Robin Ransom's Ramblings blog

Staying Ahead of the Pack

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:51:22 +1300

With the explosion of winegrowing in New Zealand in the last 30 years or so it is easy to believe that we occupy an important place in the world of wine. The New Zealand wine industry has undoubtedly made astonishing achievements in a very short time, but it is important that we do not become complacent about this if we are to retain the leadership role we presently enjoy, because the rest of the world is rapidly catching up.

Vineyards have apparently been planted recently in Sweden (believe it or not) and there has been a small but quality-focused winegrowing industry in a number of elevated, temperate-climate regions of India for some time. But China is the country where winegrowing is growing rapidly and on a very large scale. China is now the world’s fifth-largest consumer of wine, which is perhaps believable given that country’s vast population, but less believable is the fact that it is now the world’s fifth-largest producer of wine.

I was in the province of Shanxi in northern China recently and visited a vineyard and winery development. Shanxi province has a population half that of the UK and the main city, Taiyuan, is about the size of Sydney. Like everything in China the winegrowing project is on a heroic scale. The vineyard will eventually be over 100 times bigger than our own and will comprise hundreds of small plots of vines, owned by the families which have farmed there for generations. They have grown maize and sweet corn mainly in recent times. The grapes planted to date are cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc, with a bit of chardonnay. Total production will eventually be around double the amount of wine currently produced in New Zealand from the cabernet sauvignon grape.

What I found perhaps slightly surprising is that the people involved in the project are thoroughly devoted to the notion of producing very high quality wine and it is not just lip-service. They consulted much more comprehensive climate records than are available to us in selecting the site and vineyard management and monitoring so far has been scientifically rigorous. When they construct the winery over the coming months, it will be “state of the art” - no expense will be spared in acquiring the most modern equipment and technology.

If this is typical of what is happening elsewhere in China and in other countries, the biggest threat to the New Zealand wine industry is not the scale on which winegrowing is expanding around the world, but the dedication to quality. The reputation of the New Zealand wine industry is founded on our quality ethos and rests solely upon that notion today. We will never be able to compete with other countries on volume or price, so the lesson for us is to avoid the cut-price bulk-wine mentality which large sections of the Australian wine industry have succumbed to and redouble our focus on the quality of the wine we produce.

Wine Label Speak for Beginners

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:00:00 +1200

The language of wine labels can seem curious. Here are a few explanations about information commonly displayed on labels.

“Contains Sulphur Dioxide” (SO2, Sulphites, Preservative 220). Sulphur dioxide is the chemical compound most commonly used in winemaking. It is used as a preservative and a disinfectant and is also commonly used in the production and storage of other beverages and foods (although generally much more liberally than its use in winemaking). It has been used since Roman times and is doubly valuable to the winemaker because it both inhibits oxidation in wine and also has a powerful anti-microbial effect.

Almost all winemakers around the world use SO2 and it is invariably used sparingly. For example, when we bottle red wines we adjust the level of free SO2 in the wine to 20 parts per million, which is a miniscule amount. In New Zealand it is compulsory to display this information on the label. In France it is not permitted to display it.

“Contains 8 Standard Drinks” (or whatever number). A Standard Drink is a fixed but somewhat arbitrary measure of alcohol, (or ethanol, to be more accurate).This concept came into use as a means of giving people information about how much alcohol they are ingesting, regardless of the form in which they are drinking it, ie – wine, beer, spirits or whatever. In New Zealand and Australia a standard drink is 10 grams of ethanol (which is 12.7mls, since ethanol is lighter than water). This means a bottle of wine at 13% alcohol contains 7.7 standard drinks, and at 14%, 8.3. It is compulsory in New Zealand to display this information on the label.

“13% Vol, 13% Alc/Vol” (or similar wording). Also compulsory. The amount of alcohol in wine is directly correlated with the amount of sugar in the grapes at the time of picking, because the process of grape juice being turned into wine is essentially the process of yeast converting sugar into alcohol. The level of alcohol in wine is determined by the weather during the season: hot and dry means more sugar in the grapes, while cooler weather produces less sugar.

“Egg whites (or milk products) have been used to purify this wine in accordance with traditional winemaking techniques. Traces may remain” (or similar wording). This process is called “fining”. The proteins in egg whites (albumin) and milk (casein) are very effective in removing some of the ultra-microscopic soluble particles in wine which can contribute harsh flavours, but which cannot be removed by filtration. Fining is most commonly used with red wines to remove astringent and bitter tannins. These products are used only in very tiny amounts, so they are generally undetectable by chemical analysis in finished wine. Despite this it is compulsory in New Zealand to mention their use because some people are allergic to dairy products or eggs.

“2010” (or 2011 or whatever). The year on the label is the year in which the grapes are picked. Most white wines will be bottled during the year of picking, whereas most red wines are bottled during the following year, or later. If the label shows a year of vintage (2010) and/or a region (Matakana) and/or a grape variety (or varieties) then by law, at least 85% of the wine in the bottle must have been harvested in that year and from that region, and made from that grape variety.

