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[birds chirping]
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[woman] Wine is a sort of paradox in our society.
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It teaches us patience,
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in a world that goes faster and faster,
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and where the immediate and the urgent are the law.
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It teaches us to make roads,
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in a world where we travel without pause.
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It teaches us conviviality,
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in a world of violence and brutality.
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Last, but not least,
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in a world which knows everything,
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where everything is known, everything is computerized,
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wine teaches us about uncertainty.
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It reminds us that life is always an uncertainty,
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a question without answer.
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Wine is the only product in today’s world
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with this wonderful uncertainty.
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I think it is the honor of our work.
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[upbeat music]
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[man] Our customers understand that the best white wine
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in the world is white Burgundy.
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Great white Burgundy is the best white wine in the world.
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It’s made from Chardonnay and that’s the benchmark.
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But if you say, "I’ve got a wine here
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that really tastes like a Meursault
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or Puligny-Montrachet or even a Corton-Charlemagne
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and it’s a fraction of the price," they will be impressed.
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An average, quite good village white Burgundy,
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Puligny-Montrachet, or a Chassagne-Montrachet
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is gonna be retail, 40, 50, 60 pounds.
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Anything from the new world has to match up
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to the original classics,
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otherwise there’s no point.
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And I’ve often, over the past years,
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jokingly served the Kumeu River Chardonnay and said,
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"What do you think of this?"
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and they always think, they always say,
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"Oh, it’s white Burgundy
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and not quite sure if it’s Meursault or Puligny,
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don’t know which grower it’s from."
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It actually became a bit of a joke,
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’cause whenever I’d serve a white Burgundy to anyone,
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they’d say, "Oh, it’s not bloody Kumeu River is it?"
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[chuckles]
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Eventually, I thought we really must put this to the test,
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in an academic blind tasting.
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So, I made a list of the most influential people
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in the wine trade in London.
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That included Neil Martin of the Wine Advocates
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and Jancis Robinson,
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who’s probably the best-known English wine writer.
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Then I thought, "Right, what we’d do is
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we’ll have flights of wine,
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in each flight there’ll be one Kumeu River wine
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and there’ll be four, or five, six white Burgundies
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from very famous producers."
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And we got everyone seated.
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The wines were served completely blind.
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I knew Kumeu would do really well,
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but the result was fantastic.
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[triumphant music]
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Because Kumeu kind of really walked it. [chuckles]
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[keyboard clicking]
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The response in the press was amazing
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and people seemed genuinely surprised
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that Kumeu River could challenge the big boys,
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the real famous names of Burgundy.
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So, it was fantastic that it was talked about
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all over the wine world.
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Be interesting to think about
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what the white Burgundy producers thought,
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when they saw the results
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of white Burgundy versus Kumeu River.
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And they’re in such a comfortable position,
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they can sell every bottle they make,
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whatever quality it is.
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So, why should they care, really?
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The 5% more thoughtful ones went back to
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trying to work out the problems of white Burgundy
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and the premature oxidation and things like that.
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Well, Matty’s Vineyard is the special one.
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It’s named after my late husband and people just love it.
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It’s something special and that’s all there is to it.
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The best examples of the Chardonnay grape variety
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come from its origin, which is Burgundy,
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and so white Burgundy, the wines of Puligny-Montrachet,
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Chassagne-Montrachet, Corton Charlemagne,
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those areas really were inspirational.
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Those are obviously the areas
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that you draw your inspiration from.
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And even though we’re not making white Burgundy,
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it’s certainly great to be put amongst those benchmarks
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and to be considered on the same table,
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the same sort of sphere that those wines are.
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The old world reaction
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to the new world and New Zealand wine is two-fold.
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It’s one of surprise and one of fear.
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[sheep bleating]
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[man] I know we’ve come a long way,
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by the measure that 20 years ago,
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if I had a hundred wines to try, 10 or 20,
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I wouldn’t even put in my mouth.
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I’d smell them or look at the color
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and reject them on that basis.
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If I could go back into a time machine
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and experience the wines,
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which I was quite happy to drink then,
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I would be shocked, I’m sure, absolutely shocked.
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[man] And the industry, like it did for the rest of New Zealand,
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was controlled by immigrants that came over,
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that were usually making fortified wines,
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because the stock we had at that stage
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was mainly table grapes.
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The consumer market wasn’t really that sophisticated
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in the early 70s.
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We had varieties like [mumbles]
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and Blue Nun, Velluto Rosso, Cooks...,
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but obviously everything has to start somewhere.
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When I first started in the industry,
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all you had to do was tell people what was good,
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they went away and believed you.
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To be quite honest, the wine produced in ’75,
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in New Zealand, was nothing short of garbage.
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Early ’80s, it was, yeah, it was house white, house red.
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When you went out, there was an awful lot
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of horrible, cheap European wine imported,
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because it always had that perception of being better.
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So, I thought, "Something had to be done."
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And then in the early 1980s,
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when Michael Brajkovich came back from Australia,
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he started making wine that really, it was just so good.
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I guess affluence allowed people to jump on a plane
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and go to London, and those that came back,
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came back with a taste for wine
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and it certainly wasn’t sherry in the flagon.
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It was something better than that.
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And haven’t we come a long way?
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I mean, now I sell wine, the sommelier wants to know the pH,
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the acid, who made the wine, how it was made,
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what hill it came off, and who am I?
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[burbling]
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[man] My parents were farmers and not particularly good farmers,
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’cause they were first-generation farmers,
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and like a lot of farmers they were just looking
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to diversify into something and it happened to be grapes.
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-[dramatic music] -It was a testament
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to the stories of idiot farmers and their tenacity,
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because the first year was a great drought and high winds
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and all the buds were blowing off.
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The year after was a flood
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and half the vineyard was washed down the river,
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so we replanted for the second time.
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I think the third vintage was another flood.
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You think back on it, a farmer has no other option.
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It’s just second nature.
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You just go and do it again.
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You get beaten up and beaten up.
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Learn and do it right the next time.
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Very slow learners.
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Yeah.
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The idea was to grow a little bit wine and make wine,
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sell a few bottles, drink a few bottles,
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and hopefully enjoy what you’re doing.
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When I first met Matty and came to live here,
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there was 30 wineries, I think, in New Zealand.
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We knew them all.
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We helped each other.
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Everyone was very friendly.
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Nowadays, if I go to a wine function,
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I don’t really know hardly anybody,
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except all the old people.
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I guess the young winemakers who made a difference
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were all members of a club called
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The Young Winemakers Club.
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I remember there was Nick Nobilo, Ross Spence,
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Ivan Selak, Joe Babich.
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Well-known brands, well-known wine brands
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and they used to get together
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and bring along exciting bottles from Europe
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and analyze them and talk about them
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and dream about making similar wines
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in this part of the world.
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So, that was an inspiration, I think, for many.
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The Croatians did have a big impact
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on the New Zealand wine industry.
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Take my father for instance.
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He always told us he had 206 in his pocket
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and that’s all he had.
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He was 17.
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There was no benefits, there’s no nothing.
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Unless you worked, you didn’t get anywhere, did you?
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I mean, obviously, New Zealand viticulture
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is a very new nation, and when I went there in 1990,
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the biggest plantings were of Muller-Thurgau,
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which is a rubbish grape variety, that there is no point.
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Then, I think, people started planting Chardonnay,
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Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Pinot Noir,
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all in the same vineyard.
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Now, nowhere in France,
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would they have all those varieties in the same place.
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Shiraz’s are terribly difficult to make.
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They’re in all schistic rock, which has been turned--
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Dr. Meynard Amerine said,
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"Young man, I can tell you that New Zealand
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makes the best New Zealand wines in the world."
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Everybody laughed, everybody laughed.
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"You are not France, you are not Germany, you are not Italy.
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You must make your own wines, in your own style."
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Following Amerine’s advice, we went down the varietal trail,
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and we were away laughing,
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and the final upshot of that, is that for the first time,
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New Zealand, mainly Marlborough, was able to show the world
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what Sauvignon Blanc really does taste like.
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[slow rhythmic music]
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[Campbell] But it was still a gamble.
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I mean, one of those varieties that they planted
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was Sauvignon Blanc, that had not only never been,
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grapes grown in the South Island,
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but it was new to New Zealand,
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so that was scary stuff,
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but the rest, as they say, is history.
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I remember when we first planted, in 1979,
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and it was a little bit pioneering, to be honest,
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planting vines after work and in the weekend
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and doing all the labor ourselves.
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So in ’78, ’79, probably wouldn’t have been
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any more than a couple of hundred hectares,
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and now you have a valley of,
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end of this year, 27,000 hectares in a
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little over 40 years.
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It’s an amazing story.
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It was very apparent, early on,
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when the first wines were produced out of Marlborough,
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how good they were.
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I mean, they put New Zealand on the map,
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fruit from this region here.
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[Campbell] Sauvignon’s biggest strength, I think,
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is that Mrs. Winebuyer, in Waitrose or Sainsbury’s,
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can look at the shelf
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and see New Zealand or Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc,
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and she has a fair idea of what she’s gonna get
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and that wine will deliver most of the time
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and that’s a strong thing.
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The wines are distinctively different
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and pretty good and consistent.
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New Zealand wine, in the U. S.,
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really was kicked off with Sauvignon Blanc.
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So, Cloudy Bay is the name
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and people have this name brand recognition factor, I think,
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in how they enjoy it.
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[liquid burbling]
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The very first time
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I tasted Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand,
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I realized that I was in the right place, at the right time.
257
00:14:25,740 --> 00:14:29,244
I was in charge of winemaking at Cloudy Bay for 25 years.
258
00:14:29,310 --> 00:14:35,183
The juice was just so intensely fruit flavored, that I was,
259
00:14:35,250 --> 00:14:36,651
it was incredibly intense.
260
00:14:36,718 --> 00:14:38,987
I’d never seen anything like it,
261
00:14:39,054 --> 00:14:42,023
and I guess when we started building Cloudy Bay,
262
00:14:42,090 --> 00:14:43,992
I knew that the potential was there
263
00:14:44,059 --> 00:14:45,627
to make really great wine,
264
00:14:45,694 --> 00:14:48,096
and we all felt very confident about what we were doing,
265
00:14:48,163 --> 00:14:53,234
but none of us had any idea what we were creating back then.
266
00:14:53,301 --> 00:14:55,737
It was just a bunch of guys trying to make decent wine,
267
00:14:55,804 --> 00:14:59,140
and it’s now a globally-know label.
268
00:14:59,207 --> 00:15:01,076
It’s just incredible.
269
00:15:01,142 --> 00:15:03,912
David Hohnen always said that it was a bit of a fad,
270
00:15:03,978 --> 00:15:06,014
and that we should be prepared for the days
271
00:15:06,081 --> 00:15:08,550
when Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc wasn’t flavor of the month,
272
00:15:08,616 --> 00:15:12,787
but it’s still flavor of the month.
273
00:15:12,854 --> 00:15:16,825
Fantastic years, it was a small crew, [chuckles]
274
00:15:16,891 --> 00:15:18,927
only three or four to start with
275
00:15:18,993 --> 00:15:22,664
and it was great vision from David Hohnen,
276
00:15:22,731 --> 00:15:24,132
who was the founder.
277
00:15:24,199 --> 00:15:27,569
People were making Sauvignon Blanc here,
278
00:15:27,635 --> 00:15:29,437
but they just took it to a new level.
279
00:15:29,504 --> 00:15:31,106
It was just a completely different wine.
280
00:15:31,172 --> 00:15:35,977
It was just, quality-wise, it went from there to there.
281
00:15:36,044 --> 00:15:38,913
Sauvignon Blanc has been the lead variety,
282
00:15:38,980 --> 00:15:41,549
in the global markets, for a lot of good reasons.
283
00:15:41,616 --> 00:15:43,752
It’s particularly intense and unique
284
00:15:43,818 --> 00:15:45,720
and compelling as a wine style,
285
00:15:45,787 --> 00:15:47,622
and it’s done amazingly well
286
00:15:47,689 --> 00:15:50,425
and now really has achieved global reach.
287
00:15:50,492 --> 00:15:51,859
So that’s been fantastic.
288
00:15:51,926 --> 00:15:55,497
The nice thing about our Marlborough wines,
289
00:15:55,563 --> 00:15:57,565
is there is a point of difference,
290
00:15:57,632 --> 00:16:00,135
when it comes to old world versus new world.
291
00:16:00,201 --> 00:16:04,839
I talk about wines from Marlborough, about the blue sky,
292
00:16:04,906 --> 00:16:09,010
the green grass, the cold water, the purity,
293
00:16:09,077 --> 00:16:11,379
the fact that the wines have flavor,
294
00:16:11,446 --> 00:16:14,182
a flavor that is true to the region.
295
00:16:14,249 --> 00:16:16,117
When you bite into the bunch of grapes,
296
00:16:16,184 --> 00:16:19,020
and you taste the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, for example,
297
00:16:19,087 --> 00:16:22,423
it’s just like what you smell and taste in the glass.
298
00:16:22,490 --> 00:16:24,125
Yes, I remember the first glass
299
00:16:24,192 --> 00:16:25,960
of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc,
300
00:16:26,027 --> 00:16:30,298
the acidity was just so bright and vibrant and in your face,
301
00:16:30,365 --> 00:16:35,003
and to get that kind of vibrancy and power in a glass
302
00:16:35,069 --> 00:16:36,771
is quite remarkable.
303
00:16:36,838 --> 00:16:40,642
An element in the soil there, the methoxypyridine,
304
00:16:40,708 --> 00:16:44,679
gives a intense vegetable touch to grapes
305
00:16:44,746 --> 00:16:46,314
and it marries in perfectly.
306
00:16:46,381 --> 00:16:49,417
It’s the one aspect of the soil,
307
00:16:49,484 --> 00:16:50,752
it gives Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
308
00:16:50,819 --> 00:16:52,153
that little extra zing,
309
00:16:52,220 --> 00:16:55,023
that nowhere else in the world can reproduce.
310
00:16:56,224 --> 00:16:58,193
This is gonna sound slightly crass,
311
00:16:58,259 --> 00:17:00,962
but it’s a gateway drug for Bacardi Breezer drinkers,
312
00:17:01,029 --> 00:17:02,964
to get into the wine industry.
313
00:17:03,031 --> 00:17:04,766
It’s meant to be a bit of a joke, right?
314
00:17:04,833 --> 00:17:07,569
But, indeed, it has attracted so many new drinkers
315
00:17:07,635 --> 00:17:10,504
into the world of wine, into exploring wine,
316
00:17:10,571 --> 00:17:12,005
because of its accessible nature
317
00:17:12,072 --> 00:17:14,776
and because it’s readily identifiable in a glass.
318
00:17:14,842 --> 00:17:16,444
Sauvignon Blanc’s has been amazing
319
00:17:16,511 --> 00:17:17,846
for this country though,
320
00:17:17,912 --> 00:17:19,280
because it has opened the world’s eyes
321
00:17:19,347 --> 00:17:20,949
to wines of New Zealand.
322
00:17:21,014 --> 00:17:23,384
So, the really important thing now is to show the world
323
00:17:23,451 --> 00:17:26,855
that we’re not just about Sauvignon Blanc, that what,
324
00:17:26,921 --> 00:17:31,993
other things happen in this country are incredibly special.
325
00:17:32,060 --> 00:17:33,928
A lot that works, alongside Sauvignon Blanc
326
00:17:33,995 --> 00:17:36,564
as the door opener to the New Zealand wine story.
327
00:17:42,136 --> 00:17:43,371
[motor rumbling]
328
00:17:43,438 --> 00:17:46,074
In just 20 years, from scratch,
329
00:17:46,140 --> 00:17:47,642
they’ve developed such a following
330
00:17:47,709 --> 00:17:49,978
for their particularly fruity style
331
00:17:50,044 --> 00:17:52,547
of razor-sharp Sauvignon Blanc,
332
00:17:52,614 --> 00:17:55,984
that they reckon they’re the only new world wine producers
333
00:17:56,050 --> 00:17:58,720
actually beating the French at their own game.
334
00:17:58,786 --> 00:18:01,189
I remember seeing a TV series
335
00:18:01,256 --> 00:18:05,059
that Jancis Robinson made in the ’90s,
336
00:18:05,126 --> 00:18:08,363
where she was talking about this New Zealand Sauvignon,
337
00:18:08,429 --> 00:18:11,866
this bright new thing on the world stage,
338
00:18:11,933 --> 00:18:15,670
and she had an interview with Didier Dagueneau,
339
00:18:15,737 --> 00:18:18,907
the famous Pouilly-Fume producer,
340
00:18:18,973 --> 00:18:21,409
and she showed him a Marlborough Sauvignon,
341
00:18:21,476 --> 00:18:24,145
which he tried and then promptly left his house
342
00:18:24,212 --> 00:18:26,981
and went and spat it out on the driveway,
343
00:18:27,048 --> 00:18:29,784
which was pretty funny. [laughs]
344
00:18:29,851 --> 00:18:33,321
There are some wines that might be great,
345
00:18:33,388 --> 00:18:38,726
but I’ll have a sip and that’d be enough.
346
00:18:40,161 --> 00:18:43,231
As an example, off the record, Sauvignon Blanc,
347
00:18:44,232 --> 00:18:45,366
can’t stand it.
348
00:18:45,433 --> 00:18:48,303
[dramatic music]
349
00:18:51,139 --> 00:18:53,508
Being so reliant on Sauvignon,
350
00:18:53,574 --> 00:18:56,110
particularly from Marlborough, in the world market,
351
00:18:56,177 --> 00:18:58,646
-I guess is quite dangerous. -[dramatic music]
352
00:18:58,713 --> 00:19:01,416
If the market changes and we all, well,
353
00:19:01,482 --> 00:19:04,752
some of us remember the grape variety Muller-Thurgau,
354
00:19:04,819 --> 00:19:07,288
in New Zealand, which comprised pretty close
355
00:19:07,355 --> 00:19:11,859
to 50% of plantings, in the late ’70s, early ’80s,
356
00:19:11,926 --> 00:19:13,928
now doesn’t even exist.
357
00:19:13,995 --> 00:19:16,030
Was asked the question, in London,
358
00:19:16,097 --> 00:19:18,232
by a well-known wine writer, saying,
359
00:19:18,299 --> 00:19:20,001
"How long has Sauvignon Blanc got to go
360
00:19:20,068 --> 00:19:23,871
and when is the Sauvignon bubble going to burst?"
361
00:19:23,938 --> 00:19:26,207
I think there is a danger in having one wine style
362
00:19:26,274 --> 00:19:29,010
being 90% of our wine story overseas.
