| NEW ZEALAND NEWS
WANAKA EXHIBITION CARS & TRUCKS & THINGS THAT GO
Barry Clarke, Scott Eady, Peter Miller, Aroha Novak, Robert Rapson & Philip Trusttum
5 – 26 February 2010
Gallery thirty three’s latest exhibition celebrates a selection of artists who have displayed a unique approach to vehicular subject matter.
Feel free to contact Lydia or Harmony with any questions you may have: Lydia@gallery33.co.nz
gallery thirty three
33 Helwick Street
Wanaka
tel/fax: 64 3 4434330
email: art@gallery33.co.nz
web: www.gallery33.co.nz WELLINGTON PINOT NOIR CONFERENCE PINOT NOIR 2010
She is a robust dame, fast becoming a Kiwi superstar, with roots in all corners of the country, and next week she will be the toast of more than 12,000 glasses in Wellington.
The "diva" of all grape varieties, as New Zealand's second biggest wine export, pinot noir has become a sturdy pretender to the throne held by sauvignon blanc.
It is a big jump to the No1 spot, with the ubiquitous Kiwi "sav" responsible for 82 per cent of all wine exports last year, a total of 107 million litres.
Seven million litres of pinot noir was exported, a meagre 5.4 per cent of the total but still 2 million litres ahead of chardonnay in third place.
Even with such a small footprint in the wine industry, the voice of pinot noir is rising above all others, helped immeasurably by its dedicated conference, which opens on Monday.
Pinot Noir New Zealand 2010 is the fourth of the triennial conferences since the event began in 2001.
Three thousand bottles of wine are cellared specifically for the event, to be served progressively at formal functions, wine tastings, technical exhibitions and parties for more than 500 guests.
While producing nearly $5 million for the Wellington economy over four days, the goal of the pinot noir conference is global, with the hundreds of wine writers and wine buyers attending expected to convey what they drink, sniff and swirl at the conference to millions of aficionados and wine buffs the world over.
More than 100 participating wineries are paying between $3500 and $9000 to be part of the showcase.
The spiritual home of pinot noir is Burgundy, France. New Zealand winemakers look to Burgundy wines as the holy grail. Winemakers' accountants look to them as the viticultural equivalent of King Solomon's mines, with price tags in the hundreds of euros for a good bottle.
Palliser Estate owner Richard Riddiford, regarded as one of the founding fathers of pinot noir in New Zealand and original chairman of the pinot noir conference, once said the only path for the variety was to "chase the money".
Pinot Noir conference chairman and Villa Maria chief winemaker Alastair Maling agrees, picking the "ultra-premium" bracket as the goal.
Setting a price point for New Zealand pinot noir is critical, as behind all the tannins, textures, swirling and spitting, making money from the variety is what the business is all about.
As a grape it is a painstaking pursuit, and a low yielding one. Making money from pinot noir is hard work.
"You can't plant it on flat land, it hates fertile soil, it likes hillsides, so it's more difficult to work, it's almost as if the vine looks at you and says, `I don't want any mechanisation, I want you and your hands, and that's it'. It breaks your back and pisses you off. You can't do it in volume," British wine expert Matthew Jukes says. "But you can make more than the Burgundians."
The future for New Zealand pinot noir is to provide value for money, which, in a prestigious class of wine, means you can demand high prices and still be a good buy.
"The disappointment of Burgundy is that people who want to drink it can't get it. The excitement about New Zealand pinot noir is that you can find a bottle every day of the year if you go to the right merchants. And the starting point is 25 (NZ$57). A nice-sounding Burgundy made by a bit of a duffer would be 30, more expensive than New Zealand's iconic estate wines," Mr Jukes says.
Ad Feedback
The sort of character seen in established French wines is starting to be seen in some New Zealand wines, such as Dry River, Ata Rangi, Escarpment, Felton Road and Craggy Range, he says, but to try to compete would be a mistake.