Sustainable Winegrowing

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 13:15:45 +1200

NZ Wine is the national organisation of the New Zealand grape and wine sector, funded under statutory authority through levies on grape and wine production. One of NZ Wine’s most important initiatives since the late 1990s has been to establish and promote the sustainable winegrowing project. This has been enthusiastically embraced by the industry, and NZ Wine estimates that in 2012 94% of the country’s producing vineyard area is participating in the Sustainable Winegrowing NZ programme.

Membership is granted after passing an independent and rigorous audit which is repeated annually. The audit covers everything from the types, amounts and timing of fungicide, herbicide and pesticide sprays used in vineyards, soil nurturing, water use, waste water management, solid waste minimisation, vine management practice and so on.

Concerning sprays for example, there are certain types of spray that vineyards are not permitted to use at all – some of the more “grubby” pesticides and more persistent herbicides. With the sprays we are permitted to use, there are strict limitations on the number of times we can use them during a single season, and the time of season they can be used.

Paralleling the emergence of SWNZ over the last 15 years or so there has been a virtual revolution in spray technology. These days much of the complex and sometimes toxic chemistry which used to be available to winegrowers has been replaced by more environmentally friendly products, many of which are biological in origin and in operation – “good” fungi are sprayed onto vines to replace or destroy the undesirable fungi, for example. In effect even those winegrowers who are not part of the SWNZ initiative have, intentionally or otherwise, become cleaner and greener practitioners of the art of winegrowing.

SWNZ has been a good development for the wine sector in view of the burgeoning importance of wine as an export earner. New Zealand now exports well in excess of one billion dollars of wine each year. It is one of our fastest growing exports and is now our ninth largest export earner – well ahead of kiwifruit for example, even before the dreadful disease disaster which recently blighted that industry. But the global wine industry has become increasingly competitive in recent years so we need every advantage we can get, hence the importance of the clean and green story.

Perhaps more importantly, sustainable winegrowing, despite imposing some bureaucratic burdens, is helping to make winegrowers more responsive to their environment. In the long run this will make a difference in a world where the pressure on productive land to make it even more productive tends to work more toward environmental degradation than toward sustainability.

Robin Ransom

Vintage 2012 - Different but the Same

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:48:42 +1200

There has long been a tradition in New Zealand’s wine regions to “talk up” vintages, which I suspect happens in wine regions everywhere. My view is that this is driven largely by concern amongst winegrowers that if punters understood that the grapes harvested in a particular vintage were in less than perfect condition and not optimally ripe, they might be less inclined to buy the wines when they are released.

Maybe there is some truth in this, but in order for it to have a major impact on wine sales, a large proportion of all wine buyers would have to follow assiduously the progress and outcome of winegrowing seasons at the time, and retain for several years this awareness when making wine buying decisions. The slim impact such knowledge will have on subsequent wine sales is made even slimmer by the fact that every season there is variation from one grape variety to another and one region to another. So we can really expect only the most dedicated wine aficionados to retain and act on this sort of awareness.

2012 was one of those less-than-perfect vintages, almost right throughout New Zealand. It started back in spring when we must have had a fair bit of cool, moist and windy weather during flowering, because fruit set for most grape varieties was less successful than usual, meaning that 2012 was always going to be a relatively small vintage.

Then we had summer. Yes, believe it or not, we had a summer. The lower than average heat and sunlight from January to March meant that ripeness in some (but by no means all) grape varieties was delayed. Fortunately April came to the rescue with plenty of settled and sunny weather, so by harvest time we were getting close to where we wanted to be with the fruit.

It is too early to be definitive but we can say that like most seasons, there will be a range of quality, and maybe a slightly different mix from usual in the wines eventually produced from 2012. I would predict for example that we may see more rose than usual. The slightly lower levels of ripeness which some red varieties experienced this year makes them ideal candidates for scrumptious, satisfying rose wines.

Most of us in the Matakana region have been in the business for long enough now to know that variation in weather from one vintage to another is not necessarily paralleled in variation in the quality of the wines produced. And we know that in the process of grape juice becoming wine, grapes picked in less-than-optimal condition can mysteriously be redeemed. This is a nice little quirk of nature which makes winegrowing sometimes unpredictable and challenging but also a fascinating and satisfying endeavour. Every year different but in so many ways the same.

handcrafted wines

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:58:16 +1200

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.

Perhaps hand-crafted wines are best understood in terms of their opposite, factory-produced wines. Many of the best known wine brands in New Zealand and the well-known Australian brands sold here, are in this category. They are well-known because they are made in huge quantities and show up everywhere. Also in this category are the $7.99 wines you have never heard of before which grace aisle ends in supermarkets. These carry brand names created by the factory producers and sometimes by the supermarkets themselves to peddle surplus, mass-produced wine which the makers do not necessarily want to associate with their name and/or for which there is no other market.

Factory produced wines are made from grapes grown in huge vineyards, where much of the work is done mechanically. These grapes are harvested by machines which agitate the vines so vigorously that individual berries are shaken off the vine on to a conveyor system which deposits them in a large bin. All grapes, ripe and rotten, and all manner of other rubbish is also shaken into the bin – dead leaves and other plant material, bird nests and whatever insects, spiders and caterpillars are there at the time. The process is so thoroughly mechanized that it is not possible to remove this stuff.

