WAIHEKE WINEGROWERS EXPO 2009 – HOW DO THE WAIHEKE ISLAND WINES MEASURE UP ?



Introduction
The Waiheke WineGrowers' Association (WWA) uses the word WineGrower in its title to encourage membership both by full wineries and grape-growers,  but membership is voluntary.  For Waiheke as a whole,  in June 2009 there are 24 winery members of the Association,  3 wine-producers who are not members,  and several other names who are either emerging or former producers.  The latter may still have wine in the retail system.  The 27 are less than the 29 wineries listed by Sue Courtney in her neat tabulated summary of Waiheke wineries in April 2008 @ http://www.wineoftheweek.com/regions/waiheke.html,  presumably reflecting the state of flux the New Zealand wine industry as a whole is currently in,  after the recent phenomenal (and unsustainable ?) increase in aspiring wine producers.

The Association presented the first Annual Expo of Waiheke Wines in Auckland city on 9 June 2009.  About 90 wines were available for tasting,  from 16 of the wineries.  These included most of the larger,  better known or more widely distributed wineries,  though Stonyridge and Destiny Bay did not include their topmost wine.  The following list shows which member-wineries participated in the Expo,  those members who did not for various reasons (including no stock in tasting condition at the moment),  and finally the non-member wineries and other uncertain categories,  as far as I can establish in the time available.  It is not the last word.

WWA member wineries exhibiting at the Expo  (16):  
Awaroa Vineyard
Cable Bay Vineyards
Destiny Bay Vineyards
Goldwater Estate
Isola Estate
Jurassic Ridge
Kennedy Point Vineyard
Man O' War  (formerly Stony Batter Estate)
Miro Vineyard
Mudbrick Vineyard (including Shepherds Point)
Obsidian Vineyard
Passage Rock Wines
Poderi Crisci  (formerly Christensen Estate)
Stonyridge Vineyard
Te Motu Vineyard
The Hay Paddock

WWA member wineries not exhibiting at the Expo  (8):  
Edbrooke Vineyard
Peacock Ridge
Ridgeview Estate
Saratoga Estate
Te Whau Vineyard Ltd
Topknot Hill Vineyard
View East Vineyard
Woodside Hill

Wineries on Waiheke not members WWA (3):
Owhanake Bay Estate
Putiki Bay Vineyard
Turere Cove

Status Uncertain  (3):
Fenton Estate  (understood to be no longer making wine)
Oakura Bay  (understood to now be a grape-grower)
Peninsula Estate  (understood to be no longer making wine)

There are grape-growers who supply grapes for other wineries.  Some of these are small-scale,  or lifestyle growers,  not wine-sellers as such,  but there may be wines made for them which add to the wine labels possibly encountered from Waiheke.

In addition to Wine of the Week (above),  the two best sources of information on the wines of Waiheke Island are first,  as always,  Michael Cooper's exemplary Wine Atlas of New Zealand,  in its 2002 and 2008 editions,  and now,  the Waiheke WineGrowers Association's excellent website:  www.waihekewine.co.nz  This site has some info for each member,  including the few without their own website.  Much of the information on the site,  including the map,  a good map of the geology,  and descriptions and photos of the 11 main grape varieties grown on the Island,  is reproduced in their outstanding brochure WAIHEKE – Island of Wine.

Presenting Wine Expos
Unusually for such events,  the organisers asked winewriters in particular what they most needed to gain the best result from such a presentation.  The nett result was a preliminary media session only,  from 10 am to 1.30,  where the bottles were available for winewriters to annotate,  pour and taste samples in peace and quiet,  without winemakers or other trade people.  From 1.30 to 5.30 or so was allocated to the trade generally,  and the balance of the evening was public.  Additionally,  there was a user-friendly wire-bound catalogue printed on matt paper,  both features making the recording of notes much easier.

This approach was a tremendous success,  a model which I hope will be quickly adopted by other districts.  Practices at some of the other wine Expos are virtually a nonsense,  for example saddle-stitched catalogues printed on shiny paper so the booklet won't stay open and the ink smears,  and some allowing only 2 hours for both media and trade.  That means for winewriters there is no time in which there is easy access to a desired bottle,  without more or less jostling.  Think about it for a moment.  To check the alcohol alone for each and every bottle of 100 bottles on display could take 60 secs per bottle,  allowing for the obscurity of labelling on some bottles,  and the distractions of access and people desiring to talk.  That single annotation could take 100 of the 120 allocated minutes.  Further,  it is a physical and mental impossibility to competently taste and record notes on 100 wines in 120 minutes.  How can 2 hours for a 100 or so wines be even considered in the first place ?  

