in Johnsonville.
“She somehow managed to pull the trellis down and walk over the still-wet concrete foundations of a new tool shed dad was building and eat a large quantity of carrot tops from his veggie garden. An article appeared a day or so later in the local paper which read ‘Boy brings home unexpected guest for dinner.”
At 16, Kellahan started his first riding school from his parents’ house in Bannister Ave, and the direction of his future was established. From small beginnings, he developed what was to become a successful trekking and riding school based in Ohariu Valley.
The equestrian enthusiast and entrepreneur died in February, aged 81, after a long illness.
His commitment to the horse world meant over the years he brought into the area more than 2000 horses – mostly good strong station hacks from Gisborne, providing quality horse trekking including his famous Moonlight Treks.
Kellahan in the Festival of Wellington, at the Basin Reserve in 1961
Kellahan built and ran Wellington’s first indoor riding school in Ohariu Valley, alongside a fully stocked equestrian saddlery shop and licensed cafe, and manufacturing equestrian horse care products.
He generously let Riding for the Disabled use the indoor facility free of charge, for many years.
Ohariu Valley is now home to many people with horses, embracing the lifestyle he helped establish.
With the help of four friends, Kellahan built the recreational Spanish-themed Country Club.
A facility considered 20 years ahead of its time, it was frequented by Wellington families at the weekend and international corporates during the week.
Roy Kellahan, Rodney Scanlan and Beni Paroli, with a restored buggy in 1959
The club featured two restaurants, tennis courts, a swimming pool, boardroom, billiard room, squash court, sauna, wine cellar and, of course, horse trekking and operated, successfully, for over a decade.
The sale of alcohol was problematic and they began a lengthy battle with bureaucracy. After an eight-year campaign, eventually, the law changed, enabling private clubs to legally serve liquor.
Over the years Kellahan had many friends with whom he shared his love of European history, art, architecture, music, food, wine and culture.
He attributed his passion to his parents giving him a recording of Bolero to play on the gramophone when he was just 10 years old.
Childhood friend Rodney Scanlan said Kellahan was a character.
Marguerite Smith and Roy Kellahan ran a soap business in Porirua.
“By the time Roy was walking he was into mischief – never one to sit still. There were always adventures to be had and that never changed.
“His achievements are the result of hard work, the ability to take risks and being willing to face any challenge thrown at him. Rarely has anyone packed so much into their life.”
He was regarded as a gentleman with a highly developed sense of fun and a strong dislike for injustice, bureaucrats and gorse – a good Kiwi with a mix of culture and a bit of mad cowboy thrown in.
In 2020, he married his partner of 40 years, Marguerite Smith, in unusual circumstances.
As a young girl Smith had been told by her grandmother she would have a long life and a short marriage. Engaged in 2010, she was afraid to take the next step due to a fear that the prophecy would come true.
Roy and Marguerite Kellahan married after a 10-year engagement in 2016. Roy was in the Mary Potter Hospice and was only expected to live a few more days.
In 2016, Kellahan was diagnosed with a rare aggressive form of lymphoma. He was only given days to live and they were married in a ceremony, at the Mary Potter Hospice, in June 2020.
As well as the wedding, the couple had another cause to celebrate – after 10 years they published his autobiography, A Long Ride from Johnsonville.
Marriage proved a good tonic for Kellahan, who rallied and, against all odds, lived another 20 months.
He is survived by Marguerite, his four children and four grandchildren.
By Marguerite Kellahan, with additional reporting from Nicholas Boyack.
Under new ownership, Villa Maria captures a global market
When Matthew Deller decided it was time to bring his family home from Napa Valley in California, there was only one place he wanted to work: Villa Maria.
He made his move in January 2020 after seven years as chief operating officer at Tor Wines – a winery globally renowned for its single-vineyard chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon.
And so, after a roller-coaster journey of sorts, he’s perfectly placed to oversee the first global launch of Villa Maria’s single-vineyard series of wines from tomorrow.
Deller, a master of wine, is Villa Maria’s chief global sales and marketing officer. In his almost two years with the brand, he’s experienced the rapid change brought by Covid-19 as well as seeing Villa Maria pass out of family ownership.
