WHITES & REDS FROM THE WAIHEKE ISLAND WINE EXPO 2010,  D'ARENBERG,  & OTHERS,  AND SYRAHS FROM A CONVIVIUM VINTAGE 2007 TASTING IN HAWKES BAY


Introduction
With 2008 being a highly regarded vintage on Waiheke Island,  I approached this 2010 opportunity to review their recent wines with a great sense of anticipation,  even excitement,  knowing there would be a first peep at some of the serious 2008 reds.  But,  it is always a challenge writing up Waiheke wines,  with their often ambitious pricing structure.  Likewise,  the rest of New Zealand all-too-often assumes that Waiheke Island wine-pricing both caters to and is symptomatic of the affluent Auckland scene.  Consequently many ignore the Island's wines,  unwisely in my view,  since the best are making great strides now.  Writing them up in a neutral way is not easy.  

The excellently-structured Waiheke Winegrowers Association therefore has a major challenge on its hands if it is to improve the public perception of their wines.  Some vineyards are now developing significant vine age,  raising the hope that wine quality should be improving,  and increasing volumes of wine generally mean the task of presenting the Island and its wines in a favourable light is becoming urgent.  Accordingly,  last year they initiated a Waiheke Wine Expo,  presented right in the heart of downtown Auckland.  I wrote this up with a good deal of supplementary and background information about Waiheke Island and its wines,  on this website,  30 Jun 2009.  This year they repeated the Auckland exercise,  and additionally took the wines to the absolute centre of downtown Wellington,  Queens Wharf.  My review this year essentially deals with the wines only – for more detail about Waiheke Island please refer back to last year's review.  I have however amended the vintage chart a little to reflect later views on recent vintages,  including the excitement of what may be a near-perfect vintage in 2010.  It is not only winemakers enthusing about 2010:  Auckland senior citizens are saying:  a summer like my childhood memories ...

This year 12 producers showed their wine in Wellington,  a few less than in Auckland.  Twelve is about half the Waiheke Island producers,  but included several of the larger ones.  Newcomer this year was View East.  In Auckland this year,  55 people attended the trade session (120 last year),  and 42 people attended the public session (150 last year).  In Wellington,  52 people attended the trade session,  and 45 people attended the follow-on public session.  Unfortunately,  the Auckland session coincided with awful weather,  and clashed with other functions including a Wine Institute / New Zealand Winegrowers meeting.  At a time when public participation in tastings is still reluctant,  I hope the organisers do not lose heart with this less-encouraging result.  The challenging goal for the Waiheke Island proprietors is to make their annual presentation as eagerly anticipated as Hawkes Bay Winegrowers' annual Hot Red Roadshow.

Some reviews this year are briefer than usual,  and some of the 'admin' info is recycled from earlier reviews – compiling that component is taking too long.  I have asked winemakers to check the correctness of that info for the current vintage,  before publishing.  Marking criteria are a little flexible,  since several of the Hawkes Bay wines as well as some of the Waiheke wines are less than squeaky-clean.  However marking for the top wines is as strict as usual.  As wine-writing elsewhere becomes more and more commercial,  for this site I want gold medal-level ranking (18.5 and up) to mean the wine really is something – worth seeking out.  My pitching of gold medal-level is harder-won than even our strictest New Zealand wine judgings,  but is appreciably softer than Jancis Robinson and Julia Harding,  on the former's site.  

Vintage Chart:  Ratings for Vintage Quality 2000 – 2010 on Waiheke Island – for discussion:
The eleven years 2000 – 2010 have been auspicious for Waiheke Island.  There are three investment grade vintages in 2005,  2008,  and 2010,  three which are very good in 2000,  2002,  and 2009,  three with plenty of good drinking from 2004,  2006,  2007,  and only two which are distinctly modest,  the 2001s and 2003s (in general) needing drinking up by now.

Climatic data is scanty for Waiheke,  there being no network of MetService-approved recording sites.  An impression of uniformity prevails,  meaning the task of preparing a vintage summary for Waiheke is easier than the recent more challenging reports prepared for Hawkes Bay and the much more diverse Central Otago districts.  Nonetheless,  as outlined in last year's Waiheke Island report,  it is likely there are rainfall gradients both from the centre of the island to the periphery,  and more particularly from the west to east ends.  The advantage in being dryer at the eastern end may be compromised by salt load being higher too,  at least in windy seasons.