Even with the superb innovation of a media-only session of 3.5 hours for the 90 wines in the Waiheke Expo (for which total credit must go to Lindsay Spilman,  Convener),  several of us interested in a more detailed approach felt that the winewriters' session would have been even better if it had started at 9 am,  and run for 4.5 hours till 1.30.  I was just able to document and collect samples of the 90 wines in the 3.5 hours,  by virtue of scarcely speaking,  and Michael Cooper who also values a detailed approach expressed similar views.

I urge all organisers of Wine Expos to move to a timing layout whereby the first 4 – 5 hours are a self-pour session for media only,  many of whom wish to write notes in peace and quiet,  the second 3 – 4 or so hours add in the trade who in general do not write notes,  and the final 4 hours are available to the public too.  Winemakers commonly spend 12-hours-plus days at vintage time:  surely investing a long day in promoting their wines would be worthwhile too,  particularly considering a number of winewriters attend these promotions at their own cost,  to in effect promote the wine industry.

Waiheke Island
Waiheke Island lies some 30 km ENE of downtown Auckland,  and leaving aside the larger Great Barrier Island to the outer northeast,  is the largest island within the Hauraki Gulf.  Total land area is about 9200 hectares (22,720 acres),  most of it modestly hilly and below 100 m (328 ft).  In the eastern half,  the NE-trending ridge from Maunganui (the highest point at 231 m = 758 ft) overlooking Awaawaroa Bay to Stony Batter in the volcanic zone of the NE peninsula rises to 200 m in several places.  Excellent location maps and a particularly good geological map (though none with spot-heights) are on the WineGrowers' website,  above.  Permanent population is around 8000 people.

In the modern era,  the first vinifera vines were planted in 1977 by Kim & Jeannette Goldwater.  From the outset,  they were focussed on Bordeaux blends,  the temperate maritime climate being seen as closely akin to that of Bordeaux.  Merlot followed by cabernet remain the most-planted varieties.  Since then the district has increasingly come to be seen as the place posing the most credible challenge to Hawkes Bay's pre-eminence with this winestyle in New Zealand.  This is a consequence of Waiheke being somewhat drier than most other wine-growing districts in mainland Auckland.  Rainfall on Waiheke further decreases to the eastern end,  due to the prevailing southwesterly winds.  The Matakana district some 50 km due north of Auckland claims similar advantages,  but the evidence is lacking.

Rainfall:  There are in fact some fantastic local district rainfall claims for nearby wine districts to be seen from a quick search on the web.  My NZ Meteorological Service statistical summaries are not up to date enough for Waiheke to be officially listed in the 20-year normals,  but there is now some information.  The Auckland Regional Council has published a rainfall map of the Auckland region in one of their Technical Publications:  Auckland Water Resource Quantity Statement 2002 – Overview of the Auckland Region's Water Resources  select Climate chapter,  scroll down to Fig. 2.2,  p.4 (the link is slow).  Extraordinarily,  the map omits the isohyets for Waiheke Island,  presumably as a consequence of no network of weather stations.  It does however show quite clearly that the Matakana district is wetter than the Kumeu district (c.1350 mm / annum).  For Waiheke one can only extrapolate from the vivid rainfall gradient shown along the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.  From west to east the annual rainfall there falls from 1300 mm at Orewa to well below 1100 mm at the eastern end,  and to 950 mm at Tiritiri Island beyond.  

