THE ENEMIES OF WINE
Growing grapes and making wine - it sounds idyllic doesn't it? It certainly can be, if everything goes according to plan. Viticulture, however, is an outdoor horticultural pursuit and, as such, it is far from predictable. Just in case you are starry-eyed and thinking about planting a patch of grapes, we would like to point out some of the problems that you might encounter. Even if you are completely sane, and the only effort you intend to put into fine wine is pulling the cork, it won't hurt to learn about some of the potholes along the vinous highway.
Let's say the winter pruning was done on time and the early spring was warm, resulting in a perfect bud burst. It's a magic time in the vineyard when millions of little buds swell, luminescent small leaves unfold in a myriad shades of bright green and the grape flowers start to appear. The vineyard is a verdant but tender carpet. But suddenly there is a cold snap and that night Jack Frost decides to pay a visit. Within the space of an hour or so it's all history, so to speak. As it has been a calm night the next day is likely to be brilliantly fine. This doesn't matter. Even if the rest of the growing season is the most brilliant you have ever known, it won't do any good. As a number of Hawke's Bay vineyards found out this year, there will be virtually no crop as the flowers have been destroyed. Frosts can occur in virtually all New Zealand's viticultural regions. On nights when there was a risk we used to hire helicopters to bring warm air down from above and spread it over the vineyard but we found this too unreliable. Now all of our blocks are protected by large wind machines, which do the same job.
The period of frost risk has passed and the vines are unscathed. The vineyard is redolent with the heady sweet perfume of grape flowers. The tiny petals have opened to allow fertilisation. Then the weather becomes cool, cloudy and perhaps starts to drizzle, an all too common scenario in our Kiwi maritime climate. If this happens the grapes won't set properly, which means the berries don't become fertilised and either remain small or drop off. The result is the same, a drastic reduction in crop.
Let's say you have avoided these problems and you have a good crop of berries which are developing well. The day is sultry when ominous black clouds begin to appear. They boil overhead and suddenly there is a flash of lightning. Behind it comes a band of hail which, like a scythe, cuts a swath through the vineyard, slashing leaves and splitting the grapes. A bad hail strike can effectively wipe out a crop.
Even without these trials you have to have good weather over most of the growing season, and especially for the month or two before harvest, in order to bring in top quality grapes. If it is too hot they may ripen quickly and lose their acid so that the wine lacks flavour and is flabby. Should it be too cool, however, the wine can taste green and be thin and acid. Damp weather may cause the berries to rot and go mouldy.
Even if it is one of those years all wine makers dream about and fate has played no tricks, giving you her best card at every turn, she still has a wild one or ones that she can throw from her pack. They literally fly at you. In many parts of New Zealand birds are a major vineyard pest and can rapidly destroy the entire crop.
A lot of vineyards have the appearance of a war zone over vintage with gas cannons going off regularly and motor cycle riders circulating continuously while honking horns. At Pegasus Bay we have opted for the quiet life and cover all our grapes with nets. The vineyard looks like a giant spider web. It is expensive but it's worth it.
These are but some of the enemies of good wine. Trifles such as grape diseases, the problems of wine making and the like haven't been mentioned. With all of these hazards and the vagaries of nature, it is not surprising that there is variation in wine quality from year to year. If you grow grapes in a hot climate you don't have such problems and there is little vintage variation between the wines. Generally, however, they aren't as flavoursome and tend to be more flabby. In cool climate grape growing Mother Nature has to give you optimal conditions at many points during the season in order to produce a top vintage.
So, do you still want to be a grape grower and wine maker? It was President Roosevelt who said "When they put rooves over farms I will put my money in them". We know you can make a small fortune from vineyards, but you have to start with a large one. It is just as well there are a few nuts around. The world would be a dull place, and a dry one, without them!
THE BURGUNDIAN EXPERIENCE
There is something very special about the wines of Burgundy, which is reflected in their price. They are amongst the most expensive bottles in the world. The grapes of Burgundy, pinot noir and chardonnay, have been transported throughout the wine growing world but give their best in a cool climate, which, after all, is what they are used to at home. Kiwi pinots and chardonnays do not mimic those of Burgundy but are distinctive wines in their own right. The special craft skills needed to coax the best out of these grapes, however, are as applicable in Waipara as they are in France. This particularly applies to the somewhat temperamental pinot noir. You need perfect pinot grapes to make fine wine, but having the former in no way guarantees the latter. Our wine makers have worked for three vintages in Burgundy, the most recent being 2001. To just finish doing one vintage in the southern hemisphere and then repeat the process in the north is a masochistic experience but they are prepared to sacrifice themselves for your wine. We hope you appreciate it.
