Danger! What are we doing to our National Grape?

After a recent visit to Marlborough It still leaves me staggering at what we, as a wine producing country, are doing to the grape varietal that put us on the World Wine Map.

We are in danger of losing out to the competition, for countries like Chile are able to adopt our techniques, Yeasts, and winemakers to reproduce Marlborough Styled Sauvignon Blanc at half the price.

Let’s look at the facts that support the decision to harness our reputation and make better wine.

The average Vineyard/winery wage is $18 vs $4 for the average wage in Chile. This allows wineries to hand pick fruit or machine harvest for even greater margin or lower price. We have made Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to a recipe which allows other countries to copy and for cheaper. The irrigation that is allowed on New Zealand vineyards dilutes the effect of Terroir and then we machine harvest thus increasing the need to add more Sulphur Dioxide to stop the grapes from oxidising and starting to ferment on route to the winery.

Then we fine and filter the wine thus removing more of the natural character of the grape and then start the fermentation off with a cultured yeast.

The cultured yeast is available for all to buy and therefore our competitors in this ever so hard market.

Given our isolation we should be making a premium wine and something that resembles Sauvignon Blanc not an industrial chemical with a taste so homogenous that it is easy to replicate year after year.

It is time to get back to where we started and make better wine, not the same, but better.

There are some wineries that are championing the cause of terroir expression but not enough to sustain New Zealand’s image overseas.

The cost of NZ Sauvignon Blanc remains high overseas but when a Marlborough Styled wine from Chile can be bought for a quarter of the price who isn’t going to look at a spending reduction on a luxury item?

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