As for other districts,  the most exciting wines come from those years where crop is reduced at flowering / reduced fruit set,  the middle summer is favourable,  and the later summer / autumn is exceptional climatically.  Vineyard management can mimic the former condition relatively easily,  but no amount of leaf plucking and adjusting of crop load and exposure can make up for great weather in those critical last 6 weeks or so.  Another factor pointing to more exciting wines in years to come is the increasing age of the vineyards.  The first established,  Stonyridge and Goldwater Estate,  now contain core areas in their prime.  For many vineyards from the later 1990s,  the establishment years are drawing to a close,  with vines approaching full maturity.  There is much to look forward to.

Any exercise such as this is ongoing.  Corrections and comments from wineries and keen observers are welcomed.  Address near the foot of home page,  under:  Feedback:

2010	7 – 8 +	Some rain at flowering,  fruit-set and crop variously 20 – 30% down,  then appropriate light rain January,  followed by a perfect summer and autumn through to end April.  Whites good,  reds including cabernet clearly best ever due to both dry season and reduced crop,  good acid balances,  a dream vintage.
2009	7 – 8	Good flowering,  over-large crops for some,  unsettled late Feb / part March may affect whites and delayed cabernet.  Dryer late summer and autumn right through April,  with unusually cool nights both March and April,  allowed good ripening most reds,  with promise seen in syrahs particularly.
2008	8 – 9	Good flowering,  good crop,  long settled late spring and early summer meant a little rain in early March was beneficial.  Then dry right though balance of season,  a cabernet year,  for most just replacing 2005 as the best vintage yet in the vinifera era.
2007	5 – 6 +	Difficult flowering,  low crop particularly in merlot and malbec.  Some early season varieties promising,  rain in late March caused difficulties for some producers.  A drawn-out harvest,  later varieties / cabernet lesser.  Again,  careful selection needed.
2006	6 – 7 +	Settled spring and most of summer lead to both big bunches and large crops.  Good ripening was abruptly curtailed by sustained rains starting 8 April,  affecting late season reds.  Some earlier wines good,  selection needed.
2005	8 – 9	Difficult flowering,  smaller crops,  then a settled summer with a particularly dry April produced superb grapes for all varieties.  Considered the best vintage in the decade,  till then.
2004	6 – 7	Unsettled early spring,  then good flowering and fruit set.  Unsettled  December,  improving January on to give a long tending cool but dry season with distinctly cool night temperatures March and April,  producing good whites but lean aromatic reds.
2003	4 – 5	Reasonable crops,  but summer a month too short,  chardonnay good for some,  reds affected by significant rainfall before and over harvest.
2002	7 – 8 +	Good flowering and fruit set,  a large crop yet quality of summer allowed good ripening all varieties,  fractionally ahead of 2000.
2001	3 – 4	Small crops,  rain,  summer lacking,  the least vintage of the decade.
2000	7 – 8	Good flowering and crop,  long dry season,  good quality all varieties.

Calibration of the Waiheke Island wines,  and wine assessment / judging:
At much the same time as the Waiheke Expo,  wines from several other tastings became available for cross-calibration.  These included the Hawkes Bay wine firm Convivium offering a review of the 2007 Syrah vintage in Hawkes Bay at EIT in Napier the night before the Wellington presentation,  so it seemed a desirable goal to attend that tasting.  The wines would be ideal foils to include in the follow-up blind tasting of the Waiheke syrahs.  I very much appreciate organiser Geoff Wilson's help in facilitating that goal.  For the bordeaux blends side of the equation,  as previously,  2007 Te Mata Cabernets / Merlot Coleraine fulfilled the calibration role,  for reasons expanded on below.  All told,  some 77 wines were assembled into the first blind tasting,  which allowed a good assessment of current winestyles and wine-technical achievements on Waiheke in 2010.  