Villa Maria Estate Winery’s Blenheim acreage. Image: Brya Ingram/Stuff/Marlborough Express
Villa Maria’s parent company FFWL, owned by founder Sir George Fistonich, went into receivership late in 2020 and as part of that, Villa Maria was sold to Indevin, New Zealand’s largest wine-making company, in September.
“When we decided we wanted to move back to New Zealand and I was thinking ‘who would I want to work for?’ Deller says. “Villa Maria was the only option. There’s no other winery in New Zealand that makes the calibre of wines that Villa Maria does and that’s not going to change in under the new ownership.
“We’ve all been on a roller-coaster over the past 18 months. But the management at Villa Maria wasn’t exposed too much to that financial side as that was between the family and the banks.
“Indevin is very protective of the brand and what drove its success: it’s all about quality and global critical acclaim. And that’s not my opinion, that comes to us from our wine intelligence research.”
Other significant changes include the way Villa Maria is marketed.
“We’ve renovated every brand,” Deller said. “We’ve brought out Earth Garden range this year which is our first 100 per cent Biogrow-certified brand and fully vegan. And we’ve really ramped our global fine wine programme.”
As part of that global push, this year marks the first time that Villa Maria is doing a worldwide launch of its single vineyard series. That will involve events around the world throughout November. “We’re there in New York, London, Europe and there’ll be dinners, wine-maker tastings with a unified release of these single-vineyard wines.”
Indevin had been on the lookout for a quality New Zealand global brand for some time, says chief executive Duncan McFarlane.
Single vineyard releases are a winery’s way of showing what a particular block of land delivers. The 10 wines Villa Maria are releasing come in tiny volumes – just hundreds of cases for some styles. The grapes are mostly handpicked and many are fermented with wild yeasts.
The idea is to create a series of bespoke wines that Deller says are chosen for their elegance and as “the greatest expression of a particular vineyard”.
The release features vineyards in Auckland (Ihumātao), Gisborne (McDiarmid Hill) Hawke’s Bay (Braided Gravels, Keltern) and Marlborough (Attorney, Taylors Pass, Seaspray, Seddon, Southern Clays).
Deller said it was the right time to make a global push as New Zealand wine – particularly Marlborough sauvignon blanc – was at a “tipping point” in terms of appreciation by critics and collectors.
“Now that New Zealand wines are getting really high scores from international critics, all of a sudden they’re of tremendous interest to the fine wine community, British wine merchants and top New York restaurants. The market has been created by those global critic scores.”
And that maturation of the industry, in terms of quality, has dove-tailed with Covid-19 to create a perfect storm of desire for New Zealand-made wines.
“What happened last year was a huge shift in awareness of, and demand for, New Zealand wine and Brand New Zealand was on fire last year. The insights I have from the US is that a significant part of that is our sustainability story.
“What’s happened this year is another seismic shift – and perhaps one that’s more exciting and of more significance for New Zealanders. We had a small harvest in 2021 but it’s high quality. And with that, we’ve reached a tipping point where New Zealand wines are now recognised as really good. They’ve always been regarded as good but now they moved to really good.”
The Villa Maria Keltern chardonnay.
He noted that one of the world’s leading wine commentators, Jancis Robinson, wrote a glowing report on New Zealand wine, focusing on sauvignon blanc and pinot noir which helped push Marlborough sauvignon blanc from a supermarket staple to standing proudly alongside the best France could offer.
“Marlborough sauvignon blanc had already surpassed France in terms of mass awareness but the more conservative critics have always considered the fine wines of Sancerre as superior to Marlborough sauvignon blanc but that seems to have changed and Marlborough sauvignon blanc is now a fine wine benchmark as well as a reliable benchmark.”
The other thing that’s happened is that a number of factors – including increased costs of packaging and shipping – drove up the price of New Zealand wine and no one blinked. In fact, demand increased.
Deller says not only are people in love with the flavours of New Zealand wine but they are “buying an experience they can’t get from anywhere else” and part of that is a story of sustainability, ethical employers, and a focus on quality.
For Villa Maria, a critical part of that story is staying New Zealand owned. When the receivers came in at FFWL they needed to find over $200m to pay back bank loans. Selling Villa Maria was critical to raising that money and there was a fear an iconic Kiwi brand could end up offshore.
