New Zealand: Playing the long game

One can scarcely talk about New Zealand wine without mentioning Sauvignon Blanc. Today, the two are inseparable, so intertwined that it’s difficult to remember what the country’s winemakers did before striking gold with Marlborough Sauvignon. Probably a lot of Müller-Thurgau and Chardonnay, the country’s most-planted white varieties before Sauvignon Blanc came on the scene. But it was with Sauvignon Blanc that they really made their mark, and unexpectedly so.

Today, Sauvignon Blanc dominates New Zealand wine exports, accounting for 85.6% in 2016 and 74% of its total production, with the majority coming from Marlborough. Driven by Sauvignon, the value of New Zealand’s wine exports increased by 10% in 2016 to NZ$1.57 billion (£840 million). Imports into the US overtook those of Australian wine for the first time, rising 24% to NZ$460.6 million, while the UK market grew by 8% in value to NZ$381.8m. Sauvignon Blanc has done a great deal for New Zealand, and continues to drive it forward. But there is life beyond its distinctive gooseberry-and-passionfruit aromas – you just have to dig a bit harder.

GROWTH IN STANDING

Earlier this year, New Zealand Winegrowers hosted a two-day Aromatics Symposium for international journalists, sommeliers and buyers in Nelson, exploring New Zealand’s oft-unsung array of aromatic white varieties. These include the Alsatian noble varieties of Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, and Riesling, but also Albariño, Grüner Veltliner and Viognier, to name a few. Their arrival has not been sudden, nor are they remarkably new to New Zealand’s viticultural landscape. But as site selection and handling has improved over the past decade, their standing has grown. In 2008, Jancis Robinson MW noted a concerted effort by winemakers to raise the quality of their aromatic offer.

Almost a decade on, the result has been a growing patchwork of prettily perfumed Gewürztraminers laced with rose petal and ginger, Alsace-style Pinot Gris, rich in apple, pear and honeysuckle, and, more recently, a smattering of crisp Albariños, with bright citrus and a saline core. Taken individually, their impact on the international wine market is minor, with each representing a small – in some cases miniscule – proportion of New Zealand’s wine production. But while small in size, their diversity is vast. Each is worthy of individual analysis, with its own story and nuances. However, it is when drawn together as a collective that this assortment of varieties are gaining strength and are becoming a growing force in New Zealand’s wine repertoire.

MASTERING VARIETIES 

“We are busy down under, continuing to work hard to master these ‘other’ varieties, their nuances through site selection, vine age, and through innovative youthful winegrowing,” says Ben Glover, winemaker at Zephyr, and former winemaker at Accolade. He points out that New Zealand’s winemakers are “not just from the Hobbiton Shire of Sauvignon Blanc”, referencing the country’s other unshakeable association, the film versions of The Lord of the Rings.

“I believe the next discovery from New Zealand is our aromatics coupled with the regions they are grown in and the people behind them,” says Glover, whose Zephyr family winery bills itself as an aromatic specialist and produces Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris, alongside Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. “These wines have been simmering on the stove for some time. New Zealand lends itself to these styles. We have a range of maritime and continental climates, moderated by a cool breeze, with high diurnal temperatures (especially in the Southern Island). This provides purity, structure and brilliant acidity, perfect for the aromatic family.”

PINOT GRIS

The biggest of New Zealand’s aromatic varieties, accounting for 2,440 hectares – more than treble its closest aromatic partner, Riesling, at 767ha – is Pinot Gris. In 2002, a mere 232ha of Pinot Gris was planted. Now there are 2,455ha, with the variety in steady growth since 2010. That figure is expected to rise to 2,556ha by 2019, according to New Zealand Wine Growers. Today, the majority of Pinot Gris is planted in Marlborough, with smaller pockets in Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Central Otago, Canterbury, Nelson and Martinborough, spanning the gamut of New Zealand’s range of climates.

But while the grape has a proven track record and is continuing to grow in reputation, it still lacks a sense of identity, believes Kiwi Melanie Brown, founder of specialist retailer The New Zealand Cellar in Brixton, London, which she says can hold it back at a consumer level. “When people come in and ask for a Pinot Gris they want to know ‘what’s the style?’ she says. “New Zealand has some really fabulous examples, from sweet to dry. But there’s no one style that really shines with Pinot Gris. We are making much better Pinot Gris than five years ago, and I am much prouder to show our collection, but I think we struggle to a have a defined style.”