The d'Arenberg wines and the first release of an Obsidian Syrah arrived not long after the formal Waiheke presentation.  In terms of timing for calibration,  they were not assessed with the Waiheke wines,  but were in time to check aspects of them,  and vice versa.  The d'Arenbergs are not as good a batch as some seasons have offered.  South Australia has great vintages every year,  so they tell us,  but in recent seasons heatwaves and bushfires bespeak factors inimical to fine subtle wines,  at least from a temperate climate viewpoint.  But these d'Arenbergs are less consistent again,  with some wines reductive and some volatile – not enough care and attention in the winery.  The firm's spokesman seemed blithely unconcerned,  instead skiting about the 90 points from Wine Spectator,  for a clearly faulty wine.  Wine promotion is a subtle business – preparing an article like this requires visiting many websites,  and the fine line between engaging the reader's interest,  and switching them off,  can easily be crossed.

With the sometimes blatant statements of self-aggrandisement evident in wine promotional literature (including websites) these days,  it follows that if critical assessment is desired,  blind tastings for wine reviews such as this one must be done with reference wines,  and be executed to modern new-world technically informed standards.  Several of the Waiheke Island wines are quite clearly technically faulty,  but wineries continue to extravagantly promote awards won in overseas wine judgings,  where technical standards are or may be lax,  and the results are in one sense a lottery.  There is a certain cultural imperialism in some of the wine pronouncements emanating these days from the United Kingdom in particular,  where all too often the assessments are based on the values of an older generation to greater or lesser degree insensitive to,  or unconcerned about,  the role of oxidation (and VA),  reduction,  and Brettanomyces in wine.  Note I say the values of an older generation:  the practitioners need not be old in elapsed years.  In particular the results from the London International Wine Competition are becoming a kind of latter-day Ljubljana,  a competition notorious in earlier decades for its 'tolerance' – shall we say.  

Likewise,  in this year's Syrah Symposium a clearly brett-affected Waiheke wine was held up as benchmark syrah and definitely free of brett by MW-level British wine 'authorities',  despite questioning in the formal tasting session.  Since the entire New Zealand wine industry nowadays gives the impression of being beholden to the infallibility of "overseas" wine assessments of our wines,  not one participant (among 120 + in the room) was prepared to dispute the issue on the Symposium floor.  How can we learn,  as a wine country,  with this approach ?  The Symposium and its wines are written up on this site, 18 May 2010.  

The message that New Zealand winemakers must take out of this is:  if you put your faith in all-too-often technically-wanting European wine judges,  rather than the two or three of Australasia's most highly regarded and technically competent judgings,  such as the Air New Zealand Wine Awards,  the Royal Easter Show,  the Australian National Wine Show (Canberra),  and the Royal Adelaide Wine Show,  then there is a high risk you will end up following false prophets and pursuing wine styles which are inappropriate at best,  and incongruous at worst,  in the modern world.  The old-world standards centred in London (but widespread in Europe) will not persist forever,  as new-world technology and standards actively and demonstrably flow back to the leading winemakers of France.  Even these judgings make mistakes,  naturally enough,  as do winewriters,  but the above competitions are likely to provide a good starting point to defining winestyles appropriate to the 2000s.  Note too that tolerance of brett is still extraordinarily high in parts of America.

Consumers need to be a good deal more quizzical about wine rankings,  therefore.  If a winery will not enter its wine in high-calibre technically-proficient Australasian judgings (as above),  be on guard.  Nobody is infallible,  but even for wine there are absolute standards (despite much self-justifying froth written glamourising the essential subjectivity of wine assessment).  As already suggested,  using technically-deficient overseas hoopla-results to market wines,  instead of focusing on absolute intrinsic quality,  is not the road to long-term success – unless supermarket success is the only criterion.  That is not an option for most Waiheke wines,  due to both the underlying cost-structure,  and issues of scale.

