Grasshopper Rock is one of only 20 wineries chosen from around the globe to compete for the hearts of the UK wine trade and their customers.  Sounds a bit like X Factor or Dragons Den and it is. The difference is we will have to travel 12,000 miles to get into the final 10 who will pitch to key UK wine trade judges.

It all happens next week on 24^th May at the London International Wine Fair. With just one week notice there is a lot to do. I have got to get my performance right by then.  The wine is the easy part of the performance; Grasshopper Rock Pinot Noir should blow the judges away. The challenge is the Dragon Dens stuff. Why should the buyers back us ahead of hundreds of other wineries they see? What is our X Factor? I will tell the judges on the 24th.

We are stepping into the unknown here. There has never been an event like this before in the wine world. This is not just about the wine; it is also about the people, the packaging and the plan. To me this is what wine is really all about – wine is much more than just what is in the bottle. Wine needs people and place, and it needs to look and feel right. All this creates the story.

The judging panel are some of the most influential in the UK wine trade.  Grasshopper Rock will have opportunity to blow the judges away with our delicious Central Otago Pinot Noir. Pass the taste test in the morning and we go into the Top 10 to re-engage the judges with our pitch in the afternoon. It is exciting stuff with guaranteed listings for the winners.

The full list of the Top 20 is below. The others are from all over the winegrowing world and many are much bigger wineries than us. Grasshopper Rock is a minnow in this game but that can be a good thing.

I am going there to have fun and really push Grasshopper Rock’s story. Central Otago and NZ wine are all part of that story. Thank you to Wine Stars for creating a platform where we can get in front of these people – it is an amazing opportunity. Wine Stars can watched live on internet from 1pm-4pm on Thursday 24th May on this internet link: http://vrazon.com/accesszone/

The judges are:

Andrew Shaw, Wine Buying Director at Waitrose

Justin Howard-Sneyd, Global Wine Director Laithwaites

Joan Torrents Wine Buying director, Mitchell’s & Butler;

Ben Stephenson, Hanging Ditch Wine Merchants;

Kevin Shaw, Owner, Stranger & Stranger Design

Robin Davis, SWIG.co.uk

Robert Joseph, Wine writer, Author, Director of DoILikeIt? Consultancy

Catherine Monahan, Owner Clink Wines Ltd and Founder of WINE-STARS

Check out http://www.wine-stars.com  for more details

THE TOP 20 SHORT-LISTED WINERIES

1. Wine Sans Frontieres/CITIC GUAON WINE CO. – China
2. Blank Bottle Wines – SA
3. Blackboard Wines – Spain
4. Clos Castell – Banyuls Sur Mer, France
5. Co-Operativa Vinicola Aurora – Ltda – Brazil
6. Grasshopper Rock – NZ
7. Te Pa: NZ
8. Tintoralba Co-Op – Spain
9. Blind Corner/Two Brother – Western Australia
10. MondoVino – Argentina
11. Puro Uno – Argentina
12. V&N Cellars – Spain
13. SC Vinaria Tiganca SRL – Moldova
14. Dominio de Verderrubi – Spain
15.Vinumterrae – Spain
16. Springvale Wines – Australia
17. M-Simply Good Wines – Slovenia
18. Champagne La Courte-Godbillon, France
19. Miss Vicky Wine – Provence, France
20. Chaffey Bros. Australia

Pete Bartle, our winemaker, gives us a hint on how things are looking as of today (11 May).

Pete’s winemaking philosophy is that most of the work is done before the fruit arrives at the winery and it is his job to coerce the best out of the grapes the vineyard has produced and to make wines with poise, texture and balance.

These are early thoughts from Pete and we are a long way from finished wine but when we get it right in the vineyard it certainly makes the outcome more predictable.

“The 2012 Grasshopper Rock is looking pretty smart at this early stage. The fruit came in excellent condition. Some of the wine is in barrel already with most of it still sitting on skins waiting to be pressed off. There is plenty of colour with good structure and flavour intensity to the wines already. If these early impressions come though in the finished wine it should be a very good one.” – Pete Bartle, Winemaker.