363
00:19:29,077 --> 00:19:31,379
It’s probably just an indication of how young
364
00:19:31,446 --> 00:19:33,815
and un-evolved our country is.
365
00:19:36,217 --> 00:19:40,088
I do hear that for Marlborough to be relying so heavily
366
00:19:40,154 --> 00:19:42,623
on one variety of grape is a danger,
367
00:19:42,690 --> 00:19:46,294
but I think you probably need to get that in perspective,
368
00:19:46,361 --> 00:19:47,795
in the sense that here,
369
00:19:47,862 --> 00:19:51,265
there’s around about 28,000 hectares of vines,
370
00:19:51,332 --> 00:19:54,402
and I guess 80% of that would be Sauvignon Blanc,
371
00:19:54,469 --> 00:19:57,271
and when you compare that to somewhere like Champagne,
372
00:19:57,338 --> 00:20:00,241
which is the legal area for growing grapes in Champagne
373
00:20:00,308 --> 00:20:03,511
is 55,000 hectares and there’s a shortage of Champagne
374
00:20:03,578 --> 00:20:05,013
in the world.
375
00:20:05,079 --> 00:20:07,148
The world’s a big place.
376
00:20:07,215 --> 00:20:10,785
If you look out there, pretty much all of Marlborough
377
00:20:10,852 --> 00:20:12,720
is planted in grapes
378
00:20:12,787 --> 00:20:14,956
and there is a market, internationally,
379
00:20:15,023 --> 00:20:17,191
for the style of wine that we make here,
380
00:20:17,258 --> 00:20:21,095
and I don’t see any danger at all in that, I really don’t.
381
00:20:27,335 --> 00:20:29,837
[bright music]
382
00:20:38,446 --> 00:20:40,848
We have been traveling all over the world,
383
00:20:40,915 --> 00:20:45,186
to show our specificities in our wines.
384
00:20:45,253 --> 00:20:48,122
While we were visiting these countries,
385
00:20:48,189 --> 00:20:51,059
we decided to visit also the wine regions
386
00:20:51,125 --> 00:20:52,627
of each of those countries.
387
00:20:52,693 --> 00:20:57,065
Everywhere we have a distributor for our Sancerre.
388
00:21:01,269 --> 00:21:06,140
That was back in 1998, we visited New Zealand
389
00:21:06,207 --> 00:21:07,809
and particularly Marlborough,
390
00:21:07,875 --> 00:21:10,078
which is probably another kingdom
391
00:21:10,144 --> 00:21:12,180
of the Sauvignon Blanc red variety.
392
00:21:12,246 --> 00:21:15,083
We quickly noticed that this place
393
00:21:15,149 --> 00:21:17,318
is going to be a very special place,
394
00:21:17,385 --> 00:21:19,754
where we can grow Sauvignon Blanc
395
00:21:19,821 --> 00:21:22,156
according to our philosophy.
396
00:21:22,223 --> 00:21:23,958
First of all, we noticed that
397
00:21:24,025 --> 00:21:27,195
thanks to the different valleys
398
00:21:27,261 --> 00:21:29,163
and the presence of the river,
399
00:21:29,230 --> 00:21:33,034
that this place already had the best ingredients,
400
00:21:33,101 --> 00:21:36,337
to be able to have good terroir.
401
00:21:37,839 --> 00:21:40,041
The whole adventure started in 2000,
402
00:21:40,108 --> 00:21:43,010
when we purchased naked land.
403
00:21:43,077 --> 00:21:45,346
It was a pasture, it was a hill,
404
00:21:45,413 --> 00:21:48,416
where the sheep were eating the grass,
405
00:21:48,483 --> 00:21:51,319
and we felt it could be a very good place.
406
00:21:53,154 --> 00:21:55,389
I’ve known the Bourgeois family from Sancerre
407
00:21:55,456 --> 00:21:58,292
for a few years before I came here, 12 years ago,
408
00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,462
and they knew I was keen to go to New Zealand,
409
00:22:01,529 --> 00:22:02,563
live in New Zealand.
410
00:22:04,065 --> 00:22:05,900
I mean, in France, you can perpetrate the history,
411
00:22:05,967 --> 00:22:07,902
but the beauty of here is that
412
00:22:07,969 --> 00:22:10,138
it could become another little France,
413
00:22:10,204 --> 00:22:11,806
in a different way, with different terroir,
414
00:22:11,873 --> 00:22:13,641
but that’s what makes it exciting,
415
00:22:13,708 --> 00:22:17,011
and the beauty here is that we can create history, you know?
416
00:22:17,078 --> 00:22:18,646
In France, it’s hard to recreate the history,
417
00:22:18,713 --> 00:22:19,947
you perpetrate it.
418
00:22:20,014 --> 00:22:22,283
Here, you can be part of a new story,
419
00:22:22,350 --> 00:22:25,820
which is quite a privilege and quite exciting.
420
00:22:29,490 --> 00:22:34,328
In New Zealand, when we decided to plant Sauvignon Blanc,
421
00:22:34,395 --> 00:22:38,399
we actually wanted to plant our Sauvignon Blanc
422
00:22:38,466 --> 00:22:40,067
on different terroir,
423
00:22:40,134 --> 00:22:43,604
so we decided to make different Cuvees,
424
00:22:43,671 --> 00:22:47,341
according to the soil type, exactly like in Sancerre.
425
00:22:54,248 --> 00:22:57,118
What we are looking for, as a French producer,
426
00:22:57,185 --> 00:23:01,155
in a Sauvignon Blanc; elegance, nice minerality.
427
00:23:01,222 --> 00:23:04,859
We get this very direct mineral character.
428
00:23:04,926 --> 00:23:08,829
A bit like the limestone we would have here in Sancerre,
429
00:23:08,896 --> 00:23:12,033
but it’s a particular taste,
430
00:23:12,099 --> 00:23:14,902
and very specific from this part of Marlborough.
431
00:23:15,937 --> 00:23:18,072
The greywacke soil is a bit like
432
00:23:18,139 --> 00:23:20,975
in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, in France.
433
00:23:21,042 --> 00:23:26,180
The Rhone River has moved 500 meters from its bed,
434
00:23:26,247 --> 00:23:29,150
over the time, so it’s exactly the same.
435
00:23:29,217 --> 00:23:32,320
The Wairau River also has moved,
436
00:23:32,386 --> 00:23:37,124
and we planted the vines on this very stony soil.
437
00:23:37,191 --> 00:23:40,795
You kind of get the wisdom or the expertise from France
438
00:23:40,861 --> 00:23:45,499
and apply to a new blank canvas, if I can say the way.
439
00:23:45,566 --> 00:23:49,170
It’s kind of the best of both worlds in a way.
440
00:23:49,237 --> 00:23:51,706
They have never done a vintage without them here,
441
00:23:51,772 --> 00:23:53,274
and I’ll tell you what,
442
00:23:53,341 --> 00:23:54,642
this is a little thing that makes a difference,
443
00:23:54,709 --> 00:23:56,277
because you’re growing a vineyard,
444
00:23:56,344 --> 00:23:57,912
and you taste Sauvignon with them
445
00:23:57,979 --> 00:23:59,046
and there’s a whole different world
446
00:23:59,113 --> 00:24:00,681
of understanding Sauvignon.
447
00:24:00,748 --> 00:24:03,184
I’ve seen them coming out here and say,
448
00:24:03,784 --> 00:24:05,253
"What is the forecast?"
449
00:24:05,319 --> 00:24:07,088
I say, "Its brilliant, it’s gonna be sunny,
450
00:24:07,154 --> 00:24:08,889
"and we need some wine."
451
00:24:08,956 --> 00:24:11,592
Have you ever heard a winemaker in Marlborough saying that?
452
00:24:11,659 --> 00:24:14,128
It’ll get a bit more juicy, and then we pick it
453
00:24:14,195 --> 00:24:16,264
and these wines are gonna be a lot more alive.
454
00:24:16,330 --> 00:24:18,099
You don’t learn that at school.
455
00:24:18,165 --> 00:24:19,400
You know, like?
456
00:24:20,067 --> 00:24:22,570
[upbeat music]
457
00:24:25,172 --> 00:24:28,609
When I first came to visit Marlborough in 1978,
458
00:24:28,676 --> 00:24:32,780
where I was immediately convinced
459
00:24:32,847 --> 00:24:38,286
that this had to be the district to produce quality wine.
460
00:24:38,352 --> 00:24:42,523
The land prices were extremely cheap, about $700 an acre.
461
00:24:42,590 --> 00:24:45,059
Coming from Champagne, that was ridiculous.
462
00:24:48,262 --> 00:24:50,164
So we have a project,
463
00:24:50,231 --> 00:24:54,268
of investing into new vineyards abroad.
464
00:24:54,335 --> 00:24:59,106
Of course, New Zealand is one of the destinations,
465
00:24:59,173 --> 00:25:02,610
the location that is on the top of the list.
466
00:25:06,213 --> 00:25:08,916
Now, the definition of terroir varies,
467
00:25:08,983 --> 00:25:10,051
depending where you are.
468
00:25:10,117 --> 00:25:12,186
Not everyone has the same.
469
00:25:12,253 --> 00:25:16,157
Terroir, to me, is a sort of a snobbish French term.
470
00:25:16,223 --> 00:25:17,658
They think that they,
471
00:25:17,725 --> 00:25:21,162
that no one else in the world has terroir.
472
00:25:21,228 --> 00:25:23,831
Every vineyard patch in the world has its own terroir,
473
00:25:23,898 --> 00:25:25,666
because terroir, what is it?
474
00:25:25,733 --> 00:25:29,470
It’s a combination of vineyard sites, soils, temperature,
475
00:25:29,537 --> 00:25:32,173
climate, wind, all that, humidity, rain.
476
00:25:32,239 --> 00:25:35,076
Plus of course, probably the most important aspect
477
00:25:35,142 --> 00:25:37,778
is the human aspect of terroir,
478
00:25:37,845 --> 00:25:39,213
the people who work the land
479
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,183
and the people who make the wine.
480
00:25:42,249 --> 00:25:44,285
At the end of the day, it goes like this...
481
00:25:45,986 --> 00:25:48,389
[foliage rustling]
482
00:25:48,456 --> 00:25:50,257
and you smell this, [sniffs]
483
00:25:50,324 --> 00:25:52,093
and that’s what you smell in the glass.
484
00:25:52,159 --> 00:25:53,461
Yes, it’s beautiful.
485
00:25:53,527 --> 00:25:56,864
Look at that soil. It’s treasure.
486
00:25:56,931 --> 00:26:01,702
If you have the right land and the right grape variety,
487
00:26:01,769 --> 00:26:04,105
with the right climate, then of course,
488
00:26:04,171 --> 00:26:05,539
the combination of this
489
00:26:05,606 --> 00:26:07,108
is going to give something wonderful.
490
00:26:07,174 --> 00:26:09,310
So the terroir is something, that to me,
491
00:26:09,377 --> 00:26:11,045
is absolutely necessary.
492
00:26:11,112 --> 00:26:13,748
Without the terroir, you can’t produce great wine,
493
00:26:13,814 --> 00:26:17,017
and then this is necessary, but not sufficient,
494
00:26:17,084 --> 00:26:18,853
you need to have the great winemaker,
495
00:26:18,919 --> 00:26:22,556
the great vintner, as well, to reveal this terroir.
496
00:27:04,298 --> 00:27:06,467
I think a lot of people in New Zealand
497
00:27:06,534 --> 00:27:09,103
don’t quite recognize that we have terroir,
498
00:27:09,170 --> 00:27:12,940
here in New Zealand as well, in the form of turangawaewae.
499
00:27:13,007 --> 00:27:15,609
Turangawaewae is a place you stand,
500
00:27:15,676 --> 00:27:18,379
it’s all about the physical and the environment,
501
00:27:18,446 --> 00:27:20,014
all the way down to the individual,
502
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,818
rather than the individual’s impact on it.
503
00:27:28,255 --> 00:27:30,458
[slow rhythmic music]
504
00:27:32,226 --> 00:27:36,130
You have an energy and a feeling when you walk onto properties,
505
00:27:36,197 --> 00:27:39,767
particularly biodynamic and organic farms in New Zealand,
506
00:27:39,834 --> 00:27:42,570
not necessarily even in viticulture,
507
00:27:42,636 --> 00:27:45,072
but there is something special here.
508
00:27:45,139 --> 00:27:46,207
It’s that turangawaewae.
509
00:27:46,273 --> 00:27:47,208
Yeah, turangawaewae.
510
00:27:47,274 --> 00:27:48,642
-Yeah. -Exactly.
511
00:27:48,709 --> 00:27:53,147
I think it does come from our Maori heritage,
512
00:27:54,582 --> 00:27:58,486
where we all recognize that you should only take
513
00:27:58,552 --> 00:28:02,022
from the land what you need and can consume,
514
00:28:02,089 --> 00:28:04,058
and as the old tradition is,
515
00:28:04,124 --> 00:28:07,361
the first fish you catch, you put it back,
516
00:28:07,428 --> 00:28:10,764
and in doing that, you learn to respect nature.
517
00:28:30,484 --> 00:28:32,319
I think it’s really important
518
00:28:32,386 --> 00:28:33,420
to understand that time is important,
519
00:28:33,487 --> 00:28:34,755
to understand the terroir,
520
00:28:34,822 --> 00:28:39,293
how to channel the way we make wine,
521
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:40,794
vinification also has changed a lot,
522
00:28:40,861 --> 00:28:43,797
but we need to adapt to the weather,
523
00:28:43,864 --> 00:28:45,900
to the climate, to the people.
524
00:28:45,966 --> 00:28:47,034
So it takes time.
525
00:28:47,101 --> 00:28:48,836
It’s a lot about time.
526
00:29:20,901 --> 00:29:23,003
Aubert de Villaine from Romanée-Conti
527
00:29:23,070 --> 00:29:25,739
first came here about three years ago, I think,
528
00:29:25,806 --> 00:29:29,343
when he was pushing, along with other people,
529
00:29:29,410 --> 00:29:33,213
to have Burgundy recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
530
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,449
That application was based
531
00:29:35,516 --> 00:29:38,152
on their understanding of terroir,
532
00:29:38,218 --> 00:29:40,220
and he felt that we were developing
533
00:29:40,287 --> 00:29:42,690
the same kind of understanding of terroir,
534
00:29:42,756 --> 00:29:45,459
and he came to New Zealand to see if, as a region,
535
00:29:45,526 --> 00:29:47,494
we would support them in their application.
536
00:29:47,561 --> 00:29:49,930
We did and they are now a World Heritage Site.
537
00:30:17,191 --> 00:30:19,893
[bright music]
538
00:30:42,616 --> 00:30:44,852
[Steve Smith] But if you think about why a vine exists.
539
00:30:44,918 --> 00:30:48,656
A vine doesn’t exist to make wine.
540
00:30:48,722 --> 00:30:52,826
It simply exists to produce fruit that gets sweet enough
541
00:30:52,893 --> 00:30:54,928
and delicious enough for a bird to eat it
542
00:30:54,995 --> 00:30:56,964
and for that bird to take the seed away
543
00:30:57,031 --> 00:30:58,432
and to spread that vine.
544
00:30:58,499 --> 00:31:00,534
That’s why it exists, no other reason.
545
00:31:00,601 --> 00:31:02,069
So if you’re in a marginal climate,
546
00:31:02,136 --> 00:31:04,605
you have to concentrate all of your energy,
547
00:31:04,672 --> 00:31:06,040
if you’re a vine,
548
00:31:06,106 --> 00:31:08,008
in making sure that that berry is ripe enough
549
00:31:08,075 --> 00:31:09,476
to attract a bird.
550
00:31:09,543 --> 00:31:11,412
Whereas, if you’re in an easy place,
551
00:31:11,478 --> 00:31:14,081
it just doesn’t worry about it.
552
00:31:14,148 --> 00:31:16,150
So if it has to try really hard,
553
00:31:16,216 --> 00:31:19,253
then the character that goes into that grape
554
00:31:19,319 --> 00:31:22,156
is gonna be much more than a grape
555
00:31:22,222 --> 00:31:24,024
that grows in an easy place.
556
00:31:24,091 --> 00:31:26,093
I’ve never described it like that before,
557
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:27,795
that’s the first time I’ve done it.
558
00:31:31,465 --> 00:31:33,867
The big thing that we understood was,
559
00:31:33,934 --> 00:31:35,969
you’re looking for a treasure map.
560
00:31:36,036 --> 00:31:40,607
You’ve-- Somewhere out here, that will be the magic place,
561
00:31:40,674 --> 00:31:43,811
the grand cru’s site that is going to be magic,
562
00:31:43,877 --> 00:31:45,979
but nobody knew what they were looking for.
563
00:31:49,817 --> 00:31:52,119
The interesting comparison between French terroir
564
00:31:52,186 --> 00:31:54,421
and New Zealand terroir, is that New Zealand is an island
565
00:31:54,488 --> 00:31:55,956
and France is a continent,
566
00:31:56,023 --> 00:31:58,058
and with the influence of the sea,
567
00:31:58,125 --> 00:32:01,495
we also get the salinity and the aroma as well.
568
00:32:02,296 --> 00:32:04,965
[waves crashing]
569
00:32:07,534 --> 00:32:09,336
Once you know what grape variety you want,
570
00:32:09,403 --> 00:32:13,073
then you look for the right kind of soil to plant that on,
571
00:32:13,140 --> 00:32:14,742
and you look for a climate,
572
00:32:14,808 --> 00:32:16,944
which is this sort of cultivable limit
573
00:32:17,010 --> 00:32:19,379
where you can only just get it ripe,
574
00:32:19,446 --> 00:32:22,816
with exigent viticulture and low yields
575
00:32:22,883 --> 00:32:26,053
and ideally vine age and a good season.
576
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:27,955
We weren’t ever trying to ape Burgundy.
577
00:32:28,021 --> 00:32:29,890
It wasn’t that we wanted to make wine
578
00:32:29,957 --> 00:32:33,093
that tasted like Burgundy or smelled like Burgundy.
579
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,562
We have only ever wanted to make a wine,
580
00:32:35,629 --> 00:32:38,265
which is true to its own place,
581
00:32:38,332 --> 00:32:40,968
but I think you’re silly if you turn your back
582
00:32:41,034 --> 00:32:44,471
on 800 years of knowledge and experience,
583
00:32:44,538 --> 00:32:46,373
and the Burgundians have that with Pinot.
584
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:47,941
So there are things to learn,
585
00:32:48,008 --> 00:32:50,944
and then you apply that to wherever you find yourself.
