2011 Vintage Report – the season of weird

Rainfall (mm)

Season             10-11   09-10   08-09   07-08   06-07   05-06

October             40         63          70          88        126         67       

November         29         53          11          28          61         18

December          25        49           91         74           60         41

January              76     114              7         16           31         24

February           11        17          121         29           10         37

March                85       45            35         39           44         67       

April                 103         7            37         98           43          61         

Totals               369    348          372      372          375        315    

Growing Degree Days (heat units)

Season              10-11  09-10   08-09 07-08   06-07   05-06

October             107       86         102       112       113        113

November         236      146        186       176       181       156

December          346      220       247        241      169       280

January              347      266       290       324      274       290

February            313      264       244       255      223       234

March                 214       215      163        233      260      171

April                      95       141      100        127      108       151

Totals               1658    1338     1332      1396   1328     1395

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional” – Hunter S. Thompson. The season of weird got underway with a Spring devoid of frosts, the first for many years. Having finally installed a wind machine in the Home Block last year the frost gods had the last laugh as it sat idle, mocking our $50K extravagance. Ah well, there’s nothing surer than that we will need it in the future.

A strong La Nina phase of the Southern Oscillation Index was the dominant feature of the growing season. La Nina years are typically less windy, warmer, more humid with increased risk of late season rain, and so it proved to be. The head-scratching data, which are the main prod for the ‘season of weird’ comment, are the growing degree days which show a scorchingly high 1658 heat units. I have looked back at the daily temperature numbers and what is clear is that while daily maximum temperatures were slightly higher than average, it was exceptionally high minimum temperatures (warmer nights) that have skewed the seasonal degree days figure. These warmer night temperatures are consistent with La Nina years which do tend to see warmer, humid air from the sub-tropics drawn further south.

So, we experienced a very warm, dry, yet humid season with above average March-April rainfall. The effect of this in the vineyard was average to above-average crops, an earlier-ripening season but an extended harvest period as we worked around rain during harvest. As the grapes were healthy leading in to harvest, and rainfall was intermittent over that time, botrytis was only a minor issue with small losses of grapes selected out at picking. Optimal flavours arrived at lower sugar levels this year but, somewhat surprisingly, acid and ph were ideal and seemingly unaffected by the warmer nights which typically reduce harvest acid levels, all part of the weird theme. Overall wine quality looks likely to be above average; not the exceptional vintage we were anticipating before the late season rain intervened but still plenty to look forward to.

Cheers,

Here are the average harvest parameters for each variety:

Variety       Brix         pH           Acidity (g/l)     Yield (t/ha)

Chardonnay            22.5              3.3                        7.2                                  8

Pinot Noir                23                 3.4                         8.5                                 8

Riesling                    21.6               3.1                         8                                    8

Sauvignon Blanc      23                 3.2                         7.5                               10

Roger Parkinson

June 2011

We’re all in this together ….. yeah right

My alternative title for this blog was something along the lines of “why promoting domestic consumption of New Zealand wine will be vital for price recovery and why industry politics will ensure it doesn’t happen” ………. very catchy (not) and hence the Tui rip-off.

The big unanswered question for the wine industry is whether domestic consumers will follow NZ wines back up the price chain when the wine supply/demand equation comes back in to balance.

The imported wines that used to populate the sub $10 market before NZ wine migrated downwards are still waiting in the wings so it will not be any general shortage of cheap wine that provides the answer to future consumer behaviour in respect of NZ wine. Nor, despite the general industry view that the quality of the discounted NZ wines was so much better than the imported wines they displaced, will that automatically ensure that consumers share that view or even care, in the face of price rises.

Given that the recession and over-supply occurred simultaneously it has been impossible to accurately assess how much of the discounting has been supply driven and how much has been due to recessionary pressures on consumer spending. However, it is reasonable to state that the more that recessionary factors are the cause, then even with resolution of over-supply issues,  price increases for NZ wine in the domestic market will not be possible without a major turnaround in consumer confidence.

