This January I was one of the lucky recipients of the Guild scholarships to New Zealand and what a great trip! The Twelve Families were our hosts once we landed and the generous hospitality was instantly poured on, and on behalf of my traveling companions I would like to say, thank you.
We touched down on our first day and hit the deck running with a quick flight to Gisborne and were met by the Millton’s, who make the most incredible Chenin Blanc if you haven’t had it. We sat down for lunch in the vineyard and James Millton asked if we wanted to hear a sound from a soon to be extinct animal? He grabed a cork screw and opened a bottle with a loud popping sound and here began the cork vs. screwcap leg of our trip.
James Millton and Cameron Douglas, M.S.
One of the most commonly asked questions that we got from our hosts was “How do people feel about screw caps?”. We started out answering, “we like them for young wines but not for reds that will age”, and needless to say this would bring on some debate. To understand the passion of the New Zealand winemaker’s connection with the scewcap it is important to now the history that pushed them into the 2001 screwcap initiative. They felt like they had their backs against the wall, they weren’t seeing quality corks and they were having TCA issues so they moved forward and took control of the issue and moved to screw caps.
Being open minded I asked if they were still performing trials with cork on their reds, and did they have any that we could taste side by side? This set the pace and we did blind tastings from the North Island to the South Island. It was very interesting, we could tell right away which was the cork and which was the screwcap and it wasn’t that the wines had developed more or less it was all about texture. The screwcap wines had a slight spritz on the palate where as the cork wines were softer and not as sharp on the tongue. We asked several wine makers had they changed the way that they made wine to accommodate the switch from cork to screwcap and some had and others had not. It was dissolved CO2 in the wine and most producers that we spoke to enjoyed that style, that it added a brightness and a freshness. We did however find that once the wine was decanted or left in the glass for some time it was much more difficult to discern a difference. We had the opportunity to do this trial with current vintage and older vintages and though out the trip we had about a 90% success rate in picking out the different closers.
Tasting at Craggy Range where they are moving to 100% screwcap, even on the Bordeaux blends.
Surprises on the trip were the Riesling, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Gris that they are producing and we see very little of here. They are moving to label the Rieslings with the German terms so consumers can tell if they are sweet or dry, there were some exceptional Riesling on the trip. They are also resourceful and as the screwcap showed when they aren’t happy with what they have they find another way to do it. This was in evidence when we visited Neudorf Vineyards (great Riesling) they are doing experiments with mussel shells under the vines to help refract the light.
Great blog. I had the opportunity to taste through some of the Twelve Families' wines at the Guild Tasting in San Francisco about a month ago, and it really opened my eyes to the quality beyond Sauvignon Blanc on the two islands. Overall, the wines showed expressive, true varietal character. Milton's Chenin, Fromm's Riesling and (of course) the Felton Road Pinot Noirs were exemplary. There was, however, a clear quality difference between the Felton Road Otago Pinot and the other two Pinot Noirs in the tasting (both from the North Island, if I recall correctly).
Meagan,
I forgot to mention, James Millton's 2007 Chenin is fantastic, probably the truest Chenin in all of the New World. I was very impressed with his Pinot Noir Clos St. Anne and have them both on the list.
Great post Meagan. In regard to the cork vs. screw cap closure, I have a story to share that occurred in the Napa Valley in 2007. Some Plumpjack principals brought in 2 bottles of the 1997 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon to enjoy with dinner. One was screw cap, the other cork and I was instructed to serve them blind side by side, undecanted. The six tasters were asked to evaluate the wines on 2 criteria: 1) aroma/flavor. 2) texture. I was asked to do the same. To prevent tasters from being "led" the evaluations were recorded on paper and handed in to me. This was conducted twice: immediately upon pouring, and one hour later.
Immediately upon pouring:
Unanimously six out of six tasters, including me, preferred the screw cap for aroma/flavor. There were no signs of reduction. Unanimously six out of six preferred the cork for texture, as the tannins were much more harmonious with the fruit.
One hour later:
The five of the six tasters could not distinguish a difference in aroma/flavor between the two, including me, while one preferred the screw cap. Six of the six tasters, including me, once again, preferred the texture of the cork closure.