27 September 2012

Ara: A Pathway to Marlborough

While New Zealand is a toddler in the world of viticulture, Marlborough is younger still and yet despite this, it has managed its fair share of veterans. None more noted that the creator of the Marlborough's first "Grand Cru" estate, ARA, Jeff Clarke. Despite, Marlborough's haphazard discovery as a terroirist dream as recently as the late sixties, Jeff has a long history of involvement in the budding Kiwi wine industry, punching in well over 50 vintages with the Kiwi wine industry. To boot, he's ex-Penfolds and has been at the helm of Brancott during what could be called it's quality peak. Think you'll agree this guy doesn't submit to the term green.


Thankfully, Clarke and his ARA venture haven’t just disappeared into the mist of well meant idealist gestures. No rather, they’ve managed to find themselves growing in popularity and quality since the off. The estate is almost a personification of the success of Marlborough, with a unique cool micro-climate (Having some of the oldest soils available in Marlborough at 20,000 years of age and an extremely cool temperature, an anecdote from Jeff revealed that the vines where resting in temperature of -4 degrees at the present moment). Yet, the similarities do not stop there; the youthful rise of Marlborough’s popularity is mimicked by even the vines of ARA itself, with the vines of his Select Block label having an insanely youthful age of 10 years, surprise here arises simply due to the quality that this estate has already managed to achieve in this wines.
Feeling the Freeze, ARA spray water to freeze the vine's buds to protect them.

Despite the limiting factor of age, through the terroir and careful management of Jeff, ARA’s densely planted estate (5,000 vines per hectare v.s. Marlborough’s norm of 2,000) seems set to blaze a pathway to the envisioned Grand Cru of Marlborough. Guess what? Even the Kiwi sceptic in me is a tad excited at the prospect.

And aye, there's still a question burning for all of us, how is Clarke getting on at the moment with his wee venture? No surprises here either. He's cracked away pretty well in fact. So, here is my own run through of a recent tutored tasting of the wines of ARA led by none other than Jeff Clarke himself and organised by our very own Shane Mc Nally the assistant manager of O'Brien's in Lucan, Co. Dublin. 

  • ARA, Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc - Marlborough (€16.99, O'Briens); A very surprising wine altogether, for anyone bored of Prosecco or Cava, this one is for you. A medium pronounced nose, of lime, soft wafts of nettles, touches of concentrated green fruits bounce around the palate and the nose. All of this falls back on a blanket of Mango juices and gooseberry syrup that is sliced by trademark ARA acidity and minerality. Altogether a very vibrant and lively wine. A great BBQ wine, first touch of sun we get, get yourself outside with a bottle of this and think appledrops sweets cut in two by refreshing acidity. (Score: 87 Value: 4) 

  • ARA, Pathway, Sauvignon Blanc - Marlborough (€12.99, O'Briens) ; Ara's defacto entry level Sauvignon Blanc, does what it say on the tin, it's mango and passion-fruit driven but with the twist of having minerality loan it layers of complexity. Unlike many Marlborough Sauvignon's, the Pathway avoids leaning to a thick sweetness and leans on the edge of simple elegance to better convey all the pleasures of good fruit driven Saugivnon; Tropical fruit and an ability to express a sense of terroir (Score: 86 Value: 4.5) 

  • ARA, Select Block, Sauvignon Blanc - Marlborough (€16.99, O'Briens); By far, and surprisingly given my Pinot tendencies, my favourite of ARA's wines on the night and in general. Haunting mineral flavours dominant the palate and force the fruits into guerrilla styled appearances on the palate, that truly follow the sense of the word, short burst of intense flavours; lime, gooseberry and other sublime green fruits. The finish rests as an almost flinty dust on the plate that does not but linger and incite you to a second and third tasting. Given the vine age, this is a vine to watch in the future, right now? It's a wine to try and savour. (Score: 89 Value: 3.5) 

  • ARA, Pathway, Pinot Noir - Marlborough (€15.99, O'Briens); Marlborough Pinot as it should be, with touches of sweetening oak influence on the palate that double up as subtle spice. All in all a very simple Marlborough Pinot at a fair price, think red fruits, raspberry and redcurrant with a bucket load of minerality to go alongside it, a good, simple textbook wine. (Score: 82 Value: 3) 

  • ARA, Select Block, Pinot Noir - Marlborough (€18.99, O'Briens); An expensive wine, but most definitely one of the pick and most definitely the one to watch after. The vines are still young and Jeff has mentioned the multiple cones in the vineyards as age takes them they should begin to express themselves more potently. However to now, as it is. Nose it an elegant semi-restrainted walk of red fruits, strawberry, redcurrant and berries, touches of a dark cherry and other wild ripe fruits. the palate is clean and refreshing with bundles of acidity, keeping the wine alive as the fruit bares down on the plate and despite the fruit first approach of this wine, the minerality and depth of the fruit keeps it far from being a commonplace Pinot. The finish much like the Sauvignon of the same label lingers for a great time. This is definitely set to be one of Marlborough's greats in a matter of years. (Score: 88 Value: 3) 

Final Comment: The verdict is fairly simple, the vines are a bit young and what we are looking at already is some fantastic examples of what Marlborough should be about; an extreme expression of place. These are wines that I for one shall be following well into the future and if advice is being heeded, you'll get you on their case soon too. The Select Block range is most definitely already at a very serious stage in terms of vine development and are themselves well wort a try right away. The Pathway's are outright crowd-pleasers but do definitely have there heads and shoulders above the closest of contenders in Marlborough. As for the the bubbly? This is a real delight a nice surprise from an unsuspecting corner, simple vibrant and fun, just what you want from some bubbles!


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