After fermentation and a time of aging these wines are likely to require a good deal of treatment before they are bottled, to remove off-odours and off-flavours which may have resulted from the effect on the wine of this extraneous matter.

Hand-crafted wines on the other hand are just that: Much of the vineyard work, including harvesting, is done by hand. It cannot be stressed too strongly how important hand-picking is to wine quality – individual pickers making decisions based on what their eyes tell them, about what to include and what to discard.

Vineyard work is just the beginning of the hand-crafting process. At every step in winemaking, small wineries are able to pay close attention to every ferment and to the care and aging of every wine after fermentation has finished. Partly this is because the proprietor is more often than not closely involved, but also it is fair to say that in a small operation with a small and closely-knit team there is likely to be a greater sense of pride and ownership amongst the workers.

Small scale and all it entails is why this sort of winemaking is less cost-effective, and the wines may be more expensive. But the upside is that the final product has benefited from the individual care and attention it has received throughout. The wines from small operations producing all their own fruit express the individuality of the vineyard, the variation of the season and weather, and the passion of the individuals who produced them.

While “hand-crafted” may sound like a cliché, if used appropriately in the context of winegrowing it is an apt description of the process and the outcome. And it accurately describes the processes and products of all of the wines grown and produced by Matakana winegrowers.

Robin Ransom

In Anticipation .....

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:35:30 +1300

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 busy-ness takes a number of forms. We are still putting bird nets on the last of our blocks of grapes as I write. This is perhaps the most tedious vineyard job of the lot. It takes a good deal of time and because we use multi-row nets we need half a rugby team to do the job. Inevitably some nets will have holes and tears which need to be repaired, which is also very time consuming. We need to calculate crop size for each grape variety and use this information to work out how much and which types of yeasts, yeast nutrients, fruit enzymes and other vintage consumables we need. We also use this information to calculate how many barrels to buy, and which types and sizes. Barrel merchants have been peddling their wares to us over the last three months or so.

We need to prepare the winery for the onslaught. This involves making sure that all equipment is serviceable – must pump, juice and wine pumps, hoses and valves, destemmer-crusher, wine press, refrigeration unit, juice filter and so on. We need to ensure that we have enough empty tanks to accommodate the expected crop, which may involve preparing some of last year’s wine to be sent off for bottling. The laboratory equipment needs to be functioning and laboratory supplies in stock. The winery needs to be tidied up to remove the inevitable clutter which accumulates during the rest of the year and all of the tanks need to be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized.

The process is complicated for us by the requirement to have our annual “Wine Standards Management Plan” audit at this time of year. This is a recently introduced additional bit of bureaucratic compliance we have to undertake at great expense to ourselves, to demonstrate that we keep our records correctly and go about our grape-growing and winemaking in a way which ensures we do not poison our customers.

The impatience we experience at this time of year comes from a combination of keeping an eye on the weather and urging the ever-more-vulnerable bunches of grapes to hurry up and ripen fully, all the while trying to quell the anxiety which builds during this period. This process is more accentuated in a season such as we have had so far, when the amount of sunshine and heat seems to have been somewhat less than we would normally expect. In fact we are threatened by a late summer storm as I write.

If we have made all of our preparations all we can do now is sit back and wait, in anticipation…..

Robin Ransom

Matakana Winegrowers Inc.

March 2 2012

The Magic of Oak

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:00:53 +1300

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 7^th 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.

Many different tree species have been used for barrels over the centuries – acacia, cypress, chestnut, ash, pine, poplar, but oak came to be the main wood used for storing and aging wine. In addition to being more watertight than most it is also strong and physically easy to work. More importantly oak seems to have a natural affinity with wine, not only in terms of the flavours it imparts but also because it actively helps clarify and stabilize wine. It also adds very useful wood tannins which help preserve and give body and mouthfeel to wine. In addition wine in barrels is softened by gentle oxidation which occurs when oxygen moves through the barrel staves. Along with subtle chemical reactions between wine and oak which are not yet fully understood, all these effects introduce layers of complexity into a wine which storage and aging in inert containers such as pottery, glass, concrete and stainless steel cannot give.

For these reasons oak barrels are very much in demand amongst winegrowers around the world for fermenting, storing and aging wine. Three species of oak are suitable for wine, one native American, quercus alba, and two Europeans, quercus robur and quercus sessiliflora. European oak has been favoured by many winegrowers because it tends to have a more subtle effect on wine whereas American oak is more obvious both in the flavours and the tannins it imparts. In recent years improved cooperage techniques have helped reduce the aggressive flavour characteristics of American oak to some extent.

There is no chance we will run out of oak. Global oak resources are vast and in many countries, especially the US and France (which have the biggest acreages of oak along with Russia and the Ukraine) the forests are managed in a sustainable manner.

The challenge for winemakers is to use oak barrels in a judicious manner. It is easy to over-oak wines by using too many new barrels. This has been done with chardonnay in new-world winegrowing countries, which seems to be the main reason why this wonderful wine has fallen out of favour with many. Over-oaked red wines are also common. While oaky flavour will integrate to some extent over time, a young red which tastes like wood and not much else has little chance of emerging as a balanced, harmonious wine.