'Brett' character in wines
One detail about 'bretty' wines still seems to need clarifying.  In New Zealand,  when a winewriter speaks of brett in wine,  they are referring to the characteristic smells and tastes of the biochemistry associated with the yeast Brettanomyces (= Dekkera) having at some stage lived in the wine.  The wine may or may not still have a live population of the yeast,  depending on whether it was sterile-filtered to bottle.  Unfiltered wines (as favoured by Robert Parker) infected with Brettanomyces are at peril of gradually deteriorating in bottle,  for the yeast can continue on from metabolising 'unfermentable' simple sugars to metabolising more complex carbohydrate-related molecules derived from oak maturation.  Not only does this dry out the wine,  but there seems (from empirical observation) to be a risk of such metabolism progressing to the more disastrous biochemistry referred to as the mousey odour and flavour / aftertaste,  formerly associated with the yeast Pichia.  Conservative winemakers thus sterile-filter to bottle,  preferring a less complex but more predictable and harmonious evolution of the wine in bottle through maturity into old age.  Robert Parker and others are of the view such filtering strips the wine of 'character',  but they do not think through to the consequences of a wine with a live yeast population passing a point of no return in terms of mousey odours and tastes,  or even collapsing.

It is not as simple as just that however.  When a technically-inclined winewriter reports that a wine has brett character,  more commonly simply saying it is 'bretty',  at the current level of debate in New Zealand,  many winemakers assert the winewriter is wrong,  because the wine is "brett-free".  In most cases they base that statement on the analysis of Pacific Rim Oenology in Blenheim,  who test wines for brett stability.  What is not sufficiently understood is that their test is a plating test for live yeast cells.  Obviously,  if the wine is sterile-filtered to bottle,  it will demonstrate no brett activity in the subsequent plating test.  The winemaker then asserts the wine is "brett-free",  drawing an obfuscatory veil over the fact that there may have been a good population of brett yeast in the wine before filtering,  all the while producing its characteristic aroma and flavour compounds.  The winemaker may even berate the winewriter,  for daring to suggest their wine is or has been bretty.  A moment's thought reveals that,  as above,  the winewriter is reporting on the smells and tastes of Brettanomyces metabolism,  whether or not the wine still supports a live population of the yeast.  If the winemaker is to 'prove' the winewriter wrong,  the wine must be analysed for 4-EP = 4-ethylphenol and 4-EG = 4-ethylguaiacol,  the immediate characteristic by-products of Brettanomyces metabolism.  In earlier days,  that involved sending samples to Australia,  so was less done,  but since 2002 or thereabouts the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) has provided gas chromatography analysis for both compounds in New Zealand.  If such analysis proves negative,  only then may the winemaker take the winewriter to task.  Most commonly,  the analysis reveals some brett by-products,  for it is a natural fermentation yeast in the vineyard and winery.  The question then is whether the recorded levels are at or above a reasonable sensory threshold.  A complex subject indeed.

Since many people (including the writer) in fact like the smells and tastes of light to medium brett biochemistry,  happily this is a complicated situation with a simple solution.  If the wine is sterile-filtered to bottle,  it will be stable in bottle,  and the consumer can enjoy the results of 'artisan' winemaking without risking half the case later becoming less drinkable or truly undrinkable.  It is helpful if the winewriter can advise / confirm the wine is sterile-filtered,  and this info is usually made available in New Zealand.  Overseas is another matter,  complicated in the last 15 years by unfiltered wines enjoying a certain cachet (non-filtré),  thanks to Robert Parker.  The whole topic needs to be thought about a good deal more by the advocates of 'no-fining' / 'no-filtration' / non-interventionist winemaking.

A little more detail is available on this site (scroll down),  more detail in an excellent essay by Jamie Goode of Wine Anorak fame,  later discussion on the same site by winemaker Matt Thomson,  and greater detail still in Sam Harrop's 1993 MW dissertation.  The Australian Wine Research Institute in Adelaide is the world leader in brett research,  from where even more information is available.

