Marlborough, beware!

During a recent trip to Marlborough it became very evident that all of Marlborough's eggs are in one basket. This comment doesn't concern the amount of Sauvignon Blanc that is planted or even harvested but about that 3 wineries in Marlborough process approximately 50% of New Zealand's wine.

On a visit to Cloudy Bay winery and Vineyard I was appalled at the frosty reception and cold, un-welcoming nature of this truly international brand. If I were a new visitor to New Zealand and had a faint interest in wine, I would, for sure visit Cloudy Bay. Well if this is the face of the industry I am sure that many people leave with a bitter taste in their mouth.

The wines from Cloudy Bay were not too bad, but the sterile, cold nature of their front of house is disturbing. Combine this with the unromantic nature of an industrial chemical plants called Montana, and Marlborough Vintners and the beautiful image of Marlborough quickly dissipates.

The only positive about those giant chemical plants is that they facilitate smaller producers to make wine without huge investment in a winery. But the way that the fruit is handled in these factories belies belief.

The reason that Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc has an homogenous taste is because there are only a small group of winemakers making a large volume of wine. Yeah sure there are many different labels of Sauvignon but most are tasting the same.

The treatment of fruit from these big wineries is appalling. They machine harvest pretty much everything, then they automatically add Sulphur and then strip the fruit of all it is worth and then start fermenting it. Once fermentation is over they fine and filter it. This juice then gets bottled and delivered to our international markets.

The wine resembles nothing that the grape would truly make if it were not stripped of all known properties and irrigated in the vineyard.

There are, however, some great producers who care about their wines and their environment such as Fromm, Johanneshof, Fiasco, and Dog Point but not many. They are small producers making individual wines and worth seeking out providing they don't get to big!

Enough of my rant, goodbye.

www.thewinevault.co.nz