When used carefully oak barrels can contribute to wine a particular magic that helps lift a pleasant fruity fermented beverage to a sublime nectar, which, when consumed with care is capable of making the spirit soar.

Celebrating with Wine

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:30:25 +1300

Celebrating with Wine

We have operated a winery cellar door for some 15 years now so we have had plenty of opportunity to experience how people from other wine producing countries and regions take pride in and celebrate their locally produced wines. Some are so imbued with the virtues of where they come from that they overflow with their own stories and seem less interested in understanding the wine culture of the region they are visiting. But that’s OK – we understand.

We also have plenty of locals, and this includes Aucklanders, who take pride in our region and bring their visiting friends to the Matakana wineries to “show off” the Matakana wine culture, as part of celebrating everything else which is so good about the “Puhoi to Pakiri” region. As we approach the season for celebration and relaxation we look forward to a substantial lift in visits from locals and out-of-towners alike.

There will also be a substantial lift in celebrations involving food and wine – Christmas, New Year, summer parties and barbecues etc. During this time many people will seek out the wines of Matakana producers both to give as gifts and to accompany their own food and wine celebrations. It is gratifying from a business point of view of course, but also humbling, in a sense, to be able to contribute in this way to the pleasure and relaxation which people experience at this time of year.

When you seek a locally-grown wine you are buying a product of this special place – of this “terroir”, something to be enjoyed both for its local provenance and for the pleasure the wine itself gives. The members of Matakana Winegrowers all trust that this sense of location which gives the wines we craft a little je ne sais quoi – something extra, will help to ensure they are enjoyed in moderation.

Can we also take this opportunity to wish you all a relaxed Christmas, New Year and summer, and hope that 2012 brings you prosperity, good health and happiness.

Accolades for Matakana Wines

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:55:32 +1300

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.

The 2011 competition was held in October. The judges comprised Bob Campbell MW as chairman, arguably New Zealand’s most respected wine writer and judge, and four other highly experienced wine show judges. While not all winegrowers are interested in competitions, the 2011 event attracted more than 100 entries from the length and breadth of the region, which was 50% more than in the inaugural 2010 competition.

A total of 53 medals were awarded. One judge’s comment was that because there were a relatively small number of entries compared with most competitions, the judging panels were able to spend more time evaluating each wine. This resulted in his view, in a more strict and possibly more harsh judging standard than usual.

Half of the medals were awarded to Northland wines (well done Northland), one quarter to Matakana wines, and most of the rest went to Waiheke. Looking more closely at the awards shows Matakana region wines in a more impressive light: Three of the six gold medals awarded went our way: Omaha Bay Vineyard for it’s 2009 Pinot Gris (the only white wine to receive gold), and two Ti Point reds – “One” Merlot/Cabernet 2010 and “Matriarch” Syrah 2010.

Three of the 12 silver medals also three went our way – Ransom “Cosmos” Chardonnay 2008 and Matavino Viognier 2010 (two of only three silvers awarded to white wines), and Ti Point’s Merlot/Cabernet 2010. Bronze medals went to Coxhead Creek Vineyard (Cabernet Franc 2010); Hyperion (“Midas” Malbec 2009 and “Helios” Chardonnay 2010); Mahurangi River Winery (“Field of Grace” Chardonnay 2009); Omaha Bay (Syrah 2008 and “The Imposter” Flora 2009), and Ti Point (“Ruby Rose” 2011).

It is interesting to note that while the wines of Waiheke tend to have a high profile and perception for quality, Matakana out-performed Waiheke in total numbers of medals in this competition. Better still, we out-performed Waiheke in numbers of both gold and silver medals awarded.

Congratulations to all these winners. It is great to see Matakana winegrowers punching so well above our weight in the Upper North Island region.

Taste is a fickle thing

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 21:50:26 +1300

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.

Occasionally we have instances which illustrate the fickle nature of “taste”, where perception trumps reality or where lack of confidence or experience leads to misunderstanding. A recent example was a customer who had purchased a case of wine and contacted us when they opened the first bottle because they thought it was different from the one they had tasted at the cellar door. They deduced from this that we had sold them a different vintage from the one they had tasted, which was not the case. These customers are reasonably experienced tasters of wine, but their mistake was based on a false assumption which resulted from different perceptions of the same wine on two different occasions.

A situation where a lack of experience caused an issue occurred recently when a customer returned two different wines she had bought at the cellar door just a few days previously. We tasted them and both were perfectly sound – apart from a little oxidation which had occurred in the two days since they were opened. The bottles had been opened in the company of similarly inexperienced tasters. It seems they all decided that both wines (incidentally both very popular) were not to their liking. Our customer’s perception had been influenced by the opinions of others. On this basis she thought her purchases should be refunded, despite freely acknowledging that she enjoyed them at the cellar door tasting a few days earlier!

These examples illustrate how intensely subjective is our experience and our memory of taste, how our perceptions can vary at different times and how suggestible we are in matters of wine tasting. This is due in large part to the fact that our sense of taste is an imprecise instrument, combined with the confounding effects of a whole range of circumstances, for example the time of day the tasting occurs, what we were eating at the time or how recently we last ate, our mood, our alertness, the company we are in (and their opinions), the location, the nature of the occasion etc.