Paul Pujol, winemaker at Prophet’s Rock in Central Otago, which produces both Pinot Gris and Riesling, alongside Pinot Noir, tends to agree, noting the vast range of styles that had been produced early on, but which are now being refined. “It was as if people were finding their feet,” he says. “We had people picking earlier and using stainless steel and making Pinot Gris like a Sauvignon Blanc, then people that were making it like a Chardonnay with barrel fermentation and malo – the works. We lost any semblance of varietal character. If it doesn’t ripen enough you don’t get any varietal character, if you leave it on the vine too long it will lack acidity, and then you have people getting it right and doing skin contact. So you had this whole spread of styles. It was almost as if the country didn’t know what it was doing with the variety. There’s still a range of styles and quality, but I think people have worked out that we can make ripe, aromatic Pinot Gris and the style has moved in that direction. People respond well to it because they find that you can have an aromatic textured style coming out of somewhere other than Alsace.”

RIESLING

Playing second fiddle to Pinot Gris, at least in terms of plantings, is Riesling – a beguiling grape prized by sommeliers and winemakers but which never quite seems to win the hearts of consumers.
“Before Albariño becomes the next big thing Riesling should finally have its turn,” laments Pujol, summing up this expressive yet overlooked variety. “Riesling keeps getting jumped in the queue. As Chardonnay faded in the 1990s through overproduction, people thought ‘maybe it will be Riesling’ next, and then Sauvignon Blanc exploded. And then Sauvignon Blanc became established
and we thought, ‘OK, now maybe there’s room for Riesling’, then it was all about Pinot Gris!”

While many winemakers might hold Riesling close to their hearts, the fact is that the number of hectares planted is in decline, having steadily decreased since 2010 from 986ha to 767ha in 2016. Similarly, Gewürztraminer has seen its plantings decline from a peak of 376ha in 2014 to 258ha in 2016.

“Riesling is without doubt the one,” says Glover, of the aromatic variety with the most potential in New Zealand, “but as a simple offering to the wine drinker, it is the most confusing. Getting the Riesling story across is the most challenging part of the puzzle. We are starting to see a sweetness scale on the back label of New World Rieslings, which ensures that if you like dry, you can confidently select dry.”

ALBARINO AND OTHERS

Pinot Gris and Riesling make up the lion’s share of New Zealand’s aromatic offering, however attention must also be paid to emerging smaller plantings, which have a life span of less than 10 years in New Zealand. These include the Italian grape Arneis, Spanish Albariño and Austrian Grüner Veltliner, a trio of varieties that Glover believes are “yet to show their true poise and comfort in NZ”.
“It would be remiss to dismiss them, and not keep a watchful eye on their development as the vines age and the winemakers get more in touch with handling the fruit from these varieties,” Glover notes.

Others include Viognier, Sauvignon Gris, Semillon and Grüner Veltliner. However, it is Albariño that appears to be shining brightest, for now. Native to northwest Spain and northwest Portugal, and Spain’s Rías Baixas in particular, the grape is known for its saline, mineral character, bright acidity and aromas of citrus, apricot and peach, depending on the handling of the grape and the climate in which it is grown. There are just 27ha of the variety planted in New Zealand, minuscule when compared with the 5,519ha of Pinot Noir and 21,400ha of Sauvignon Blanc. Of that, 8.5ha are planted in Gisborne, 6.9ha in Hawke’s Bay, 3.9ha in Marlborough and 3.1ha in Nelson. While examples are still relatively few, and allocations scarce, it has built some buzz, with some tentatively tipping it as a grape destined for future greatness. James Millton predicts that it will be “the next big thing” in the English market for New Zealand, citing the maritime regions of Nelson and Gisborne as its ideal home, while Bob Campbell MW believes it is capable of becoming a “high performer”, if it can market itself effectively.

“Consumer acceptance is going to be the key,” says Campbell, “and there is simply not enough Albariño being produced at this stage get a good fix on the wine’s marketability.”

Coopers Creek Vineyard, which has vineyards in Auckland, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough and Central Otago, was the first winery to plant Albariño 2009, with other wineries now working with the grape, including Kono (Aronui), Stanley Estates, Neudorf Vineyards, Nautilus Estate Wines, Waimea Estates, Astrolabe Wines, Rod McDonald, Matawhero Wines, Villa Maria and Sileni Estates.

“Albariño seems very happy in our environment,” says Simon Nunns, winemaker at Coopers Creek. “The wines are distinctive, yet clearly varietal. It matches our summers and our culture. Smelling NZ Albariño makes one think of sun, surf, seafood, summertime and sand – it is a vinous passport to a summer holiday and the beach.”

Explaining the grape’s stylistic diversity across New Zealand, Nunns points to its acid structure as the defining factor, noting that the variety “holds acid well in our warmer climates”, with that acid becoming more noticeable as you move into cooler regions such as Marlborough, compared with Gisborne. “As a result, warmer regions produce Albariños with more apparent flesh and richness and cooler regions produce wines that are more linear and precise.”

