First thing is first, I am a Riesling nut, and it is one of the grapes that when someone has the ability to do the thing justice softens the very hammerings of the world and I realise that, things aren't actually all that bad, so long as there is this glass of wine in it. However, this is a two way street, cock that up, and I'll be upset, I will be very very upset. Now to the point of this, on Monday I was subjected to a Riesling tasting of 12 Rieslings from the same vineyard, same harvest, the only difference? The winemaker.
Sounds fantastic, and by and by it was. As an experience. However, what has caused me to write this is the quality variations that were noticeable, and how in reflection of the tasting made me think to New Zealand's place in the wine world.
Personally, I on the whole love NZ Riesling, within the small micro-climates of the various valleys and the extreme soil quality to which the vines are given over to, I feel is the potential for something huge and world shifting for Riesling. There is within these two Islands the climates, soils and absolutely no lack of talent as it was evident from several of the Rieslings on show. Where, however, has it all gone wrong? and why hasn't this come to pass yet?
My argument would focus on several points such as over expansion, suitable terroir and it's availability, vine age, and so on yet I feel that the dual edged attitude towards wine that prevails here, covers all these most effectively with the limited time being a final year student offers me. That is this "Can do" approach, now let me haul the firing squad and ask those at my throat for but a moment, I am not attacking this mentality entirely, rather I'd argue, in the right hands this is New Zealand's trump card against the rest of the world. It's offering up a lot of potential discoveries of sorts, Gruner to name but the most recent.
Combine this with their fresh and young attitude and you have a generation of wine drinker who have started with the infamous Marlborough Sauvignon and come whole circle to return only to try the most noble of the grapes from these regions and have had their heads blown, put simply you have a generation whole hearted captivated, no easy thing to do now.
Combine this with their fresh and young attitude and you have a generation of wine drinker who have started with the infamous Marlborough Sauvignon and come whole circle to return only to try the most noble of the grapes from these regions and have had their heads blown, put simply you have a generation whole hearted captivated, no easy thing to do now.
Yet it's not happening, and it's not down to the vines age, as a region and a whole these wines should be still showing people that in 4 to 5 vintages there will be a new force in the Riesling world.
So, why aren't these wines doing this? I focus in on my point, in the right hands. Why is this? The tasting on Monday offered up a stark picture. One that in my own way horrified me. Some of the winemakers had managed to drown away the acidity from the Riesling. Now there is something to be said for the low alcohol to the wines but these were completely unbalance, they were sloppy and overall they let what was a brilliantly styled team down.
Too many of the wines tasted offered up nothing exciting other than residual sugar by the bucket load. I shan't name the culprits, as I feel there's no need to be nasty over it, yet it is astonishing that these people thought that this was an excellent style to pursue? Its baffling.
My point before I lose the run of myself is this. That this "Can do" attitude is mutating into a financial "can't fail" attitude, it's mutating from an expression which co-incidentally make money into something which is entirely different, its a heinous and destructive attitude that has happened with the precious New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Now everyone is making it, soils that should be preserved as landmarks to show what not to look for when planning grapes and now suddenly rolling vineyards of Sauvignon Blanc as far as the eye can see, none of it made with any real thought for the art of wine making (and believe me it pains me to sound like such a prick when I say that).
While it is the flagship grape of New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc is more than often notoriously badly made. Selling solely for the coveted New Zealand label slapped on by some grinning tight arsed accountant. That is not wine, marketing maybe, and while it is a fine piece of marketing it has gone too far, and its ready to crash in on itself, the aura of wonder that the grape had initially brought is being abused and the image is suffering. Many wine-heads and even weekend winos have moved on. They've began to write of NZ wines.
With honourable exception, New Zealand Sauvignon has taken a dangerous step on the road to becoming the next blossom hill, blue nun of the wine world. This wrapped attitude that we can't fail financially is leading a drive to destroy the hard work of exceptional bright stars of the wine world. Anyone that argues otherwise, need only look to the damage that cheap "German Riesling" has done to the German markets, in this country, it is a challenge to convince even the most trusting customer that German wine is not cheap plonk.
This would be fine of course if there was anything to write off, but there isn't. Within New Zealand there is a real potential for a fine wine industry, all that is stopping them is time, the vines need more time, and the wineries need to admit this, which many of them have begun too.
Too many of the wines tasted offered up nothing exciting other than residual sugar by the bucket load. I shan't name the culprits, as I feel there's no need to be nasty over it, yet it is astonishing that these people thought that this was an excellent style to pursue? Its baffling.
My point before I lose the run of myself is this. That this "Can do" attitude is mutating into a financial "can't fail" attitude, it's mutating from an expression which co-incidentally make money into something which is entirely different, its a heinous and destructive attitude that has happened with the precious New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Now everyone is making it, soils that should be preserved as landmarks to show what not to look for when planning grapes and now suddenly rolling vineyards of Sauvignon Blanc as far as the eye can see, none of it made with any real thought for the art of wine making (and believe me it pains me to sound like such a prick when I say that).
