Ata Rangi vinyards in Martinborough, New Zealand
We arrive in New Zealand which truly is very clean and very green. Tasting and dinner with Ata Rangi in Martinborough.
We arrive in New Zealand which truly is very clean and very green. Tasting and dinner with Ata Rangi in Martinborough. Ata Rangi – 14 March 2007
My arrival in New Zealand will definitely go down in my personal history as one of the strangest yet. There had been a problem with the luggage and most people were waiting quite a while for their bags. Mine arrived almost immediately, so I made my way out well in advance of the rest of the plane. The customs area lay directly behind a large, frosted glass door which opened as I approached and stepped out into the arrivals area.
Usually, these are places of great bustle and noise and movement, but this one, in a relatively small room, was full of people who were completely silent and still. Rows of them sat in airport chairs, their eyes glued to the frosted door but not moving or saying a word. There was music playing and it seemed louder in the hushed air of expectation. Something folky and very mournful – a haunting, plaintive female voice with guitar and piano.
This was so surreal that I almost felt quite alarmed. Where on earth had I landed? Being the first of our group, I stood to one side and watched silently with the others. The next person out was a middle aged man with straggly, long-ish blond hair. As he appeared through the doorway, an immaculately made up older lady – his mother, I’m sure – rushed up and they embraced each other. This was the longest, most heartfelt hug I have ever seen at an airport. It went on for so long and with such feeling, the sad woman singing all the while, that I got tears in my eyes and suddenly missed my own mother terribly.
Eventually they disentangled and went off arm in arm as more people started streaming through the doors, the music changed to something with a reggae beat and a very other-worldly moment passed away completely.
That then was my introduction to this very green land. The light is crisp and exceptionally clear, rendering colours flawlessly bright and everything sharply in focus. It is not at all golden, as it was in Australia. Wellington, where we flew in – is a very sweet town perched on rolling green hills overlooking a bay. I know already that I am going to like it here very much.
We drove for about 30 minutes before we started to leave houses completely behind. The steep, green hills were amazingly beautiful; the forest dotted with very tropical, exotic looking plants which seemed part giant fern and part palm tree. We began to ascend and the valleys, packed with green vegetation rolled out, endlessly in front of us, their steep sides descending to a floor that was not visible from the road. When it did become visible, I almost wished it hadn’t – we were perilously close to the edge on a very winding road and there was only the flimsiest of wire fences between us and eternity. Also, the weather was lousy – strong winds and rather heavy rains.
We were headed for Matinborough, the best known of the Wellington wine sub-regions. Covering just 3,000 – 3,500 acres, of which only 1,500 are planted, it is relatively tiny by Antipodean standards. Pinot Noir reigns supreme here; in better years, it is one of the warmer areas for this variety in New Zealand and I do find these wines have a slightly richer texture than those from say Cantebury or Central Otago.
The Wellington region as a whole lies in the South of North Island and there are climatic similarities between here and Marlborough – the most famous region of New Zealand.
Both have mountain ranges on their borders where rainfall is extremely high but both are incredibly dry – the rain clouds rarely managing to push over the natural barriers. As if on cue, the rain were we driving though thinned out and then stopped altogether as the bus began its descent onto the flat.
Martinborough is broadly cool climate, almost continental although they do get some benefit from sea breezes, moderating things somewhat. Frost is often a huge problem in the spring. 2007 here is echoing the natural disaster stories we encountered all over Australia, with the smallest fruit set they have ever had after a particularly bad frost earlier in the season. Looking out over the vineyards when we finally arrive is horribly depressing for us and must be completely heartbreaking for them – over the rows of vines, only one or two dotted in patches here and there are netted – those that aren’t all failed to produce anything
Winds here are gale force which can also inhibit fruit set – not all bad as it keeps yields and humidity low so disease is not a big problem in the dry, fresh air. Ata Rangi (which means ‘new beginning’ or ‘dawn sky’) are, to all intents and purposes organic but they do keep their options open so that they can use something if they really need to. This is a hands on place though – leaf plucking by hand during the growing season, hand picking and in the winery, gentle hand plunging of the cap.
