NZ

Question 1

NZ overall info:

Answer 1

• Cool climate + abundant Chardonnay & Pinot Noir = great potential for notable sparkling wines
• Still wines (e.g., SB) success = sparkling wine remains a small part
• UV levels:
  • 40% stronger than similar latitudes in Northern Hemisphere
  • Partly due to ozone hole & low air pollution
• Climate:
  • Most wine regions = maritime climate
  • Central Otago = semi-continental (sheltered from ocean by mountains)

Question 2

NZ: Style, quality, price:

Answer 2

• Traditional method bottle-fermented:
  • Dominates mid- to premium-priced
  • Style:
    • Medium intensity apple & lemon fruit aromas
    • Light autolytic notes
    • High acidity
    • Typically Brut
    • Quality: Good to very good, some outstanding
• Carbonated wines:
  • Sauvignon Blanc:
    • Medium (+) intensity
    • Primary green capsicum & passion fruit notes
    • No autolytic character
    • High acidity
    • Medium (–) length
  • Carbonated Pinot Gris:
    • Sold domestically, rarely exported

Question 3

NZ Factors affecting temperature / sunlight

Answer 3

• Sourced from two islands
• South Island:
  • Cooler climate, ideal for elegant sparkling with crisp acidity
  • Marlborough:
    • > ⅔ of NZ vineyards, highest sparkling grape production
    • Advantages:
      • Low frost/hail risk, NW wind removes moisture after rain, reducing fungal risk
      • Moderate rainfall, requires irrigation due to free-draining soil and high transpiration from strong NW wind
      • Clean water access from underground water table
  • Central Otago:
    • Pinot Noir dominates, few ambitious sparkling producers
• North Island:
  • Gisborne:
    • Long history with large-volume sparkling, fuller-bodied, lower acidity, less finesse

Question 4

NZ: hazards

Answer 4

• Low risk of late frost or hailstorms
• Prevalent north-west wind removes moisture quickly after rain, reducing fungal threat
• Moderate rainfall, but irrigation needed due to free-draining alluvial soil
• High transpiration (sunburn) from land/vines due to strong north-west wind
• Good access to clean water from a constant underground water table

Question 5

NZ: Considerations in managing nutrients and water

Answer 5

moderate rainfall but vineyards have to be irrigated due to the free draining alluvial soil and high levels of transpiration (sunburn) from the land and vines due to the strong north-west wind
but good access to clean water from a constant underground water table

Question 6

NZ: canopy management, harvest

Answer 6

harvest for sparkling wine typically begins two weeks before the still wine harvest

autumn rain and the tail end of tropical cyclones can be a challenge later in the harvest

grapes picked at a potential alcohol level of between 10–11% abv.

Question 7

NZ: Managing hazards, managing pests and diseases

Answer 7

low risk of late frost or hailstorms

prevalent north-west wind helps to remove air moisture quickly after rain
reducing threat of fungal

high levels of transpiration (sunburn) from the land and vines due to the strong north-west wind - covering with leaves

autumn rain and the tail end of tropical cyclones can be a challenge later in the harvest = earlier harvest

Question 8

NZ: winemaking

Answer 8

• Blends Pinot Noir & Chardonnay
  
  • HQ: Traditional method; biggest producers also use transfer method
  • Inexpensive: Carbonation
• Small producers: Own fruit; large producers: Own vineyards + grower contracts
• Many wineries lack specialized equipment/expertise for high-quality traditional method:
  
  • Send still wine to contract facilities for tirage
  • Bottled wine returned for second fermentation, ageing, disgorging, and dosage
• Quality-conscious:
  • Handpicked, whole bunch pressing
  • Cultured yeast, SS fermentation, malolactic conversion (unless preserving acidity)
• On lees:
  • Traditional/transfer:
  • 18m, some premium producers longer
• Reserve wines: Champagne model for NV, others don’t
• Dosage: Brut 6-12 g/L, some zero dosage
• No. 1 Family Estate (Daniel Le Brun) uses min. 18 months on lees, 9 g/L dosage for least expensive wines
• Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc: Created after 2008 oversupply, carbonation method, less than 60,000L exported in 2017

Question 9

NZ Production/players

Answer 9

tiny proportion of New Zealand’s wine exports, representing 0.8 per cent of exports by volume.

players:
* include large companies such as Oyster Bay
also make high-volume still wines

*some specialist firms (e.g. No 1 Family Estate): make both their own wines and carry out the specialist second fermentation phase for other wineries