Phil Handford

It was a great relief to have all our grapes safely in the winery on 26^th April. With the unusually damp and cool weather we had mid-season we were pretty nervous about how the rest of the season would unfold. May be we should have had more confidence in the vineyard and Alexandra’s dry climate.

Thanks to Mother Nature’s remarkable ability to achieve balance, all ended well with one of the most amazing periods of long, slow (and dry) ripening we have ever experienced.

A quick summary of 2012

• Mean temperatures October-April :   Overall cool
• Growing Degree Days (daily mean temp above 10˚C): Under 900 GDD – Cool
• December – one of hottest in recent times
• March – one of the coolest and wettest in recent times
• April – one of the best ever
• Flowering and fruit set – excellent. Average bunch weight: 135g –heavy
• Harvest dates: 18 to 26 April – neither late nor early picking. No picking on ANZAC day 25^th. All picked before May frosts – six frosts in a row in the first week of May.
• Fruit quality: Excellent. Modest sugar levels and good flavours
• Quantity – marginally up on 2008, 2009 and 2011 which were all great fruit set years

2012 highlights:

• Great quality AND quantity
• Remarkable final six weeks of hot days (20˚-25˚) and cold nights (0˚-5˚)
• An unforgettable cold March was a challenge to ripening.

An especially big thanks to our vineyard manager Mike and crew who kept right on top of vineyard management. Without them, this year’s story would be very different.

Photo gallery

This photo on harvest day shows Abel clone PN. Always big bunches – this year 180g. With the cold March we removed more leaves than normal in the fruit zone. Great colours at this time of year.

Picking is a family affair, even if it is foggy and a cool zero degrees at 9:oo am.

This graph shows many days of massive diurnal temperature ranges. Often over 20˚C between night and day and dropping close to freezing at night. Thes conditions make special Pinot Noir.

The treasure chest – we picked about a few thousand of these crates.

Morning smoko on one of the frosty mornings. We had great crew this year. A mix of local talent of all ages, international travellers and our motor home crew.

“Bins away!” he shouted in the quite autumn air. See you in 2013.

Tomorrow we take our first grape samples to test sugar and acid levels. We are a few weeks away from harvest but we need to know how things are progressing. How much do sugar levels need to increase and how much does acidity need to drop before we are getting close to harvest? There is no precise point we are aiming for – we just want to get them ripe and full of flavour.

By now the grapes have been on the vines since flowering in spring and have become a part of our family. They feel like our children. We have nurtured them through the season. Removed leaves to let more light and air in and removed extra bunches so the chosen ones have the best chance of making it through to harvest. At harvest their work is done.

The feeling of attachment goes well beyond common sense. We love it when the days are hot and the nights cool because it helps them express themselves best. We fear for them when frost threatens or there is too much rain. We always handle them with care as they grow and mature. We would only ever pick them by hand when they are ready and always with gentle hands – never throw them in bin where they might smash out of their skin. To see them harvested by machine would be unbearable– hell no, these are our kids.

I try not to be grumpy this time of year but bear with me. I have just paid the bill for this year’s French oak barrels and all the bottling bills for last years vintage are due next month and the grass is growing too fast under the vines in this crazy wet year, there is botrytis about and I know we will get a frost or two before harvest.

Why do we do it I ask every year? But I know deep down that growing Pinot Noir on the edge and where there are no Pinot Noir vineyards anywhere further south in the world – is actually fun, challenging and rewarding.

“This is like going to a rock concert when you used to be able to get up close to the band…you get to drink with and hang out with the rock stars” Doug Frost MW MS speaking at The Grand Dinner

This is what makes the Pinot Celebration special and it is why some people have been to all nine events.