Misunderstandings like these are infrequent, but they raise for us the possibility that other people have these sorts of experiences and just bottle them up (excuse the pun). So if you have an issue with a wine you have purchased at a cellar door it is good to give the winemaker the opportunity to respond. Equally, it is always great to hear about a bottle you have particularly enjoyed!

growing up savvy

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:00:00 +1200

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.

Much more of the wine we consume is white wine than red – approaching two bottles of white to one of red. One third of this is – yes you guessed it, NZ sauvignon blanc. While this seems high, it is in fact low viewed in context: this variety constitutes a massive avalanche, accounting for two thirds of NZ’s total wine produced, and almost 85% of total wine exports.

Why is sauvignon so popular? I reckon it is because it is obvious, simple, and above all readily identifiable. If those visiting our cellar door are representative, the favourite wine tipple of young women is sauvignon. A common refrain is “I’m a savvy girl – can I try your savvy please?” To which our response is “sorry this is a sauvignon-free zone”, followed by an explanation as to why – essentially our climate is not right for it – or rather, nowhere near as “right” as Marlborough’s climate, so sauvignon produced in Matakana would not have that racy, zingy, pungent character which people recognize.

Those beyond party-time and past the first flush of youth tend not to be so hooked on sauvignon. Many declare that they have moved on – found other more interesting wines and perhaps think more in terms of wine and food.

So what are the other whites we drink? Chardonnay is number two on our favourite whites list, at around two thirds of our savvy consumption. This is perhaps surprisingly high in view of the number of our cellar door punters who declaim they no longer drink chardonnay. I think the sheer class of chardonnay will continue to ensure it retains a favoured place amongst NZ wine drinkers. It is after all, considered by most wine commentators to be the best white wine grape in the world – with the possible exception of riesling.

We now drink somewhat more chardonnay and pinot gris combined than sauvignon, largely because the growth of pinot gris has been spectacular in recent years. This may perhaps suggest a maturation in the national palate, as pinot gris tends to be more subtle and less obvious than sauvignon blanc, and it is friendly to a wide range of foods, whereas sauvignon definitely is not.

Riesling trundles along as our fourth white, and I reckon it will always maintain a presence at that level or thereabouts, again because of its sheer class and its versatility – it comes in a range of guises from bone dry through to sumptuously sweet.

What of the future? I think our consumption patterns of white wine will become more diverse as our palates become more adventurous and sophisticated. The increasing diversity is likely to be at the expense of sauvignon blanc more than the others whites, and two new varieties to watch out for in coming years will be gruner veltliner from Austria and albarino from Spain. Both display excellent levels of acidity which makes them very good food wines.

Meantime, a salute to all of you who buy New Zealand wines, whether white, sparkling or red. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Robin Ransom

(published in Mahurangi Matters, September 2011)

excise – “a hateful tax…”

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +1200

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-17^th 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”.

Excise taxes were not popular from the outset, being seen as a cynical exercise in government money grabbing, generally under the guise of protecting the populace from harm, presumably via the notion that higher prices will mean lower consumption. Products and services such as alcohol, tobacco, prostitution and gambling have historically been taxed, although “everyday” products have also been targeted. Salt for example was subject to excise tax in England into the 20^th Century.

The idea that the monies generated by these taxes were used to mitigate harm caused by these products has long since been consigned to the realm of myth. And if it were not myth, there would be strong justification for imposing excise tax on, for example, sugary soft drinks and fatty fast food. The myth that excise on alcohol is an exercise in harm-mitigation is highlighted in New Zealand by the fact that the monthly cheque we send to the Customs Department contains a separately calculated component which is paid to the Alcohol Advisory Council.

In July the rate of excise tax was increased, as it is every year, but this time by the biggest margin in 20 years. This means $2.04 of the cost of a bottle of wine is excise tax, more than 10% of the price of a $20 bottle (the Alcohol Advisory Council tax is additional to this). GST is in effect levied on top of excise – a tax on a tax, and when the excise and GST figures are combined, more than one quarter of the price of a $20 bottle of wine goes to the government. Because excise is volume-based this percentage is even higher for cheaper wines, so more than 40% of the $7.99 bottle you see in the supermarket is tax. This probably means either that wine is being used as a “loss leader” or else the wine producer is so desperate for cashflow they are selling it at a very large loss.

It has been argued that increasing the price of alcoholic beverages reduces consumption and thereby mitigates the harm caused by excessive drinking. If this were so and if there was a direct inverse correlation between price increase and consumption decrease amongst “abusers”, I might have some sympathy for increasing taxes on alcohol. But such claims are misleading and inaccurate. People who cause harm to themselves and the community by excessive alcohol consumption are not deterred by relatively small increases in tax. Even astronomical levels of tax don’t work amongst hard-core “abusers”. This is amply demonstrated by the fact that a large minority of the population still smokes tobacco despite the enormous excise component in the price of cigarettes.

There is a range of effective ways to mitigate the harm caused by alcohol in the community, but an inflation-adjusted annual increase in excise tax is not one of them. Not least because winemakers generally do not pass on excise tax increases to wine buyers, a fact demonstrated in a survey conducted by the Wine Institute of NZ last year.

Excise remains in my view the “hateful” tax grab it has always been.