586
00:32:54,081 --> 00:32:57,084
The soils here are this unique combination
587
00:32:57,151 --> 00:32:59,887
of clay and limestone, that is very, very hard to find
588
00:32:59,953 --> 00:33:01,588
anywhere else in the world,
589
00:33:01,655 --> 00:33:03,223
outside the grape vineyards of Burgundy,
590
00:33:03,290 --> 00:33:05,926
if you’re wanting to grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnays.
591
00:33:05,993 --> 00:33:09,429
We had to do really, really intensive soil research,
592
00:33:09,496 --> 00:33:13,133
and Mike spent a lot of time, eight years, looking globally,
593
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,637
to find this site, and working with universities
594
00:33:16,703 --> 00:33:18,839
and soil specialists in Burgundy,
595
00:33:18,906 --> 00:33:22,609
trying to decipher what areas of this farm would give us
596
00:33:22,676 --> 00:33:25,546
that really kind of grand cru status.
597
00:33:25,612 --> 00:33:27,381
I looked in California and Oregon,
598
00:33:27,447 --> 00:33:30,050
and I looked in Australia, and I looked in New Mexico,
599
00:33:30,117 --> 00:33:31,585
and I looked at Portugal.
600
00:33:31,652 --> 00:33:33,453
I looked all over, to try to find a place,
601
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:35,589
where you would have the right climate
602
00:33:35,656 --> 00:33:38,892
and the right kind of soil for Pinot.
603
00:33:38,959 --> 00:33:40,994
Chardonnay is not as fickle as Pinot.
604
00:33:41,061 --> 00:33:43,897
Pinot’s very, very finicky.
605
00:33:43,964 --> 00:33:47,868
It’s no exaggeration to say that it got to the point,
606
00:33:47,935 --> 00:33:50,204
after years of going all over the world looking,
607
00:33:50,270 --> 00:33:53,240
and you have to remember this was preinternet,
608
00:33:53,307 --> 00:33:54,842
so I would go the library
609
00:33:54,908 --> 00:33:59,580
and pour over geological maps and climatological data,
610
00:33:59,646 --> 00:34:02,115
and I’d looked all over New Zealand
611
00:34:02,182 --> 00:34:04,618
and couldn’t find what I was after,
612
00:34:04,685 --> 00:34:07,120
and it got to the point
613
00:34:07,187 --> 00:34:10,724
where I was literally looking at maps of Uruguay, at night,
614
00:34:10,791 --> 00:34:12,993
and Claudia was looking at divorce proceedings,
615
00:34:13,060 --> 00:34:15,429
because everybody had just given up on me,
616
00:34:15,495 --> 00:34:18,732
and we’d been sending soil samples from everywhere,
617
00:34:18,799 --> 00:34:20,601
back to friends of mine, who are consultants
618
00:34:20,667 --> 00:34:22,002
-in Burgundy, -[liquid burbling]
619
00:34:22,069 --> 00:34:23,737
and they kept saying the same thing.
620
00:34:23,804 --> 00:34:25,672
"It doesn’t have for us,
621
00:34:25,739 --> 00:34:27,808
what we would hope to see in a great Pinot soil."
622
00:34:27,875 --> 00:34:31,178
And finally, before we gave up option on the property,
623
00:34:31,245 --> 00:34:34,547
I sent them a last soil sample, and they wrote,
624
00:34:34,614 --> 00:34:37,083
"This is what you should be looking for
625
00:34:37,150 --> 00:34:39,853
and it’s finally all there."
626
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:42,623
If we’d found exactly the right conditions,
627
00:34:42,689 --> 00:34:45,726
in 20 kilometers outside of Detroit,
628
00:34:45,792 --> 00:34:48,728
we might be living in a caravan near Detroit,
629
00:34:48,795 --> 00:34:51,598
but how lucky are we, that it ended up being here,
630
00:34:51,665 --> 00:34:54,868
because it’s such a lovely place, and we love New Zealand.
631
00:34:58,372 --> 00:35:00,207
[Smith] That’s what really attracted us,
632
00:35:00,274 --> 00:35:01,975
is this really amazing opportunity,
633
00:35:02,042 --> 00:35:03,577
to create something really distinctive,
634
00:35:03,644 --> 00:35:05,512
from a pretty special piece of land,
635
00:35:05,579 --> 00:35:09,182
that’s almost directly opposite in the world from Burgundy.
636
00:35:10,183 --> 00:35:13,120
[insects chittering]
637
00:35:17,124 --> 00:35:20,193
[dramatic music]
638
00:35:21,828 --> 00:35:25,265
I think climate change is gonna be a game changer,
639
00:35:25,332 --> 00:35:26,700
there’s no question.
640
00:35:26,767 --> 00:35:29,036
It’s hitting the northern hemisphere
641
00:35:29,102 --> 00:35:31,038
to a greater degree than it’s hitting us, yes,
642
00:35:31,104 --> 00:35:32,572
but sone look at the weather patterns,
643
00:35:32,639 --> 00:35:34,141
it’s all over the place, you know?
644
00:35:34,207 --> 00:35:36,009
We’re getting snow down in Central Otago
645
00:35:36,076 --> 00:35:37,778
when there shouldn’t be snow.
646
00:35:37,844 --> 00:35:40,247
You’re getting rain when there shouldn’t be rain,
647
00:35:40,314 --> 00:35:44,051
and it’s not just a matter of everything getting warmer,
648
00:35:44,117 --> 00:35:46,987
it’s this chaotic weather pattern thing
649
00:35:47,054 --> 00:35:49,356
that’s gonna really make a difference.
650
00:35:49,423 --> 00:35:51,124
It worries me, to be honest.
651
00:35:51,191 --> 00:35:52,759
[Judy Finn] I used to think it was my grandchildren
652
00:35:52,826 --> 00:35:54,595
that would suffer it.
653
00:35:54,661 --> 00:35:57,331
I think, before I die, we’re seeing the wet’s wetter,
654
00:35:57,397 --> 00:35:59,466
the dry’s drier, the winds are windier.
655
00:35:59,533 --> 00:36:03,403
It’s extraordinarily terrifying, and as a race,
656
00:36:03,470 --> 00:36:07,207
we’ve got to face up to it and make changes right now.
657
00:36:15,349 --> 00:36:17,617
The effects of climate change here have been graphic,
658
00:36:17,684 --> 00:36:19,252
I think, in our 40 years.
659
00:36:19,319 --> 00:36:21,321
We don’t appear to be getting the frosts we did,
660
00:36:21,388 --> 00:36:24,224
back when we started in the business here.
661
00:36:24,291 --> 00:36:26,293
It’s become more of a temperate climate,
662
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,396
but I think the climate’s gonna get better for grapes.
663
00:36:31,231 --> 00:36:33,000
Yeah, I mean, there’s certainly a theory
664
00:36:33,066 --> 00:36:36,103
that as the world becomes hotter,
665
00:36:36,169 --> 00:36:38,405
the vineyards might have to shift further north in Europe
666
00:36:38,472 --> 00:36:42,175
and further south in the southern hemisphere,
667
00:36:42,242 --> 00:36:46,179
because acidity is a very important part of winemaking,
668
00:36:46,246 --> 00:36:51,818
and you can’t make great wine somewhere that’s too hot.
669
00:36:51,885 --> 00:36:53,587
So, the great thing about New Zealand,
670
00:36:53,653 --> 00:36:56,023
is there’s a long ripening season.
671
00:36:56,089 --> 00:36:58,625
It’s not really hot, but it’s really sunny.
672
00:36:58,692 --> 00:37:02,129
So, the most exciting thing about New Zealand wines, for me,
673
00:37:02,195 --> 00:37:05,332
is that they have a lot of natural acidity and freshness,
674
00:37:05,399 --> 00:37:08,001
but they get their ripeness without being overripe.
675
00:37:08,068 --> 00:37:10,637
So I think the climate in New Zealand
676
00:37:10,704 --> 00:37:12,239
is very interesting for that.
677
00:37:22,249 --> 00:37:26,787
Felton Road has been biodynamic now since about 2004.
678
00:37:28,188 --> 00:37:30,757
It was organic since about 2001,
679
00:37:32,025 --> 00:37:34,027
and what we’re interested in,
680
00:37:34,094 --> 00:37:38,965
is the idea of creating a self-contained ecosystem,
681
00:37:39,032 --> 00:37:43,070
that is completely nourished from inside the gate,
682
00:37:43,136 --> 00:37:44,571
everywhere from the bacteria,
683
00:37:44,638 --> 00:37:47,040
right down in the lower levels of the soil,
684
00:37:47,107 --> 00:37:50,010
right up to the human beings that work on the site.
685
00:37:51,178 --> 00:37:53,213
90% of the biomass of the vineyards,
686
00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:55,682
so this is 90% of life, by weight,
687
00:37:55,749 --> 00:37:59,219
and also almost all of the diversity of life in a vineyard
688
00:37:59,286 --> 00:38:02,255
is from the soil surface down.
689
00:38:02,322 --> 00:38:06,426
[Greening] So we see the land as an integrated ecosystem,
690
00:38:06,493 --> 00:38:11,264
and it’s our job to see every layer of that is healthy.
691
00:38:11,331 --> 00:38:13,033
This is the virtue of biodynamics,
692
00:38:13,100 --> 00:38:15,202
is that you farm your soil first,
693
00:38:15,268 --> 00:38:16,670
and if you get the soil right,
694
00:38:16,736 --> 00:38:18,472
then the plant will follow
695
00:38:18,538 --> 00:38:20,774
and the fruit will follow and everything else will follow.
696
00:38:20,841 --> 00:38:22,142
And we’re not trying to do that
697
00:38:22,209 --> 00:38:25,011
through weirdness or witchcraft.
698
00:38:25,078 --> 00:38:28,014
What we’re trying to do, is to understand
699
00:38:28,081 --> 00:38:31,818
the way that all these species inter-relate,
700
00:38:31,885 --> 00:38:33,253
and the more we learn
701
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:35,055
-how those work, -[cow mooing]
702
00:38:35,122 --> 00:38:37,991
the more we learn how we can negotiate with them,
703
00:38:38,058 --> 00:38:41,528
instead of taking them on in battles.
704
00:38:41,595 --> 00:38:44,798
[Gill] Practicing organics and biodynamics,
705
00:38:44,865 --> 00:38:46,433
the preparations you use,
706
00:38:46,500 --> 00:38:47,634
and how you control pests and diseases is one thing,
707
00:38:47,701 --> 00:38:49,402
but the other part of it,
708
00:38:49,469 --> 00:38:53,773
is just being in the vineyard and really closely interacting
709
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,643
with the vineyard and the grapes.
710
00:38:56,710 --> 00:39:00,113
Burn Cottage was the first place that had actually set up,
711
00:39:00,180 --> 00:39:02,382
from scratch, with biodynamic and organic,
712
00:39:02,449 --> 00:39:05,318
with the drive to reflect the unique character
713
00:39:05,385 --> 00:39:08,788
of the vineyard, in that way and healthy vineyard,
714
00:39:08,855 --> 00:39:11,024
healthy vines and great wine.
715
00:39:12,125 --> 00:39:14,161
This is called the Voodoo Lounge.
716
00:39:14,227 --> 00:39:18,365
It’s where we make biodynamic preparations,
717
00:39:18,431 --> 00:39:21,501
sacrifice virgins, do all that kind of stuff.
718
00:39:21,568 --> 00:39:23,937
There’s not much on television in Cromwell,
719
00:39:24,004 --> 00:39:25,605
so we need something to do.
720
00:39:29,342 --> 00:39:32,546
You can see in there, you’ve got eggshells.
721
00:39:32,612 --> 00:39:34,548
-[chickens clucking] -They’re from my chickens.
722
00:39:34,614 --> 00:39:39,186
We use those to make something called CPP or barrel compost,
723
00:39:39,252 --> 00:39:43,256
which is made from cow dung from our highland cattle
724
00:39:43,323 --> 00:39:45,091
-that are up on the hills, -[cows mooing]
725
00:39:45,158 --> 00:39:48,662
and we collect the cow dung, put it on the table
726
00:39:48,728 --> 00:39:52,566
and mulch it up with eggshells, with your hands,
727
00:39:52,632 --> 00:39:54,434
to make a nice gooey mess.
728
00:39:55,335 --> 00:39:57,070
Sounds faintly disgusting.
729
00:39:57,137 --> 00:39:59,139
It’s actually quite fun.
730
00:39:59,206 --> 00:40:03,610
Then you bury it in a clay-lined vault.
731
00:40:06,846 --> 00:40:08,114
Oh, God, that’s lovely.
732
00:40:11,251 --> 00:40:14,621
It’s just full of micro-organisms,
733
00:40:14,688 --> 00:40:16,823
just waiting to add to the biodiversity,
734
00:40:16,890 --> 00:40:20,293
at the base levels of the soil.
735
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:22,295
All the way through the ecosystem,
736
00:40:22,362 --> 00:40:25,198
there’s just of thousands of new bugs and hurds
737
00:40:25,265 --> 00:40:27,000
to come and play with this.
738
00:40:27,067 --> 00:40:28,935
We get asked this question continuously,
739
00:40:29,002 --> 00:40:30,737
by people saying it must be difficult
740
00:40:30,804 --> 00:40:32,606
to grow things biodynamically,
741
00:40:32,672 --> 00:40:34,441
and yet the funny thing is,
742
00:40:34,507 --> 00:40:36,710
that not many people ask us what opportunities we are given
743
00:40:36,776 --> 00:40:38,945
by farming biodynamically.
744
00:40:39,012 --> 00:40:40,714
And when you think of bio meaning life
745
00:40:40,780 --> 00:40:42,649
and dynamic meaning energy,
746
00:40:42,716 --> 00:40:46,019
then you can stop and see that every day,
747
00:40:46,086 --> 00:40:49,322
there is an opportunity to make life work.
748
00:40:49,389 --> 00:40:51,658
So, it gets easy to such a degree
749
00:40:51,725 --> 00:40:54,728
that Annie’s developed a saying and it says,
750
00:40:54,794 --> 00:40:58,164
"We’re farming ease, not fighting dis-ease."
751
00:40:59,232 --> 00:41:01,735
Biodynamics was the first time
752
00:41:01,801 --> 00:41:06,206
anybody tried to create a philosophy of organic farming.
753
00:41:06,273 --> 00:41:09,542
Shortly before then, all farming was organic,
754
00:41:09,609 --> 00:41:10,677
so that was just farming.
755
00:41:18,218 --> 00:41:21,254
Steiner was an eccentric genius.
756
00:41:21,321 --> 00:41:23,823
He believed some deeply weird stuff.
757
00:41:23,890 --> 00:41:28,228
Consistency is the playground of dull minds, you know?
758
00:41:28,295 --> 00:41:29,929
Yeah, he was a bit of a nutter,
759
00:41:29,996 --> 00:41:31,398
but he was a great nutter.
760
00:41:32,932 --> 00:41:35,368
He was our nutter! [laughs]
761
00:41:38,672 --> 00:41:41,675
[Millton] An international wine writer once said
762
00:41:41,741 --> 00:41:43,176
that Millton Chenin Blanc
763
00:41:43,243 --> 00:41:45,111
is some of the best examples in the world,
764
00:41:45,178 --> 00:41:47,914
outside of the Loire Valley, for this variety.
765
00:41:47,981 --> 00:41:49,716
She also did say
766
00:41:49,783 --> 00:41:52,519
that Millton started practicing biodynamics in New Zealand
767
00:41:52,585 --> 00:41:54,721
before it was even heard of in Burgundy.
768
00:41:56,222 --> 00:41:58,491
She’s quite a good friend.
769
00:42:13,773 --> 00:42:17,577
[Alan Brady] Burgundy is the spiritual home of Pinot Noir.
770
00:42:17,644 --> 00:42:19,412
They’ve been doing it a long time.
771
00:42:19,479 --> 00:42:21,314
We have much to learn from them.
772
00:42:21,381 --> 00:42:25,251
What I took, from doing a vintage in France was, firstly,
773
00:42:25,318 --> 00:42:28,822
I think the history, the culture,
774
00:42:28,888 --> 00:42:30,757
and the provenance of it all.
775
00:43:05,525 --> 00:43:08,194
Rarity of a wine is a big thing.
776
00:43:08,895 --> 00:43:10,397
The great wines.
777
00:43:10,463 --> 00:43:12,232
It doesn’t get any better really.
778
00:43:12,999 --> 00:43:14,934
It’s like a piece of art.
779
00:43:15,001 --> 00:43:17,103
A few people that have got a case of this or a case of that.
780
00:43:22,242 --> 00:43:24,577
[Brady] We bought some land at Gibbston,
781
00:43:24,644 --> 00:43:27,313
which was in the middle of nowhere at that time.
782
00:43:27,380 --> 00:43:29,082
There was a lot of skepticism,
783
00:43:29,149 --> 00:43:31,251
most of the expert advice was,
784
00:43:31,317 --> 00:43:33,019
"You can’t grow grapes in Central Otago.
785
00:43:33,086 --> 00:43:36,556
It’s too cold, too far south, too dry, too windy."
786
00:43:36,623 --> 00:43:40,393
Everything was wrong, but I thought it looked pretty similar
787
00:43:40,460 --> 00:43:41,995
to many parts of Europe
788
00:43:42,061 --> 00:43:45,198
that I’d been to geographically, climatically.
789
00:43:45,265 --> 00:43:48,802
Our latitude is 45 degrees south, 45 degrees north,
790
00:43:48,868 --> 00:43:51,604
runs through Bordeaux, so I gave it a go.
791
00:43:51,671 --> 00:43:55,108
I planted half an acre of all sorts of different varieties
792
00:43:55,175 --> 00:43:58,144
and there you go. The rest is history.
793
00:43:58,211 --> 00:43:59,746
I’m a bloody Irishman
794
00:43:59,813 --> 00:44:02,849
and what do we know about growing grapes or making wine?
795
00:44:02,916 --> 00:44:06,419
The geography, everything about this region challenges you,
796
00:44:06,486 --> 00:44:10,423
and I felt very much like the early pioneers had done,
797
00:44:10,490 --> 00:44:12,325
I guess, the gold miners first.
798
00:44:12,392 --> 00:44:14,828
They’re all rugged determined people,
799
00:44:14,894 --> 00:44:16,463
but we started learning.
800
00:44:16,529 --> 00:44:19,299
It was a sharp learning curve, believe me.