Based on those realities I think it would be very unwise to assume that domestic consumers will simply accept paying more for NZ wine if it is more expensive than they have been accustomed to paying over the last two years. My view is that wineries and the industry as a whole will have to re-establish the consumer proposition that under-pinned pre-discounting prices for NZ wine, if we are to return to those price points.

At the right time, wouldn’t it be a good idea for NZ Winegrowers to co-ordinate and fund a campaign to reignite New Zealanders passion for the quality (as opposed to the cheap price) of our wines? Given that NZ remains the largest market for NZ wine, and the only market for a large number of small wineries, it should be a straightforward decision to make, shouldn’t it? Not a chance, or at least not while representation on the board of NZ Winegrowers is guaranteed to be dominated by the interests of the large wine companies.

The last time the question of domestic promotion of NZ Wine arose,  around 1995 as I recall, a Buy NZ Wine campaign was proposed. The proposal was promptly squashed and replaced with the sop of an expensive and glorified trade show in Auckland. It was never stated but the inference was that the large companies vetoed the original proposal as it would involve  some of their levy contributions funding competition with their own commercial advertising and interests.

So, although promotion of NZ wine in the domestic market may be an important step in re-establishing sustainable prices for our wines, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that NZ Winegrowers will fund or coordinate it if the large companies put their own commercial interests ahead of the team we are all supposedly part of. If I’m proven wrong any time in the next two years I will send an apologetic bottle of wine to the CEO of each of the category 3 (large) wine companies. I will not be holding my breath.

Are small winegrowers going the way of the dinosaurs?

I read an article somewhere this week about the dilemma facing small contract grape-growers in Marlborough. The typical model was described as professional or farming couples in their early fifties setting up, and living on, a contract vineyard with a view to selling at 70′ish to fund retirement. The problem is that many of those growers are now ready to sell but, given the current industry turmoil and general recessionary pressures, the next generation of buyers are either hiding, or don’t exist.

That got me thinking about small wineries. Of the nearly 700 wineries in New Zealand, some 600-odd, including us, are in the “small” category (producing less than 22,000 cases). Of those 600-odd small wineries, around 450 are actually producing 2,000 cases or less each year. Most, if not all, of these small wineries will be family-owned and operated. I’m guessing that the exit strategy for most small wineries is similar to the contract growers described above i.e. sell profitably to a younger buyer in similar circumstances as they were when they started, and retire on the proceeds. Other alternatives include keeping it in the family for the next generation or selling to a another winery.

For the vast majority of the 450 wineries producing less than 2,000 cases, keeping it in the family or selling to another winery are not realistic options. On the one hand, a winery of that size is unlikely sustain an income for a new generation and at the same time fund the retirement of the founders, nor, on the other hand is it likely to have enough financial attraction or scale to appeal to, or to practically incorporate in to, another winery’s business. In the absence of a foreign investor cargo cult  that leaves the option of selling to a younger, adequately resourced, skilled and motivated buyer and the savage destruction of wealth wrought by the global financial crisis has dramatically drained that pool.

So, unless small winery profitability improves I fear that owners, when they wish to exit, are going to find themselves in the same predicament as the growers described above, either unable to find a buyer or unable to retire. Another aggravating factor is that the founders of many of our pioneering small wineries are from the large baby-boomer generation and will be looking to exit at the same time in the not-too distant future thus putting more pressure on finding a pool of potential buyers.

The likelihood, in my view, is that many small wineries will simply cease to exist. An inevitable part of the re-balancing/evolution of the wine industry maybe, but while necessary, I for one will mourn the loss of diversity, dreams and history such an extinction would represent.