Robin Ransom

(published in Mahurangi Matters, August 2011)

my, how we've grown!

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +1200

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.

That was five years before any grapes had been planted in Marlborough. At that time Auckland was the largest grape growing region in the country. In the early 1970s Gisborne overtook Auckland, followed by Hawkes Bay dominance for some years, then by 1990 Marlborough had become the number one region in acreage of grapes planted. In the 2011 vintage Marlborough produced 75% of the total tonnage of wine grapes grown in NZ.

In 1970 NZ produced 4 million litres of wine, and by 2011 this had increased to 235 million litres – almost 60 times the volume produced 40 years earlier. This represents massive growth over a relatively short time span, but throughout, the industry has managed to develop and retain very high quality in the wines produced. This is evidenced by the fact that in most of the countries to which NZ wine is exported, it fetches a higher overall average price than wines from all other countries.

The wine export story has also been dominated by vast growth in volume. In 2001 NZ exported 19 million litres of wine. By 2010 wine exports had grown to 142 million litres, more than seven times the volume of ten years earlier. In 2010 we exceeded one billion dollars in wine export earnings for the first time, (not including revenue from wine tourism) and it doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon.

Winegrowing today is one of our elite primary industries in the sense that it has become a successful endeavour within NZ, with its products cherished by a large proportion of the population. It also carries brand New Zealand very prominently to the world. Right now the industry is experiencing some problems, due to a combination of the global economic downturn and excessive volumes of wine available both in NZ and around the world. But as long as we continue to produce high quality wine, it seems likely that the NZ wine industry will continue to tread the successful path it has followed for the past 40 years.

Robin Ransom

(published in Mahurangi Matters, July 2011)

boom, bust or both?

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:00:00 +1200

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?

The recent global economic downturn and the burgeoning growth in wine production throughout the world in recent decades, particularly in this country, have combined to put considerable financial strain on New Zealand’s winegrowers. Competition from cheap imported wine and from cheap New Zealand wine produced by more recently established growers who did not have the foresight to consider how they would sell their product, has put strong downward pressure on wine prices. This has been exacerbated by the supermarkets taking advantage of this situation at the growers’ expense.

Great for consumers, but not good for the long-term sustainability of a quality-focused NZ wine industry. Which is at least part of the reason why some smaller high quality producers are removing vines - it is simply too hard to compete. The response from some others has been more unusual. Practices such as sending wine to the UK and Australia in 24,000 litre bladders inside shipping containers (big bag-in-the-box!), and pumping sauvignon blanc full of carbon dioxide and calling it sparkling wine, have a hint of desperation about them, and do absolutely nothing to maintain either the export price of New Zealand wine or its quality image.

The New Zealand oversupply can be summarized in three words – Marlborough sauvignon blanc. In the 2009 vintage 57% of the total tonnage of grapes picked in New Zealand was Marlborough sauvignon blanc. Ross Spence, former chairman of NZ Winegrowers and founder of Matua Valley, the first company to plant sauvignon blanc in NZ, describes the situation aptly: “…NZ’s wine production rose 54% from 2006 to 2009 while other countries – France, Spain, Italy, Argentina, the US and Australia – all declined during that time. We were still throwing 2000 hectares a year into the ground in Marlborough while the signs were all there to suggest it would be wise to curtail the rapid growth trajectory we were on” (New Zealand Wine Grower, June/July 2011).

Ironically the availability of some other grape varieties is insufficient to meet growing demand. This is our own experience as we develop an export market into China for good quality cabernet/merlot blend reds. Our own production is not large enough and availability of these wines from other sources is limited.

There will always be a sound future for winegrowers with a quality product and secure markets, but right now, elements of the New Zealand wine industry are repeating the experience of some other boom-to-bust rural industries which our country has historically been prone to.

The New Zealand wine industry will come out of this phase but I suspect there will be more pain felt yet. Meantime, the volume of New Zealand wine being exported continues on the growth trajectory it has been on for many years, but because an increasing proportion of this is bulk wine there will inevitably be a cost to the quality image which New Zealand wine has enjoyed.

Robin Ransom

(published in Mahurangi Matters, June 2011)

grape harvest a la nina

Sun, 01 May 2011 12:00:00 +1200

Global weather has just come through a fairly intense La Nina episode.

La Nina is one extreme of the phenomenon called The Southern Oscillation, the other extreme being El Nino. Reciprocal changes in surface air pressure between the Eastern Pacific and the Western Pacific, measured by weather data from Tahiti and Darwin respectively, produce this phenomenon. In the El Nino phase the effect on summer weather in New Zealand is that it is generally dry and often droughty, with consistent south-westerly air flow, plenty of cloud cover in the north and not particularly hot.

La Nina produces much warmer weather than usual in the summer with plenty of sunshine, but it can also be considerably wetter, with the risk of more tropical cyclones descending on us from the vicinity of the Coral Sea.

For grape growers La Nina can be challenging. All of New Zealand’s wine regions experienced this summer’s version, which gave us consistently warm and sunny weather throughout the summer, excellent for bringing grapes to maturity, but also a good deal of rain. Much of the rain came in two events on consecutive weekends in late January – both resulting from ex-tropical cyclones. Many readers will recall vividly the flooding and damage they caused. These storms had the effect of saturating our soils, and a few subsequent “top-up” rain events spread through the remainder of the summer and early autumn ensured that the soil never dried out as it does in a “normal” summer.