A couple of thoughts on Waiheke Island wine styles:
Several quite divergent strands of winemaking are emerging on Waiheke.  Several wineries are tending artisan,  and their wines are erratic in their achievements.  Specific mention is needed here of Man O' War Vineyards,  with 60 hectares planted potentially the biggest winery on the Island.  They continue to struggle with technical issues,  having thus far been woefully mislead by the kind of reviews mentioned above.  But their sites look to be so superb,  and their supporting resources so great,  that Man O' War should by virtue of size become the flagship Waiheke winery – in terms of market recognition of Waiheke Island as a wine place.  Meanwhile wineries such as Mudbrick,  Obsidian / Weeping Sands,  and Passage Rock are the mainstream technically-informed practitioners making wines similar in their attributes to reputable mainland New Zealand wineries,  but often with a Waiheke stamp.  Stonyridge and Goldwater Estate are mentioned in the next paragraph.  The reasonably long-established Te Motu winery is intent on pursuing claret / cabernet / merlot winestyles which clearly have their roots in 'classical' Bordeaux blends of the 1960s and 1970s,  when longer elevage was the norm.  The best have been enchanting,  but not all.  Intriguingly,  the new and high-flying Destiny Bay winery seems to be modelling its winestyles on the very fashionable Ribera del Duero region of Spain,  a kind of modernised Rioja approach,  though they use only the Bordeaux varieties.  This diversity makes Waiheke wines all the more interesting,  and a great topic for wine-talk.  

The longest-established wineries Goldwater Estate and Stonyridge have demonstrated the extraordinarily Bordeaux-like qualities of the Waiheke climate unequivocally,  springing clearly into focus with their 1987 premium releases.  Unfortunately the Goldwater Estate has now passed into corporate ownership,  and the new direction is not yet clear.  And at Stonyridge,  though the premier wine Stonyridge Larose has stuck to the straight and narrow,  and is the Island's most famous wine,  it is dramatically over-priced,  those prices overflowing to other better wines in their portfolio.  The winery has further succumbed to trading on its reputation,  and is now introducing over-priced and underachieving party wines.  Such wines give Waiheke Island a bad name,  as earlier suggested.  

It is worth noting that in general perceivable style,  favoured sites on Waiheke,  along with certain sites in the Havelock Hills and the Ngatarawa Triangle in Hawkes Bay,  offer perhaps the greatest scope in New Zealand to be comparable / confusable with the 'classical' wines of Bordeaux.  These wines clearly ripen more appropriately than the wines of the Te Awanga coastal zone,  or the Dartmoor and other cooler valleys,  both in Hawkes Bay.  Conversely,  they are critically cooler and at best more fragrant and delicate than the wines of the Gimblett Gravels,  where in the hotter years the wines can be tending over-ripe and burly.  Note that with global warming,  the nature of 'classical' Bordeaux wine is itself changing to a warmer riper slightly more Californian winestyle.  Certain Gimblett Gravels proprietors are seizing on this with gusto,  to rationalise / justify their approach.  Winestyle is forever in flux,  and critical care is needed therefore,  in reading the various views expressed.  

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LAYOUT – AND THE WINES REVIEWED:

White Sparkling Chardonnay 2008  Cable Bay Chardonnay 2006  Chanson Meursault Blagny Premier Cru 2008  Man O' War Chardonnay 2009  Man O' War Chardonnay Valhalla 2009  Mudbrick Chardonnay Reserve 2009  Obsidian Chardonnay 2009  Stonyridge Chardonnay Athena Equinox Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and related blends 2009  Man O' War Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Riesling Pinot Gris Gewurztraminer Viognier 2009  Cable Bay Viognier 2009  Mudbrick Vineyard Viognier Reserve 2009  Obsidian Viognier 2009  Passage Rock Viognier Sweet / Sticky All other white wines, blends, etc. 2007  d'Arenberg Marsanne / Viognier Hermit Crab 2007  d'Arenberg Roussanne Money Spider 2007  Millton Chenin Blanc Te Arai Vineyard Red Rosé 2010  Miro Rosé Cabernet, Merlot, and related blends 2008  Cable Bay Merlot / Malbec Five Hills Bordeaux Blend 2008  d'Arenberg Cabernet Sauvignon High Trellis 2006  d'Arenberg Cabernet Sauvignon High Trellis 2006  d'Arenberg Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot / Petit Verdot / Cabernet Franc Galvo Garage 2007  Destiny Bay [ Cabernets / Merlot ] Destinae 2007  Destiny Bay [ Cabernets / Merlot ] Mystae 2006  Destiny Bay [ Cabernets / Merlot ] Mystae 2006  Destiny Bay Destinae 2007  Destiny Bay Dulce Suavi [ Cabernet Sauvignon Late Harvest ] 375 ml 2007  Jurassic Ridge Cabernet Franc 2005  Kennedy Point Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2007  Kennedy Point Malbec Reserve 2006  Kennedy Point Merlot 2008  Man O' War Merlot / Cabernet Franc Ironclad 2008  Man O' War Merlot / Cabernet Franc / Malbec 2008  Miro Cabernet / Merlot 2006  Miro Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot Summer Aphrodisiac 2007  Miro Malbec 2004  Miro Merlot / Cabernet Archipelago 375 ml 2008  Mudbrick Vineyard Cabernet / Merlot 2009  Mudbrick Vineyard Merlot / Cabernet Sauvignon 2008  Mudbrick Vineyard Merlot / Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2008  Mudbrick Vineyard Velvet 2008  Obsidian [ Cabernets / Merlot ] The Obsidian 2008  Passage Rock Cabernet / Merlot Reserve 2009  Stonyridge Cabernet / Malbec Airfield 2008  Stonyridge [ Cabernets / Malbec / Merlot ] Larose 2008  Stonyridge Malbec Luna Negra Single Vineyard

