From The Board Jamie Marfell

From the Board

Winemaking for consumers in 2021

JAMIE MARFELL

IT’S INTERESTING to sit back and reflect on my own winemaking journey since being employed as a trainee Montana winemaker at our Marlborough winery in the early ‘90s. Back then, Müller Thurgau was our primary source of vineyard cashflow and cask wine dominated our dining tables. Blenheimer and Fairhall River Claret were household names, and Wohnsiedler was only seen on special occasions. Sauvignon Blanc was just the twinkle in our viticulturist’s eye, and to winemakers it was a green acid bomb that only rivalled Semillon in pungent vegetal characters and was second only to Chenin Blanc when comparing monstrous acidities. For a 22-year-old trainee winemaker, this was the dream job.

I can remember only the best six cane Sauvignon Blanc making our premium label. With a couple of precision hedge trims, we were able to ripen our ’A’ grade Sauvignon Blanc to an optimal 18 brix. These were the days when Ford tractors and upright harvesters dominated the vineyard landscape.

Back then, winery destemmers had a purpose: separating the good from the bad. Skin contact was the Montana winemaker’s best kept secret - draining off clean free-run juice, keeping it separate from skin diggings that went to the screw press. It was all about chaptalisation, deacidification, pasteurisation and fermenting the juice so cold that ferments lasted through to early spring.

I can still remember celebrating Montana’s 1989 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc winning the ‘Marquis de Goulaine’ trophy at the London International Wine and Spirits Competition in 1990. To reflect, back then the consumer knew that Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc had global appeal, rivalled by none in its uniqueness and inherent qualities. We had a winner!

Now looking forward to the 2021 Vintage, what does the consumer want? Our vineyards have soil water monitoring, GPS tracking on vehicles, defoliators, extractors, blowers, precision sprayers, trimmers, mowers, mulchers, optical sorters, autonomous vehicles. Wineries have crushers, decanters, floatation equipment, centrifuges, crossflows, concentrators, separators, stabilisers and smart tanks. These

“Our consumers are inquisitive and want more from wine brands, with front and back label copy driving our winemaking behaviour.” Jamie Marfell

are just some of the tools which help us produce precision grown fruit delivered in optimal condition to our wineries, and an array of tools that allow our winemakers to express our region’s terroir. But our consumers are inquisitive and want more from wine brands, with front and back label copy driving our winemaking behaviour.

Marlborough was once enough to get the consumer on side, now we have demand for sub-appellations and single vineyard expressions to sing our brand songs. The 2020 vintage saw the Pernod Ricard Winemakers wineries making only vegan wines in New Zealand, under our Stoneleigh range – it’s a small market segment, but delivering to a greater larger inquisitive consumer set. Organic wine production now makes up 5% of our total wine production, with the release of a new Stoneleigh Organics range from the 2020 vintage. It’s small in scale, but immensely important in delivering a diverse offering.

Stylistically, we have increased our percentage of wild ferments across all our wine styles, now making up over 20% of our total production, giving us blending options, and wines for our Stoneleigh Wild Valley range. Low alcohol wines now make up 5% of our total portfolio and growing, as the consumer is looking for a lighter option.

As consumer preferences and interests grow, our vineyards, wineries and people will grow as well. Sometimes unseen, our wines have evolved as new consumers enter the market and existing consumers mature.

Marlborough Winegrowers Election The challenges of Covid-19 makes this a “dynamic” time to join the Marlborough Winegrowers Association board, says chair Tom Trolove in the lead-up to the board elections. “It’s a unique time, and the industry really needs strong leadership. There’s already a lot of energy and we want to continue all the good work we have started.” There are two winery and one grape grower member sought for the board, with Jack Glover and Stuart Dudley standing down at the election.

Members will be sent information on or before Friday August 14, detailing which category they can stand and vote in, according to which category their levy is paid into. Each voting group will then be sent a list of members’ names for their voting group, authorised to exercise a vote or to be nominated, and be provided a candidate nomination form, which needs to be returned to Wine Marlborough by September 7.

Voting opens on September 15 and closes at noon on September 28. Results will be notified on October 1. For more information on the upcoming election, contact Marcus Pickens at marcus@winemarlborough.nz or 03 577 9299, or speak to any MWG board member.

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