But it stayed in New Zealand thanks to Indevin, a giant wine-maker that most people have never heard of.
Indevin’s model is to grow grapes and make wine. It leaves the sales and marketing to third parties including brewing giant Lion – for whom Indevin produces the Lindauer range, among others – as well as Waitrose and Tesco supermarkets in the UK.
Chief executive Duncan McFarlane says Indevin had been on the lookout for a quality New Zealand global brand for some time.
“Rather than Indevin doing the brand building and holding the sales expertise in-house we’ll partner with someone who has that, and we’ll focus on the parts of the supply chain where we have the expertise and can create value,” he explains.
“But that meant there was a significant part of the New Zealand category that we weren’t participating in – that wasn’t a problem as such as we’d been successful with our model – but we believed that as the New Zealand wine industry matured, with the right brand, the right proposition, there was a lot of additional value to be created.
“Our long-term strategy has been if the right opportunity came along to acquire a genuine global New Zealand brand then that would be a very interesting, exciting and rewarding acquisition.
“Identifying that and actually having the opportunity are two different things.”
McFarlane couldn’t have hoped for a better opportunity than the unexpected sale of Villa Maria after 60 years of family ownership. “We felt that not only was it an amazing opportunity it was an unparalleled opportunity.”
McFarlane says Indevin and Villa Maria will continue to walk their own paths when it comes to sales and marketing, with Indevin remaining a business-to-business model and Villa Maria being a business-to-consumer operation.
But behind the scenes, on the production side, there is huge room for efficiency and growth.
“In many cases, the two businesses literally have vineyards next to each other or in the same street – so it makes sense that the production side of the business will come together over time to work as a team.”
Villa Maria single-vineyard Taylors Pass sauvignon blanc and pinot noir, part of a range of 10 it’s releasing globally.
Adding Villa Maria’s vineyards and expertise to Indevin’s means a diversity of supply that “de-risks” the business on one hand while “putting you in a strong position to maintain and provide consistent quality season-to-season”.
As the ultimate boss, McFarlane has no qualms about Villa Maria hosting a series of global launches during a global pandemic.
“Like any business, we’re conscious of Covid, and management of risk is at the forefront of how we do things, but at the same time there are growth opportunities overseas and where we can do it, and do it safely, it’s business as usual.”
As for his pick of the single-vineyard wines, the chardonnay lover says he’s “quite honestly staggered” by the Keltern Chardonnay from Hawke’s Bay.
Sidebar; The Villa Maria Single Vineyards
Auckland – Ihumātao
Located on Auckland’s Manukau Harbour, Ihumātao sits within a shallow, sheltered volcanic crater with a soil profile that is diverse with a calcified shell and ancient scoria on the edge of the basin, with heavier peat and clay soils toward the centre layered above a volcanic basalt rock base. The immediate proximity to the Manukau Harbour provides a cooling influence, favourable in the retention of fruit acidity during the ripening season.
Gisborne – McDiarmid Hill
Home to expansive fertile plains framed by forested hills on one side and 200km of coastline on the other, the province has an abundance of natural resources. Gisborne’s climate is characterised by warm summers and mild winters. McDiarmid Hill is positioned on an elevated north-facing hillside slope in Patutahi. Taking full advantage of sunlight, drying wind conditions, slightly cooler temperatures and natural water drainage, the additional elevation provides a wonderful advantage for producing this consistently outstanding wine.
Hawkes Bay Braided Gravels | Keltern
The Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing District is characterized by arid, stony gravels laid down over millennia then exposed by a huge flood in 1876 that altered the course of the Ngaruroro River. East of the Maraekakaho region, Keltern is a warm inland site, buffered by the Ngaruroro River. Established on an ancient riverbed that is very dry, but not as hot as the Gimblett Gravels.
Marlborough is surrounded by the inland Kaikoura Ranges to the south and the Richmond Ranges to the north. These rugged mountains are responsible for New Zealand’s driest and sunniest climate with an average of 2435 hours of sunshine, regulated by the cooling ocean influence, elongating the ripening period. Marlborough is composed of three sub-regions, each with its own distinctive characteristics and nuances, which are experienced in every taste.