A FEAST FOR THE SENSES

For James Millton, winemaker and owner of Millton Vineyards in Gisborne, which since 1984 has focused on aromatic varieties, in particular Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Chenin Blanc, it is the ability of these grapes to invoke a sense of synaesthesia – whereby one sense triggers another – that is uniquely appealing.

“One of the touchstones of aromatics is taking the glass, holding it, swirling it, closing your eyes and visualising a colour that you can smell,” he explains. “That’s synaesthesia. It’s a moment that gets people thinking, and a process that puts them into a degree of thoughtfulness. It’s being mindful that is going to swing the consumer toward aromatics, because they are such a symphony for the senses.”
Explaining this concept further, Millton shares his belief that while many wines might “play Chopsticks”, aromatic varieties allow a winemaker to play a “six-string guitar”. Continuing the analogy with music, he sings a scale of Marsanne, Viognier, Rousanne, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Muscat in an attempt to highlight the combination of flavour profiles achievable through their harmonisation.

“Instead of having one aromatic, we will have a number of varieties, for example, co-ferments of Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris. Not blends, but field blends. That’s the next step. Instead of playing Chopsticks we are going to play a harmonic tune. We are starting to see that. It’s been happening in the Rhône and Alsace for a long time, and it’s now starting to happen in New Zealand.”
Millton’s Viognier is actually a co-ferment of Viognier, Marsanne and Muscat, but only Viognier appears on the label to avoid consumer confusion, says Millton. “The consumer will take the wine that’s easiest to pronounce, while others will see that it’s a blend and think ‘it must be cheap’.”

WHY BOTHER?

There is no denying the diversity and growing quality of New Zealand’s aromatic offering. But with the Sauvignon Blanc juggernaut showing no sign of abating, what do buyers and producers stand to gain investing in such varieties? Their tiny plantings mean there simply isn’t enough volume to satisfy multinational retailers, which still prefer to stock reliable reservoirs of Sauvignon Blanc. The natural home for New Zealand aromatics, for now, is the adventurous on-trade or independent retailers. As Glover notes: “These wines have always been there for the discovering, but one needs to know where to look, and needs to actually be interested in something beyond the six-quid Sauvy.”

But with Marlborough at the upper limit of its production capacity, and populist styles of wine always at risk of falling out of fashion, it’s probably not a bad idea for New Zealand to have something in its back pocket. As Nunns points out: “it’s not a good idea to put all your vinous eggs in one basket.”

Pinot Noir is New Zealand’s second-biggest wine export, with a story of its own, followed by Chardonnay. But for consumers enamored by Sauvignon Blanc, it isn’t a massive leap to any number of New Zealand’s aromatic varieties. “For people that come to the bar with purpose and are after something new and exciting it’s a really easy sell to get them from Sauvignon Blanc to talking about aromatics,” affirms Melanie Brown of The New Zealand Cellar. “If you can get them in that direction then consumers are really open to trying new things.”

FINDING OUR FOOTING

It is also important to note that New Zealand is less than half a century into commercial wine production. “What New Zealand has to remember is that we are so young,” adds Brown “Everything was Müller-Thurgau and then Sauvignon Blanc, and now people are in fear of Sauvignon Blanc being over. Smart people are starting to explore other styles and varieties. It is not so much a learning curve, but finding our footing. Old World wine countries have been doing this for years. New Zealand is doing a tremendous job of creating a global reputation, and aromatic varieties are coming through. People are becoming more aware. And consumers are becoming smarter in their wine choices.”

For the majority, if not all, of New Zealand’s winemakers, the production of aromatic wines is driven by a passion for a variety, not financial gain; Sauvignon Blanc (and Pinot Noir) pays the bills. For now, it is largely smaller producers, the specialist on-trade and independent retailers that are sparking interest in New Zealand aromatic wines and driving this growing sub-category forward. It might suit some winemakers for that balance to remain like that, with production necessarily limited. However, larger producers have not overlooked the potential of New Zealand’s aromatic offer.

Yealands was early to grasp onto their potential, with Peter Yealands known for his penchant for experimental plantings, resulting in its P.G.R. label – a blend of Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer and Riesling from Marlborough. Villa Maria too is flying the flag for aromatics, with an Albariño, Arneis, Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Verdelho and Viognier in its stable. Support from such producers can only help to pave the way for greater recognition of New Zealand’s ‘other’ varieties. As Glover says: “Sauvignon is not just the Holy Grail, it is the key to the Holy Grail. The opportunity now is to start driving and dictating the development of other white varieties, to spread and strengthen the breadth of New Zealand’s offering. This is a critical, long-term strategy. For the larger representatives of our industry it is a long game that is needed, and they have an exciting responsibility.”