There is some amazing Pinot Noir in Central, great winemakers and outstanding chefs. The Celebration brings together people from many backgrounds and professions and the common thread is a desire to learn. Everybody has a thirst for knowledge to better understand Pinot Noir, the different climates and sub-regions and the people making the wine.  You can talk to anybody you want to – this makes it special.

As a winegrower, Grasshopper Rock feels like a rock star. (I like Doug’s analogy – Grasshopper “Rock”). Rock stars need to keep performing for their loyal fans and growing their fan base, and so it is for Grasshopper Rock. “Grasshopper Rock is a relatively new band from Alexandra and has quickly gained a reputation for producing a style of music which is catching the attention of fans and promoters around the world.”

2012 was another great event and they just keep getting better every year. You really need to be there to feel what it is like.

We even scheduled a summer snow fall (26^th January) just to add some interest for our visitors.

A question of cru

The Burgundy tasting was another great exploration of terroir and winemaking from the world’s most famous Pinot Noir region.  All six wines tasted were premier cru and all 2006 vintage. The different wines highlight that the less than ideal 2006 vintage weather affected each vineyard in different ways depending exactly where they are located in the region. And different winemakers handled the grapes in different ways.

The theme of the tasting was “a question of cru”. The vineyards we looked at were all premier cru. Vineyards which some would argue should be grand cru. The cru question can’t be answered by looking at one vintage. A vintage like 2006 highlights that the highest status vineyards (grand cru) need to consistently produce outstanding Pinot Noir. All the wines were very interesting and good on the day but of the 2006 vintage I wouldn’t say they were all outstanding wines and therefore promotion to grand cru status may be too generous for some. On the other side there are some grand cru which under deliver in difficult years for whatever reason. It should be the difficult years which really set the grand cru vineyards apart and show them as superior. It is a complex issue and after each tasting we are left with more questions than answers.

The ranking of vineyards, climat and sub-regions is very premature if not irrelevant in Central Otago. There is so much yet to learn about where the best vineyard sites are and what viticulture practices best suit the site and then harvesting and winemaking decisions.

Central Otago Pinot Noir can and has set itself apart from the other world class Pinot Noir regions. Burgundy is Burgundy and Oregon is Oregon and the few places in the world which produce outstanding Pinot Noir are all different.

Central Otago is blessed with a consistently cool dry climate and very free draining soils. We have much to thank the Southern Ocean and NZ’s isolation from other land masses for. In Central we don’t get hit by heat waves, rain and hail storms and wet soils. All of these have a negative impact on fruit quality.

In Central Otago we can more consistently produce high quality fruit, year after year, than both Burgundy and Oregon, simply due to the climate and soils. This allows the wine to show the character of the vineyard and the season rather than the hand of the winemaker.

Great Pinot Noir should be the purest expression of site man can achieve and this requires the highest quality grapes.

This book deserves to change the way people think about wine.  Authentic Wine is written by two people well regarded for their impartiality in wine matters.

Natural wine has been a hot topic in the wine media lately and much of it written without much substance so it is great to see this book has been published and even better to read it and find it is just what is needed to put the whole discussion into perspective.

Authentic Wine seeks to present a balanced discussion about issues, challenges and remedies along the winemaking continuum from the large producer of highly processed and altered wine to the small winegrower who claims his wine is natural.

The introduction discusses why the book is even needed and highlights that the wine industry is at a fork in the road. The further we move wine away from a natural product of the vineyard to a processed beverage based on grape juice the more we risk the wine industry losing its credibility or authenticity.  Accountants may not see this as an issue but here Goode and Harrop explain why people should care.

I expect this was difficult book to write. Where to start and finish and what to put in or leave out? It does cover a logical sequence. They discuss the diversity of wine and terroir, before moving on to look at agriculture/viticulture practices including organics, biodynamics and sustainable winegrowing.

The winemaking discussion follows and looks at when to intervene in the winery or not and the implications of doing so. Does this action make it a more natural wine or a less natural wine? The answer depends on what you believe a natural wine is and how much you want the vineyard character to come through in the wine. The views of international winemakers offer valuable insights here and throughout.