SERIOUS CUISINE AT THE BAY
Summer is here and its splendid aromas are wafting on the breeze. In our neck of the woods they are particularly enticing because, intermingled with the lively freshness of the countryside and heady garden scents, is the savoury aroma of delicious food. Yes, we have reopened the Pegasus Bay restaurant which we had closed during the initial construction phases of our new barrel hall.
Our kitchen is under the control of the very talented Leungo Lippe, who has worked at top restaurants in New York, Washington and London for Marco Pierre White. He is bursting with exciting food ideas and is specialising in fresh seasonal regional foods. Come and sample the menu (click here for details). We are sure you won't be disappointed.
FROM THE PRESCRIPTION PAD
OF CLONES, CLONING AND DOLLY
"Well, hello Dolly", say the lines of the familiar song. But whether Dolly really belongs here or not, is another question. Dolly, the first sheep, in fact the first animal, ever to be cloned, seemed totally relaxed about her existence, as far as one could judge from the newspaper photographs. Cloning has certainly become newsworthy hype. Professors of bioethics gnash their gums on television and commentators pronounce the reduction of man and womankind into a soup bowl of DNA.
To us viticulturalists it is all a bit of a yawn. We have been cloning vines for yonks. That, of course, is what we do when we take a cutting from one plant and grow it into another independent one by putting it into the ground. It is the same genetic material replicated, not once, not a hundred, not a thousand, but millions and millions of times. Our vineyards consist of row upon row of genetically identical vines. We call them clones.
"But", I can hear you say, "wouldn't that lead to a boring uni-dimensional wine? One clone will have a limited number of features and these may dominate the final brew." You are correct, most varieties of grapes, however, have a number of different clones. These are particular strains which over the years have been selected by grape growers and wine makers because of their particular attributes. Each clone has a slight genetic variation which means that the grapes it produces are somewhat different from those of other clones, although there is enough similarity for them still to be regarded as the same variety.
With no grape is this more evident than with pinot noir. Clones show variation in colour, aroma, flavour, fruitiness, body weight, acidity, tannin structure and the like. Each clone has special features which are largely unique and thus not fully replicated by any other clone. Climate and soil make a big difference to pinot noir quality but so does clone. When people talk about regional variation of pinot noir, they sometimes do not appreciate that the clonal mix in different viticultural areas can be quite different. A new vineyard often propagates from an adjacent one and hence the spectrum of clones in an early established pinot noir producing area, such as Canterbury, is likely to be quite different from that seen in a newer one, such as Central Otago.
We believe having a mixture of clones in pinot noir is vital if you wish to achieve complexity in the wine. Those made from one or two clones tend to emphasis only a small number of features of this marvellous grape. They might thus be forward, fruity and voluptuous but lack savoury, gamy elements, which can be found in great Burgundy, especially if bottle aged. Some clones have more herbal characters, while others display jammy qualities. Lighter soft wines are best if drunk early and clones with more tannin are needed for wines that are intended to lay down. The clones which you have and the proportions in which you blend them into your wine are crucial in determining the type and quality of the final product.
We have been quietly working with different clones to see how they perform in our particular vineyard. It is a painstaking process. Even after you decide which clones you want to use it will be three or four years before you know what each has the potential to add to you blend. We feel we have made considerable progress. Our first pinot noir wines were made out of two or three clones. This has gradually expanded and we now have almost a dozen different ones planted in our vineyard. While we don't pretend we have all the answers to the perfect pinot, we can assure you we are working on it. Our pinot, like that of a handful of innovative Kiwi wineries, and indeed top Burgundies, can be regarded as a work in progress. Our aim is to produce not only succulent fruity pinot but also a wine with a backbone of ripe tannins to aid longevity and multiple layers of complexity which will unfold with cellaring. What we are really seeking is a prescription to help us remain virile while ageing gracefully, rather than the elusive and facile elixir of youth.
We were thrilled when our pinot was chosen to be one of eight to be showcased at the official tasting of the 2001 Pinot Noir Celebration held in Wellington earlier this year. The sad thing about being perfectionists, however, is that you are never completely satisfied with anything, even what you have done yourselves. You always keep picking holes in it and trying to do better.
But even if we fluke it and produce the perfect pinot we don't want to clone it. That would be far too tedious and take away our challenge. After all, each wine is the child of a particular vintage and can never be exactly replicated. It is this variation which makes families and pinots so fascinating and lovable!
Cheers, Ivan Donaldson