For eastern Waiheke,  the high ridge from Maunganui to Stony Batter does curtail any hoped-for west to east gradient,  at least immediately adjacent to it,  unfortunately for viticulture.  By the same token,  the gradient east of the ridge may steepen.  More weather stations would be very useful.  All in all,  it seems likely that western and central Waiheke is in the order of 1250 – 1300 mm varying from place to place (the peninsulas drier,  for example),  and the eastern end of the Island is more like 1150 – 1250 mm (discussion with David Evans of Passage Rock).  The only NIWA / MetService-grade recording station is at Awaawaroa Bay,  just west of the above ridge.  Mean annual rainfall there is approximately 1280 mm,  according to the Island's weather site:  www.waihekeweather.net/home.  All numbers however are a far cry from Havelock North's annual rainfall of c.800 mm – this figure closely matches Bordeaux.  Not too much can be made of Waiheke's "lower" rainfall therefore,  except relative to places like Henderson.  [ The map does show however why such fantastic fruit has from time to time come off the Mangere / Ihumatao vineyard zone for Villa Maria.  It is the driest spot in the local Auckland region – 1100 mm.  The optimal place for wine grapes in the greater Auckland district however must be the eastern end of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula – apart from an increased risk of salt. ]  In checking websites,  caution is needed – rainfall totals can be massaged infinitely,  for example by citing a 7 or 8-month growing season,  or the February to April rainfall totals only.

Recent Vintages  (adapted from the Waiheke Syrah Workshop article,  this site 22 July 2008)
Note this is a broad-brush estimate for all grapes / the whole island.  Individual wineries may feel it under-estimates their achievements.  The problem grape is cabernet sauvignon.  All too often the dry weather of the typical Auckland summer finishes before cabernet is fully physiologically mature / ripe,  introducing the leafy notes so characteristic of reds in the Auckland / Matakana / North Auckland districts generally.  This is why merlot is increasingly the dominant variety in Bordeaux blends,  and the earlier-ripening syrah (at much the same point as merlot) looks so promising in the district.  It is all early days yet,  but it does seem likely that favoured (drier) microclimates exist on Waiheke (relative to the central aggregation of wineries),  particularly to the east and towards the extremities of peninsulas.  There however the risk of salt exposure is higher.  Using James Halliday's excellent vintage charts (for Australia, @ http://winecompanion.com.au/vintagechart.cfm) as the model,  the rating is out of 10.

Vintage Ratings for the last 10 years on Waiheke Island:

2009	7 – 9	Good flowering,  good crops,  unsettled part Feb / March may affect whites,  dry late summer and autumn allowing good ripening all reds.
2008	8 – 10	Good flowering,  good crop,  long settled summer,  best vintage yet in vinifera era.
2007	5 – 7	Difficult flowering,  low crop,  early season reds good,  late / cabernet lesser.
2006	6 – 8	Reasonable flowering and crop,  good ripening for all but latest season reds.
2005	8 – 9	Difficult flowering,  small crops of superb grapes for all varieties.
2004	5 – 7	Good flowering and crop,  long slightly cool season giving lean aromatic grapes all varieties.
2003	4 – 5	Reasonable crops,  but summer a month too short,  only chardonnay good.
2002	7 – 9	Lowish crops but good long summer all varieties,  fractionally ahead of 2000.
2001	3 – 4	Small crops,  rain,  summer lacking,  the least of decade.
2000	7 – 8	Good flowering and crop,  long dry season,  all varieties good.

Winestyles
Waiheke Island has been famous first and foremost for its Bordeaux-blend / cabernet / merlot and similar winestyles.  This was the initial goal of 1980s pioneers the Goldwaters,  and Stephen White at Stonyridge.  Now,  syrah is about to leap into prominence as an absolutely premium grape and wine for the district too.  Its ripening time approximates merlot.  The key thing to say about both these winestyles is,  due to the cool-temperate maritime climate,  the Island interpretations of these grapes have the potential at best to be clearly delicate and fragrant,  with superb floral complexity and total physiological maturity,  yet without sur-maturité / over-ripeness.  In comparison with Hawkes Bay they show greater potential ripeness than the all-too-often under-ripe Te Awanga district reds.  The best merlot / cabernets closely match the very best of the Bordeaux blends from the Havelock North and Ngatarawa Triangle districts,  much more so than the sometimes burlier winestyles coming off the Gimblett Gravels in warmer years.  They match classical Bordeaux very closely indeed.  And likewise the Island syrahs are at best extraordinarily close to one or other of the principal syrah villages in the Northern Rhone Valley,  namely wonderfully fragrant aromatic wines which are closer to the wines of the Cote de Nuits than to Australian shiraz.  