There is some quite detailed discussion on yeasts, ripeness, alcohol levels and wine faults. Some of which gets quite technical but certainly not beyond anyone interested enough to read the book. For an untrained winemaker like myself, it highlights some of the complexities and trade-offs when making decisions in the winery.

A chapter on wine’s carbon footprint highlights the challenges and keeps things in perspective regarding where the real cost are and what gains can be made.

A final chapter covers marketing authentic wine and presents a few challenges to the wine industry, including the wine trade, asking where the industry is heading and some suggestions about what it might need to do the protect its authenticity.

There is nothing fancy about this book’s presentation. No glossy pages just good solid information.

Is it relevant to the NZ wine industry? In a global market, yes it is very relevant.  NZ already leads the world in its sustainable winegrowing programme but globally consumers do not really understand what it means for them. There is a great opportunity for NZ wineries to tell the authentic wine story. Most of us are already a long way there but we don’t tell the wine trade or consumers.

I would recommend this book to anyone who cares about wine, where it comes from, how it is made and how the market is changing. Anyone who feels pressure to follow a certain wine philosophy will feel much more confident in making their own decisions after reading this.

Grasshopper Rock authentic wine?

Grasshopper Rock is very much in the authentic wine camp. Here is a brief summary.

• We planted vines in 2003 because we were interested in the concept of Grand Cru
• We chose a site which is as far south as Pinot Noir is grown.
• Our vineyard is 8 hectares (20 acres) of Pinot Noir and we produces just one wine
• The site is very special. Low rainfall (300 mm), long sunlight hours, late ripening slowed by cool nights and high diurnal temperature range. Soils have low water holding capacity.
• The site and meso-climate means we can farm close to organically.
• We achieve perfect ripeness in the vineyard through a near ideal meso-climate and good viticulture management.
• Grapes enter the winery in top condition after careful hand picking at the vine.
• Winemaking is focused on allowing the wine to show the character of the vineyard. This means minimal intervention but also protecting the wine against external threats.
• The vineyard is little more than a farm and we use an off-site winery (VinPro) shared with others winegrowers.

Everything we do is focused on consistently producing high quality Pinot Noir which shows the unique character of the vineyard in a sustainable way. Sustainable means protecting the soil and the environment in such a way that there will still be a sustainable vineyard here long after we are gone.  Sustainability also means protecting the jobs of about seven people. This means if we need to protect vines against a pest or disease which will damage the vintage then we will act in the most environmentally friendly way.

Grasshopper Rock is accredited by SWNZ as a Sustainable Winegrower.

Read more about Grasshopper Rock’s land and vines.

Phil

One of the most exciting Pinot events of the year is nearly here. 26^th-28^th January is Central Otago’s annual Pinot Celebration (Well, annually except when the three yearly NZ Pinot event is on, next in 2013 www.pinotnoir2013.co.nz).

35 leading Central Otago winegrowers gather to enjoy current and past vintages of Pinot Noir with Pinot lovers from NZ, Australia, USA, Asia, UK and anywhere in the world that Pinot Noir lovers live.

These are relaxed, very social and insightful days. Where else can you get to immerse yourself in Pinot with so many world class Pinots and Pinot winegrowers, and world class cuisine?

Where else can you get the chance to taste all five vintages of Grasshopper Rock over two days?

One of this year’s highlights will be the tasting of Pinot Noir from the 2006 vintage of Burgundy. (More on this later)

Grasshopper Rock has been involved in 2008, 2009, 2011 and now 2012. Every celebration is better than the previous as the quality of Central Otago Pinot continues to rise. Often the old vintages at the lunches are highlights and the quality of these wines continues to rise in line with the increasing viticulture and winemaking skills of the time.