801
00:44:20,366 --> 00:44:22,535
[Taylor] I came back here on holiday
802
00:44:22,602 --> 00:44:24,771
and spent some time with Alan Brady, at Gibbston Valley,
803
00:44:24,838 --> 00:44:28,641
where I saw somebody who knew how to sell wine,
804
00:44:28,708 --> 00:44:30,944
maybe even more importantly than making it,
805
00:44:31,010 --> 00:44:33,947
and then when Alan said he was looking for a winemaker,
806
00:44:34,013 --> 00:44:37,150
I thought there’s too much fun not to be had here,
807
00:44:37,217 --> 00:44:39,552
so I came back here for ’93.
808
00:44:39,619 --> 00:44:41,421
I don’t think I’ve ever had as much fun,
809
00:44:41,488 --> 00:44:43,122
as making wine in those early days at Gibbston,
810
00:44:43,189 --> 00:44:45,658
because it hadn’t been done before.
811
00:44:45,725 --> 00:44:47,427
You couldn’t make a mistake.
812
00:44:47,494 --> 00:44:48,628
It’s like being a kid in the sandpit,
813
00:44:48,695 --> 00:44:50,129
just trying different things.
814
00:44:50,196 --> 00:44:51,731
So that was, it was a blast.
815
00:44:53,199 --> 00:44:57,003
Our vines are 12, 13, 14-years old, grown from Burgundy,
816
00:44:57,070 --> 00:44:59,606
in most cases, 20 years or older,
817
00:44:59,672 --> 00:45:01,541
and the older the vines get, we start to understand the soil
818
00:45:01,608 --> 00:45:02,909
and what’s underneath it a little more.
819
00:45:02,976 --> 00:45:05,845
So, I think what I love Pinots,
820
00:45:05,912 --> 00:45:07,914
we don’t know how good it can get yet.
821
00:45:07,981 --> 00:45:10,483
It’s tomorrow, tomorrow’s what I love about Pinot.
822
00:45:13,019 --> 00:45:16,456
[Brady] Stephen Browett came to visit me in ’91, I think it was,
823
00:45:16,523 --> 00:45:17,991
tasted our wines and took a bottle of
824
00:45:18,057 --> 00:45:22,295
1990 Gibbston Valley Pinot back to London with him,
825
00:45:22,362 --> 00:45:25,598
where he had dinner with Jancis and her family.
826
00:45:25,665 --> 00:45:28,735
"Just to say that Steve Browett brought around a bottle
827
00:45:28,801 --> 00:45:30,970
of the 1990 Pinot Noir last night,
828
00:45:31,037 --> 00:45:35,308
and that we all thought it was an absolute star.
829
00:45:35,375 --> 00:45:37,677
I served it with a top Pinot from Alsace,
830
00:45:37,744 --> 00:45:40,747
Zind-Humbrecht Herrenweg 1989,
831
00:45:40,813 --> 00:45:44,150
but I realized I should’ve put a Burgundy beside it,
832
00:45:44,217 --> 00:45:46,185
because it tasted so Burgundian,
833
00:45:46,252 --> 00:45:48,821
savory, earthy, lots of fruit,
834
00:45:48,888 --> 00:45:51,090
but quite a bit of complexity too.
835
00:45:51,157 --> 00:45:53,693
Congratulations."
836
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:57,430
That fax from Jancis Robinson
837
00:45:57,497 --> 00:46:00,633
was a huge boost for our confidence,
838
00:46:00,700 --> 00:46:01,968
way back then, not just mine,
839
00:46:02,035 --> 00:46:03,469
but for the region.
840
00:46:03,536 --> 00:46:06,506
We all thought that was an amazing thing to happen.
841
00:46:13,046 --> 00:46:15,548
Now we’re in this little bubble of climate,
842
00:46:15,615 --> 00:46:19,085
where Pinot Noir and other cool climate varieties
843
00:46:19,152 --> 00:46:20,587
just do really well.
844
00:46:22,522 --> 00:46:24,023
We all learn a little bit every year.
845
00:46:24,090 --> 00:46:27,694
The vineyards get older, we get older and wiser.
846
00:46:29,462 --> 00:46:32,298
I think everyone’s making just better
847
00:46:32,365 --> 00:46:34,968
and better wines all the time.
848
00:46:35,034 --> 00:46:37,236
I think New Zealand makes better Pinot Noir
849
00:46:37,303 --> 00:46:39,038
than most other places in the world.
850
00:46:39,105 --> 00:46:43,242
They talk about Pinot Noir being the heart-break grape.
851
00:46:43,309 --> 00:46:45,244
It’s very had to get it right
852
00:46:45,311 --> 00:46:47,313
in the vineyard and the winery.
853
00:46:47,380 --> 00:46:48,915
One year, it’s fantastic,
854
00:46:48,982 --> 00:46:52,318
the next year, it’s so difficult,
855
00:46:52,385 --> 00:46:56,456
so it’s a very humble cadre of people
856
00:46:56,522 --> 00:46:59,459
and it’s something that delivers you
857
00:46:59,525 --> 00:47:03,696
a sense of individuality and it also,
858
00:47:03,763 --> 00:47:06,766
you never go to a Cabernet Sauvignon conference,
859
00:47:06,833 --> 00:47:09,168
every three years, there’s a Pinot Noir celebration
860
00:47:09,235 --> 00:47:11,871
and that tells you a little bit about the style of people
861
00:47:11,938 --> 00:47:13,439
who make Pinot.
862
00:47:13,506 --> 00:47:17,076
They tend to be fun, they tend to like the,
863
00:47:17,143 --> 00:47:20,613
they take their wine seriously, but not themselves.
864
00:47:23,016 --> 00:47:24,450
This is it.
865
00:47:24,517 --> 00:47:25,752
Ground zero.
866
00:47:26,586 --> 00:47:29,122
This is all Pinot.
867
00:47:29,188 --> 00:47:33,459
Look, you see, this is fruit, you smell it.
868
00:47:33,526 --> 00:47:36,462
It’s doing what’s called its cold soak,
869
00:47:36,529 --> 00:47:38,831
so it’s not started fermenting properly yet,
870
00:47:38,898 --> 00:47:41,234
but you just look down here and you can see,
871
00:47:41,300 --> 00:47:42,635
there’s the juice,
872
00:47:43,736 --> 00:47:46,406
just below the surface.
873
00:47:46,472 --> 00:47:47,974
[door squeaking]
874
00:47:51,077 --> 00:47:53,980
So, this is the winery library.
875
00:47:54,047 --> 00:47:56,582
Every wine we’ve ever made is in here,
876
00:47:56,649 --> 00:47:58,785
going right back to the beginning,
877
00:48:04,190 --> 00:48:07,226
1997 Pinot Noir.
878
00:48:07,293 --> 00:48:10,763
The last bottle of ’97 Pinot I had was in Burgundy,
879
00:48:10,830 --> 00:48:14,400
at a dinner, about a year ago,
880
00:48:14,467 --> 00:48:17,804
with about seven or eight friends.
881
00:48:17,870 --> 00:48:20,339
We opened a lot of good bottles that night
882
00:48:20,406 --> 00:48:21,908
and a couple of people said
883
00:48:21,974 --> 00:48:23,910
it was their favorite wine of the night.
884
00:48:23,976 --> 00:48:27,013
[liquid burbling]
885
00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:30,083
I was lucky, because when I started
886
00:48:30,149 --> 00:48:32,351
getting interested in wine,
887
00:48:32,418 --> 00:48:34,987
really good Burgundy was not expensive.
888
00:48:35,054 --> 00:48:39,125
I remember the first time I took wine to sell in the UK,
889
00:48:39,192 --> 00:48:41,027
one of those guys, Bill Baker,
890
00:48:41,094 --> 00:48:45,064
poured me a Richebourg from mid ’70s,
891
00:48:45,131 --> 00:48:47,266
and pointed out that it had cost him less
892
00:48:47,333 --> 00:48:52,672
than the stuff he was gonna be buying from me. [chuckles]
893
00:48:52,739 --> 00:48:54,974
One of the greatest moments for wine, for me,
894
00:48:55,041 --> 00:48:56,876
and this is an easy thing to say,
895
00:48:56,943 --> 00:48:59,712
it was a Le Montrachet from Domain Romanée-Conti.
896
00:48:59,779 --> 00:49:02,782
I had the opportunity of being given
897
00:49:02,849 --> 00:49:05,451
half a bottle of that, in Provence.
898
00:49:05,518 --> 00:49:08,121
I was working in the mud, making rosé.
899
00:49:08,187 --> 00:49:11,057
It wasn’t a very sublime experience,
900
00:49:11,124 --> 00:49:16,395
until the owners of the domain had opened this bottle
901
00:49:16,462 --> 00:49:18,131
and thought I would like to try it.
902
00:49:18,197 --> 00:49:21,701
And so, I quietly took myself away, out of the rain,
903
00:49:21,768 --> 00:49:24,203
sat behind a shed and quietly drank
904
00:49:24,270 --> 00:49:25,805
half a bottle of Le Montrachet,
905
00:49:25,872 --> 00:49:28,975
and they talk about having to do that on bended knee.
906
00:49:29,041 --> 00:49:30,777
I wasn’t on the bended knee,
907
00:49:30,843 --> 00:49:32,812
but it felt like I should’ve been.
908
00:49:38,951 --> 00:49:43,656
[Clive Paton] In 1979, I was aware of a scientific report
909
00:49:43,723 --> 00:49:47,126
that was done on the potential of Martinborough,
910
00:49:47,193 --> 00:49:48,795
as a grape growing area.
911
00:49:48,861 --> 00:49:53,099
It was really highlighting the potential for Pinot Noir,
912
00:49:53,166 --> 00:49:54,801
which I was interested in.
913
00:49:54,867 --> 00:49:57,870
Everything sort of looked quite good.
914
00:49:57,937 --> 00:50:00,606
We didn’t know at the time how good it would be.
915
00:50:08,714 --> 00:50:11,150
One of our favorite clones, which we use,
916
00:50:11,217 --> 00:50:15,354
comes from Romanée-Conti, either La Tache,
917
00:50:15,421 --> 00:50:17,390
Romanée-Conti itself.
918
00:50:17,456 --> 00:50:22,195
-[bell ringing] -[birds chirping]
919
00:50:22,261 --> 00:50:25,131
[dramatic music]
920
00:50:25,198 --> 00:50:28,568
Abel, as a story, is a fantastic story.
921
00:50:28,634 --> 00:50:30,736
The Abel clone is one of the legends
922
00:50:30,803 --> 00:50:33,005
of New Zealand viticulture.
923
00:50:33,072 --> 00:50:35,641
Reputedly it comes from Romanée-Conti.
924
00:50:35,708 --> 00:50:39,045
[birds chirping]
925
00:50:39,111 --> 00:50:41,080
I’ve got good friends at Romanée-Conti,
926
00:50:41,147 --> 00:50:45,151
but I’m always reluctant to answer questions.
927
00:50:45,218 --> 00:50:47,386
[Donaldson] A guy that’s interested in wine jumps the fence in France,
928
00:50:47,453 --> 00:50:49,655
rolls up some prunings, steals some prunings,
929
00:50:49,722 --> 00:50:51,657
rolls it up in some wet newspaper
930
00:50:51,724 --> 00:50:53,492
and sticks it in his Red Band gumboots
931
00:50:53,559 --> 00:50:55,194
and comes back to New Zealand.
932
00:50:56,562 --> 00:51:00,032
The Abel clone was originally intercepted in Auckland
933
00:51:00,099 --> 00:51:03,302
by Malcolm Abel, a Customs Officer.
934
00:51:03,369 --> 00:51:06,839
[Paton] Malcolm Abel, who was also a winemaker in Auckland,
935
00:51:06,906 --> 00:51:09,575
near the Brajkovichs, happened to be the only person
936
00:51:09,642 --> 00:51:12,645
in New Zealand who knew the significance,
937
00:51:12,712 --> 00:51:14,914
so he duly, as a good Customs Officer,
938
00:51:14,981 --> 00:51:17,016
put them into quarantine, then,
939
00:51:17,083 --> 00:51:19,018
because there was no interest in Pinot Noir
940
00:51:19,085 --> 00:51:21,120
in New Zealand at that point,
941
00:51:21,187 --> 00:51:23,556
he was able to take them from quarantine
942
00:51:23,623 --> 00:51:25,491
and propagate them himself.
943
00:51:25,558 --> 00:51:27,760
So, just a fluke. [laughs]
944
00:51:27,827 --> 00:51:30,596
So if Malcolm hadn’t been working that night,
945
00:51:30,663 --> 00:51:32,331
it could all have been different.
946
00:51:32,398 --> 00:51:33,833
So we got lucky.
947
00:51:37,136 --> 00:51:40,206
[McKenna] We’ve taken some of the Abel clone from Atarangi
948
00:51:40,273 --> 00:51:41,274
and planted it here.
949
00:51:41,340 --> 00:51:42,975
It’s a superior clone.
950
00:51:43,042 --> 00:51:45,144
I would say it’s an A-class clone, yes.
951
00:51:45,211 --> 00:51:48,281
We are very happy with the results. [laughs]
952
00:51:48,347 --> 00:51:49,815
[people laughing]
953
00:51:49,882 --> 00:51:54,253
This is the Abel clone and my precious, precious.
954
00:51:54,921 --> 00:51:56,389
But the other lovely story,
955
00:51:56,455 --> 00:51:57,957
is when Aubert came out here.
956
00:51:58,024 --> 00:52:01,160
Somebody had to tell him the Abel story.
957
00:52:01,227 --> 00:52:02,862
So, sure enough, they told him the story,
958
00:52:02,929 --> 00:52:04,397
and he’s made a comment, I wasn’t there,
959
00:52:04,463 --> 00:52:06,265
but he made a comment, something along the lines,
960
00:52:06,332 --> 00:52:08,434
"Well, if this story is true and I’ve heard it before.
961
00:52:08,501 --> 00:52:10,002
All I would like to say is
962
00:52:10,069 --> 00:52:12,071
that you’ve done a very good job with it."
963
00:52:12,138 --> 00:52:14,874
And I think that’s lovely.
964
00:52:14,941 --> 00:52:16,242
Understands a little bit of history
965
00:52:16,309 --> 00:52:19,645
and it is a nod towards the admiration
966
00:52:19,712 --> 00:52:22,715
that we have for some of those fantastic French Burgundies.
967
00:52:22,782 --> 00:52:27,620
-[birds chirping] -[insects chittering]
968
00:52:27,687 --> 00:52:28,688
[man] Have you ever taken a bottle
969
00:52:28,754 --> 00:52:32,258
of your Pinot to Romanée-Conti?
970
00:52:32,325 --> 00:52:33,993
No, I haven’t.
971
00:52:35,127 --> 00:52:38,097
I’m in Burgundy at the moment,
972
00:52:38,164 --> 00:52:40,866
and we’re shooting a documentary,
973
00:52:40,933 --> 00:52:45,104
and I have some premium New Zealand Pinot Noir,
974
00:52:45,171 --> 00:52:49,742
that I’d love to drop off for Aubert and Charles, as a gift.
975
00:52:51,010 --> 00:52:52,845
Okay.
976
00:52:52,912 --> 00:52:55,948
We can go and shoot whatever we want, but apologizes
977
00:52:56,015 --> 00:52:57,984
because they’re doing stock take at the moment,
978
00:52:58,050 --> 00:53:00,720
so it wouldn’t very nice to shoot inside.
979
00:53:00,786 --> 00:53:03,422
Next week, if we wanna come back. [chuckles]
980
00:53:03,489 --> 00:53:05,157
[woman] Oh, my God!
981
00:53:05,224 --> 00:53:06,692
[man] Let’s go, before they change their mind.
982
00:53:06,759 --> 00:53:10,629
-[heavenly music] -[birds chirping]
983
00:53:10,696 --> 00:53:13,866
[Dave] We took a bottle of Atarangi to Romanée-Conti for you.
984
00:53:13,933 --> 00:53:15,801
[Paton] You’re kidding.
985
00:53:15,868 --> 00:53:17,003
-Yes. -Ah, you’re joking.
986
00:53:17,069 --> 00:53:18,104
Wow.
987
00:53:19,705 --> 00:53:22,375
[dramatic music]
988
00:53:25,611 --> 00:53:28,547
[Philippe Blanc] France has been making wine for many, many years.
989
00:53:28,614 --> 00:53:31,484
There is a history of making wines, loving wine,
990
00:53:31,550 --> 00:53:34,487
discovering where good place to make good wine is.
991
00:53:34,553 --> 00:53:38,557
We’re a kind of a leader and a kind of a benchmark.
992
00:53:38,624 --> 00:53:41,327
If you make Bordeaux wines, Bordeaux is the benchmark.
993
00:53:41,394 --> 00:53:44,230
If you make Pinot, Burgundy is the benchmark.
994
00:53:44,296 --> 00:53:47,099
If you make sparkling wine, Champagne is the benchmark.
995
00:53:47,166 --> 00:53:49,602
And the first alcohol I ever tasted
996
00:53:49,668 --> 00:53:51,871
was first growth Bordeauxs,
997
00:53:51,937 --> 00:53:55,207
but the ones that I’ve come to really admire,
998
00:53:55,274 --> 00:53:57,009
as a spring board for what we’re doing,
999
00:53:57,076 --> 00:53:58,377
here at Puriri Hills,
1000
00:53:58,444 --> 00:54:00,746
are the ones that you see here.
1001
00:54:00,813 --> 00:54:03,049
Places like Angelus, Cheval Blanc.
1002
00:54:06,519 --> 00:54:08,087
[Donaldson] You can’t drink some of those
1003
00:54:08,154 --> 00:54:10,089
extraordinary bottles of wine,
1004
00:54:10,156 --> 00:54:14,226
with hundreds of years of history behind them and not go,
1005
00:54:14,293 --> 00:54:15,861
"Oh, my God!
1006
00:54:15,928 --> 00:54:17,463
You can do that with Pinot Noir, can you?"
1007
00:54:17,530 --> 00:54:20,766
The benchmark and the best examples of Pinot Noir
1008
00:54:20,833 --> 00:54:22,435
are certainly from Burgundy,
1009
00:54:22,501 --> 00:54:25,905
so that’s everyone’s sort of reference point.
1010
00:54:27,473 --> 00:54:29,442
[McKenna] We have certain domains from
1011
00:54:29,508 --> 00:54:33,079
Burgundy that we follow, and we like their style,
1012
00:54:33,145 --> 00:54:35,981
and we like to see how the vintage impacts
1013
00:54:36,048 --> 00:54:38,918
on those wines and really how they’re learning.
1014
00:54:38,984 --> 00:54:41,153
They’re learning as they go along.
1015
00:54:41,220 --> 00:54:44,123
I think Benjamin La Roux’s a very good example.