I hope Waiheke Island winemakers will rejoice in this distinctiveness,  and optimise their wines' complexity accordingly,  in particular by subtle use of oak.  They will then be truly distinctive,  and very close to the classical wines of France.  In contrast,  the Gimblett Gravels wines run the risk in warmer years of being confused with either Napa Valley wines,  or even Australian.  Simply from a marketing viewpoint,  and the optimising of the concept 'New Zealand wine',  the latter is the last thing we want.

It is fair to say that for the cabernet / merlots,  the history of Island wines is a microcosm of the New Zealand experience.  We have long been habituated in New Zealand to red wines which the greater world sees as lean at best,  and green / stalky and acid at worst.  Though there have been marvellous individual wines in past years,  starting with the 1987 Stonyridge Larose,  now several of the best contemporary Island wines have relatively suddenly made a tremendous leap in achieved quality.  This is largely due to the advent of another group of growers (since the founders) who are equally passionate about Bordeaux sensu stricto as a winestyle.  Because the Island heat summation and climate is at a knife-edge of adequacy,  adapting viticulture and yield to optimise every heat unit,  and achieve full physiological maturity of fruit flavours,  is the outstanding challenge.  

All that said,  the diversity of 'claret' interpretations developing amongst the top cabernet / merlot winemakers of Waiheke,  ranging from conventional new world (Mudbrick,  Isola,  Passage Rock) through classical Bordeaux (Te Motu,  Goldwater) to more modern Bordeaux-influenced European (Stonyridge,  though Larose not in the tasting,  Destiny Bay,  though Magna Praemia not in the tasting) is exciting.  

The Island's temperate climate also works well for achieving subtle satisfying not too alcoholic chardonnay on the Island.  Traditionally the Island chardonnays have been a bit rumpty on the winemaking side,  but in this tasting several elegant and totally modern wines can be found.  Again the analogy with Hawkes Bay districts holds true.  It can be argued that the finest and subtlest Hawkes Bay chardonnays come not from the warmest places in the Bay,  but slightly cooler zones like the Dartmoor Valley – for example the Sacred Hill range and notably their Riflemans.  Locally the chardonnay achievements of Michael Brajkovich at Kumeu set all the example that is needed.

Sauvignon blanc deserves special mention.  Waiheke is a wine tourism destination.  If one goes to the Mosel Valley,  the goal is to taste riesling,  not roussanne.  It seems to me regrettable that several Waiheke wineries are expanding their commercial footing by importing generally modest examples of grapes such as Marlborough sauvignon blanc,  and pinot noir,  which belong elsewhere.  Waiheke sauvignon blanc is a different animal,  incidentally much closer to the Graves blanc model,  and one which can be delightful and even exciting (depending on the winemaking) in its own right.  In presenting straightforward or sometimes ordinary examples of wines from other districts in their house repertoire,  but at Waiheke prices,  the risk of not satisfying the tourist is high.  They then go away (not having read the fine print) saying,  Waiheke wines are average and over-priced.  This happens commonly,  and does not help Waiheke wine one little bit.  The goal must be too accentuate what is distinctive to the Island.  Waiheke sauvignon is a natural extension of the sauvignon spectrum in New Zealand,  from the crisply aromatic and zingy in Marlborough,  to the softer and fragrant slightly more tropical fruits version in Hawkes Bay,  through to the even more ripely-fruited yet still refreshing ones on Waiheke.  This is a story worth telling.  Passage Rock is providing a model approach.  

Pinot gris is a versatile grape,  which in the north has already been shown to work well in the Matakana district.  The fact that it is the wine for people who don't like wine should not detract from the goal of making good ones on Waiheke.  In particular,  low-alcohol and fragrant flavourful ones to optimise seafoods (the minds-eye sees scallops) offer more potential than has been achieved so far.  