For Grasshopper Rock, we will have more vintages on show than ever before. If you are at the Pinot Celebration, check out ever vintage of Grasshopper Rock ever produced at these events:

Friday morning’s Grand Tasting:  2009 and 2010 vintages (first showing of the 2010 vintage)

Friday night Winemaker’s Party:  2008 vintage

Saturday night The Grand Dinner:  2006 and 2007 vintages

There are a number of winery lunches on Friday. Grasshopper Rock will be at Mt Edward winery with Terra Sancta (was Olssens), Burn Cottage and of course Mt Edward. We will have our award winning 2008 vintage with lunch being prepared by Saffron of Arrowtown. It will be a very special lunch.

A Formal Tasting of Burgundies

I am really looking forward to the formal Burgundy tasting on Saturday morning. Six premier cru Pinot. In anticipation I have made a few notes and share these below. The notes are taken directly from Jasper Morris’ excellent book Inside Burgundy published by Berry Bros & Rudd Press. Words in italics are direct quotes with page number for reference. The hectares shown are the size of the vineyard holding for that domaine (also sourced from Jasper Morris). Wine notes are not vintage specific.

Domaine Jean-Marc Boillot, Pommard 1er Cru, Les Rugiens, 2006 (Cote de Beaune)
The most sort- after of the Pommard vineyards-though this hides the fact there is a dramatic difference between the two halves. The lower part is arguably Pommard’s greatest vineyard, with only Clos des Epeneauux otherwise in contention. (0.15 Ha).  P.344.

 It is not clear which part of the vineyard the grapes come from. It will be fascinating to compare Les Rugiens and Clos des Epeneaux

Domaine Comte Armand, Pommard 1er Cru, Clos des Epeneaux, 2006 (Cote de Beaune)
Ownership in the Comte Armand family since 1826. This is not a premier cru in its own right, but a walled clos crossing the border between Grands and Petit Epenot. P. 340 (both premier cru).
 If Pommard can be an elegant wine then Clos de Epeneaux is the vineyard to demonstrate it. (5.25 Ha) P.348.

The following two wines are both Nuits-St-Georges, Les Saint-Georges premier cru. Again, it will be a fascinating comparison not only as a pair but also compared to the other premier cru.

Today most opinion agrees this is the finest (vineyard in Nuits), but perhaps only narrowly when shown alongside   neighbours Cailles and Vaucrains, with competition from the best vineyards at the Vosne end of the village.
This is certainly the fullest and richest of the Nuits premier cru wines.  P.250

Domaine Henri Gouges, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru, Les Saint-Georges, 2006 
Amazingly dense with extraordinary wealth of fruit. (1.08 Ha) P.258.

Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru, Les Saint-Georges, 2006 
This is typically a rich succulent wine with blackberry fruit as well as more traditional plums. (2.10 Ha) P 261.

Domaine Amiot Servelles, Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru, Les Amoureuses, 2006 
When young it is almost ludicrously charming, yet it does not age quickly. (0.45 Ha). p182.
Many believe this vineyard should be grand cru and I am particularly looking forward to this wine

 Domaine Sylvie Esmonin, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru, Clos Saint-Jacques, 2006 
The wines are extremely stylish with typical Gevrey firmness, but displaying a silky elegance. (1.60 Ha) P.151

We will be very privileged to enjoy these wines, all from library stock and usually made in small quantities.

Maybe the tasting will say most about the 2006 vintage which seems to have been a mixed bag in terms of weather. The Cote de Beaune seems to have come off worse with the wet weather and ripening was more of a challenge. Whereas the Cote de Nuits and especially Nuits-St-George achieved much better ripeness (more fruit and structure). This variation may be obvious in the tasting.

As much as I resist it, the last question always on my mind at these tasting is where does Grasshopper Rock Pinot Noir fit in the line up? May be these 2006s are a long way from Grasshopper Rock, but based on past tastings I am always surprised. Most importantly, I will enjoy these wines for what they are.

It is all shaping up to be a great few days. Hope to see you there.

Phil

Great brands have distance from their competitors and it will take more than just making great wine to achieve this. How we grow wine needs to be part of the brand story.