Kiwis motivated to make delicious and interesting wines under their own labels are changing the way we think about négociant winemaking.
The business of winemaking can be, well, a little dry. Especially if what you are looking for is just something good to drink. But the truth is, who owns and does what can make a qualitative difference to what ends up in your glass. My first job in wine was in a shop that proudly only sold “estate bottled” wine, which meant that all of the wines were made by the same people who grew the grapes. The alternative is probably best described by the French term négociant winemaking, where wine is made with grapes grown by someone else.
In the old world (Europe), a lot is made of the difference between these two models, and despite winemaking being the endpoint of both, they are – for legal and taxation purposes – recognised as different types of businesses.
The cost of land and plant can act as a prohibitive barrier to entry for young adventurous winemakers.
In terms of quality, the general consensus is that wines made by the people who grow the grapes on their own land are better. It makes sense; the farmer who is also the winemaker is invested in the final product from start to end, they understand best how the quality of the fruit they grow determines the quality of the wine they make.
It is also a fair assumption that the grape grower and the négociant winemaker might have conflicting financial motivations that don’t add up to better wine. Beyond this simple idea of quality control, there is also a sense in which an “estate bottled” wine is a unique expression of the specific place and people that it came from, in a way that wine made from purchased grapes won’t be.
In Aotearoa, there is less focus on the difference between these two models of how wine gets made. That is probably to do with small artisan farmer-producers, including winemakers, cheesemakers, and other producers, not historically had the same status here as in Europe.
It is also the case that our winemaking history is simply shorter, and so it makes sense that we’ve looked for trusted brands and flavour profiles, rather than focused on place and tradition as markers of quality, as those places and their traditions are still being established.
What’s more, the accessibility of vineyards and winemaking facilities is not the same here as in the Old World. Where in parts of Europe, forgotten or neglected wine regions have provided an opportunity for young adventurous winemakers to establish themselves at a relatively low cost, here the cost of land and plant can act as a prohibitive barrier to entry.
Kiwis motivated to make delicious and interesting wines under their own labels have however found another way and in doing so, are changing the way we think about négociant winemaking.
Corofin
corofin.nz
Mike and Anna Paterson of Corofin in Marlborough, like the other producers featured here, have neither a winery nor vineyards. Perhaps counterintuitively, it is precisely this lack of a stake in a vineyard that is fundamental to them making wines that are uniquely connected to the sites they come from.
Corofin works mainly with Pinot Noir, with a little chardonnay, and each of their wines come from single sites, small corners of vineyards, all located in the foothills of the southern valleys of Marlborough. Their approach to winemaking is to dial back fruit character and varietal expression, believing that more reserved, savoury wines show better the differences made by the specific geography and geology of the vineyard sites that they want to promote.
This model for making site-specific wines is reflective of the best parts of the négociant model in Burgundy, where law and tradition codify the unique nature of specific parcels of land, and farmers and négociant-winemakers are left to focus on their part in allowing those places to best reflect themselves.
The Patersons go a step further by promoting not just the physical growing conditions of their chosen vineyards, but also the family winegrowers who farm those sites. Not only are they in this sense advocates for the most interesting places to grow grapes in their region, they also shine a light on growers who are committed to best quality farming practices.
The best Corofin recommendation I can give you is to take the opportunity to taste each of the site-specific Pinots of a given vintage. The differences between each of the wines tell the story of those unique sites. A fascinating and delicious exercise.
This particular one from the meticulously farmed Wrekin vineyard is bold, savoury and concentrated, reflective of the relatively low yields taken from the site.
A Thousand Gods
athousandgodswines
Lauren and Simon Sharpe’s story is increasingly familiar. New Zealanders who spent a significant part of their lives and careers learning their craft overseas, in their case France, returning with their young family to put those skills to use in their homeland.
Of course, a return home can be challenging for a number of reasons, not least of which is the cost of starting afresh and wanting to establish your own business.
