On The Level
NZ Winegrowers, the official mouthpiece of our wine industry, has predicted the 2008 harvest will be the biggest the country has ever had. Why is that? Well, there has been an increase in new plantings, but that only partly explains it. Over the whole country there was also a good “set”, which means that the crop on each vine is larger than in many years. Big fluctuations occur in NZ's crop levels as the result of our variable maritime climate, something which is less likely to occur if you are on a continent.
Our viticulturalists greg miller (back) and ryan collins doing bunch counts.
The potential crop, that is to say the number of flowers which appear on each shoot of a vine in the spring, is actually determined by the weather the previous year. That's right, the number of flowers seen in the spring of 2007, which give rise to the crop in the autumn of 2008, actually depends on the weather during spring and early summer of 2006. Hot weather then enables the plant to develop more of the special little cells which will eventually turn into flowers, and hence fruit, the following year. Mother Nature knows that things can go wrong and, as with all reproductive processes, she provides a great over-abundance compared with the actual need. This huge potential crop is cut back to a more reasonable level by winter pruning, just as you would do with fruit trees in your garden. The viticulturalist thus helps determine the size of the crop the next autumn. Note, I said “helps”. What is actually produced also depends on the spring weather immediately before vintage. In the case of the 2008 harvest this means spring 2007. A frost then may damage or destroy the flower-buds, even before flowers have appeared.
Grapes are somewhat uninhibited in their sexual activities and fertilise themselves. Nobody told them about the birds and bees and they don't need help from such outsiders when they do their business. Like most of us, however, they find that being cold, wet and buffeted by wind is not conducive to good sex, and it impairs their pollination. Each flower has the potential to grow into a berry but no pollination means no seeds will develop inside the grape and hence, from the point of view of reproduction, it is useless. The plant won't put its energy into such fruit and it will either remain small or fall off. Within a bunch of grapes some berries may be fertilised and others not. If this effect is great enough it leads to so called hen and chickens, in which a small number of berries in a bunch may enlarge, but the majority are tiny and will contribute little juice.
This brings us back to NZ Winegrowers prediction that the harvest in 2008 will be plentiful. Winemakers can see that by merely glancing at vineyards, but they need more precise information. In fact, several months before harvest they need accurate estimations on what crop has “set” on each block in the vineyard, so that vintage can be planned. It's all very well having a good crop, but if it is too big the wine may be watery and lacking flavour. Bunches may need to be cut off and such thinning has to be done well before harvest to be effective. In addition, you have to have enough tanks, vats, barrels and the like for your juice and wine. It is more than an embarrassment if you don't have enough containers for crops brought into the winery. On the level, it's a disaster!
There are different ways of getting crop levels. One is simply to have an experienced eye make a guesstimate. Most vineyards, and we are one of them, like to be more precise. Should you visit us in late December and in January you will find people stooping, separating leaves and peering into the interior of randomly selected vines. They are counting the number of bunches that have set so that we can work out exactly how many we will have in each plot. Then, knowing the weight of each bunch and multiplying it by the number of them, it's simple to work out the actual crop we have.
Simple isn't it? Well not quite. It's the weight the average bunch will be when we pick it that we need to know and we are doing this estimate 2 or 3 months before harvest, when berries are still green and quite small. We get around this by taking a random selection of bunches, working out their average weight and multiplying it by a factor, which depends on the stage of development. In the end, after scratching our heads and chewing our pencils, we should be able to write down a figure that will be the approximate weight of grapes and hence the volume of juice and wine we should end up with. “Should end up with?” I can hear you say. “All this effort and you're not certain?” Well, I guess I forgot to mention little things like hail, bunch rot, birds and the like. Heck, it's only a very rough estimate of crop level.
Climate Change and How!
Just about everyone you meet is an expert on climate change and has strong views about whether it really exists, how significant it is, what the effects will be, how to deal with it and so forth. Without getting into that argum ent let us just say that our last spring and summer were amongst the driest we have experienced in a quarter of a century and most of the East Coast of New Zealand was officially classed as a drought disaster area, including Waipara. We even received a letter from our local Council offering farmers help to cope with the situation, including counselling! As far as we could make out they weren't offering anything to vignerons.
Pegasus bay vineyard before the big rain
At Pegasus Bay it was very dry and hot, with many days where the mercury was well into the 30's. The vines were loving it but we were desperately worried they were going to run out of water. Then, hey presto, on 11th February, the skies opened and in 1 day we received about 20% of our normal annual rainfall. Water came hurtling down dry streambeds, the vines loved it and everyone was wreathed in smiles, knowing that even if it remained hot and dry we had had enough rain to see us through to harvest and beyond. As mentioned previously in On the Level there is only one thing predictable about New Zealand's weather - and that's its unpredictability!
The Potager
At Pegasus Bay restaurant we are distinctly potty, potty about our potager, that is to say. As an adjective this French word simply means “for the pot” but as a noun it signifies a garden for the kitchen. Our restaurant is all about fresh seasonal local produce and you couldn't get anything fresher or more local than that which comes from immediately outside your door. Next time you visit our restaurant please spare it a glance. Our chefs are always raiding it for your meals so should it look all picked over we apologise in advance. We have been gradually building it up over the years and it contains over 20 different types of herbs and vegetables, including the exotic, such as kaffir limes, the old fashioned, like horse-radish and artichokes, as well as kitchen staples including parsley, chives and similar. Where does rhubarb fit into this picture, other than in desserts?