One of the most visible operations in most vineyards is tractors. Tractors for mowing, spraying, leaf plucking, trimming, harvesting and pruning. Some vineyards do all these and more and some do less depending on grape variety, location and economics.

We would like to run our tractors on biodiesel because we care about the environment but our Government’s dithering is stopping us.

It seems unbelievable to me that in this country we have at least one major oil company keen to distribute biodiesel, we have companies trying to differentiate themselves in international markets and the Government can’t make a decision to give biodiesel a long term future.  In the meantime our biodiesel plant capable of producing 20 Million litres per year sits idle.

Biodiesel can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to the fossil fuel version.

To read more see:
New Zealand Food Technology magazine
Ecodiesel’s submission to the Green Growth Advisory Group

To do something positive speak up and show you care.

Phil Handford

Disclosure: Phil Handford is a shareholder and director of Ecodiesel Ltd and Grasshopper Rock. Grasshopper Rock is not a shareholder in Ecodiesel.

Here are my insights:

• Not much has change in the past two years. Still heaps of crazy deals on offer as wineries try to clear surplus stocks of wine.
• It is the wineries/distributors who are making the offers – so you can’t blame the retailers.
• Google “$6.99 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc” and you will find plenty of hits, mostly unknown labels and probably questionable quality.
• But, I think there are signs that this is a stage on the maturity continuum from a new to a mature industry.

There are wine brands which are offering heavily discounted wine and in the process damaging their brand. How do we know they are damaging their brand? Just listen to what retailers are saying about those brands. If retailers say some wineries are damaging their brands then the consumer will hear the same. Even if the wineries sees it differently,  the retailer’s perception about brand damage will become reality.

There are definitely a lot more wine brands than two years ago. Many of these labels (brands) are set up just for the purpose clearing wine and usually justified to protect another brand or are set up by opportunists taking advantage of low grape prices.

The real brand damage seems to be isolated to a minority. The 80/20 rule could be applied here. I would suggest 20% of the wineries are causing 80% of the brand destruction.  And the discount pricing by 20% of wineries, is creating problems for the other 80% of wineries who actually want to stay in business for the long term.

It is not easy for wineries to stay in business, but we all need to very clear about our vision, goals, and strategies.  There are many different drivers in the wine business, from the corporate brand who owns many international brands, labels and vineyards to the brand that owns many vineyards around NZ to the single vineyard winery like Grasshopper Rock.  I wonder if some NZ wineries are struggling with understanding where they are headed, especially  the mid-sized wineries who seem to be doing a lot of the brand devaluing.

May be these are the growing pains of an industry becoming more corporatized. An industry which has seen more wine become a commodity and price more important than quality.  It is also a sign of immaturity in the NZ industry. New Zealand cannot compete internationally as a producer of the cheapest wines; too many other countries can do this on a larger scale with lower costs.

In my view the maturity in the NZ wine industry will come when we better value the story of individual vineyards. In future, the family or corporate who can have the most valuable brand/s will own or lease the best vineyards. Many vineyards are too young to know if they will be the premier vineyards but the time will come when it is clear which vineyards most consistently produce quality.

I actually came away from yesterday’s trade visits very encouraged despite the pessimism of some about the general state of the wine industry and a few feeling sorry for me trying to sell wine! I am excited because the awareness is growing that the world-class wines and labels will come from the single vineyard wines. This is where the real stories and brand values  will be built.

This is why we established Grasshopper Rock ten years ago and why we decided to find what we thought was the best Pinot Noir vineyard site in Central Otago to build a great Pinot Noir brand from. To establish a great brand was our vision when we started and it hasn’t changed. All that has changed is that the site is better than we imagined and the industry has gone through a bigger crisis than we imagined.   Aren’t we doing this for the next generation anyway?

Below is the screen shot from Raymond Chan Wine Reviews website.

The shot below is from Winesonline website on 2nd November 2011

What do you think?