OCTOBER 2019|TheAustralianWomen’sWeekly 143
When you strip it back, the
basics of making wine are pretty
straightforward (ferment ripe
grapes with yeast in some sort of
vessel, settle then age it a bit in the
same/different vessel, bottle it, then drink).
However the various permutations within
the process can make for quite an
impressive range of styles.
Most of these differences have arisen
through centuries of trial and error, plus
the odd happy accident. Sparkling wine
was developed after its makers worked out
that the frustrating tendency of some wines
to start refermenting in the bottle could be
harnessed to produce an entirely new – and
delicious – type of wine.
The rich array of fortified wines have
equally fascinating histories: in the case
of Madeira, it was found that wines which
made long sea journeys in the baking sun
tasted better than those that hadn’t, a
practice now replicated by heated rooms.
Another ancient practice that’s endured
is making wines in clay amphora, which
are sometimes buried. These so-called
‘orange’ and ‘amber’ wines are
enjoying a remarkable resurgence
courtesy of the hipster crowd,
likely much to the bemusement
of winemakers in Georgia, where
the practice originated.
The decisions behind winemaking result
from the location, skill, ethos, personality
and capital resources of the producer, plus
the intended price point. New Zealand is
home to around 700 wineries and several
dozen different varieties, though just two- sauvignon blanc and pinot noir – account
for 80 per cent of production.
Leaving aside wines that seem solely
developed by the marketing department
(more than you’d hope!), being able to
express their personal philosophy in a wine
is very important to most producers. So
how can a wine stand out from the crowd?
Even within our relatively narrow wine
landscape, there are many people blazing
their own trails. This month’s selection
of wines celebrates those who are doing
things a bit differently – though the end
results are definitely uniformly delicious.
Wine notes
When it comes to preferred varieties, it seems we’re creatures
of habit. But there’s more than one way to ferment a grape.
With EMMA JENKINS
1
2018 LOVEBLOCK ‘ORANGE’
MARLBOROUGH SAUVIGNON BLANC,
$27 Kim Crawford could have sat back after
selling his eponymous label, but instead he
and his dynamic wife Erica continued to
push boundaries, developing their organic
Loveblock in the Awatere Valley. This rich,
textural sauvignon uniquely uses powdered
green tea as a preservative – great for those
who react to sulphur dioxide.2
2018 PROVIDORE ‘LUMINAIRE’ CENTRAL
OTAGO BLANC DE NOIR, $25 Delicate
pale gold, rich in berry fruit and stone fruit, this
is actually a white wine made from red grapes.
Download Providore’s very clever augmented-
reality app to find out all about it.LIFE’S TOO SHORT
TO DRINK
THE SAME WINENobody wants to eat the
same old jam sandwiches
every day, so why do they
keep drinking the same
old wine? I’m always
amazed by how narrow
most people’s wine
choices are, be it variety
or brand. Worryingly, this
is creating a feedback
loop that informs the
range of available wines.
France is the spiritual
home of wine, but a
rather sad statistic tells
us its 20 most prominent
varieties now account
for 91 per cent of its
vineyard area, up from
53 per cent just 40 years
ago. It’s a global trend,
with indigenous varieties
decreasing as producers
replant what is popular.
Would you want to have
just 20 ingredients to
cook with? Me neither.
Broaden your horizons
and try something you’ve
never heard of, or even
better, can’t pronounce.This month’s pick of the bunch
3
2017 PEGASUS BAY ‘VERGENCE RED’, $40
An experimental wine style for Pegasus
Bay; spicy, sappy pinot noir, full of crushed black
cherries, ripe plums and a touch of herbs. A bit
rustic and funky; very juicy and moreish.4
2018 MOUNT EDWARD ‘TED’ PINOT BLANC
CENTRAL OTAGO, $25 Irreverent and fun,
no one could accuse Mount Edward of being
boring. But they take making good wine
seriously, as this peachy, textural white attests.5
‘UNTITLED’ RED BLEND, $30 No vintage, no
varieties, no region – winemaker Lee Winston
drops all conventions for this soft, fruity red
blend. Handily, he does provide a code on the
bottle to discover the details online.1
2
3
4
5
From the vineyard