The effects on the Matakana grape harvest have been mixed. Moist conditions encouraged more mildews and bunch rots than usual, which meant more work in the vineyard to control disease and remove rot affected fruit. This resulted in smaller crops, but wetter soils produced large and very juicy grapes. The abundance of warmth and sun meant the fruit achieved very good levels of ripeness, but the juiciness could possibly mean slightly less intense wines. The jury is still out on that one.

The relatively trying conditions of the vintage inevitably produced a measure of disappointment amongst winegrowers, especially compared with 2010 which was exceptional in every way. But now that the vintage is over and the glorious aromas of fermenting wine are starting to subside in the winery, winemakers are in a better position to evaluate the results of 2011. We are certainly very satisfied at this point with what we have in tank and barrel, both in quality and quantity.

Robin Ransom

(published in Mahurangi Matters, May 2011)

alcohol reform?

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:00:00 +1300

The Alcohol Reform Bill is presently being considered by Parliament. These two words together in the title of the proposed legislation create an impression that all uses and users of “alcohol” require “reform”, an impression more suited to a prohibitionist polemic than a clear-headed attempt to address the real problems associated with the harmful use of alcoholic beverages.

Much of the harmful use is obvious to anyone who follows the news. It is associated with consumption of large volumes of cheap alcoholic beverages over short periods of time, mostly by people who set out to get drunk. Road carnage, domestic violence and street brawling all commonly result from harmful use of alcoholic beverages. These are vastly different scenarios from the civilized consumption of a glass or two of wine with a meal, in convivial surroundings.

Responsible, moderate wine consumption is not harmful, indeed it is seen these days as having health benefits. The most recent thorough and objective review of the evidence regarding alcohol-related harm is the US Government’s Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010. This report concluded, amongst other things, that …an average daily intake of one or two alcoholic beverages is associated with the lowest all-cause mortality and a low risk of diabetes and coronary heart disease amongst middle-aged and older people.

In its attempt to curb the abusive use of alcoholic drinks the Alcohol Reform Bill proposes a number of useful changes to the law. It also includes a number of others which misguidedly target the responsible consumption of wine. It proposes to put a number of licensing and compliance restrictions and costs on winemakers and their cellar-door sales operations which will increase the regulatory and licensing regime to a point where it may well put numbers of small winemakers out of business.

The Bill also ignores a set of recommendations made by the Ministry of Justice in a Cabinet Paper in 2008. This noted that wineries are a low-risk environment for alcohol abuse, and concluded that there is a strong case for some regulatory relief for winemakers in the Sale of Liquor Act as it stands at present. Recommendations in this Paper were agreed to by the previous Government, so it is ironic that the current Bill comes from a Government which pledged to reduce the intrusion of the State in New Zealanders’ lives and reduce the crippling compliance costs which business and commerce, including winemakers face in trying to run our businesses.

If you like the idea of being able to visit the cellar doors and cafes of New Zealand’s winegrowers can I suggest that you write to Lockwood Smith or Simon Power and express your concern about the impact this Bill is likely to have on small winegrowing operations. If you want to be able to quote chapter and verse you can Google Alcohol Reform Bill, although be warned it is a monster!

Robin Ransom

(published in Mahurangi Matters, April 2011)

how do we see red?

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 12:00:00 +1300

As reported recently, Syrah and Merlot are the most planted red grape varieties in the Matakana region. Compare this with New Zealand as a whole, where Pinot Noir, (represented in Matakana by one small block of grapes in the Hyperion vineyard) is by far the most planted red with almost four times the acreage of Merlot. Cabernet Sauvignon is a very distant third and Syrah an even more distant fourth.

On the global stage the situation is very different. The two most popularly grown red grapes in the world are Grenache (from France and Spain) and Carignan (France). Neither of these varieties is grown in New Zealand. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (both from France) follow these two, then come Mourvedre (France), Bobal and Tempranillo (both from Spain), all virtually unknown in New Zealand. Pinot Noir and Syrah (both from France) are way further down the global list of red varieties, well below Sangiovese (Italy) and Cinsaut (France).

Why have Pinot, Merlot, Cabernet and Syrah emerged as NZ’s top four reds? These four French varieties produce to this day that country’s most famous (and arguably their best) dry red wines. These wines were better known in northern Europe than those of Spain or Italy around the time the new world was colonized by northern Europeans. So when the colonizers decided their new lands were capable of growing wine grapes, the wines and hence the grape varieties of France provided their model.

Why are these grape varieties persisting here? Several reasons – why fix it if it isn’t broken, commercial imperatives, inertia etc. But in the search for excellence, practices will evolve. From the present perspective the NZ wine industry seems to be a relatively fixed entity with its own emerging history and traditions. But the fact is that winegrowing in New Zealand is extremely young by European standards, even by South African and South American standards, and in a historical sense we are still very much in an experimental, developmental phase.