In general,  the individual wineries are not further discussed in this account,  beyond the wine reviews.  See Cooper,  Courtney and the WineGrowers website,  already cited.  However the Man O' War venture needs mention.  This extensive vineyard estate lies out to the northeast on the 4500 acre / 1821 ha Man O' War Station,  owned by the Spencer family of Stony Batter fame.  There are 90 individual vineyards scattered over this easternmost land,  and Ponui Island to the south too.  They total 150 acres / 60 ha.  They span a fabulous array of altitudes and aspects,  and must offer the potential for outstanding wines in a diversity of styles.  Thus far wine achievements have been mostly modest,  notwithstanding some lavish praise where systemic faults in the wines have been ignored,  but the sheer scale of this enterprise,  and the thought that all the problems thus far (bar one) are readily resolvable,  mean that one day Man O' War will be an exciting wine name,  and a place to watch.  Already there is evidence of this in the wines themselves,  though thus far too,  the wines give the impression of winery staff working in isolation,  not tasting enough with contemporary progressive winemakers.  It is exciting therefore to contemplate the changes the new winemaker Duncan McTavish will introduce,  and express the hope he will make the drastic changes needed.  The caveat is the exposed nature of some of the vineyards,  on this relatively more exposed peninsula,  and the likelihood therefore of enhanced maritime notes / sea-salt in some of the wines.  But then they say that of manzanilla,  and few object to that wine.  The vineyard already has a great website,  very informative.

Methodology
The goal of this review is to provide in effect a snapshot of wine achievements on Waiheke Island,  as at June 2009.  As noted,  not all wineries participated in the Wine Expo,  but most of the style and achievement leaders did,  so the goal has validity.  

My approach to wine-writing differs from the norm in New Zealand,  in that I prefer to take carefully protected and numbered (against the catalogue) glass-samples away with me,  and as soon as possible set up a blind tasting of all the wines.   At the venue,  only the bouquet is checked and noted,  primarily for faults.  In this way I can achieve a much more clinical result than attempting to write notes at the function,  where people wish to talk (for example).  And I can compare and contrast wines one against the other,  on the table.  The samples taken are of sufficient volume (c.60 mls) to not deteriorate in transit.  Normally my tasting is a two-stage written affair,  the first goal being to assess all the reds (or whites) blind,  to see if the wines firstly have faults,  and secondly see if they have recognisable varietal characters which emerge blind.  That completed,  wines are identified as to variety only (and with the number of samples,  plus the conscious effort not to,  maker identity will not be remembered),  and sorted into varietal classes.  The still-masked glasses are then re-assessed and ranked within their class.  Clearly if a wine is recognisably varietal in the first instance,  this is a plus.

For this Waiheke exercise,  due to the number of samples,  and the fact I was working away from home,  for the more numerous reds the first stage was omitted.  The glasses were immediately sorted into varietal classes out of the box,  the control wines from elsewhere in New Zealand added as appropriate,  and the masked and newly-numbered glasses laid out in a randomised procedure evolved over 25 years.  Even so,  the cabernet / merlot and related class with foils amounted to 50 glasses.  Wines are described in a standard format and stationery approach,  with the important step of fault-recognition well in mind at the blind stage.  That completed,  the wines are ranked.  Completely fresh descriptive wine notes suited for publication are then written.  This stage leads to even closer examination of the wines,  for as one attempts to characterise them in terms which when read back in fact make sense against the fluid,  one's appreciation of them changes.  Ranking may therefore change several times,  in achieving the final result presented with this account.  But that is the nature of wine,  where there are few blacks and whites.

Quality-control – wine-writing
Once those longhand notes are typed,  and print-out is available,  it is as if one is reading some-one else's report.  The words and the quality of communication leap into focus.  Tasting the wines back against the printed notes is one key part of total quality control,  in wine-writing.  The other is the inclusion in the blind line-up of non-local wines known and agreed to be good at their medal level,  so in this case the Waiheke wines and the quality currently being achieved are strictly judged to national standards,  not some local one influenced by the circumstances of the day.    

The quality-control wines used for the Waiheke exercise,  their prices and their perceived scores on that day were:

2007 Sacred Hill Chardonnay Riflemans  $52,  18.5
2007 Villa Maria Pinot Gris Taylors Pass Single Vineyard  $30,  18
2008  Astrolabe Sauvignon Blanc Awatere Valley Discovery  $22,  18.5
2007  Te Mata Syrah Bullnose  $43,  18.5 +
2007  [ Waimata ] Cognoscenti Syrah (Gisborne)  $30,  16 +
2007  Te Mata Cabernets / Merlot Coleraine  $72,  18.5
2006  Villa Maria Merlot Omahu Gravels Single Vineyard  $57,  18
2007  Villa Maria Merlot / Cabernet Private Bin  $19,  17.5

Note not all wines are expensive or class-leading – the goal being to better assess nett wine achievements and value for money (not further discussed in this report) on Waiheke.  There are several Villa Maria wines not only because of their ubiquity,  but also because of their superlative technical control.  