A Thousand Gods, Blanc, 2020 (Athousandgods.com) $36
The opportunity to purchase fruit from Churton vineyard in Marlborough, one of the best growers and vineyard sites in the country, and to lease space in a shared winemaking facility, meant that the Sharpes were able to establish their label A Thousand Gods relatively quickly after their return, and without the prohibitive capital outlay of purchasing a vineyard, or the lead-time of planting one according to their no doubt exacting standards.
Which is all the better for us, as already their wines are some of the most thoughtful, interesting and delicious in the market.
Being able to get their label underway has also allowed them the time and resources for what is next, which is establishing their own small winemaking facility, opening up further opportunities to experiment and show off their well-honed craft.
Sauvignon blanc, but not as we know it. A precise balance of texture, perfumed aromatics, and just right acidity that adds up to a glass I just can’t put down.
Bryterlater
Some of the freshest and most interesting new New Zealand wines are being made under labels that are a side-hustle for their talented producers.
James + Olivia vintage ’21.
Ambitious young winemakers, such as Bryterlater’s James Graves Opie, are holding down demanding viticultural and winemaking jobs and making their own wine on the side. Connections made in the industry through their ‘day jobs’ provide access to both information about where to source the best fruit, as well as access to expensive equipment and unused space, not to mention a network of seasoned professionals willing to lend advice and the odd hand where needed.
Bryterlater, Swell, Sauvignon Blanc Pet Nat, 2021 – $39
Opie, situated in North Canterbury, sources premium organic fruit from local growers, and with it is crafting some impressive wines. His work with Sauvignon Blanc, especially in his sparkling wines, show new and delicious sides to a varietal many of us may have tired of.
I believe it’s partly the freedom of financial pressure associated with buying land equipment that gives Opie’s approach an air of experimentation, trial and error, and ambition. Like an increasing number of similarly minded winemakers, he’s not letting the absence of his own vineyard and winery stop him from producing his own wines.
The result is more exciting wines to drink, which is always a good thing.
Yeasty creamy texture and fine bubbles in this delicate sparkler are complemented by gentle pear flavours, all of which offset the shouty fruit-forward character normally associated with sauvignon blanc. Really impressive, and super refreshing.
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.
New Zealanders may be surprised to know that the backer of many of their favourite wine brands is a Trump supporter, commentators say.
Bill Foley is an American billionaire whose Foley Family Wines Holdings has the majority stake in Foley Wines, which owns wine brands including Mt Difficulty, Te Kairanga, Vavasour, Roaring Meg, Dashwood, Russian Jack and Boatshed Bay as well as Lighthouse Gin.
A report by the San Francisco Chronicle said Foley had donated US$255,600 (NZ$393,939) to the United States President Donald Trump between 2016 and 2020.
It was the second-largest donation by a California vintner or winery executive to the Trump campaign, the paper said.
The biggest was from Tom Barrack at Happy Canyon Vineyard, worth US$360,600.
Foley Wines has been approached for comment.
David Cormack, who runs PR firm Draper Cormack, said the donations could put New Zealanders off the products.
Mt Difficulty Inspiration Cuvée Pinot Noir 2013
“Many New Zealanders would be deeply disappointed if they learned that some of their favourite so-called Kiwi brands were owned by a Trump-supporting American.”
But Bodo Lang, head of marketing at the University of Auckland, said he thought it unlikely to make a difference.
“There are two reasons for this. Firstly, most wine drinkers are unlikely to be aware of Foley’s political ideology and secondly, even if they are, New Zealand is a relatively apolitical country, meaning that our involvement with politics is relatively low. However, this could change depending on future actions of Trump and how vocal Foley is in his support of Trump.”
Billionaire wine magnate Bill Foley is investing heavily in his South Wairarapa assets.
Another marketing commentator, Ben Goodale, said the donations would be a corporate decision made in the United States, rather than anything to do with local winemakers and specific brands.
“It would be a shame to vilify great Kiwi wines because the parent company donate to the worst US president in history.”
In 2010, Foley and two other parties bought the South Wairarapa luxury lodge Wharekauhau. At the time, the property was estimated to be worth $24 million.
The stems and seeds leftover after pressing left grape marc, which in Marlborough was around 46,000 tonnes of waste a year. | STUFF
Turning waste into hand sanitiser is the next project for a research winery based in Marlborough.