Pinot Noir will probably form the backbone of the NZ red wine industry as a whole into the foreseeable future. It is less clear which varieties will predominate in Matakana, and there is still a good deal of experimenting going on in this respect, both with white varietals and reds. Some of the earlier established Matakana vineyards have now replaced some of their original French varietal plantings with new and previously untried Italian, Spanish and French varieties, in addition to which some of the more recently planted vineyards have planted new Italian varieties.

I think it will be a couple of generations before we really know which grape varieties are suited to which growing areas in New Zealand. Meantime we are having a lot of fun working it out!

Robin Ransom

(published in Mahurangi Matters, March 2011)

the extraordinary diversity of matakana wines

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 12:00:00 +1300

One of the interesting characteristics of the Matakana winegrowing community is the large range of grape cultivars we grow. A recent survey has disclosed 22 different varieties. To put this into perspective the NZ Wine Institute Annual Report shows separate acreage figures for only16 varieties for the whole of New Zealand, and 12 of the varieties grown in Matakana are not amongst these 16. This indicates that around half of the cultivars planted in the region are rare and unusual.

Fifteen of the 22 varieties grown in Matakana are red grapes and the acreage split between red and white is approximately 60/40. Looking at the historical origin of our cultivars, 14 come from France (nine red, five white), five from Italy (all red), and one each from Spain, South Africa and California.

The largest Matakana region plantings are for Pinot Gris, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay, in that order. Only two of these, Chardonnay and Merlot are amongst New Zealand’s five most planted cultivars, while Pinot Gris, Syrah and Cabernet Franc are sixth, ninth and eleventh nationwide.

What does this wide and unusual varietal mix say about the Matakana region? One thing it says is that Matakana winegrowers may have judged our terroir, particularly our climate, to be not especially well suited to three of the top five New Zealand varietals – Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Riesling. It may also say that we are all very much individuals and pioneers, happy to try different things in search of the perfect wine. For example there is a cluster of Italian red varietals from Tuscany and Piedmont which are rare throughout New Zealand. One of them, Sangiovese, is the sixth most planted cultivar in the Matakana region. Recently two local vineyards have been amongst the first in the country to plant Albarino, a Spanish white grape which is currently taking Europe by storm.

Other unusual varietals are two very rare Bordeaux reds – Petit Verdot and Carmenere, a South African creation, Pinotage, which used to be common but is less so now, an obscure but exciting red from South-west France, Tannat, a rare white from the Rhone Valley in France, Roussanne, and an equally rare white Californian creation, Flora.

Having such a diverse range of wine styles grown locally gives residents of the region a marvellous selection from which to choose. And hopefully it instills a sense of pride in the local winegrowing industry for being bold enough to think outside the square and dedicated enough to produce many excellent wines.

Robin Ransom

(published in Mahurangi Matters, Feb 2011)

harvest 2010

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:33:45 +1300

Quite simply 2010 has been the best of the 15 vintages we have had to date. The fruit from all of our grape varieties were picked in excellent condition due to the extraordinarily dry summer and autumn we have had. We wer able to "hang" the fruit for as long as we liked to get optimal ripeness, and having no pressure from the weather made for a very relaxed and enjoyable vintage. All of which means that the red wines from 2010 should have great depth of colour and flavour, ripe tannins, full mouthfeel and long silky finishes. The whites should be fruity with intense aromas and flavours. For wines from the Matakana region and more generally from the Auckland region and further north, 2010 will be a year to watch out for.

living the dream

Fri, 01 May 2009 19:34:28 +1200

At the time of writing we are deeply embroiled in the business of harvesting and processing grapes - the time called 'vintage'. This is the most intensely busy period of the winegrower's year, and it goes on for around two months, from mid-March to around mid-May, depending upon which grape varieties your have, with crazed activity peaking around mid-April.

During this period you discover that you haven't got this or that bit of equipment which you resolved last vintage to get, or you haven't ordered enough of the various winemaking fermentation aids - yeast, nutrients etc, because you've under-estimated your crop size, or someone in the cellar neglects to open a valve and the pump hose gives way under the pressure, splattering crimson juice all over everything, or your quad bike breaks down and disrupts the whole logistical chain from picking to crushing so you have pickers standing by idle, or you get a heavy shower of rain and can't decide whether to call it off for the day or take a punt on the weather clearing, or your refrigeration unit goes haywire just when you need to get a tank of juice chilled very quickly.... and so on.

Winemaking and cellar staff get leaner, fitter, hairier (male staff that is) and more tired as the season progresses. Their patience with themselves, each other, the weather, the equipment and anyone standing around can at times be very frail, and sometimes they can be observed immobile, looking vacantly into the middle distance wondering just what it was they were meant to be doing next.....

Some people rhapsodise about "living the dream", to which I suggest they come and give it a go for awhile, especially right now!

Fortunately there is a good measure of fun and satisfaction to balance the long hours and hard yakka. Vintage can be and usually is an exhilarating time, with lots of co-operation between different growers, lots of banter in the cellar, some beautifully ripe fruit coming in to the winery, a convivial beer at the end of the day, and a cellar full of gorgeous fermentation aromas. Then there is the satisfying prospect of eventually conjuring up a marvelous product deriving from soil and sunlight which gives many people a good deal of pleasure.

Robin Ransom