While it is the flagship grape of New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc is more than often notoriously badly made. Selling solely for the coveted New Zealand label slapped on by some grinning tight arsed accountant. That is not wine, marketing maybe, and while it is a fine piece of marketing it has gone too far, and its ready to crash in on itself, the aura of wonder that the grape had initially brought is being abused and the image is suffering. Many wine-heads and even weekend winos have moved on. They've began to write of NZ wines.
With honourable exception, New Zealand Sauvignon has taken a dangerous step on the road to becoming the next blossom hill, blue nun of the wine world. This wrapped attitude that we can't fail financially is leading a drive to destroy the hard work of exceptional bright stars of the wine world. Anyone that argues otherwise, need only look to the damage that cheap "German Riesling" has done to the German markets, in this country, it is a challenge to convince even the most trusting customer that German wine is not cheap plonk.
This would be fine of course if there was anything to write off, but there isn't. Within New Zealand there is a real potential for a fine wine industry, all that is stopping them is time, the vines need more time, and the wineries need to admit this, which many of them have begun too.
The quality and talent is out there but more that it's increasingly becoming overshadowed by the poor "made to meet demand models that have saturated the market.
It is up to New Zealand, to calm down and realise there is some time yet before this can do attitude manifests itself fully. Vineyards like Seifried and Spy Valley are for myself leading the way on this. Taste their Rieslings and see for yourself. I will name and Shame Spy Valley 's Paul Bougeois as the Riesling maker that won it for me from the table, the wine was elegant, pronounced, and well balanced, it did what Riesling is suppose to do, grab the taster by the throat and offer intensity and finesse with balance. Seifrieds Riesling has responded to bottle time uniquely, the 2003 vintage was tasting truly wonderful only a month ago, moving from a Germanic style to something more lively and truly individual.
Bringing this back onto the Riesling, the failure of some of these wines, overshadows the truly magnificent Rieslings tasted. If New Zealand wants to win back the hearts of its now matured white heads, it's time those who really can't, put their hands up and admit it's not their grape. If not, the disillusioned Sauv Blanc heads are going to attempt a return only to be gravely disappointed and with what can only be described as an inconceivable amount of potential for Noble varietals especially Riesling that would be shameful.
It is up to New Zealand, to calm down and realise there is some time yet before this can do attitude manifests itself fully. Vineyards like Seifried and Spy Valley are for myself leading the way on this. Taste their Rieslings and see for yourself. I will name and Shame Spy Valley 's Paul Bougeois as the Riesling maker that won it for me from the table, the wine was elegant, pronounced, and well balanced, it did what Riesling is suppose to do, grab the taster by the throat and offer intensity and finesse with balance. Seifrieds Riesling has responded to bottle time uniquely, the 2003 vintage was tasting truly wonderful only a month ago, moving from a Germanic style to something more lively and truly individual.
Bringing this back onto the Riesling, the failure of some of these wines, overshadows the truly magnificent Rieslings tasted. If New Zealand wants to win back the hearts of its now matured white heads, it's time those who really can't, put their hands up and admit it's not their grape. If not, the disillusioned Sauv Blanc heads are going to attempt a return only to be gravely disappointed and with what can only be described as an inconceivable amount of potential for Noble varietals especially Riesling that would be shameful.
Calm down, your beloved New Zealand wine industry is not going away.
ReplyDeleteNew Zealand is becoming like all other great wine countries and now producing a full range of wines for the entire consumer spectrum. This will not change and means consumers of plonk will find decent bottles made in New Zealand and consumers who spend more will find stunning bottles that delight.
Bordeaux is not struggling because France produces large volumes of low cost wine - same for Italy, California and so on.
It is OK - New Zealand just needs to understand that using a singular story for the entire industry is misleading and holding them back.
It is also up to the individual producers to get out in front and tell their own stories and strut their wines and not piggy back on some grand nationwide marketing blurb.
Consumers who seek out the better retailers will quickly find the better bottles .
I think that in essence I agree with you there Ron. The New Zealand wine industry is going nowhere only upwards (I am a big fan despite the rant) especially as the vines start to get some age on them, and the wines come of age.
DeleteI have however, just a few points to make, first, with Riesling especially, there is no plonk market, unless we consider "Liebfraumilch" styled wine which thankfully to this point NZ has avoided. Plonk customers looking out NZ have happily settled within Sauvignon Blanc and this is where as you have said individual wineries must compete to have their stories hear and champion themselves, whereas with Riesling we are dealing with the customers who are looking for quality. This is were my rant originated, some of the Rieslings that I tasted were fantastic, now unfortunately many were not. They fell way below basic exceptions. Their price points did not match their quality. They would be over priced and very disappointing and off putting to anyone looking for quality wine, which is an unfair write off as the quality is there. You mentioned Bordeaux and recently people have noted the quality and price more than often don't correlate, often paying for more than you receive, this is something that New Zealand Riesling can't really handle, there is a loot of competition for the new world Riesling market, Australia and now even Chile is turning out good Riesling, if they are labelled as not offering quality for money then, they are going to lose their market share because of a few awful examples.