It ain’t rocket science; age-worthy Sauvignon Blanc

The latest edition of DrinksBiz (August-September 2010) has an advertorial piece on p.5 about Montana, oops sorry, Pernod Ricard New Zealand,  aspiring to produce a “top-shelf” Sauvignon Blanc that will age for, gasp, “a couple of years down the track.” The article is a bit coy about price but speculates that aligning with “benchmark wines of the world” would mean a price of $80-100.  This extra price is to be achieved “because it does age well, without losing aromas and flavour, and actually improves in the bottle.”

So, Pernod wish to join the worryingly-increasing ranks of New Zealand wineries releasing super, ultra, or whatever the marketing term du jour is, elite, tiny production wines at whatever stellar price the marketing department has decided will confer the patina of reputation normally earned by decades of consistent excellence or, if lightning strikes, a couple of 95+ scores from the eminence grise of wine rating, Robert Parker. As an aside, at 13.8% alcohol, Pernod’s 2009 trial version might well suit Parker’s predilections.

Anyway, the point of this blog is not to dis Montana (well not too much) but more to make the point that producing New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that improves with age is not so complicated that it’s attainment should automatically bestow the sort of cachet and price the article contemplates.

The vineyard disciplines required to produce the high extract, physiologically ripe grapes that make age-worthy Sauvignon Blanc possible (modest crop levels, fully-exposed bunches, reduced leaf layers) are not rocket science but nor are they , when taken as a whole, the standard practices for producing the high impact, herbaceously zingy, drink-now wines which have put New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc on the world wine map.

There are a number of wineries, ours among them, who have been producing age-worthy Sauvignon Blanc for years. While I suspect we would all enjoy a guilty pleasure at the thought of receiving $80-100 a bottle for those wines I’m sure we would also share a chuckle at the thought that this was some sort of breakthrough or novelty. The real challenge is to gain a wider appreciation of the charms of quality, aged Sauvignon Blanc. If Pernod’s project helps achieve that, great, but $80-100 needs to be earned not just claimed.

Roger Parkinson

OI Chardonnay Tasting with Bob Campbell, 29 July 2010

OI hosted, and Bob Campbell MW presented, a 12-wine tasting of Chardonnay from Burgundy, New Zealand, and Australia at The French Bistro, for local winegrowers in Martinborough. My abbreviated notes follow. The tasters were asked to select a preferred wine (*) in each flight and the highest number of preferences decided the issue.

Flight One (in tasting order)

Neudorf 2008 Moutere $75 – restrained nose, rich new world style.
Girardin 2007 Puligny Combettes $140 – funky, high extract, great texture.
Coldstream Hills 2006 Reserve $NA – acid-driven texture, complex, mid-weight, balanced. *
Craggy Range 2008 Les Beaux Cailloux $62 – rich yet elegant, finesse and length.

Flight Two (in tasting order)

Fevre 2008 Chablis $43 – funky, fresh, mineral, crisp.
Fevre 2008 Chablis Vaulorent 1er Cru $90 – clean, mid-weight, great texture, minerality.*
Fevre 2008 Chablis Vaudesir Grand Cru $135 – brighter fruit, mineral, touch phenolic.
Toolangi 2006 Yarra Valley $50 – rich, complex new world style. oak dominant finish.

Flight Three (in tasting order)

Te Mata Elston 2008 $35 – soft, seamless with great texture and balance.
Bouchard 2007 Puligny Montrachet Folatieres $170 – pure but rather closed, time?
Bouchard 2007 Meursault Genvrieres $150 – fat, rich, delicious.*
Bouchard 2007 Chevalier Montrachet $500 – elegant yet powerful, texture and length.

My three general observations from the tasting are:

- price and preference were poorly correlated, excellent wines at widely varying prices.
- Chablis remains a unique expression of Chardonnay.
- Style parameters of quality Burgundy and quality New World Chardonnay surprisingly convergent with Burgundy showing more fruit to complement their texture and extract and lovely texture and balance now coming to the fore in the top New World examples.

Roger Parkinson
July 2010