1016
00:54:44,190 --> 00:54:47,726
Lucien Le Moine, Mongeard-Mugneret,
1017
00:54:47,793 --> 00:54:50,062
Grand Cru Batard-Montrachet,
1018
00:54:50,129 --> 00:54:53,999
not every day, but certainly this style of wine
1019
00:54:54,066 --> 00:54:55,634
is something to aspire to.
1020
00:54:55,701 --> 00:55:01,474
We so often use foreign benchmarks as a deity,
1021
00:55:01,540 --> 00:55:04,810
and I always see the benchmark tastings
1022
00:55:04,877 --> 00:55:10,649
as almost fetishists’ approach to the way wine is looked at.
1023
00:55:10,716 --> 00:55:14,954
That you can’t just feel self confidence in your own product
1024
00:55:15,020 --> 00:55:16,422
or in your own worth
1025
00:55:16,489 --> 00:55:19,058
or in the collective community around you,
1026
00:55:19,125 --> 00:55:20,659
seems to be erroneous.
1027
00:55:20,726 --> 00:55:24,163
It seems to be something that comes with the territory
1028
00:55:24,230 --> 00:55:25,831
of being in the antipodes.
1029
00:55:25,898 --> 00:55:28,868
It’s an unusual condition in many respects.
1030
00:55:28,934 --> 00:55:30,936
"Why are you trying to imitate Burgundy?"
1031
00:55:31,003 --> 00:55:32,705
We’re not trying to imitate Burgundy.
1032
00:55:32,771 --> 00:55:36,475
We know we can’t make Burgundian wine in Central Otago.
1033
00:55:36,542 --> 00:55:40,579
We make Central Otago Pinot, they make Burgundy Pinot Noir,
1034
00:55:40,646 --> 00:55:43,182
but we still love to compare,
1035
00:55:43,249 --> 00:55:46,585
and we still appreciate what they achieve with theirs.
1036
00:55:46,652 --> 00:55:48,787
It’s kind of interesting when you try to benchmark
1037
00:55:48,854 --> 00:55:50,422
perhaps one region against another.
1038
00:55:50,489 --> 00:55:53,125
I don’t think it really can be done or should be done.
1039
00:55:53,192 --> 00:55:54,960
You can compare wines and say what you prefer,
1040
00:55:55,027 --> 00:55:59,899
but each wine is speaking for where it comes from.
1041
00:55:59,965 --> 00:56:02,668
[Tony Bish] Whilst we reference Burgundy out of pure enjoyment
1042
00:56:02,735 --> 00:56:05,037
and like drinking the wines, when we can afford them,
1043
00:56:05,104 --> 00:56:07,039
which is not that often,
1044
00:56:07,106 --> 00:56:09,241
we don’t make Burgundy here.
1045
00:56:09,308 --> 00:56:11,810
We make Hawkes Bay Chardonnay on our site.
1046
00:56:11,877 --> 00:56:13,546
We don’t see them really as benchmarks
1047
00:56:13,612 --> 00:56:15,047
in that competitive sense.
1048
00:56:15,114 --> 00:56:17,616
We make completely different wines here.
1049
00:56:17,683 --> 00:56:19,919
I mean, you can pay homage to famous names,
1050
00:56:19,985 --> 00:56:23,088
but it’s really like, what, are you gonna coat tail on that?
1051
00:56:23,155 --> 00:56:25,524
To me it’s, why?
1052
00:56:26,692 --> 00:56:27,860
I don’t try to make the best.
1053
00:56:27,927 --> 00:56:29,395
I try to make very good wines,
1054
00:56:29,461 --> 00:56:31,730
then you love them or you don’t love them,
1055
00:56:31,797 --> 00:56:34,300
but that’s not that important.
1056
00:56:34,366 --> 00:56:37,303
[birds chirping]
1057
00:56:38,737 --> 00:56:41,407
[dramatic music]
1058
00:56:45,311 --> 00:56:48,080
[man] My family is from the district of Champagne,
1059
00:56:48,147 --> 00:56:50,115
a small town called Les Pionniers,
1060
00:56:50,182 --> 00:56:51,951
that’s where I come from.
1061
00:56:52,017 --> 00:56:54,220
I left in ’75, to come to New Zealand.
1062
00:56:54,286 --> 00:56:56,922
My family is still growing the vineyards
1063
00:56:56,989 --> 00:56:58,924
and making Champagne today.
1064
00:57:00,359 --> 00:57:03,162
Champagne is a king’s drink.
1065
00:57:03,229 --> 00:57:06,232
Every times when you have a success,
1066
00:57:06,298 --> 00:57:08,167
not only in the business, but in the family,
1067
00:57:08,234 --> 00:57:10,269
you open a bottle of Champagne.
1068
00:57:10,336 --> 00:57:13,038
And Champagne, it’s like Paris, it’s like France.
1069
00:57:13,105 --> 00:57:14,707
[speaking in French]
1070
00:57:14,773 --> 00:57:18,711
On, everywhere in the world, now, when you say Champagne,
1071
00:57:18,777 --> 00:57:21,714
you have some light interact,
1072
00:57:21,780 --> 00:57:24,750
and it’s very important to don’t compare Champagne
1073
00:57:24,817 --> 00:57:26,852
with other sparkling wine.
1074
00:57:26,919 --> 00:57:30,456
It’s sparkling wine, it’s specific terroir,
1075
00:57:30,522 --> 00:57:34,093
specific grape variety, sometimes specific process,
1076
00:57:34,159 --> 00:57:38,964
to obtain the sparkling, but it’s okay for me.
1077
00:57:39,031 --> 00:57:41,734
[Forsyth] People talk about Champagne with a sense of wonder,
1078
00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:44,637
even though they know nothing about wine whatsoever.
1079
00:57:44,703 --> 00:57:47,106
We talk about it and look at it and say,
1080
00:57:47,172 --> 00:57:48,641
"How does a region
1081
00:57:48,707 --> 00:57:51,510
"that’s on the edge of winemaking capabilities,
1082
00:57:51,577 --> 00:57:54,880
in terms of climate, in terms of where they are",
1083
00:57:54,947 --> 00:57:58,350
they’re the world’s best brand, no question.
1084
00:57:58,417 --> 00:58:02,621
Everybody goes to Champagne to celebrate,
1085
00:58:02,688 --> 00:58:04,189
and how do we get there?
1086
00:58:07,359 --> 00:58:10,796
[Le Brun] In this district, we have all the conditions.
1087
00:58:10,863 --> 00:58:12,264
It is, if you like,
1088
00:58:12,331 --> 00:58:14,566
similar what Champagne would experience
1089
00:58:14,633 --> 00:58:16,268
in a great vintage year.
1090
00:58:16,335 --> 00:58:19,338
We have these conditions, year after year.
1091
00:58:19,405 --> 00:58:21,707
Therefore, you will always find people
1092
00:58:21,774 --> 00:58:23,375
who think Champagne is best
1093
00:58:23,442 --> 00:58:27,479
and anything else is a pale imitation,
1094
00:58:27,546 --> 00:58:31,317
but the proof of the pudding is in the drinking.
1095
00:58:31,383 --> 00:58:36,488
A lot of people recognize that what is produced here
1096
00:58:36,555 --> 00:58:39,525
can compare very well, very favorably,
1097
00:58:39,591 --> 00:58:43,462
-with Champagne, you know? -[liquid burbling]
1098
00:58:43,529 --> 00:58:47,132
I think it’s a good possibility for New Zealand,
1099
00:58:47,199 --> 00:58:49,201
with the climate.
1100
00:58:49,268 --> 00:58:51,837
The climate, it’s near Champagne climate.
1101
00:58:51,904 --> 00:58:56,008
If you try to compare Marlborough and Champagne,
1102
00:58:56,075 --> 00:58:58,110
I think you are doing a mistake.
1103
00:58:58,177 --> 00:58:59,678
I think what is important,
1104
00:58:59,745 --> 00:59:03,382
is to understand and to express your own terroir.
1105
00:59:03,449 --> 00:59:05,851
And it’s always interesting to talk to each other,
1106
00:59:05,918 --> 00:59:07,219
to understand why we do something,
1107
00:59:07,286 --> 00:59:09,688
but never try to replicate everything.
1108
00:59:09,755 --> 00:59:11,123
Make your own opinion out of it
1109
00:59:11,190 --> 00:59:13,425
and express what you think is good for you.
1110
00:59:15,127 --> 00:59:17,396
[man] Look, I think Methode Traditionale from Marlborough
1111
00:59:17,463 --> 00:59:18,897
can be as good as Champagne,
1112
00:59:18,964 --> 00:59:20,432
but it’ll never be Champagne.
1113
00:59:20,499 --> 00:59:22,768
Champagne can only come from Champagne,
1114
00:59:22,835 --> 00:59:25,237
but when you look at the quality of the wines
1115
00:59:25,304 --> 00:59:27,172
that are coming out from New Zealand,
1116
00:59:27,239 --> 00:59:29,007
we’re reaching a really high level,
1117
00:59:29,074 --> 00:59:32,277
and I think the challenge for us over the next 20 years,
1118
00:59:32,344 --> 00:59:34,179
is to perhaps look at something
1119
00:59:34,246 --> 00:59:36,648
that could be considered a real prestige Cuvee,
1120
00:59:36,715 --> 00:59:38,984
like a Krug equivalent or something like that.
1121
00:59:39,051 --> 00:59:42,354
We haven’t seen that come out of Marlborough yet,
1122
00:59:42,421 --> 00:59:44,423
but we have got the potential, for sure.
1123
00:59:52,798 --> 00:59:55,834
There was the old ABC movement, anything but Chardonnay.
1124
00:59:55,901 --> 00:59:58,137
And a lot of the overly-oaked,
1125
00:59:58,203 --> 01:00:01,140
big, fat, malolactic sort of styles
1126
01:00:01,206 --> 01:00:03,108
that were being produced 30 years ago,
1127
01:00:03,175 --> 01:00:04,777
put a lot of people off.
1128
01:00:04,843 --> 01:00:07,279
But, I think now, people are realizing that Chardonnay,
1129
01:00:07,346 --> 01:00:09,648
if it’s handled well, in a subtle way,
1130
01:00:09,715 --> 01:00:12,017
produces absolute world-class wine.
1131
01:00:12,084 --> 01:00:13,452
They gave you a headache.
1132
01:00:13,519 --> 01:00:15,521
It was too much oak, it was too much fruit,
1133
01:00:15,587 --> 01:00:17,122
everything was laid on with a trowel.
1134
01:00:17,189 --> 01:00:18,524
And now, as we’ve refined them,
1135
01:00:18,590 --> 01:00:20,392
to the fact that they’re more structured,
1136
01:00:20,459 --> 01:00:23,095
they’re more svelte, you can have a second glass.
1137
01:00:23,162 --> 01:00:26,432
They age beautifully, they’re just so much more elegant.
1138
01:00:26,498 --> 01:00:29,535
Personally, I’m a huge fan of Chardonnay.
1139
01:00:29,601 --> 01:00:33,038
It has a complexity, a depth and longevity in the bottle,
1140
01:00:33,105 --> 01:00:36,341
that defines it as being the king of the white grapes.
1141
01:00:36,408 --> 01:00:39,411
I always maintain Chardonnay, particularly,
1142
01:00:39,478 --> 01:00:42,214
is totally underestimated from New Zealand.
1143
01:00:42,281 --> 01:00:44,616
Every district in this country’s making one
1144
01:00:44,683 --> 01:00:48,420
or two, three exceptional quality Chardonnays,
1145
01:00:48,487 --> 01:00:51,924
and they’re being received extremely well offshore,
1146
01:00:51,990 --> 01:00:55,327
but also being sold for perhaps half what they’re worth.
1147
01:00:55,394 --> 01:00:58,797
A recent visit to Kumeu Estate
1148
01:00:58,864 --> 01:01:02,234
reinforces that their Chardonnay is outstanding,
1149
01:01:02,301 --> 01:01:05,270
world class, world beating.
1150
01:01:05,337 --> 01:01:08,607
An unlikely to produce such a wine, but there it is.
1151
01:01:08,674 --> 01:01:12,611
Michael Brajkovich was perhaps an epiphany for me,
1152
01:01:12,678 --> 01:01:16,248
that we could make world class Chardonnay in New Zealand.
1153
01:01:16,315 --> 01:01:17,816
There’s something that you hear over
1154
01:01:17,883 --> 01:01:20,219
and over and over again, and they say,
1155
01:01:20,285 --> 01:01:22,688
"Chardonnay is the winemaker’s grape."
1156
01:01:22,754 --> 01:01:24,823
Now, the conceit is that Chardonnay,
1157
01:01:24,890 --> 01:01:27,793
because it doesn’t have very much varietal character,
1158
01:01:27,860 --> 01:01:30,195
is like a blank canvas,
1159
01:01:30,262 --> 01:01:32,798
upon which the winemaker, he or she,
1160
01:01:32,865 --> 01:01:34,333
can paint their idea,
1161
01:01:34,399 --> 01:01:38,036
their vision of what the wine should be.
1162
01:01:38,103 --> 01:01:40,072
I think that’s nonsense.
1163
01:01:40,138 --> 01:01:42,207
I think that’s utter nonsense.
1164
01:01:42,274 --> 01:01:46,478
Chardonnay, at its best, is not an empty canvas.
1165
01:01:46,545 --> 01:01:48,180
Chardonnay is a window.
1166
01:01:48,247 --> 01:01:50,415
It’s a window that affords a view
1167
01:01:50,482 --> 01:01:53,318
of where that wine comes from,
1168
01:01:53,385 --> 01:01:55,187
and my job, as a winemaker,
1169
01:01:55,254 --> 01:01:57,823
is not to paint my vision of wine.
1170
01:01:57,890 --> 01:02:00,893
I just keep the window clean, I just wash the window,
1171
01:02:00,959 --> 01:02:04,029
so that the view is as clear as it can possibly be.
1172
01:02:04,096 --> 01:02:08,834
And the wines that’ve most inspired me over the years,
1173
01:02:08,901 --> 01:02:11,570
are when you’re looking through that window,
1174
01:02:11,637 --> 01:02:13,906
and you’re seeing where the wine comes from,
1175
01:02:13,972 --> 01:02:17,042
and then somehow, wonderfully, magically,
1176
01:02:17,109 --> 01:02:20,145
that window flies open and it’s almost like you’re there,
1177
01:02:20,212 --> 01:02:23,615
it’s almost like you can step straight into that vineyard.
1178
01:02:33,058 --> 01:02:35,994
[sniffing]
1179
01:02:36,061 --> 01:02:39,298
[Robinson] What’s been interesting about today’s tasting,
1180
01:02:39,364 --> 01:02:41,833
which had no white Burgundy in it,
1181
01:02:41,900 --> 01:02:43,502
it was all Kumeu River.
1182
01:02:43,569 --> 01:02:46,138
It showed amazing consistency.
1183
01:02:46,204 --> 01:02:48,006
Everything was a very high level
1184
01:02:48,073 --> 01:02:53,011
and some of the best wines were 10-years,
1185
01:02:53,078 --> 01:02:56,748
sometimes 12-years old, which is fantastic,
1186
01:02:56,815 --> 01:02:59,551
because an awful lot of white Burgundies are over the hill,
1187
01:02:59,618 --> 01:03:01,320
at, say, five years.
1188
01:03:02,921 --> 01:03:05,457
[upbeat music]
1189
01:03:07,859 --> 01:03:10,462
[wood clanking]
1190
01:03:29,748 --> 01:03:32,651
All of those individual barrels are,
1191
01:03:32,718 --> 01:03:34,586
depending on which cooperage they’re from,
1192
01:03:34,653 --> 01:03:37,990
they give different characters, so different toast levels,
1193
01:03:38,056 --> 01:03:40,025
different forests, that they source the oak
1194
01:03:40,092 --> 01:03:41,593
for the barrels from.
1195
01:03:41,660 --> 01:03:44,963
They each have their own different characters
1196
01:03:45,030 --> 01:03:48,433
and different notes on the nose and different mouth feel
1197
01:03:48,500 --> 01:03:51,036
and phenolic characters that they give the wine.
1198
01:04:10,422 --> 01:04:12,591
[Dom Maxwell]I love what oak does.
1199
01:04:12,658 --> 01:04:14,626
I think the right oak
1200
01:04:14,693 --> 01:04:18,797
can just really enhance the raw material that you have,
1201
01:04:18,864 --> 01:04:21,600
but you can also get it really wrong.
1202
01:04:21,667 --> 01:04:24,736
And so, you’ve got a lot of choices to make.
1203
01:04:24,803 --> 01:04:27,239
Where the oak is grown, which will give you
1204
01:04:27,305 --> 01:04:28,740
an indication on the grain tightness
1205
01:04:28,807 --> 01:04:30,308
which will give you an indication
1206
01:04:30,375 --> 01:04:32,644
on the tannin from that oak.
1207
01:05:02,841 --> 01:05:04,876
Somebody very important here was saying,
1208
01:05:04,943 --> 01:05:06,511
"It’s easy to make a great wine.
1209
01:05:06,578 --> 01:05:08,914
Just the 200 first years are difficult."
1210
01:05:32,437 --> 01:05:34,172
Well, I can tell you certainly
1211
01:05:34,239 --> 01:05:38,276
about the new generation of Chateau Angelus,
1212
01:05:38,777 --> 01:05:40,679
the eighth generation.
1213
01:05:40,746 --> 01:05:44,583
Chateau Angelus has been in my family since 1782.
1214
01:05:44,649 --> 01:05:45,984
We’ve been making wine
1215
01:05:46,051 --> 01:05:48,353
in this little village of Chavignol,
1216
01:05:48,420 --> 01:05:51,690
for 10 generations, so back in 1692.
1217
01:05:51,757 --> 01:05:55,026
We have records in my hometown,
1218
01:05:55,093 --> 01:05:58,497
that the first vineyard owned by LeBron
1219
01:06:00,065 --> 01:06:02,934
started in 1684.
1220
01:06:13,345 --> 01:06:16,882
And it’s something that is quite unique,
1221
01:06:16,948 --> 01:06:20,318
to be able to have this very long history,
1222
01:06:20,385 --> 01:06:22,921
235 years exactly,
1223
01:06:22,988 --> 01:06:26,625
and to continue to perpetrate the tradition and the history.
1224
01:07:15,106 --> 01:07:17,576
[De Boüard-Rivoal] When I think of my grandfather’s
1225
01:07:17,642 --> 01:07:20,545
and great uncle’s philosophy and vision,
1226
01:07:20,612 --> 01:07:22,681
it was totally different.