Ata Rangi was the dream of Clive Paton who was one of the viticulture pioneers here when he bought a 5 hectare block in 1980 with the intention of making great wine. This was despite the fact that there had previously been no great success with the growing of grapes in the region before and he know nothing at all about wine making and viticulture. He was a farmer though, so had no illusions about how tough working in tandem with nature can be. He was however minimising risk with the choice of a low rainfall area not too far from Wellington where the free draining alluvial river gravels are perfect – low vigour and fertility which again means low yields – and these are amazingly low here, typically 1.25 – 1.5 tons a acre on average.
They now harvest fruit from about 85 acres, 75% of which is owned or leased by them with the balance coming from 3 contract growers. Their closeness to those who grow some of their precious grapes is very obvious – our group is farmed out to stay with these growers and it feels not unlike a big, extended family
Clive’s wife Phyll who came on board shortly after – as a partner in both his home and business – and togerther with his sister Ali, the three run Ata Rangi today. They them come out of their small, bucolic wooden shack which is the tasting room/cellar door sales/office area to great us as we get off the bus.
I love this place immediately. Martinborough feels small scale, but in an increasingly global, mass market world, I think small is more beautiful now than it has ever been. The green of the vineyards is almost luminous in the crystal clear air against a blue sky and the first thing I see when we enter the tasting room are the bottles which are for sale, wrapped in either green or purple tissue paper and lying stacked on their side, they make a beautifully simple but really stylish display.
And that is very much Ata Rangi I think – they do things simply and without fuss but with great style none the less. Ali’s house where we have the tasting later is a dream home – large fireplace, vibrant green walls which echo the green of the vineyard and really lovely pieces of art by local artists. Again, simple but stylish (and believe me, I think the green is stylish no matter how it may sound. I probably would say that though, as it is the exact colour of the outside of my shop.)
I am told that I am staying ‘through the hedge’ – which is every bit as fabulous as it sounds. Ali leads me past one of their original vineyards, down a thick, fluffy hedge of what looks like a sort of pine bush until we get to a gate ankle deep in pine needles, through which I somehow managed to drag my stupidly heavy suitcase, past a house to a small wooden cottage. Small but very perfectly formed, this has gorgeous painted furniture and a big bed covered in a floral throw which is bright and cheerful against the blue walls.
I could definitely live here.
Once I have settled, I walk back through the hedge and past the vineyards to Ali’s house for the tasting.
Before we start, the three of them and wine maker Helen Master - who joined them just after school and has worked her way up to the top spot in the winery – explain their involvement in the Crimson project. Established in 1995 and sponsored by a Green Electricity provider in New Zealand, this is a project all about protecting indigenous trees. These are magnificent plants which have been under threat of complete extinction due to the insanity of the original English colonists who had burnt huge swathes of native forests to the ground in the land clearances of the 1880’s The famous rata trees are quite spectacular - when fully mature, a small family could live in the vast trunks (almost literally as these are hollow) and, from November to January, branches are festooned with bright crimson flowers. These days, finding small groups of them is incredibly rare. However, when Ata Rangi bought a plot of land in the Wairarapa region a few years ago, they discovered more than 70 mature trees and now intend to repopulate the Southern Wairarapa with these magnificent beasts as well as the native pohutukawa trees.
This is not simple – the trees don’t propagate easily from cuttings and there is great variation in flowering from year to year. As well as the rata, Ati Rangi have, together with their neighbours, formed Waihora Watch with the intention of recovering both native plants and wildlife. They got involved with the Crimson Project through this work and not do an invaluable job getting the story of the tree conservation project to a wider audience.
Now in its 3rd year , their Crimson wine comes from younger vines than the top red (in particular a clone which is better for early, easy drinking) and I cannot think of a better reason to buy or drink a wine. It helps that it is also very delicious, of course.
At this point, James the cat began wailing piteously at the door to be let in, standing on his back legs and staring through the glass. He had been banished as one of our group have an allergy to cats. Through the window, the dying light of the day is touching the distant hills, rendering them softly golden. The air is chilly but we are tasting at a long table by a fire, so we are just fine.
If only all my tastings could be this serene and delicious.
