WineNZ Summer 18-19 (1)

Associate judge Michael Ledingham sniffs out a winner.
SPARKLING WINE
is a complicated market
The French have done a
marvellous job protecting
the Champagne brand and
retaining its exclusivity. So
much so that Champagne
is still the go-to beverage
when it is time for a grown-up celebration.
What about Prosecco, which has been
selling like crazy in Europe and the UK
in recent years? It is made with glera
grapes, rather than the Champagne trio of
chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier,
and a less complicated production method
enables the Italians to keep the price down.
While it has had big sales success of
late, it is swimming in a different pond to
Words by Paul Taggart
Californian and New Zealand methode traditionelle score
very well in tastings and even educated palates would have a
hard time judging them inferior to their French equivalents.
And yet, the perceived prestige of Champagne continues.
Champagne.
And it is Champagne that the best of the
Kiwi sparkling wines need to compete with,
as ours are made by the more expensive
methode traditionelle (which used to be
called method champenoise before the
French put a stop to it).
But there are methode traditionelle wines
from other parts of France and also Spain
(Cava) which lower-budget wedding parties
can turn to before considering going Kiwi.
So how can we get some cut-through?
It’s a good question and one our judges
chewed over before sampling our small
but excellent array of sparkling wine in
the summer tasting.
They were of the view that we produce
decent examples of methode traditionelle.
The winning wine proved the point,
attracting comments such as yeasty, crusty
bread, yellow apple, which is exactly what
you expect for top-flight sparkling wine,
whatever its origin.
However, the combined view of the three
experts – each with a different country of
origin, although now full-time professionals
in the New Zealand wine business – was
that the industry as a whole could do better
with sparkling if more effort went in to it,
although there are pockets of excellence.
The home market is very small for wine
that is expensive to produce, and exporting
is difficult because in overseas markets it
is going up against Champagne.
Which means – again because it is
expensive to produce – making methode
traditionelle in New Zealand is just too
much effort for the return for all but a
handful of determined people.
And, said Matt Kirby, the prestige for
Kiwi sparkling just isn’t there, however
good it might be.
It is similar to the situation with Chinese
wine, he said. It doesn’t matter how good it
is, people in China want to drink imported
wine, as they see it as more prestigious.
Then, for every great New Zealand
methode traditionelle, there are several
cheap sparklers made by quicker, easier
methods. These wines further muddy the
water and make the efforts to create an
air of prestige around the sparkling label
all the harder.
But for all that, there is no getting away
from the fact that the handful of wines
that did make it in to the star ratings in
our tasting are wonderful quality and a
credit to their dedicated producers. And
consumers can pick up some serious
bargains by drinking local, and avoiding
the premium prices Champagne continues
to attract thanks to its ruthlessly efficient
self-promotion.
But if anyone can break out and make
methode traditionelle a thing in New
Zealand, it is the aptly named No 1 Family
Estate, run by the Le Brun family, which
took out the number one spot in our tasting.
Daniel Le Brun has been making methode
traditionelle in Marlborough for nearly 40
years, after arriving from France, where
his family had been involved with wine
since 1684.
No 1 Family Estate was the sixth family
business to collect a top wine/five stars
award in this series of tastings, which must
say something for the need for long-term
planning and dedication to quality that often
comes from having a winery team consisting
of husbands and wives, sons and daughters
and the occasional grandparent too.
44 WineNZ Magazine | Summer 2018-19