2009  Stonyridge Merlot / Cabernet Sauvignon Faithful 2007  Te Mata [ Cabernets / Merlot ] Coleraine 2006  Te Motu [ Cabernets / Merlot ] 2005  Te Motu [ Cabernets / Merlot ] 2004  Te Motu [ Cabernets / Merlot ] 2002  Te Motu [ Cabernets / Merlot ] 2006  [ Te Motu ] Dunleavy [ Cabernets / Merlot ] 2005  [ Te Motu ] Dunleavy [ Cabernets / Merlot ] 2007  [ Obsidian ] Weeping Sands Cabernet / Merlot 2009  [ Obsidian ] Weeping Sands Merlot Cabernet / Shiraz Pinot Noir Syrah = Shiraz 2007  Bilancia Syrah la Collina 2007  Bridge Pa Syrah Louis 2007  Brookfields Syrah Hillside 2008  Cable Bay Syrah 2007  Church Road Syrah Reserve 2007  Cypress Terraces Syrah 2006  d'Arenberg Shiraz Dead Arm 2008  d'Arenberg Shiraz Footbolt 2007  d'Arenberg Shiraz Footbolt 2007  d'Arenberg Shiraz Lovegrass 2007  d'Arenberg Shiraz / Viognier The Laughing Magpie 2007  Gilles Robin Crozes-Hermitage Papillon 2008  Jurassic Ridge Syrah 2008  Man O' War Syrah Dreadnought 2008  Miro Syrah 2008  Mudbrick Syrah Reserve 2009  Mudbrick Vineyard Syrah Shepherds Point 2008  Obsidian Syrah 2009  Obsidian Syrah [ preview ] 2007  Paritua Syrah 2007  Pask Syrah Declaration 2008  Passage Rock Syrah 2008  Passage Rock Syrah Reserve 2008  Stonyridge Syrah / Mourvedre / Grenache Pilgrim 2007  Te Awa Syrah Gimblett Gravels 2007  Te Mata Syrah Bullnose 2007  The Hay Paddock Syrah 2006  The Hay Paddock Syrah 2008  The Hay Paddock Syrah Harvest Man 2007  Tin Pot Hut Syrah 2007  Two Gates Syrah 2007  Unison Syrah 2008  View East Syrah 2009   [ Obsidian ] Weeping Sands Syrah 2008  [ Obsidian ] Weeping Sands Syrah Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre & related blends 2006  d'Arenberg Grenache Custodian 2008  d'Arenberg Grenache / Shiraz / Mourvedre Stump Jump 2006  d'Arenberg Shiraz / Grenache d'Arry's Original All other red wines, blends etc 2008  Jurassic Ridge Montepulciano 2009  [ Obsidian ] Weeping Sands Montepulciano From the Cellar. Older wines.

 

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