1227
01:07:22,747 --> 01:07:24,482
I mean, Left Bank was really another world to them,
1228
01:07:24,549 --> 01:07:25,917
Left Bank of Bordeaux.
1229
01:07:25,984 --> 01:07:28,286
Whereas, for us, it’s totally different.
1230
01:07:28,353 --> 01:07:29,754
We’re very open minded.
1231
01:07:31,756 --> 01:07:35,093
[Blanc] I think we’ve got some assets, but it’s not enough.
1232
01:07:35,160 --> 01:07:37,128
You can’t rest on your laurels with that,
1233
01:07:37,195 --> 01:07:38,864
you have to keep working.
1234
01:07:38,930 --> 01:07:41,900
And the truth of 200 years ago is not the truth of today.
1235
01:07:46,238 --> 01:07:47,906
[Millton] It’s interesting, when you talk about
1236
01:07:47,973 --> 01:07:50,909
how many generations it takes to make good wine,
1237
01:07:50,976 --> 01:07:53,311
and how do you make your succession plan work?
1238
01:07:53,378 --> 01:07:56,214
How do you make this continue to happen?
1239
01:07:56,281 --> 01:07:58,016
We’ve been here now for four generations.
1240
01:07:58,083 --> 01:07:59,718
We hope and pray the fifth generation
1241
01:07:59,784 --> 01:08:02,254
is going to be enjoying the same activity.
1242
01:08:04,189 --> 01:08:06,357
I think the heritage of the land is quite a big point.
1243
01:08:06,424 --> 01:08:09,294
It’s been in my family for a few generations.
1244
01:08:09,361 --> 01:08:11,263
I said to Mum one day,
1245
01:08:11,329 --> 01:08:14,432
that "I can’t imagine wine not being a part of my life,
1246
01:08:14,499 --> 01:08:15,967
"why not make it my whole life?"
1247
01:08:16,034 --> 01:08:17,836
And I have not looked back.
1248
01:08:17,903 --> 01:08:20,839
When we were young, we would just go wherever they went,
1249
01:08:20,905 --> 01:08:24,309
and so our family holidays were loading up the boot
1250
01:08:24,376 --> 01:08:27,979
of the old Cortina and going door knocking
1251
01:08:28,046 --> 01:08:31,216
at every bottle shop and pub that we could find
1252
01:08:31,283 --> 01:08:34,718
in the South Island and selling cases of wine.
1253
01:08:34,785 --> 01:08:36,655
That was our youth, yeah.
1254
01:08:38,556 --> 01:08:42,627
I am exceptionally proud of what our parents have done,
1255
01:08:42,694 --> 01:08:44,829
of the winemaker our father is.
1256
01:08:44,896 --> 01:08:46,364
To continue that on,
1257
01:08:46,431 --> 01:08:48,566
I think that we’re incredibly fortunate.
1258
01:08:48,633 --> 01:08:51,468
[Remy Le Brun] So, it was the first time I’d been back to France
1259
01:08:51,535 --> 01:08:53,305
since I was six years old.
1260
01:08:53,370 --> 01:08:56,141
As soon as we got to the village our father’s from,
1261
01:08:56,207 --> 01:09:00,345
all of a sudden I had this massive overwhelming sensation
1262
01:09:00,412 --> 01:09:04,082
of where we’d come from
1263
01:09:04,149 --> 01:09:06,551
and what the family history is all about,
1264
01:09:06,618 --> 01:09:09,521
and it completely changed my perspective on who I was,
1265
01:09:09,587 --> 01:09:11,089
and all of a sudden, I wanted to be a part of it.
1266
01:09:11,155 --> 01:09:13,425
New Zealand’s a brave industry,
1267
01:09:13,491 --> 01:09:16,093
because we don’t have anything to go on.
1268
01:09:16,160 --> 01:09:20,030
People try new things and it’s an exciting future,
1269
01:09:20,098 --> 01:09:22,534
to be a part of something that is constantly evolving.
1270
01:09:22,600 --> 01:09:25,537
You know what, let’s try Albarino, or let’s try this.
1271
01:09:25,602 --> 01:09:27,771
That didn’t work, we’re gonna do it this way.
1272
01:09:27,839 --> 01:09:30,941
Organics and biodynamics and this real mind
1273
01:09:31,009 --> 01:09:33,578
for sustainability and the environment.
1274
01:09:33,645 --> 01:09:37,048
The New Zealand wine history, I’m inspired by enough,
1275
01:09:37,115 --> 01:09:40,285
but I would never turn my back on the old world.
1276
01:09:43,488 --> 01:09:45,289
[glasses clinking]
1277
01:09:47,926 --> 01:09:51,229
We’re a restless young nation, so we’re not gonna sit here
1278
01:09:51,296 --> 01:09:54,432
and take three generations to do this stuff.
1279
01:09:54,499 --> 01:09:55,767
We can sense our opportunity.
1280
01:09:55,834 --> 01:09:57,869
We’re not bound by any tradition.
1281
01:09:57,936 --> 01:09:59,503
We’ve got a freedom to do whatever we want,
1282
01:09:59,571 --> 01:10:01,773
because of our location on the other side of the world,
1283
01:10:01,840 --> 01:10:03,775
we have to think a bit differently.
1284
01:10:03,842 --> 01:10:06,011
This idea of how do you make a young vine old?
1285
01:10:06,077 --> 01:10:07,545
The French would never have that discussion,
1286
01:10:07,612 --> 01:10:08,947
but that’s a discussion that we have here,
1287
01:10:09,014 --> 01:10:10,415
not just in viticulture,
1288
01:10:10,482 --> 01:10:12,417
but in everything that happens in this country.
1289
01:10:12,484 --> 01:10:17,422
Well, we have, in Bordeaux, in Burgundy, in Champagne,
1290
01:10:17,489 --> 01:10:19,391
a big challenge, that is
1291
01:10:19,457 --> 01:10:22,861
to maintain family business in the family.
1292
01:10:22,927 --> 01:10:26,031
The more generations means the more shareholders.
1293
01:10:26,097 --> 01:10:30,668
It had been the case, in two very famous estates
1294
01:10:30,735 --> 01:10:33,338
in Bordeaux, Cheval Blanc and Yquem.
1295
01:10:33,405 --> 01:10:34,873
Too many shareholders.
1296
01:10:34,939 --> 01:10:36,741
They couldn’t really organize the management,
1297
01:10:36,808 --> 01:10:39,210
so they had to sell, and the other problem
1298
01:10:39,277 --> 01:10:42,947
is that the value of land has increased a lot.
1299
01:10:43,014 --> 01:10:46,684
Since we have high inheritance taxes in France,
1300
01:10:46,751 --> 01:10:48,420
it is difficult to transmit,
1301
01:10:48,486 --> 01:10:52,357
because sometimes the families do not have the means
1302
01:10:52,424 --> 01:10:54,859
to transmit to the following generations,
1303
01:10:54,926 --> 01:10:56,728
which is a big problem.
1304
01:10:58,730 --> 01:11:01,433
[upbeat music]
1305
01:11:03,134 --> 01:11:04,669
What’d I learn in Burgundy?
1306
01:11:04,736 --> 01:11:08,339
I learnt how great cheese was, first, without question.
1307
01:11:08,406 --> 01:11:10,175
The monks in Burgundy,
1308
01:11:10,241 --> 01:11:12,010
they dedicated their whole lives
1309
01:11:12,077 --> 01:11:13,578
to understanding this region, through its wines,
1310
01:11:13,645 --> 01:11:16,214
in generation after generation after generation,
1311
01:11:16,281 --> 01:11:18,016
so that there’s been a big advantage,
1312
01:11:18,083 --> 01:11:20,051
and then stories get built up over time,
1313
01:11:20,118 --> 01:11:22,854
so I think time is what Europe’s had on its side.
1314
01:11:22,921 --> 01:11:25,890
[birds chirping]
1315
01:11:25,957 --> 01:11:27,425
There’s nothing magical
1316
01:11:27,492 --> 01:11:30,829
about the great wine regions of the world.
1317
01:11:30,895 --> 01:11:32,997
It’s about human hard work
1318
01:11:33,064 --> 01:11:34,933
and centuries of it.
1319
01:11:46,211 --> 01:11:48,113
[Dean Shaw] Well, in the old world,
1320
01:11:48,179 --> 01:11:49,514
I think that their granddad’s
1321
01:11:49,581 --> 01:11:51,349
probably done the experiments beforehand.
1322
01:11:51,416 --> 01:11:53,651
And they’ll say, "Well, hey, this is what we do
1323
01:11:53,718 --> 01:11:55,220
and this is how we do it",
1324
01:11:55,286 --> 01:11:58,356
And then you go, "Why?", and they go, "Huh, I dunno."
1325
01:11:59,290 --> 01:12:00,825
But I think you sorta take that
1326
01:12:00,892 --> 01:12:02,360
a little bit with a grain of salt.
1327
01:12:02,427 --> 01:12:04,395
I think they’d have trialed previously,
1328
01:12:04,462 --> 01:12:07,165
they’ve just had a longer time to do that.
1329
01:12:09,267 --> 01:12:11,269
Interesting thing with being a winemaker,
1330
01:12:11,336 --> 01:12:14,739
is you only make wine once a year.
1331
01:12:14,806 --> 01:12:17,609
So, a really experienced winemaker,
1332
01:12:17,675 --> 01:12:21,412
right through a career may only do their job 40 times.
1333
01:12:21,479 --> 01:12:26,050
So, making wine is not like being a chef.
1334
01:12:26,117 --> 01:12:29,587
It’s not like, "Hey, I do this 250 times a night
1335
01:12:29,654 --> 01:12:32,590
and if I burn the steak, I get another one out."
1336
01:12:32,657 --> 01:12:36,427
You can’t make mistakes, but you’re learning all your life,
1337
01:12:36,494 --> 01:12:39,197
and even at the end of your life,
1338
01:12:39,264 --> 01:12:42,100
you have an awful lot you haven’t learnt.
1339
01:12:42,167 --> 01:12:44,936
In wine, a lot of wine growing regions,
1340
01:12:45,003 --> 01:12:47,038
where they have five, six, seven generations
1341
01:12:47,105 --> 01:12:48,640
in the family, making wine,
1342
01:12:48,706 --> 01:12:51,342
there’s a much greater collective knowledge,
1343
01:12:51,409 --> 01:12:54,946
because your grandfathers and your fathers can tell you
1344
01:12:55,012 --> 01:12:57,282
about the times they made wine.
1345
01:12:58,483 --> 01:13:00,351
So, I did my training in Burgundy.
1346
01:13:00,418 --> 01:13:03,121
I did a few vintages in Burgundy.
1347
01:13:03,188 --> 01:13:05,757
I worked in 2008, I worked in Burgundy.
1348
01:13:05,823 --> 01:13:07,258
I worked at Domaine Dujac.
1349
01:13:07,325 --> 01:13:10,028
’95, ’96, ’98,
1350
01:13:10,094 --> 01:13:14,499
and then Champagne in 2000, ’01 and ’03.
1351
01:13:14,566 --> 01:13:16,234
Fantastic place.
1352
01:13:16,301 --> 01:13:19,938
Basically went there just to learn from some of the best.
1353
01:13:20,003 --> 01:13:22,874
I was their first non-family winemaker
1354
01:13:22,941 --> 01:13:27,045
since they were founded in 1795,
1355
01:13:27,111 --> 01:13:28,613
so that was a bit of a privilege.
1356
01:13:28,680 --> 01:13:30,448
And they told me that I was
1357
01:13:30,515 --> 01:13:34,118
the first permanent foreign winemaker
1358
01:13:34,185 --> 01:13:36,854
in the region there’d ever been.
1359
01:13:36,921 --> 01:13:39,390
So, no pressure.
1360
01:13:39,457 --> 01:13:42,927
So, I got the chance in ’97, to finally go to Bordeaux,
1361
01:13:42,994 --> 01:13:46,731
and I managed to find a place at Angelus in Saint-Emilion,
1362
01:13:46,798 --> 01:13:48,132
which was fantastic,
1363
01:13:48,199 --> 01:13:49,801
because it was an up and coming vineyard.
1364
01:13:49,867 --> 01:13:51,703
Saint-Emilion has a very similar terroir and soil type,
1365
01:13:51,769 --> 01:13:53,171
I think, to Matakana.
1366
01:13:53,238 --> 01:13:55,173
So, I managed to pick up
1367
01:13:55,240 --> 01:13:57,709
the nickname "L’espion" the spy,
1368
01:13:57,775 --> 01:13:59,110
because everywhere I went,
1369
01:13:59,177 --> 01:14:01,212
I was taking photos of everything and
1370
01:14:01,279 --> 01:14:03,114
because this was my one chance to really find out
1371
01:14:03,181 --> 01:14:04,983
exactly how these wines are made.
1372
01:14:05,049 --> 01:14:07,318
I mean, obviously, we had our own ideas back in New Zealand,
1373
01:14:07,385 --> 01:14:11,021
what they were doing, but this is the primary source.
1374
01:14:11,089 --> 01:14:13,224
That time in Burgundy was kind of the time
1375
01:14:13,291 --> 01:14:16,261
where I realized that you could take the foot off
1376
01:14:16,327 --> 01:14:20,265
your winemaking, and you could have faith in the place
1377
01:14:20,331 --> 01:14:21,733
where the grapes grew,
1378
01:14:21,799 --> 01:14:23,935
and you can make wine with a light touch,
1379
01:14:24,002 --> 01:14:27,171
that’s when the wine really showed its true beauty.
1380
01:14:27,238 --> 01:14:29,107
Like I say, what we’ve got is our patch
1381
01:14:29,173 --> 01:14:30,642
and let's just express that
1382
01:14:30,708 --> 01:14:33,945
and that’s really what it did for me, yeah.
1383
01:14:34,012 --> 01:14:36,146
The Burgundians have this expression,
1384
01:14:36,214 --> 01:14:37,682
they say, [speaking in French],
1385
01:14:37,749 --> 01:14:39,050
and what that means is,
1386
01:14:39,117 --> 01:14:41,352
that that smells and tastes like Pinot.
1387
01:14:41,419 --> 01:14:43,221
It’s not a compliment,
1388
01:14:43,288 --> 01:14:45,189
because if it smells and tastes like Pinot,
1389
01:14:45,256 --> 01:14:46,224
you’re missing the point.
1390
01:14:46,291 --> 01:14:47,492
It means it doesn’t taste
1391
01:14:47,558 --> 01:14:49,861
like Pommard Rugiens
1392
01:14:49,927 --> 01:14:52,297
or Bon Marche or Clos de la Roche.
1393
01:14:52,363 --> 01:14:55,466
It’s always supposed to about the land,
1394
01:14:55,533 --> 01:14:58,102
about the site in the vineyard.
1395
01:15:03,608 --> 01:15:06,077
Their Cuvee Aux Antipodes is a collaboration,
1396
01:15:06,144 --> 01:15:09,012
between myself and Chambolle-Musigny winemaker
1397
01:15:09,080 --> 01:15:10,815
Francois Millet.
1398
01:15:10,882 --> 01:15:13,184
So, I suggested to Francois, that he come and make some wine,
1399
01:15:13,251 --> 01:15:15,520
and he thought that would be pretty interesting.
1400
01:15:15,586 --> 01:15:17,555
I let him choose which part of the vineyard
1401
01:15:17,622 --> 01:15:21,893
he wanted to work with and uses that same parcel every year.
1402
01:15:21,959 --> 01:15:23,661
And it was really important to me,
1403
01:15:23,728 --> 01:15:27,198
that he was able to make the wines exactly how he wants to,
1404
01:15:27,265 --> 01:15:29,901
not how I would or anyone else.
1405
01:15:29,967 --> 01:15:31,436
So, I went to France
1406
01:15:31,502 --> 01:15:34,405
and bought all the same winemaking equipment
1407
01:15:34,472 --> 01:15:35,973
he uses in Chambolle-Musigny
1408
01:15:36,040 --> 01:15:37,775
and brought it back to New Zealand,
1409
01:15:37,842 --> 01:15:41,746
so that he was able to use his very traditional methods,
1410
01:15:41,813 --> 01:15:45,249
hand pumps, barrel to barrel racking, and so on.
1411
01:15:45,316 --> 01:15:47,552
I guess the most pleasing thing for me was
1412
01:15:47,618 --> 01:15:50,722
that he really, really likes them. [chuckles]
1413
01:15:50,788 --> 01:15:53,825
That project has been a really cool part
1414
01:15:53,891 --> 01:15:55,226
of the history of Central Otago,
1415
01:15:55,293 --> 01:15:56,894
that someone of his standing,
1416
01:15:56,961 --> 01:16:00,198
he’s obviously a very well-known winemaker,
1417
01:16:00,264 --> 01:16:03,935
would come so far away and make wine down here with us
1418
01:16:04,001 --> 01:16:05,303
is really cool.
1419
01:16:10,174 --> 01:16:12,610
When a Burgundian winemaker comes here
1420
01:16:12,677 --> 01:16:16,214
and looks at the viticulture, looks at the winemaking,
1421
01:16:16,280 --> 01:16:18,783
they ask a hundred questions, and then they say,
1422
01:16:18,850 --> 01:16:21,285
"Oh, you do all the same stuff don’t you?",
1423
01:16:21,352 --> 01:16:25,857
because actually what they learn was essentially,
1424
01:16:25,923 --> 01:16:27,825
we’ve learnt that that works,
1425
01:16:27,892 --> 01:16:31,095
and so yeah, we all do the same stuff. [chuckles]
1426
01:16:31,162 --> 01:16:36,300
I don’t think that any of us have got the right to turn up
1427
01:16:36,367 --> 01:16:37,635
in anybody else’s region and say,
1428
01:16:37,702 --> 01:16:39,404
"You should be making wine like this",
1429
01:16:39,470 --> 01:16:41,305
but I think every region has got lessons
1430
01:16:41,372 --> 01:16:42,907
to teach everybody else.
1431
01:16:42,974 --> 01:16:44,976
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
1432
01:16:45,042 --> 01:16:46,310
I find it very difficult to say,
1433
01:16:46,377 --> 01:16:47,779
"This is the best wine in the world,
1434
01:16:47,845 --> 01:16:49,347
or this is the best region in the world."
1435
01:16:49,414 --> 01:16:50,982
I think that all of us are just trying
1436
01:16:51,048 --> 01:16:52,617
to make the best wine,
1437
01:16:52,683 --> 01:16:54,452
from every weather package we get delivered every year.
1438
01:16:54,519 --> 01:16:56,354
That’s certainly what we’re trying to do here.