The reviews follow my normal format, with an italicised 'admin' section giving background to the wine as presented in the catalogue,  the details supplemented at the Expo,  before my review.  I later contacted each winery with a list of supplementary questions.  Additionally on this occasion I have grafted in the winery notes for each wine from the Expo catalogue.  They conclude the 'admin' section under the wine name,  indicated within '  ' marks.  They help illuminate both the wine,  and the grower's thoughts on it.  Some wines in the catalogue included a W symbol for 'WWA Certified'.  To quote from the catalogue:

Waiheke Winegrowers' Certification Trade Mark – A commitment to quality standards
Waiheke Island's wine production represents less than 1% of New Zealand's production,  which in turn represents under 1% of the world's export wine sales.  With just 216 hectares under vine,  shared among 30 growers,  it is axiomatic that winegrowing on Waiheke is small-scale.  Volumes are low and economic viability depends heavily on the ability to achieve quality standards that justify a loyal following at the price levels needed for mainly 'boutique' operations.

The WWA Constitution has long recognised the need for members to pursue high standards in the vineyard, winery and product presentation.  This has now been taken further with the establishment of a registered Certification Trade Mark for wines meeting the three benchmark standards detailed in the Constitution,  i.e.:
#  That they are made from 100% Waiheke Island-grown grapes
#  That the grapes are grown in vineyards that are members of an internationally recognised sustainability programme
#  That the wine has met the sensory evaluation, fault analysis and winery audit standards which apply for Export Eligibility

This mark is designed to protect the integrity of wines labelled as being "Waiheke Island",  and to provide assurance to wine consumers.  All certified wine entries in this catalogue can be identified by the inclusion of the certification logo W    [ a W in a circle ]

Note the sensory evaluation and fault analysis requirement referred to is that required by New Zealand WineGrowers for export  (http://www.nzwine.com/certification/),  in association with the Crown Research Institute HortResearch.  There is no Waiheke Island involvement in that phase.

The Wines
All Waiheke Island wines are hand-picked.  In assessing the wines of the Island,  Michael Cooper in his 2002 Wine Atlas stated:  ' ... their quality ranges from mediocre to outstanding.'  Today seven years later,  that remains true,  but the exciting conclusion is,  the ratio of good and very good wines to lesser has increased dramatically.  The top wines are both of good international quality,  and local gold medal standard (these are not necessarily the same thing).  Ripeness levels in the top wines are exhilarating,  the wines showing the all-important quality of florality which can only be achieved in grapes perfectly ripened in cool-temperate viticultural districts (like fragrant apples,  or cherries).  

Key issues to emerge from the reviews are:  many wines still show high total acids,  by European standards;  some wines still show leafy,  stalky or otherwise under-ripe taste components;  wine-making standards are still very uneven on the Island,  and not only in smaller artisan wineries;  and the use of oak is in some cases excessive,  given that these are delicate wines.  We are too much influenced by Australia in this respect,  unfortunately.  Mainland Australia is a warm to hot winemaking climate,  and their use of oak is all too often to back-introduce an aromatic quality and interest to the wine which has been cooked out of the grape in the vineyard.  We need to be very clear about this,  and optimise the fact that lower-alcohol and less-oaked wines are infinitely more subtle and food-friendly.  This should work well in a district such as Waiheke,  which is so clearly a wine-tourism and wine & food destination.  

In red wines,  the spoilage yeast Brettanomyces (brett) remains an issue on the Island,  as traversed in my review of Waiheke Island bordeaux blends 14 Aug 2008 on this site.  Already however,  there are a number of wineries now completely or essentially free of it,  which is great news.  Proprietors need to evaluate how they want their wines to be endorsed.  For the two most highly-regarded and credible New Zealand wine shows,  where winemakers are present on nearly every panel,  and may dominate,  increasingly in Australasia a bretty wine has no hope of winning a good award.  The alternative is to use only shows such as the London International Wine Show,  where technical standards are lax.  Coupled with the gullibility factor still all too evident in New Zealand wine circles,  whereby any overseas award or comment de facto means more than a local one (irrespective),  such wineries can promote their wines on mystique rather than reality – an approach commoner than is acknowledged.  The accompanying reviews mention brett where relevant,  without making a song and dance about it.  I tend to be indulgent of this fragrant little yeast,  but one can certainly have too much of it.  So constant care is needed to maintain winemaking practices which minimise its incidence,  and where it is detected,  ensure the wines are sterile-filtered to bottle.  