"All of the winemakers in New Zealand will drink and worship Burgundian wines. But you are not meant to try to be them, to copy them. You can't."
Instead, the likes of Australia's Mornington Peninsula, the Leyda Valley in Chile, and picks from California, South Africa and Germany are more apt comparisons.
"The question is: are you the best, and I think you are. That's what you have done in the past three years, distanced yourselves from the competition in numbers of wines and overall average quality."
With New Zealand's oldest pinot noir vines in their mid-20s, he says the industry will not know how good the wine can be for 50 years. "New Zealand is at the stage where you can all plant it, tend it and harvest it; but you are lacking one critical element and that is vine age."
NEW ZEALAND Winegrowers global marketing director Chris Yorke predicts exports of pinot noir will hit 14 million litres by 2013, doubling last year's effort.
China is vital, because they will pay big money there for the wines. Europe and the United States are critical because their commentators narrate the reputation of the wines.
With experts from every corner in the industry's lap from Monday, the opportunity is ripe for New Zealand pinot noir, Mr Yorke says. "There is no more important week in the New Zealand wine industry."
With a budget in excess of $1.5 million, Mr Maling says the actual effect of the conference is hard to quantify but the exposure is boundless.
Piggybacking on the talent attending Pinot Noir 2010 are three one-day symposiums a on other varietals – cabernet merlot and syrah in Hawke's Bay yesterday and today, and an aromatics symposium in Nelson next weekend.
Mr Maling says many of the wine-focused visitors will be at all events, maximising their stay in New Zealand, playing right into the tourism bracket as well.
"It's hard to measure the success but USA Today gave New Zealand a three-page spread in their weekend travel section just on the back of Pinot Noir 2007."
But wine sales are the central focus. New Zealand's wine industry achieved its goal of $1 billion export sales in July. Ten years ago it earned $169m.
The growth has been largely from the explosion in sauvignon blanc, which has gone from 20 per cent of total grape production to two thirds in the same decade.
Comparatively, the pinot noir harvest now nets nearly five times as many grapes as it did in 2000, but its slice of the total harvest has gone from 8 per cent to just over 10 per cent.
The modest growth of pinot noir will not last, since the area planted in the variety has more than doubled in the past decade, and vines can take up to six years to produce their first fruit in tough conditions such as renowned pinot noir region Central Otago.
"While New Zealand is known for sauvignon blanc, I think in the long term pinot noir is what we will be more well known for.
"But we have to be careful because the growth of pinot noir in the past five years has been pretty phenomenal," Mr Maling says.
The line is fine between supplying enough and supplying too much, he stresses, the latter scenario prompting criticism of New Zealand sauvignon blanc.
American wine expert Leslie Sbrocco says the sauvignon experience, whatever the end result, has paved the way for New Zealand pinot noir.
"I ask people if they know about sauvignon blanc from the Loire Valley in France. There's no hands. So what about New Zealand sauvignon blanc? Hands shoot up everywhere. They know where New Zealand is."
A conference like Pinot Noir 2010 is exactly the right thing to be doing; developing the reputation New Zealand has already established.
"New Zealand has a few things going for it. Like Argentina, Americans think it is a sexy place. There's also the awareness of creating a signature style with sauvignon blanc. That still holds true even though there's been a little backlash, and that is pull-through for pinot noir."
The United States used to be the No1 market for Kiwi wine, but with the economic maelstrom in the past 18 months, export statistics show Australia and Britain are now neck and neck with the US, with newcomer China close behind. Ms Sbrocco says Americans are drinking as much but spending less, which is an opportunity for New Zealand pinot noir.
"For pinot lovers, New Zealand offers great value. We're developing a core class of wine drinkers and those people are still spending money on wine, they are just not spending $50 a bottle. That market is not going to come back any time soon. In that sense, New Zealand is very much poised to make a significant contribution."
Have a great week from Flying Connoisseur.
|