The Ministry of Business and Innovation (MBIE) has awarded $84,700 in funding to Bragato Research Institute (BRI) for a pilot study exploring turning grape marc into hand sanitiser.
Grape marc is the stems and seeds leftover after pressing – which in Marlborough can total as much as 46,000 tonnes of waste per year.
The study would look to turn winery waste into ethanol. Any sanitiser made in the initial eight-month study would be bottled and donated to Marlborough health workers and first responders.
Bragato Research Institute chief executive MJ Loza said the industry was continuously looking at alternative uses for grape marc, and Covid-19 presented BRI with “an opportunity to learn more about its properties while exploring a potential business case for a new product”.
Bragato Research Institute chief executive MJ Loza said the industry was continuously looking at alternative uses for grape marc. | SCOTT HAMMOND/STUFF
“Using winery waste to produce ethanol for hand sanitiser is untested in the New Zealand context with our varietals. We haven’t had the capability to conduct a study like this in New Zealand until now,” Loza said.
“Managing grape marc has probably been viewed as a disposal issue. However, the marc itself is increasingly being studied for other properties.
“Transforming the wine industry’s waste into a value stream is a research priority. Every time we study grape marc, we learn a little more about its potential for a new commercial product.”
In the long term, the project would explore the business opportunity for the industry to turn waste into sanitiser, which would include “more information on costs, the infrastructure needed and technical findings specific to grape marc produced in New Zealand”.
“We know that grape marc is rich in valuable compounds. The challenges lie in finding a new economy for grape marc without creating a bigger environmental footprint, as well as finding a financially viable market for a new product,” Loza said.
Bragato Research Institute trials winemaking equipment, technologies and processes. | SCOTT HAMMOND/STUFF
Funding for the project was secured through MBIE’s Covid-19 Innovation Acceleration Fund, which was created to support research and projects in covid responses, and provide support to develop and deploy products, processes and services.
The project would be led by winery research manager Dr Tanya Rutan and research programme manager Dr Matias Kinzurik.
Bragato officially opened their research winery in February, based at the Blenheim campus of Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.
The new facility will trial winemaking equipment, technologies and processes as well as sustainable winery operations.
It will also provide commercial research winemaking services to suppliers and the industry.
Michael Rubikam and Lisa Rathke | Mar 17 2020 | stuff.co.nz
A US distillery owner who grew increasingly angry as he saw the skyrocketing price of hand sanitiser has decided to do something about it: He’s temporarily converting his operation into a production line for the suddenly hard-to-find, gooey, alcohol-based disinfectant.
Eight Oaks Farm Distillery is temporarily converting its operation into a production line for hand sanitister. [MATT ROURKE/AP]Eight Oaks Farm Distillery filled its first 20 bottles this week, a batch destined for charitable groups that need hand sanitiser but haven’t been able to get it due to the coronavirus pandemic. The family-owned distillery plans to dramatically boost production this week and distribute the bottles to charities as well as offer them at farmers’ markets where it sells its spirits and through its website.
The price: whatever people decide to donate.
“We are in a national emergency,” said brewery founder Chad Butters. “What’s the right thing to do? The right thing to do is support this community by providing something that is in desperate need. We’ll flood the valley with hand sanitiser and drive that price right down.”
Chad Butters, founder of Eight Oaks Farm Distillery, at his facility in Pennsylvania. [MATT ROURKE/AP]Other distilleries are also putting their spirits to work to help fill the shortage of hand sanitisers. Green Mountain Distillers in Morrisville, Vermont, is giving away a hand sanitising solution and Durham Distillery in Durham, North Carolina, is donating one to hospitality colleagues, using high-proof alcohol and other ingredients. Patrons must bring their own containers.
“We wanted to do something that would be as positive as possible,” said Harold Faircloth, an owner of Green Mountain Distillers.
Smugglers’ Notch Distillery, also in Vermont, plans to launch a hand sanitiser later this week at its Waterbury and Jeffersonville sites. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Vermont’s efforts to respond to the virus outbreak.
“I know I have a unique opportunity to help out a little bit and keep my staff employed,” said co-owner Jeremy Elliott, who said 40 per cent of his business comes from bars and restaurants, which are closing in some other parts of the country.
