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handcrafted wines
This is a description so commonly used by winemakers that some might think it does not mean much. Wrong. It is especially apt when used by small winegrowers to describe their process and wines.
In Anticipation .....
The next few weeks for winemakers are an incongruous mix of being busy getting ready for the vintage, but also getting impatient at the seemingly long drawn-out waiting period whilst the grapes become fully ripe.
The Magic of Oak
Wooden containers have been used for storage and transport of wine for over 2500 years. According to Herodotus writing around 450 BC, Armenian merchants shipped wine in hollowed out palm wood casks down the Tigris River to Babylon in the 7th Century BC. Constructing barrels from staves was a Celtic invention around 350 BC. The Celts in central and western Europe used them for transporting wine and a range of other goods. Julius Caesar noted their use during his campaigns in France in the 50s BC.
Accolades for Matakana Wines
In 2010 the University of Auckland Wine Science Department established the “Upper North Island Wine Challenge”. This competition “…was initiated from a perceived need for the region and its sub-regions to be recognized as making a unique and historical contribution to the New Zealand wine industry”. The region encompasses Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty. Many of the sub-regions within this area share similar climate and soils conditions, and even where they differ, they remain more similar to each other in “terroir’ characteristics than to the wine regions further south. So this competition really allows valid comparison of like with like.
Taste is a fickle thing
Over the time since we opened our cellar door in 1997 it has been noticeable how much more experienced and confident people have become in their wine tasting. In the past, individuals in a group would often defer to one of their number who was perceived to have tasting expertise, whereas today many people will engage in insightful discussion about the wines they taste.
growing up savvy
New Zealanders are drinking much more NZ-grown wine than ever. In the last ten years our consumption of home grown wine has increased gradually from 44% of the total to 71%, with most of that increase in the last three years.
excise – “a hateful tax…”
Excise is the tax administered by the Customs Department which levies alcohol products, tobacco and petrol. Excise taxes have a long history, having first been imposed under that name in England in the mid-17th Century. Samuel Johnson in his 1755 Dictionary of the English Language describes excise as “A hateful tax levied upon commodities and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.” An excellent description, although I am sure Customs Department staff do not see themselves as “wretches”.
my, how we've grown!
I can recall quite vividly my first experience of “serious” New Zealand wine. A sophisticated friend brought a bottle of Montana Pinotage to share with us over dinner way back in 1969. It was probably 1968 vintage. I was an inexperienced imbiber at the time but remember being surprised at how enjoyable this wine was, and how wonderfully it complemented the meal. That was a seminal wine experience for me – the moment the light went on for the first time.
boom, bust or both?
Mahurangi Matters (1 June) reported that some local grape growers were removing some of their vines. This raises questions about whether this indicates a malaise either in the Matakana wine region or in the NZ wine industry as a whole, or what?