2000 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir
Still fresh red fruit on nose. Good, balanced acidity, extremely fine tannin, light to medium body with sweet red fruit overlaid with notes of undergrowth and black coffee. Lovely elegant sweet red fruit towards the back and a fresh cranberry finish. Perfectly balanced, still very much alive and showing great development.
Recommended.
An average year for Martinborough in terms of the weather – not too hot but not too cold during the ripening period. Years like these tend to produce very good wines in Martinborough. This was also a year when the yield was reasonable – about 2.5 tons per acre which has not been matched since.
2001 Pinot Noir
Quite closed but deeper, richer base notes than the 00 – hints of black fruit. Balanced acidity, slightly more structured but still very fine tannins, medium body, black and red cherry fruit with the some slight farmyard (very clean farmyard), animal notes underneath. Very good length and great fresh fruit and black coffee finish with slight Pinot aromatics coming out as well.
Recommended.
Clive first planted a clone called Abel here which is what gives these wines their very fine, silky texture and tannins. They always make sure that they have this clone as a percentage of the wines.
They harvest according to clones here and often treat them slightly differently in the winery in order to get the best out of them. They tend to all ripen slightly differently and are often planted on different rootstocks, certainly in the different vineyards.
The vines here are grafted as they have always assumed that Phylloxera would arrive and they were completely right – it was first discovered here last week. A Martinborough neighbour has found that they are riddled with it. Most of them have plantings on original rootstock but everyone has known that it will come at some stage and so there is a slow and steady replanting.
2002 Pinot Noir
Also quite closed on nose.
Has opened up on returning to it – ripe red fruit and milky coffee. High but balanced acidity, structured, fine tannins, medium body with crisp cranberry, sweet red cherry and cloves. This has wonderful complexity for a light, lean wine so far, albeit still in a very young form. Lovely sweet spice development on the palate with a fresh, youthful black coffee finish. This is pretty, delicate wine.
Highly recommended.
This was a rainy year with Jan and Feb being damp and cloudy, hence the lighter wine. ‘Triffid like’ canopies refused to stop growing because of the rain and they were only saved by the gravels which are so free draining that none of the moisture hung around for too long.
I love this wine - a true testament to the dedication in the vineyards and the skilful winemaking at Ata Rangi. This is a classic example of a vintage which could have been a disaster but instead, they have produced an superbly elegant, real delicate ballerina of a wine which is delicious and might lack weight (which is not a criticism – almost the opposite) but does not lack complexity.
They have 60 plus parcels of different fruit to manage at Ata Rangi which is really extra-ordinary – that is very, very high maintenance given how closely they manage things.
They also do a fair amount of splash racking which tends to spread the tannins. This is where the side valve is opened to let all the juice drain. It is then poured back over the top of the cap. This cools down the ferment which means the yeast stays healthy and happy and increases more than it otherwise would, which in turn helps to fine the tannins.
2003 Pinot Noir
More vibrant red cherry on nose. Balanced acidity, quite chunky velvety tannins – very integrated, medium body, black and red fruit, richer and riper than the 02, with smoky, clove and cinnamon flavours coming out towards the back. Great fresh fruit and clove finish. This is also still very young but is already good to drink and will get even better once it softens and blossoms.
Highly recommended.
03 started with frost which decimated them early in the growing season. They have never seen anything like it before or since but the rest of the season was perfect, made better by the fact that it was a small crop.
It can be very difficult to manage the ripeness levels in a bad frost year as you get fruit set at different times but again, thanks to their very careful vineyard work, they have come through with a beautiful wine.
At this point, we had a discussion about Stelvin (screw cap closures) Part of wine making is the production of sulphides which can cover the fruit quite a lot – this happens often in all sorts of wine. The permeability of cork means that these dissipate when the wine is in bottle - sadly not the case under stelvin. To avoid this, they treat with copper with the result that the wine is now almost even cleaner than it was under cork.
Of course, ensuring that fruit is very healthy is also a guard against sulphides as these tend to form more easily in the absence of nitrogen and various other nutrients during the fermentation.