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade group, has been in touch with federal regulatory agencies as well as the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force to clear red tape and “make sure we can be quick and nimble and fill a need in the marketplace”, said chief executive Chris Swonger. “We all want to do our part.”
Swonger said government agencies have been very receptive.
Customers can decide how much to donate for a bottle of hand sanitiser. [MATT ROURKE/AP]At Eight Oaks Farm Distillery, about 115 kilometres north of Philadelphia, workers experimented with high-proof alcohol, aloe and glycerine to get just the right consistency. The recipe is based on one published by the World Health Organization.
As word got out about what Eight Oaks was up to, the distillery began hearing from people and groups in need, including a pediatric cancer organisation and a woman whose 12-year-old son has heart disease and was desperate for hand sanitiser to help keep him safe.
“I cannot find it anywhere and this virus is especially dangerous to him,” she wrote to the distillery.
Stories like that are why Butters was so disgusted with price gougers who were selling sanitiser online for more than US$300 an ounce – and why he decided to shift his company’s focus.
“We’re trying to make sure we continue to provide a paycheck for our employees and support our community however way we can do that,” he said.
The family-owned distillery plans to dramatically boost production of hand sanitiser this week and distribute the bottles to charities. [MATT ROURKE/AP]For most people, the new virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. The vast majority of people recover.
Beyond the humanitarian impulses of individual distillers, the liquor industry also has a vested interest in seeing the virus threat dissipate quickly, given its economic reliance on bars, restaurants and other hospitality and entertainment venues that have been shuttered by the outbreak.
Brad Plummer, spokesman for the American Distilling Institute and editor of Distiller Magazine, said he’s been seeing a lot of talk among distillers interested in converting part of their operations to hand sanitiser.
“The hospitality industry is going to be decimated by this and they are our primary clients. We’re looking for ways to help in the response to this, but also to find other ways to look for revenue streams,” he said.
(These are some excerpts from an article which actually canvassed 10 things you might want to know about wine. I have picked out several that I found more interesting. The rest, in fact, we didn’t want to know.)
What is orange wine if it’s not from oranges?
The new rosé? Orange wine is having a moment. Photo: Edwina Pickles
Orange, some say, is the new rosé, occupying the demilitarised zone between red and white. The colour crosses a spectrum – from pale apricot to enraged Trump, all the way to amber – but what’s really different about orange wine is the way it’s made. Traditionally, red wines are made from the juice of red grapes plus grape skins. Whites are made without skins.
Orange wines are made from white grapes but get the red-wine treatment – the juice is macerated with the skins, a technique dating back 8000 years to wine’s birthplace, Georgia. The resulting texture, tannin and colour means these “skin-contact” wines have more in common with reds than whites; styles vary from fruity, floral or earthy to sour and funky.
What is natural wine and why are people so excited about it?
Natural winemaking is a broad church in which wines are generally (purists say must be) made from grapes grown without commercial chemicals. Processing takes place with minimal “intervention” – so, for example, the wine may not be filtered to remove cloudiness. Additives, such as sulphur dioxide – used for centuries to keep wine tasting fresh – are shunned or kept to a minimum. It’s a departure from the kind of large-scale industrial winemaking that values hygiene and consistency over quirks and imperfections.
As with conventional wines, quality varies hugely. There’s no regulation of what’s called natural, so if you’re going that way to avoid chemicals, look for certified organic or biodynamic wines – they’re more likely to be what you’re paying for. When made by winemakers of skill and integrity, the best natural wines celebrate quality, individuality and character – hallmarks of all great wines, regardless of whether they’re pitched as natural.
What’s better – Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio?
The wine world can be daunting. Photo: Jennifer Soo
Same grape, different name – one name is French, the other Italian, with “gris” and “grigio” both meaning “grey”. In Europe the French approach to making gris produces a highly perfumed wine with plenty of mouthfeel; grigio from Italy is often (not always) a crisper, lighter wine. “Better” is in the eye of the beholder – good news is they’re all food-friendly styles. So in short, no difference in the grape, just the name.
Why might some wines contain traces of eggs, fish or milk?