Reading through the wine descriptions which follow,  the number of references to highish total acid,  and leafy or stalky elements,  is a worry,  as discussed above.  Another factor coming up over the horizon may be an excess maritime element,  tasteable sea-salt,  particularly in the more exposed sites on peninsulas and in the otherwise drier and therefore more desirable eastern sites.  In this,  eastern Waiheke may to a degree share the dilemma of Karikari Estate on the peninsula of the same name northeast of Kaitaia,  a district which may one day challenge the Island in its wine achievements.

Further information on less than satisfactory aspects of the wines is included in the reviews below – along with the good things.  Where production data in this report vary from previous reports,  the latest is the most up-to-date.  Most wine info is given verbally (or the email equivalent),  and 100% accuracy should not be supposed.  Prices given are mostly ex vineyard.  Wineshop prices are mostly higher.

Conclusions
The Waiheke WineGrowers' first Annual Expo was an unqualified success,  not least in the way it optimised opportunities for the three main target groups:  winewriters,  the trade,  and winelovers.  Total attendance was in the order of 300 people.  In answer to the question posed in the title,  in 1987 Waiheke showed it could make world-class wine.  In the years since,  there have been further occasional exceptional wines from the leaders,  but rather more ordinary ones from the Island as a whole.  Now,  with the latterday increase in professionally-qualified winemakers on the Island,  the average level of wine achievement is rising dramatically.  The best Waiheke red wines are now as good as any in New Zealand,  and for the whites the gap is closing rapidly.  In particular the cabernet / merlot and related Bordeaux-styled blends,  and now the Northern Rhone-styled syrahs,  can be exceptional.  They closely match both their French prototypes,  and the best Ngatarawa Triangle / Havelock Hills Hawkes Bay wines.

Acknowledgements
I appreciate very much that all winemakers were happy for me to collect 90 samples in a way that fits in with my procedures.  Assessing and first writing up of the wines was optimised by the kindness of Lindsay Spilman,  who kindly provided both accommodation and a complete office in which to work uninterrupted.  This does raise the issue of impartiality in writing up the results,  in that Lindsay is a Waiheke Island winery proprietor,  in addition to being Convener of the Expo.  This whole matter has recently been summarised well by Jancis Robinson,  in an extraordinarily thoughtful article titled The ethics of wine writing @ www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a20090418.html.  My circumstances differ from Robinson's in this site being declaredly 'non-commercial',  so participation in this Expo would not have been practicable from Wellington,  without this consideration.  I have to ask readers to believe that honours-level science training and then a career in our then-well-regarded DSIR organisation,  coupled with some forensic and court-work experience,  enables me to proceed pretty rigorously.  After the tasting at the writing-up and documenting stage,  I appreciated receiving follow-up info from all winemakers approached.  Lindsay Spilman too was infinitely patient with more inquiries about Island wine in general.

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LAYOUT – AND THE WINES REVIEWED:

White Sparkling Chardonnay 2007  Cable Bay Chardonnay Waiheke Island 2008  Goldwater Chardonnay Zell 2008  Kennedy Point Chardonnay Cuvée Eve 2007  Man O’War Chardonnay Valhalla 2007  Man O’War Chardonnay Waiheke Island 2008  Mudbrick Vineyard Chardonnay Reserve 2008  Obsidian Chardonnay 2007  [ Stonyridge ] fallen Angel Chardonnay Hawkes Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and related blends 2008  Cable Bay Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2008  Kennedy Point Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2008  Man O’War Sauvignon Blanc 2007  Man O’War Sauvignon Blanc Gravestone 2009  Passage Rock Sauvignon Blanc Waiheke Island 2008  [ Stonyridge ] fallen Angel Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough Riesling 2008  [Stonyridge ] fallen Angel Riesling Marlborough Pinot Gris 2008  Jurassic Ridge Pinot Grigio 2008  Man O’War Pinot Gris Ponui Island 2008  Passage Rock Pinot Gris 2008  Poderi Crisci Pinot Grigio Gewurztraminer 2008  Cable Bay Gewurztraminer Marlborough Viognier 2008  Obsidian Viognier 2008  Passage Rock Viognier Sweet / Sticky All other white wines, blends, etc. Red Rosé 2008  Cable Bay Rosé Waiheke Island 2008  Miro Rosé 2008  Poderi Crisci Rosé Cabernet, Merlot, and related blends 2007  Awaroa Cabernet / Merlot / Malbec 2006  Awaroa Cabernet / Merlot / Malbec 2007  Awaroa Merlot Stell Hawkes Bay 2006  Cable Bay Merlot / Malbec / Cabernet Five Hills Waiheke Island 2006  Destiny Bay [ Cabernet / Merlot ] Destinae 2006  Destiny Bay [ Cabernet / Merlot ] Mystae 2005  Destiny Bay [ Merlot / Cabernet ] Mystae 2005  Goldwater Estate [ Cabernet / Merlot ] Goldie 2005  Goldwater Merlot Esslin 2008  Isola Estate Cabernets / Merlot 2007  Isola Estate Merlot / Cabernets 2007  Jurassic Ridge Cabernet Franc 2006  Jurassic Ridge Cabernet Franc 2005  Kennedy Point Merlot

2007  Man O’War Cabernet Franc / Merlot 2007  Man O’War [ Cabernets / Merlot ] Ironclad    nv  Miro Vineyard [ Cabernet / Merlot ] Aphrodisiac 2004  Miro Vineyard  [ Cabernet / Merlot ] Archipelago 2005  Miro Vineyard Miro 2005  Mudbrick Merlot / Cabernets Reserve 2006  Mudbrick Merlot Shepherds Point 2008  Mudbrick Vineyard Cabernet / Merlot 2007  Obsidian [ Cabernet / Merlot ] The Obsidian 2005  Obsidian [ Cabernet / Merlot ] The Obsidian 2008  [ Obsidian ] Weeping Sands Cabernet / Merlot 2006  [ Obsidian ] Weeping Sands Cabernet / Merlot 2008  Passage Rock Cabernet Reserve 2007  Passage Rock [ Merlot / Malbec / Cabernet / Syrah ] Sisters 2007  Poderi Crisci Merlot 2006  Poderi Crisci Merlot 2008  Stonyridge Cabernet Sauvignon / Malbec / Cabernet Franc Airfield 2005  Te Motu Cabernet / Merlot 2004  Te Motu Cabernet / Merlot 2006  [Te Motu] Dunleavy Cabernet / Merlot 2005  [Te Motu] Dunleavy Cabernet / Merlot Cabernet / Shiraz Pinot Noir 2007  Cable Bay Pinot Noir Marlborough 2008  Kennedy Point Pinot Noir Marlborough 2008  [ Stonyridge ]  fallen Angel Pinot Noir Otago Syrah = Shiraz 2008  Awaroa Syrah 2008  Awaroa Syrah [ Reserve ] Melba Peach 2008  Cable Bay Syrah Waiheke Island (pre-bottling tank sample) 2005  Jurassic Ridge Syrah 2007  Kennedy Point Syrah 2007  Man O’War Syrah Reserve Dreadnought 2007  Man O’War Syrah Waiheke Island 2007  Mudbrick Syrah Reserve 2008  Mudbrick Vineyard Syrah Shepherd’s Point 2008  [ Obsidian ] Weeping Sands Syrah 2008  Passage Rock Syrah 2007  Passage Rock Syrah 2004  Passage Rock Syrah 2008  Passage Rock Syrah Reserve 2007  Passage Rock Syrah Reserve 2006  Passage Rock Syrah Reserve 2005  Passage Rock Syrah Reserve 2007  Stonyridge Syrah / Mourvedre / Grenache Pilgrim 2006  The Hay Paddock Syrah 2007  The Hay Paddock Syrah Harvest Man Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre & related blends All other red wines, blends etc 2008  [ Obsidian ] Weeping Sands Montepulciano From the Cellar. Older wines.

 

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