Gardeners paula kelly and anne gibbs working in the potager.
Take a stroll round the garden and you will see a similar number of fruit trees, the produce of which also ends up in our restaurant. We have at least 8 different types of figs, cranberries, gogi berries, currants, gooseberries, blueberries and good old fashioned quinces, to mention just a few. Then there are the olives and nuts, including sweet chestnuts.
All of these things could end up on our menu so please ask about them when you come to dine. Feel free to chat up the gardeners or chefs who are often pottering about. It is best to reserve lunch by ringing 03 3146869 ext 1, but feel free to drop into the tasting room any time. As the wine comes from our adjacent vineyard it is also very local!
From the Prescription pad...
How would you like to be a wine judge? I can almost see your enthusiastic smile of acceptance from where I'm sitting. Tasting wines sounds like a cushy number but, let me assure you, judging in most wine shows is hard work. Having judged both nationally and internationally for over 20 years and having occupied all positions from associate to chief judge at various shows, I have a fair idea about it. You have to be prepared to give anything from an hour to a week of your time at the tasting table, but typically 2 or 3 days. The format is also quite variable. At OIV (Office International de la Vigne - an intergovernmental body based in Paris) run competitions, the pace is leisurely but communication is interdit. You never seem to taste more than about 12 wines without a half hour's gap for a cuppa and you are not allowed to judge more than 50 wines a day in case you abuse your palate. You give every aspect of each wine a score on a printed page, according to a highly structured system, before the number-crunchers take it away and do their job. The 5 judges on each panel don't discuss the wine and, as each comes from a different country, they sometimes don't speak a common language. I have certainly found that my Turkish, Bulgarian and Croatian are lacking!
If that doesn't really sound like hard work, take the average competition in the English speaking world, including Australia and New Zealand. Fancy facing a flight of 30 or 40 different glasses of wine at 8:30am and not finishing until 5 or 6pm, by which time you may have evaluated between 150 and 230 wines. You have to stick rigorously to the 6 “S's” (Swirl, Sniff, Slurp, Spit, Synthesise and Score) in order to survive the day. Not only do you evaluate and score each wine for colour, bouquet and palatal qualities, but also write notes, because at the end of the bracket all judges on the same flight, there can be 3-5, will sit down and compare their scores and impressions to come up with a final mark. If there is any disagreement about a particular wine it may be re-tasted by the panel. Should you suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or have Attention Deficit Disorder, this type of past-time is definitely not for you.
A show with a difference is the Sydney International Wine Competition, in which each flight of wines is judged with a suitable dish, the idea being to eat a mouthful of food between trying each wine. This fusion of chemistry in the mouth can certainly have a modifying effect. Some wines which are unimpressive by themselves can be brought to life with the dish and vice versa. It's about finding wines that shine with food, rather than just being good drinks. It is mandatory to diet for a week afterwards and the wine spittoons are definitely not for the faint hearted wine steward.
Why do wine competitions exist? One reason is to set standards by which winemakers can measure themselves and to which they may aspire. Another is for the wine industry to promote itself and for individual producers it can be seen as a marketing exercise. If you do well, even if you're a new comer, you achieve immediate recognition and find it easier to sell your wine. A third raison d'etre, although a somewhat altruistic one, is to help the consumer make an informed choice. While you, the buyer can piggy back all the way to market on show results, I suspect your well being is not the driving force behind most shows.
Let's put ulterior motives to one side. Can you, the consumer, use this show system to your advantage? Yes, you can by getting out there and buying the medal winners as soon as the results are released, assuming the wines are available. Many top scoring wines have very limited availability and they are likely to evaporate from retail shelves quickly. If you are lucky enough to get a few top bottles you shouldn't be disappointed with them, as long as what you have is the same as the wine to which the judges gave the medal and it hasn't suffered in some way, such as being corked. Remember, competition judges give points to the wine that is put in front of them and this is not to say it will be the same as the one you have bought. This is particularly likely to apply to non-vintage wines, of which sparkling or Champagne-style wines are a good example. In addition, some companies bottle different batches of wine under identical, or virtually identical, labels and there have been instances in which a prestigious prize has been won by a small blend submitted to a competition, while that generally available has been from a different batch. Corking is less of an issue with New Zealand wines now that the vast majority of them have a superior seal, namely screw cap. In many wine competitions I have judged 10-15% of wines have been recalled by the judges on suspicion that the wine has been adversely affected by a cork closure. In some overseas competitions unbottled wines can be entered. In what way the final blend with its gold medal sticker resembles the one that gained the award is anybody's guess!
Finally, the results of wine shows only tell you about the bottles that were entered. The organisers do not go out and buy the wines. They are entered by the manufacturers or distributors. About half of New Zealand wine companies, including some of the most prestigious, do not enter wine shows. There are various reasons for this but sometimes it is because their wines are elegantly understated and harmonious without being show stoppers. Palate fatigue is an ever present possibility and even although judges may conscientiously search for more restrained, harmonious food friendly styles, there is a tendency for the bigger, richer and more zesty fruit bombs to push their way to the fore in competitions.
Yes, competitions are worth the time and effort that people put into them and you can use the results to your benefit. However, given what I have just said, don't be surprised is you don't always agree with the judges. Just remember, if you restrict yourself to drinking the results of wine shows you will only be tapping a fraction of the market. It can be especially useful to use them if you don't know a lot about wine, but sometimes getting to know a few top producers whose wine styles you enjoy and can rely on, can be more rewarding.
Cheers, Ivan Donaldson