1439
01:16:56,421 --> 01:16:59,690
No one’s got a monopoly on knowledge.
1440
01:16:59,757 --> 01:17:02,727
[Greening] We’ve really seen, in Burgundy especially,
1441
01:17:02,794 --> 01:17:06,097
the advances that the new generations are making.
1442
01:17:06,164 --> 01:17:10,234
We now have generations that are being university trained
1443
01:17:10,301 --> 01:17:13,070
in viticulture and in winemaking
1444
01:17:13,137 --> 01:17:14,939
that are working internationally.
1445
01:17:15,006 --> 01:17:19,610
So, they leave university, then they hit the road.
1446
01:17:19,677 --> 01:17:22,547
We have an exchange program here, with Burgundy,
1447
01:17:22,613 --> 01:17:25,283
so they send their kids to us to be trained,
1448
01:17:25,349 --> 01:17:27,717
we send ours to them to be trained.
1449
01:17:27,785 --> 01:17:29,854
So, by the time someone has done the round
1450
01:17:29,921 --> 01:17:33,024
of three or four countries, got their degree,
1451
01:17:33,090 --> 01:17:34,325
they’re hitting the ground
1452
01:17:34,392 --> 01:17:36,427
with more knowledge and understanding
1453
01:17:36,494 --> 01:17:39,430
than all of the collective generations,
1454
01:17:39,497 --> 01:17:41,466
which can annoy their fathers a little bit,
1455
01:17:41,532 --> 01:17:45,903
but you’re seeing a transformation in quality
1456
01:17:45,970 --> 01:17:48,172
right around the world from that.
1457
01:17:53,778 --> 01:17:56,848
There’s only rules and regulations.
1458
01:17:56,914 --> 01:17:58,483
For every appellation you have,
1459
01:17:58,549 --> 01:18:02,353
about 15 pages of rules and regulations.
1460
01:18:02,420 --> 01:18:07,124
We’re not allowed to irrigate, our maximum yield is limited,
1461
01:18:07,191 --> 01:18:10,728
our way of pruning, trellising,
1462
01:18:10,795 --> 01:18:16,234
acidification, chaptalisation, it’s all regulated,
1463
01:18:16,300 --> 01:18:20,571
and there is many, many rules applying to each appellation.
1464
01:18:20,637 --> 01:18:22,673
With the protectionism of the appellation, though,
1465
01:18:22,740 --> 01:18:25,576
comes this great stack of regulations.
1466
01:18:25,643 --> 01:18:28,246
Local vine growers have to restrict themselves
1467
01:18:28,312 --> 01:18:31,048
to one of only two permitted grape varieties,
1468
01:18:31,115 --> 01:18:32,583
they have to reach certain,
1469
01:18:32,650 --> 01:18:35,920
very carefully prescribed minimum ripeness levels,
1470
01:18:35,987 --> 01:18:38,589
they’re limited to a certain maximum yield,
1471
01:18:38,656 --> 01:18:42,560
they can only pick when the authorities say they can.
1472
01:19:05,950 --> 01:19:07,418
Rules are being set,
1473
01:19:07,485 --> 01:19:09,420
because some people have made a wrong decision,
1474
01:19:09,487 --> 01:19:10,755
you’ve gotta think about that, you know?
1475
01:19:10,821 --> 01:19:12,356
History brings you rules, you know?
1476
01:19:12,423 --> 01:19:14,325
I have to keep the history of the house,
1477
01:19:14,392 --> 01:19:16,193
which is about 200 years of heritage,
1478
01:19:16,260 --> 01:19:17,862
which is a huge heritage.
1479
01:19:17,929 --> 01:19:20,698
Consistency is about respecting the house style,
1480
01:19:20,765 --> 01:19:23,000
but also adapt a style, for example,
1481
01:19:23,067 --> 01:19:25,503
what people are expecting now, which is very different
1482
01:19:25,570 --> 01:19:29,140
to what they were expecting 200 years ago.
1483
01:19:29,206 --> 01:19:34,045
In the early stages of a young region,
1484
01:19:34,110 --> 01:19:37,715
the openness and lack of regulation is an advantage.
1485
01:19:37,782 --> 01:19:41,217
People need the opportunity to explore
1486
01:19:41,285 --> 01:19:43,187
and to really get to know what works
1487
01:19:43,253 --> 01:19:44,822
and what’s possible in a place.
1488
01:19:44,889 --> 01:19:47,091
Well, the regulations in France
1489
01:19:47,158 --> 01:19:48,659
are put there for a reason.
1490
01:19:48,726 --> 01:19:51,862
The problem is that when that goes too far,
1491
01:19:51,929 --> 01:19:53,764
it means that it stops you being able to do things
1492
01:19:53,831 --> 01:19:55,499
that could, at times, be good,
1493
01:19:55,566 --> 01:19:58,069
to experiment with things.
1494
01:19:58,135 --> 01:20:01,505
[McKenna] We have young European winemakers come here,
1495
01:20:01,572 --> 01:20:03,541
and they think they’re in heaven.
1496
01:20:03,608 --> 01:20:06,444
We can grow what we think suits the district perfectly
1497
01:20:06,510 --> 01:20:09,646
and handle it the best way we can imagine.
1498
01:20:09,714 --> 01:20:13,684
I think New Zealand winemakers have a huge advantage
1499
01:20:13,751 --> 01:20:16,087
in not having rules about how.
1500
01:20:16,153 --> 01:20:17,822
There’s nothing prescriptive.
1501
01:20:17,887 --> 01:20:21,425
So, in essence, it opens the door for creativity
1502
01:20:21,492 --> 01:20:23,094
which is, in my mind,
1503
01:20:23,160 --> 01:20:24,362
the future for the whole world.
1504
01:20:24,428 --> 01:20:25,963
You have to be creative.
1505
01:20:37,108 --> 01:20:41,212
I think one of the huge tools in modern quality winemaking
1506
01:20:41,278 --> 01:20:46,884
is the use of irrigation to control stress levels in vines.
1507
01:20:46,951 --> 01:20:49,453
As the drainage is very important,
1508
01:20:49,520 --> 01:20:52,156
the roots go deep in the subsoil,
1509
01:20:52,223 --> 01:20:54,392
and as we dry farm,
1510
01:20:54,458 --> 01:20:58,529
unless it is an extremely dry summer, we do not irrigate.
1511
01:20:58,596 --> 01:21:01,132
That’s another particularity of Clos Henri,
1512
01:21:01,198 --> 01:21:05,336
and it helps the roots to go and fetch moisture,
1513
01:21:05,403 --> 01:21:06,837
but also minerality.
1514
01:21:06,904 --> 01:21:10,808
The vines need to survive and we feel in this wine,
1515
01:21:10,875 --> 01:21:15,479
that the vines struggle a bit, not too much, no stress,
1516
01:21:15,546 --> 01:21:17,982
just struggle to get what it needs.
1517
01:21:19,583 --> 01:21:21,152
Particularly, in hot, dry years,
1518
01:21:21,217 --> 01:21:24,321
when you can feed a little bit of water to vines
1519
01:21:24,387 --> 01:21:25,656
and just keep them ticking over,
1520
01:21:25,723 --> 01:21:28,292
so your grapes ripen physiologically,
1521
01:21:28,359 --> 01:21:29,894
rather than under stress,
1522
01:21:29,960 --> 01:21:32,262
you get more supple characters in the wine
1523
01:21:32,329 --> 01:21:33,798
and better aromatics.
1524
01:21:33,864 --> 01:21:37,568
We’re allowed all those tools and AOC in France,
1525
01:21:37,635 --> 01:21:39,170
they’re not.
1526
01:21:39,235 --> 01:21:43,641
Crazy, because those laws were written in the mid-1930s
1527
01:21:43,708 --> 01:21:48,913
and technology has left that legislation behind,
1528
01:21:48,979 --> 01:21:50,881
but it’s not allowed to be practiced.
1529
01:21:50,948 --> 01:21:52,049
Crazy.
1530
01:21:52,116 --> 01:21:54,217
People have this perception of irrigation,
1531
01:21:54,285 --> 01:21:56,619
but it actually allows us
1532
01:21:56,687 --> 01:21:59,757
to turn the vine on and off when we want to,
1533
01:21:59,824 --> 01:22:02,259
and I think if some areas of Europe
1534
01:22:02,326 --> 01:22:06,163
were able to irrigate, they would be very happy for that.
1535
01:22:07,264 --> 01:22:08,499
[cork pops]
1536
01:22:08,566 --> 01:22:12,103
[bottle opener rustling]
1537
01:22:14,939 --> 01:22:17,541
[laughing]
1538
01:22:17,608 --> 01:22:19,176
The screw caps.
1539
01:22:21,011 --> 01:22:24,115
I was prepared [laughs] for this.
1540
01:22:25,850 --> 01:22:29,453
What’s important, it’s what’s inside the bottle.
1541
01:22:29,520 --> 01:22:32,823
It’s shocking, ’99 Chambertin from Rousseau stands out,
1542
01:22:32,890 --> 01:22:34,992
and it was hideously corked.
1543
01:22:35,059 --> 01:22:38,028
It was Romanée-Conti St. Vivant ’99,
1544
01:22:38,095 --> 01:22:42,133
it was that, it was Musigny from Vougeot,
1545
01:22:42,199 --> 01:22:43,667
and it was quite a few,
1546
01:22:43,734 --> 01:22:46,070
and then just that, the one I was looking forward to
1547
01:22:46,137 --> 01:22:48,639
was Rousseau Chambertin, it was hideous.
1548
01:22:49,573 --> 01:22:50,975
Life.
1549
01:22:51,041 --> 01:22:53,177
2000 Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay.
1550
01:22:53,244 --> 01:22:55,713
Once it was bottled, it was a fairly decent run,
1551
01:22:55,780 --> 01:22:57,481
I think, 4,000 cases run.
1552
01:22:57,548 --> 01:23:00,584
We started to see quite disturbing levels of cork taint
1553
01:23:00,651 --> 01:23:02,386
and other issues very early on,
1554
01:23:02,453 --> 01:23:08,225
30 to 35, or even 40% of the corks were giving the wine
1555
01:23:08,292 --> 01:23:10,261
a musty TCA character,
1556
01:23:10,327 --> 01:23:12,730
well past any quality level you’d be happy with.
1557
01:23:12,797 --> 01:23:17,334
So we ended up destroying 4,000 cases of wine,
1558
01:23:17,401 --> 01:23:19,703
which is a job in itself.
1559
01:23:19,770 --> 01:23:21,438
And this was quite motivating,
1560
01:23:21,505 --> 01:23:26,476
to move to an alternative closure, as you can understand.
1561
01:23:26,544 --> 01:23:29,246
Even a cork that hasn’t got cork taint
1562
01:23:29,313 --> 01:23:31,315
still imparts a flavor
1563
01:23:31,382 --> 01:23:33,184
and the amount of flavor that they impart to the wine
1564
01:23:33,250 --> 01:23:35,186
varies considerably, from cork to cork.
1565
01:23:35,252 --> 01:23:37,488
We used to call it "cork bark taste,"
1566
01:23:37,555 --> 01:23:41,492
because a cork is a piece of bark and wood tastes like wood.
1567
01:23:41,559 --> 01:23:42,793
[chuckles]
1568
01:24:01,478 --> 01:24:05,416
Tradition is a funny thing, because it’s fairly obvious
1569
01:24:05,482 --> 01:24:07,685
that screw caps are far superior,
1570
01:24:07,751 --> 01:24:10,921
in terms of quality and long living our wine,
1571
01:24:10,988 --> 01:24:14,692
and yet a lot of people just were quite abusive to us
1572
01:24:14,758 --> 01:24:16,460
when we went cork-free.
1573
01:24:16,527 --> 01:24:19,262
The only reason that traditional areas
1574
01:24:19,330 --> 01:24:24,969
really stick with cylindrical cork closures is tradition
1575
01:24:25,035 --> 01:24:26,937
and, dare I say it, snobbism.
1576
01:24:28,271 --> 01:24:31,008
It’s not about quality.
1577
01:24:31,075 --> 01:24:33,777
It’s about how it appeals to their customers.
1578
01:24:55,699 --> 01:24:58,202
And since we use screw caps in most cases,
1579
01:24:58,269 --> 01:25:00,905
it’s aging a lot better, certainly the white wines.
1580
01:25:00,971 --> 01:25:05,609
Our Chardonnays age way better than most white Burgundies.
1581
01:25:18,489 --> 01:25:22,326
Ah, look, I think for white wines, I’m firmly
1582
01:25:22,393 --> 01:25:24,862
in the screw cap camp.
1583
01:25:24,929 --> 01:25:26,830
Absolutely preserves freshness
1584
01:25:26,896 --> 01:25:29,099
and there’s no doubt the wine still develops,
1585
01:25:29,166 --> 01:25:32,235
and you can’t stop organic chemistry changing in a bottle.
1586
01:25:32,303 --> 01:25:37,641
So, this wine has evolved in a fascinating way,
1587
01:25:37,708 --> 01:25:39,476
but that freshness and that vibrancy,
1588
01:25:39,543 --> 01:25:41,011
the retention of color,
1589
01:25:41,078 --> 01:25:43,547
I put that down to not too much oxygen
1590
01:25:43,614 --> 01:25:44,848
coming into the bottle.
1591
01:25:44,915 --> 01:25:46,450
And the great thing is,
1592
01:25:46,517 --> 01:25:49,353
is I can open another five bottles of this wine,
1593
01:25:49,420 --> 01:25:53,257
they’ll all be the same and you cannot get that from cork.
1594
01:26:12,076 --> 01:26:13,777
[Judd] The thing that we love most of all
1595
01:26:13,844 --> 01:26:16,012
about the screw cap thing, is that we just know
1596
01:26:16,080 --> 01:26:17,514
that every single bottle that we open
1597
01:26:17,581 --> 01:26:19,183
is gonna be exactly the same.
1598
01:26:19,249 --> 01:26:21,051
The consumer is tasting the wine that we made,
1599
01:26:21,118 --> 01:26:24,088
not the result of some sort of random maturation process
1600
01:26:24,154 --> 01:26:26,490
that’s happened in a glass bottle,
1601
01:26:26,557 --> 01:26:29,960
that’s been sealed with a piece of bark.
1602
01:26:42,039 --> 01:26:45,042
I remember duck shooting with a good friend of mine,
1603
01:26:45,109 --> 01:26:48,979
and we always took turns at taking a vintage port,
1604
01:26:49,046 --> 01:26:50,948
and it was his turn to do the vintage port,
1605
01:26:51,015 --> 01:26:52,616
and so, when all the beer’s gone,
1606
01:26:52,683 --> 01:26:54,451
and we’re in the middle of nowhere
1607
01:26:54,518 --> 01:26:58,021
and covered in camo paint and shot gun cartridges everywhere
1608
01:26:58,088 --> 01:27:00,057
and are in a hide on a lake,
1609
01:27:00,124 --> 01:27:01,959
and he pulls out of this bag,
1610
01:27:02,026 --> 01:27:05,029
this bottle of 1927 Pedro Ximenez,
1611
01:27:05,095 --> 01:27:08,565
and I said, "Jesus mate, here, now?
1612
01:27:08,632 --> 01:27:10,000
He goes, "Absolutely."
1613
01:27:10,067 --> 01:27:11,935
We drank a wine from 1927,
1614
01:27:12,002 --> 01:27:13,971
and we talked about Spain in 1927,
1615
01:27:14,038 --> 01:27:16,707
and what the geo-political situation.
1616
01:27:16,774 --> 01:27:18,475
We had no idea, we made it up,
1617
01:27:18,542 --> 01:27:22,246
but it was a great conversation about time travel, really.
1618
01:27:22,312 --> 01:27:25,082
-Yeah. -And, who picked the grapes?
1619
01:27:25,149 --> 01:27:26,617
What would their lifestyle have been?
1620
01:27:26,683 --> 01:27:28,919
And imagine if they could see us.
1621
01:27:28,985 --> 01:27:30,387
Imagine if those people,
1622
01:27:30,454 --> 01:27:32,423
who were involved in growing those grapes
1623
01:27:32,489 --> 01:27:35,626
and making that wine could look out of the grave and see us,
1624
01:27:35,692 --> 01:27:40,396
in New Zealand, drinking their wine, nearly 100 years later.
1625
01:27:40,464 --> 01:27:42,966
I mean, that’s amazing.
1626
01:27:43,033 --> 01:27:45,769
So I think there is a poetic nature to wine.
1627
01:27:45,836 --> 01:27:47,271
We are drinking 1927.
1628
01:27:52,810 --> 01:27:55,079
What is a great wine? What a question.
1629
01:27:55,145 --> 01:27:59,149
According to me, there is not one single answer.
1630
01:27:59,216 --> 01:28:01,051
There are millions of answers.
1631
01:28:01,118 --> 01:28:04,321
It becomes something you think about and talk about,
1632
01:28:04,387 --> 01:28:07,558
rather than just being a drink you knock back.
1633
01:28:07,624 --> 01:28:10,661
A great wine is something that is very personal,
1634
01:28:10,726 --> 01:28:11,929
that is very subjective.
1635
01:28:11,994 --> 01:28:13,497
It’s not just about fruit.
1636
01:28:13,564 --> 01:28:16,733
Well, a great wine is one that I’m prepared
1637
01:28:16,800 --> 01:28:18,569
to pay quite a lot of money for.
1638
01:28:18,635 --> 01:28:20,270
Mr. Berwing, Chateau Béatrice,
1639
01:28:20,337 --> 01:28:22,339
he always tell me, it doesn’t matter how it tastes,
1640
01:28:22,406 --> 01:28:24,875
if the bottle is finished on the table,
1641
01:28:24,942 --> 01:28:26,877
it’s a great bottle and, again,
1642
01:28:26,944 --> 01:28:28,579
we’re not even talking about price here.
1643
01:28:28,645 --> 01:28:31,348
If you can almost stop the conversation, you’re going,
1644
01:28:31,415 --> 01:28:34,451
"Hang on a minute, that’s amazing",
1645
01:28:34,518 --> 01:28:36,420
and then you can go back to the conversation.
1646
01:28:36,487 --> 01:28:38,188
I think wine is about enjoyment.
1647
01:28:38,255 --> 01:28:41,158
You like to share enjoyment with your friends.
1648
01:28:41,225 --> 01:28:45,496
It’s like the most comfortable lounge chair
1649
01:28:45,562 --> 01:28:46,864
you’ve ever sat in.
