The wines of Marlborough
New Zealand is something of a freebooters paradise when it comes to wine growing. This is because they do not have the controls of many wine growing countries. In France there is the AC (appellation controlee) and in Italy the DC, the same thing which basically constricts the type of wine you can make. In New Zealand there is no such controlling authority, you can grow and make what you like. This has a positive and negative element.
The positive is that you can cultivate any number of grapes – the Herzog vineyard we visited today grows 30 and makes such well-known non-New Zealand wine as Gewurtztraminer and Gruner Veltner. They even produce a grappa as well as Montepulciano. The drawback is the absence of any control. Thus New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc of varying quality has literally swamped the market. You can crop your harvest early to avoid any damage, ferment it and release it in the market much earlier than other countries.
Hans Herzog’s family have been growing wine since 1630 in Switzerland. Feeling fettered by the AC system he bought a small vineyard in Marlborough. Here he has cultivated a number of high quality wines.
Arriving early, I tasted a delicious Gruner Veltiner, much more rounded and creamer than its Austrian equivalent. A French wine expert gave us a wine tour pointing out the 30 types of grapes variety. Everything is cultivated and fermented on site, they sell no grapes, unlike Te Mata, and make quality wine in low volume.
We tasted the Viognier, Pinot Noir and Zweigelt. However, my favourite with a juicy steak we ate in the pretty terraced garden, was the Spirit of Marlborough, a powerful red. See their wines here – Spirit of Marlborough
It’s a combination of cabernet franc and merlot and at 14.5% a big heady meaty wine. Not producing volume means Herzog will not generate the huge profits of more well known operations but he certainly makes fine wine.