Egg whites with fish bladders and milk: a dish that might make guests at a Game of Thrones banquet actually welcome the post-dinner massacre. Yes, it’s medieval stuff – each of these has been used for centuries to “fine” wine. Fining is a process in which one or more of these proteins is dropped into unfinished wine to bind with components that taste bitter, astringent, or are likely to make the wine hazy. They are then removed. Traces, as the label states, may remain. If any of the above have been used you’ll find them listed on the label as allergens. The fish bladder derivative also goes by the name isinglass and is rarely used in Australia but egg whites and milk products are still common.
How long will a wine keep after it’s been opened?
Like fish and houseguests, opened wine smells less appealing after three days. Aim to finish an open bottle over no more than two nights. As a rule of thumb, red wines stay in condition for longer than whites (some robust reds taste better on day two). Exposure to air changes the aroma and flavour of opened wine, so reseal a bottle you’re not planning to finish in one go.
A bottle that’s mostly full will last better than one with only a glass or two left. It’s about the proportion of air to wine – more air in the bottle means faster deterioration. Store an opened bottle upright, not on its side. If you keep a clean, empty half-bottle handy, decant unfinished wine into that – it will stay fresher than in a full-size bottle. Otherwise, start scouting wine-saving devices.
(This last item may not reflect editorial opinion, surely once the bottle is opened it deserves to be finished in one sitting. The person I live with frequently draws my attention to the week that passes between a tasting and when the committee downs the tasting leftovers, but members may not understand the deterioration that has occurred during that time and the generous effort made by committee members to get rid of these leftovers on their behalf.)
Strawberry Fare owner Katy Pearce believes many loyal patrons will miss its popular lemon chocolate cheesecake.
Diedre Mussen – Stuff
Desperate dessert diners have emerged in droves to book seats at the soon-to-close Wellington restaurant Strawberry Fare.
The Kent Tce restaurant will shut its doors on May 29, disappointing many loyal sweet-toothed patrons who fear missing their favourite sugar hit.
Owner Katy Pearce was inundated with people booking tables after announcing its impending closure on social media at midday on Tuesday, forcing her to stop taking any further reservations by Tuesday evening.
“It’s been overwhelming. I feel so terrible to say to people we just can’t take any more bookings.”
One of her maitre d’s, Caitlin Barrie, suggested posting news of the closure on the restaurant’s Facebook page, a day after staff were told about it on Monday.
Pearce said she knew it would create huge interest, but agreed with Barrie’s encouraging words: “Let’s go out with a bang”.
Within about eight hours, all their last bookings were full with hundreds of people emailing and phoning in.
“I said to Caitlin afterwards, ‘You got your bang’.”
The art deco restaurant opened in 1992 in a remodelled former funeral parlour and swiftly became a popular institution for its sweet treats.
Pearce said it was a hard decision to close-up shop, but the building needed repairs and she wanted a break to spend more time with her three daughters, aged from 6 to 12 years.
“I’ve worked every day for the last 24 years. That’s what owning your own business is like. It will be so nice for me to have a break.”
Many people had posted messages on social media mourning the inner-city restaurant’s closure, reminiscing about special occasions over favourite desserts, which moved her to tears.
“It’s been really lovely. I haven’t realised how much impact it’s had.”
News of the closure forced the Christchurch-based restaurant of the same name to clarify it was still business as usual.
“Strawberry Fare in Christchurch is not closing. Strawberry Fare in Wellington is closing. Not us,” its Facebook page said.
![Eight Oaks Farm Distillery is temporarily converting its operation into a production line for hand sanitister. [MATT ROURKE/AP]](http://member.cellarclub.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/covid-19-03.jpg)
![Chad Butters, founder of Eight Oaks Farm Distillery, at his facility in Pennsylvania. [MATT ROURKE/AP]](http://member.cellarclub.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/covid-19-04.jpg)
![Customers can decide how much to donate for a bottle of hand sanitiser. [MATT ROURKE/AP]](http://member.cellarclub.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/covid-19-05.jpg)
![The family-owned distillery plans to dramatically boost production of hand sanitiser this week and distribute the bottles to charities. [MATT ROURKE/AP]](http://member.cellarclub.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/covid-19-06.jpg)
