Last year I was told that a year on the Internet only takes three months. That being the case, you could say that a year in wine only takes six months. One minute Allied Domecq all but has New Zealand’s Montana wrapped up. Next minute Lion Nathan has its paws around it instead. One minute Southcorp has replaced Montana on Allied’s shopping list, next minute it’s trying to buy Rosemount Estate. Or is Rosemount possibly!? The head spins. Recently I attended Pinot Noir New Zealand 2001, an ambitious event staged by New Zealand’s wine industry to give the rest of the world a chance to learn more about the red grape on whose fortunes this small country has staked so much. I believe it was also intended to give its own winemakers a chance to learn about pinot noir from others, but most seemed pretty convinced they had the learning bit pretty well under wraps. There still isn’t enough good New Zealand pinot noir. There’s an excess of so-called ‘reserve’ labels from three to four year-old vineyards, which left behind an even more tawdry set of ‘standard’ labels, which looked and tasted as they should have done with their heart and soul ripped out of them. I was fascinated by the ‘Gimblett Gravels’, a so-called ‘appellation’ established by 34 wineries and growers within the Hawkes Bay region according to their definition and interpretation of a particular soil type. The members don’t call it a sub-region, because according to the present way such things are delineated, it would never pass the test. Instead, the Gimblett Gravels is a protected trademark and registered brand owned by the group, who have the collective power to oversee its correct use by its members. In reality it’s an unprecedented scheme to market a particular soil type, for only operators with vineyards designated to be 95% within the soil type can join. Furthermore, 95% of wines displaying the logo must come from such vineyards. The set-up and rules are very impressive and look like they’ll work well, but it’s a slap in the face to the New Zealand establishment. Land suitable for member wineries now costs well over NZ$30,000 per acre; reason enough to protect the name from the sort of controversy that Coonawarra has experienced for the last two decades. Or should I say forty years?!