1650
01:28:51,668 --> 01:28:53,003
You can just drink and enjoy it
1651
01:28:53,070 --> 01:28:54,371
without thinking about it,
1652
01:28:54,438 --> 01:28:56,273
but at the same time, if you want to,
1653
01:28:56,340 --> 01:28:58,275
you can sit there and analyze it for hours.
1654
01:28:58,342 --> 01:29:00,244
It’s just got a lot of complexity.
1655
01:29:00,310 --> 01:29:02,646
I think part of my love for wine
1656
01:29:02,713 --> 01:29:06,350
comes from how I can’t help but be taken by it.
1657
01:29:06,416 --> 01:29:08,619
Your mind is taken on a journey,
1658
01:29:08,685 --> 01:29:10,554
and then you suddenly think,
1659
01:29:10,621 --> 01:29:12,356
"Gosh, I haven’t even tasted it yet."
1660
01:29:12,422 --> 01:29:14,424
The hairs on the back of your neck go up,
1661
01:29:14,491 --> 01:29:16,460
and you’re like, "I wish I made this.
1662
01:29:16,527 --> 01:29:18,061
"How do you make this?"
1663
01:29:23,767 --> 01:29:26,637
If you have a wine that tastes like where it’s grown,
1664
01:29:26,703 --> 01:29:29,473
you’ve really got something unique and special.
1665
01:29:29,540 --> 01:29:35,045
The wine that you will remember for the rest of your life.
1666
01:29:35,112 --> 01:29:38,348
Without hesitation of a doubt,
1667
01:29:38,415 --> 01:29:40,417
the third glass is always better.
1668
01:29:42,186 --> 01:29:44,655
-Let me check. -[laughing]
1669
01:29:44,721 --> 01:29:46,390
When you go to your cellar,
1670
01:29:46,456 --> 01:29:48,158
it’s that one you never really wanna drink,
1671
01:29:48,225 --> 01:29:51,195
because it’s also so valuable to you.
1672
01:29:51,261 --> 01:29:52,996
Like the greatest wines that I’ve ever tried,
1673
01:29:53,063 --> 01:29:55,165
you cannot write a tasting note for,
1674
01:29:55,232 --> 01:29:57,601
because you’ve got no idea what to write.
1675
01:29:57,668 --> 01:30:00,003
More in metaphoric terms,
1676
01:30:00,070 --> 01:30:03,807
music, life, love, ups, downs,
1677
01:30:03,874 --> 01:30:08,512
goods, bads, tragedies, delicacies, length, harmony.
1678
01:30:08,579 --> 01:30:10,581
As romantic as this is,
1679
01:30:10,646 --> 01:30:14,051
it’s this incredible expression of love and subtlety
1680
01:30:14,117 --> 01:30:18,989
and harmony and beauty, but all in the senses,
1681
01:30:19,056 --> 01:30:22,025
and the idea that so much can be experienced,
1682
01:30:22,092 --> 01:30:25,628
just through this purely sensual sensory experience,
1683
01:30:25,696 --> 01:30:28,599
is really kind of overwhelming and beautiful.
1684
01:31:19,750 --> 01:31:21,451
Well, as I said before,
1685
01:31:21,518 --> 01:31:24,887
the Felton Road might be one of my favorite!
1686
01:31:24,955 --> 01:31:26,490
[laughs]
1687
01:31:40,937 --> 01:31:45,309
First, Ata Rangi 2014.
1688
01:31:46,677 --> 01:31:50,113
Kumeu River 2014
1689
01:31:50,180 --> 01:31:54,017
Mates Vineyard Chardonnay.
1690
01:31:54,084 --> 01:31:59,222
And we’ll start with Trinity Hill, again with Vintage ’15.
1691
01:31:59,289 --> 01:32:03,193
As a screw cap, it won’t be corked,
1692
01:32:03,260 --> 01:32:05,228
so that’s something we won’t say.
1693
01:32:05,896 --> 01:32:08,098
[bright music]
1694
01:32:16,006 --> 01:32:21,110
2010 Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Le Sol.
1695
01:32:23,780 --> 01:32:25,782
Dry River.
1696
01:32:30,119 --> 01:32:32,556
[speaking French]
1697
01:32:37,327 --> 01:32:39,596
-[bottle opener rustling] -[cork popping]
1698
01:32:46,570 --> 01:32:47,671
[sniffing]
1699
01:32:52,909 --> 01:32:55,278
[sniffing]
1700
01:33:02,719 --> 01:33:05,222
[liquid sloshing]
1701
01:33:13,497 --> 01:33:15,198
Mmm!
1702
01:33:17,734 --> 01:33:22,038
So, we’ve got a young, nice color.
1703
01:33:22,105 --> 01:33:23,673
Middle, middle dip.
1704
01:33:31,415 --> 01:33:35,619
I love the silkiness and elegance of this wine.
1705
01:33:48,932 --> 01:33:51,268
Fruity, dark fruit.
1706
01:34:28,538 --> 01:34:31,808
Again, very young, but drinkable.
1707
01:34:31,875 --> 01:34:34,344
I would give it a little bit of time.
1708
01:34:48,058 --> 01:34:51,127
It’s something to be elegant and fine, and here again,
1709
01:34:51,194 --> 01:34:52,863
I think, tannins are nice
1710
01:34:52,929 --> 01:34:54,598
and that’s the most important thing
1711
01:34:54,663 --> 01:34:57,167
for making great red wines.
1712
01:35:11,146 --> 01:35:16,219
To me, this one is well balanced.
1713
01:35:16,286 --> 01:35:18,054
You know, it’s... [mumbles]
1714
01:35:18,121 --> 01:35:19,422
-[man] Good structure? -Yeah.
1715
01:35:20,223 --> 01:35:21,458
What would you add?
1716
01:36:29,993 --> 01:36:34,864
Off camera, in a blind tasting, I wouldn’t be able to tell
1717
01:36:34,931 --> 01:36:37,300
whether it’s New Zealand or northern Rhone.
1718
01:36:37,367 --> 01:36:39,169
Congratulations to the producers, and again,
1719
01:36:39,235 --> 01:36:40,537
it’s a great pleasure.
1720
01:36:40,604 --> 01:36:42,538
If they want to come and visit us,
1721
01:36:42,606 --> 01:36:44,140
we’ll take care of them.
1722
01:36:44,207 --> 01:36:45,942
You pass the message, thank you.
1723
01:36:51,581 --> 01:36:55,985
Can New Zealand be a sort of player in the world stage?
1724
01:36:56,052 --> 01:36:59,089
That’s a controversial question. [chuckles]
1725
01:36:59,154 --> 01:37:03,526
There’s that old story about asking someone in Bordeaux
1726
01:37:03,592 --> 01:37:05,428
of what they thought about Burgundy wines
1727
01:37:05,494 --> 01:37:07,029
and the typical answer would be,
1728
01:37:07,097 --> 01:37:09,466
"Do they make wine in Burgundy?" [chuckles]
1729
01:37:09,532 --> 01:37:12,435
I think Europeans have a bit of a view like that,
1730
01:37:12,502 --> 01:37:16,873
that they’re the center of the universe, in terms of wine.
1731
01:37:16,940 --> 01:37:18,508
When they look at their sales figures,
1732
01:37:18,574 --> 01:37:22,078
they may see that the new world is giving them
1733
01:37:22,145 --> 01:37:23,947
a big kick in the pants.
1734
01:37:24,014 --> 01:37:30,186
I think there are always people who look to the old world
1735
01:37:30,253 --> 01:37:32,188
for the ultimate in quality,
1736
01:37:32,255 --> 01:37:35,324
and those people often have very closed minds.
1737
01:37:35,392 --> 01:37:37,226
They’re not searching for the new,
1738
01:37:37,293 --> 01:37:41,231
and they rely much more on other people’s opinions,
1739
01:37:41,297 --> 01:37:42,666
rather than their own.
1740
01:37:42,732 --> 01:37:45,368
Will you see New Zealand wines
1741
01:37:46,536 --> 01:37:48,471
gaining very, very high prices
1742
01:37:48,538 --> 01:37:53,143
or listed at the best restaurants like Bordeaux,
1743
01:37:53,208 --> 01:37:55,779
Burgundy, and so on? I think that that would be
1744
01:37:55,845 --> 01:37:57,480
interesting to see in the future.
1745
01:37:57,547 --> 01:37:58,982
Well, why not?
1746
01:37:59,049 --> 01:38:01,717
Every now and then, you taste a great Burgundy
1747
01:38:01,785 --> 01:38:04,988
with some age in it and it just blows your mind,
1748
01:38:05,055 --> 01:38:07,390
and you know that there nothing like it’s
1749
01:38:07,457 --> 01:38:08,892
yet been made in New Zealand,
1750
01:38:08,958 --> 01:38:11,061
and you wonder whether it ever will.
1751
01:38:11,127 --> 01:38:12,862
On the other hand,
1752
01:38:12,929 --> 01:38:15,031
you put your nose in a glass of great New Zealand Pinot Noir
1753
01:38:15,098 --> 01:38:17,367
and you’ll see something that you’ll never see in Burgundy.
1754
01:38:17,434 --> 01:38:19,002
I think that we can now confidently say
1755
01:38:19,069 --> 01:38:21,571
that New Zealand Pinot Noir, in terms of quality,
1756
01:38:21,637 --> 01:38:24,040
is up there with anything that’s being produced
1757
01:38:24,107 --> 01:38:25,141
anywhere in the world.
1758
01:38:26,276 --> 01:38:29,878
I have been banging on, literally for years,
1759
01:38:29,946 --> 01:38:33,049
about how Chardonnay is the thing
1760
01:38:33,116 --> 01:38:34,751
that New Zealand does best.
1761
01:38:34,818 --> 01:38:36,920
No one takes any notice of me because, of course,
1762
01:38:36,985 --> 01:38:39,255
they can make money hand-over-fist selling
1763
01:38:39,322 --> 01:38:40,657
Sauvignon Blanc.
1764
01:38:40,724 --> 01:38:43,626
I think it is without doubt, what,
1765
01:38:43,693 --> 01:38:47,797
in the world scheme of things, New Zealand is best at,
1766
01:38:47,864 --> 01:38:50,900
and it makes truly fine wine, when it gets it right.
1767
01:38:50,967 --> 01:38:54,604
The amount of truly world-beating,
1768
01:38:54,671 --> 01:38:57,373
great Sauvignon Blanc coming out of New Zealand,
1769
01:38:57,440 --> 01:39:00,342
I would say, is that much
1770
01:39:00,410 --> 01:39:04,781
and the amount of truly great world-beating Chardonnay
1771
01:39:04,848 --> 01:39:08,017
that’s coming out of New Zealand is, that much.
1772
01:39:09,119 --> 01:39:10,653
Possibly that much.
1773
01:39:13,123 --> 01:39:16,159
New Zealand’s opportunity lies hugely with Chardonnay,
1774
01:39:16,226 --> 01:39:17,660
in the global market.
1775
01:39:17,726 --> 01:39:20,330
From where we are today, looking forwards,
1776
01:39:20,396 --> 01:39:21,965
our Chardonnays have power, integrity,
1777
01:39:22,031 --> 01:39:24,768
precision, and unique characteristics,
1778
01:39:24,833 --> 01:39:26,903
that I think are very compelling.
1779
01:39:26,970 --> 01:39:32,008
Yeah, Sauvignon Blanc is by far and away the Mr. Big,
1780
01:39:32,074 --> 01:39:33,710
so what’s next?
1781
01:39:33,777 --> 01:39:36,045
And the knee-jerk answer’s gotta be Pinot Noir.
1782
01:39:36,112 --> 01:39:38,782
It may not be in some of our lifetime,
1783
01:39:38,848 --> 01:39:43,052
that we are producing these amazing benchmarks,
1784
01:39:43,119 --> 01:39:45,255
but we’ve already achieved it with Sauvignon Blanc,
1785
01:39:45,321 --> 01:39:46,990
we know that we’ve done that,
1786
01:39:47,056 --> 01:39:49,425
and we’re really knocking on the door pretty hard,
1787
01:39:49,492 --> 01:39:51,027
with our Pinot Noir.
1788
01:39:51,094 --> 01:39:54,597
We’re surprising the world with Chardonnay as well,
1789
01:39:54,663 --> 01:39:57,433
so we’re very, very close.
1790
01:39:57,500 --> 01:39:58,568
Here’s the thing about New Zealand,
1791
01:39:58,635 --> 01:40:00,436
that is different from France,
1792
01:40:00,503 --> 01:40:03,706
is that our wines do tend to taste great when they’re young,
1793
01:40:03,773 --> 01:40:06,142
whereas their wines, for some reason,
1794
01:40:06,208 --> 01:40:07,744
are different from that.
1795
01:40:07,811 --> 01:40:09,946
So their wines do take some time to taste great.
1796
01:40:10,012 --> 01:40:12,248
I’m not sure if the next generation wants to wait
1797
01:40:12,315 --> 01:40:15,785
25 years for a bottle to be beautiful and perfect.
1798
01:40:15,851 --> 01:40:20,290
There’s no question that New Zealand wine, right now,
1799
01:40:20,356 --> 01:40:22,458
has a seat with the finest,
1800
01:40:22,525 --> 01:40:25,161
and the finest are happy to acknowledge
1801
01:40:25,228 --> 01:40:27,931
the chair that we occupy.
1802
01:40:27,997 --> 01:40:30,633
We don’t quite have the seat at the table yet,
1803
01:40:30,699 --> 01:40:34,404
because these traditional areas
1804
01:40:34,470 --> 01:40:36,906
have a massive history,
1805
01:40:36,973 --> 01:40:40,677
a lot of tradition and a lot of track record,
1806
01:40:40,743 --> 01:40:42,312
as far as their wines are concerned,
1807
01:40:42,378 --> 01:40:44,146
and we cannot duplicate that.
1808
01:40:44,214 --> 01:40:46,916
All we have is the quality of our wines
1809
01:40:46,983 --> 01:40:49,752
and in the course of time,
1810
01:40:49,819 --> 01:40:51,753
I’m sure we will get there.
1811
01:40:51,821 --> 01:40:53,422
I don’t think we’re quite there yet.
1812
01:40:53,489 --> 01:40:55,458
The French have a wonderful saying,
1813
01:40:55,525 --> 01:40:56,926
"Vive la difference."
1814
01:40:56,993 --> 01:40:59,062
So, ours are equally as good,
1815
01:40:59,128 --> 01:41:01,331
in terms of the parameters of quality,
1816
01:41:01,396 --> 01:41:02,866
but they’re different,
1817
01:41:02,931 --> 01:41:04,934
because they’re grown in different soils.
1818
01:41:05,001 --> 01:41:07,871
But the nice thing is, go to Bordeaux and take a bottle
1819
01:41:07,937 --> 01:41:10,172
and put it up and put up one of theirs,
1820
01:41:10,240 --> 01:41:12,775
you get just as much pleasure, but they’re different.
1821
01:41:12,842 --> 01:41:16,112
So "Vive la difference." Brilliant.
1822
01:41:16,179 --> 01:41:18,181
They don’t want all wine to be the same.
1823
01:41:18,248 --> 01:41:20,617
Guys like Larry McKenna and Grant Taylor
1824
01:41:20,683 --> 01:41:23,419
give me a sense of developing heritage,
1825
01:41:23,485 --> 01:41:26,256
that we’ve built into the Pinot industry,
1826
01:41:26,322 --> 01:41:28,925
and I see the young ones coming through,
1827
01:41:28,992 --> 01:41:35,163
and I’m very content to, you know, pass it on,
1828
01:41:35,999 --> 01:41:39,636
but they have to look after my precious vines.
1829
01:41:39,702 --> 01:41:41,070
If you see all the vineyard,
1830
01:41:41,137 --> 01:41:43,106
in a beautiful spot in New Zealand,
1831
01:41:43,172 --> 01:41:45,975
I think it’s not humble enough to say
1832
01:41:46,042 --> 01:41:49,012
we’ll make the best wine in the next five years.
1833
01:41:49,078 --> 01:41:53,949
I think you have to let the vine age, let the wine age,
1834
01:41:54,017 --> 01:41:57,487
observe what your consumer think of it and it takes time.
1835
01:41:57,553 --> 01:41:59,856
One of my goals in doing this,
1836
01:41:59,922 --> 01:42:03,359
has been to demonstrate that New Zealand
1837
01:42:03,426 --> 01:42:07,363
is capable of competing at the top of the world wine market.
1838
01:42:08,931 --> 01:42:11,734
[Bennie] New Zealand wine has a capacity to be
1839
01:42:11,801 --> 01:42:15,738
the world’s leading boutique specialist,
1840
01:42:15,805 --> 01:42:17,373
wine growing nation.
1841
01:42:17,440 --> 01:42:19,809
[Smith] If you look at what our place has,
1842
01:42:19,876 --> 01:42:21,945
that other parts of the world don’t have,
1843
01:42:22,011 --> 01:42:27,150
is this really unique combination of high UV light,
1844
01:42:27,216 --> 01:42:29,619
in combination with relatively high humidity,
1845
01:42:29,686 --> 01:42:32,455
cool temperatures, because we’re surrounded by ocean,
1846
01:42:32,521 --> 01:42:35,190
so we don’t get the really hot temperatures
1847
01:42:35,258 --> 01:42:38,628
that large islands like Australia or continents get,
1848
01:42:38,695 --> 01:42:40,063
and those three things together
1849
01:42:40,128 --> 01:42:42,665
are like a nirvana for plants.
1850
01:42:42,732 --> 01:42:44,734
There’s a freshness and energy to it,
1851
01:42:44,801 --> 01:42:46,769
that comes from New Zealand,
1852
01:42:46,836 --> 01:42:48,171
because this is the place.
1853
01:42:48,237 --> 01:42:50,873
So we have that, that no one else has got.
1854
01:42:50,940 --> 01:42:56,045
[Robinson] I wouldn’t say that the world’s most famous producers
1855
01:42:56,112 --> 01:43:00,416
have yet recognized how good New Zealand can be.
1856
01:43:00,483 --> 01:43:01,951
They will.
1857
01:43:02,018 --> 01:43:03,453
Definitely, they will.
1858
01:43:03,519 --> 01:43:05,288
You’ve got the climate.
1859
01:43:05,355 --> 01:43:07,056
If you pick the right grape variety, in the right vineyard,
1860
01:43:07,123 --> 01:43:09,792
there’s no reason why New Zealand
1861
01:43:09,859 --> 01:43:13,396
can’t really challenge the world really,
1862
01:43:13,463 --> 01:43:16,199
in making top quality wines.
1863
01:43:17,367 --> 01:43:20,770
[liquid burbling]
140941
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