To this end, they do their own composting and use compost teas on the vineyards. They don’t use insecticides and never have, planting wild flowers instead which encourage a healthy insect population which keeps pests in check. They do use herbicides to control weeds and wish they didn’t have to but their yields are so low as it is, they don’t have a choice. They are not sceptical about biodynamics but practically, they find that running 80 – 90 acres with a relatively small team makes this impossible at the moment.
2003 was also the year they first switched to Stelvin. New Zealand seemed to get a run of really bad corks from 1996 through to the big change to Stelvin around 03. There remains huge random bottle oxidation from those years . They now buy corks from a Portuguese man who lives in New Zealand who has told them that he thinks New Zealand was getting batches with Morrocan cork blended into the Portuguese. This was because of the huge explosion in the wine industry – the Portuguese could not keep up and started to cut corners with, it transpires, pretty disastrous results as more and more producers decided enough was enough.
Ata Rangi now use stelvin on everything except the magnums and the dessert wines. Clive believes that there will definitely be on-going development in the closures with Stelvin eventually able to replicate the benefits of cork as far as a reduction in sulphides goes.
They have been very happy with how the wines age under Stelvin – things definitely happen more slowly, but the fruit is still there.
2004 Pinot Noir
Aromatic red and black fruit, some sweet spice – light, fresh and delicate on nose. High but balanced acidity, very fine but very structured tannins, light to medium body with fresh cranberry and red cherry and a sprinkling of aromatic pinot perfume. Much lighter, more perfumed style but really just as beautiful – just in a different way.
Highly Recommeded.
A warm December, promising January and then it started to rain in the southern part of North island. Rivers were flooded but where the grapes are managed to stay fairly dry – mainly because of the gravels, but they also did loads of leaf thinning and had to drop fruit because of botrytis.
The end of the season was lovely and they managed to harvest some lovely fruit.
2005 Pinot Noir
Quite closed cranberry fruit on nose. This has become very slightly gamey when I return to it. High but balanced acidity, very perfumed red cherry fruit with a hint of warm spice underneath. Definitely richer and rounder than previous vintages. This is deliciously perfumed – the most obvious perfume of all of them which is surprising given the richer fruit – I usually equate more perfume with more restrained fruit. Very good length with an especially perfumed finish.
Highly Recommended.
£30
Another small crop but quite a hot year. This is very popular in Australia apparently because of the richer than usual fruit.
James continues to yowl outside. He is staring in fixedly at me and alternates between this and running off to the bathroom window to make a lot of noise there.
2006 Crimson Pinot Noir
Lighter, fresher red fruit nose – very vibrant. Very balanced acidity , soft, very approachable tannin, light to medium body and packed full of bright, primary fruit. Not hugely complex but utterly delicious to drink. Good length and good fresh finish.
Highly Recommended.
£16.25
The Crimson 06 has some of the younger vines batches and the ferment is shorter as they are not looking for extraction. Cold soak happens similar to the other wine and it is then pressed and goes into oak, for a shorter period of time.
2006 Pinot Noir
Deeper, denser black and red fruit on nose. This is still a barrel sample and has just been blended, so it is still tasting quite young. Balanced acidity, structured but very fine tannins – very dense black fruit with underlying aromatics but still very young. It is all in place though – the mid palate, length and finish are all spot on, with ripe black cherry and a slightly more herbal, floral aromatic profile at this stage.
Highly Recommended.
£30.00
They initially thought they would get another small crop this year, but it was quite a reasonable year in the end. The fruit was very good looking - perfect bunches which was a joy after the difficulties of the preceding years. This has always had strong violet and cherry stone character and they believe that this will be easier to drink younger than the 05.
Most fruit is destemmed with only a tiny percentage left as whole bunches. This is then cooled to 10 degrees and held there for 5 to 7 days after which it is either warmed up or warms it self up and during that period the natural yeast starts its work. Because it is natural, the start is very slow which gives a very natural long fermentation, peaking at about 31 degrees. They ferment in as small batches as possible typically, 5 ton fermenters with man holes in the top which allow for manual pumping. After pressing, depending on the year, they will either divert the last pressings or not.
Malolactic fermentation happens in barrel – both 228l barrels and also 500l.
After the tasting we repaired to dinner at the Martinborough Hotel in the dinky country hamlet of the same name. I was hungry, believe it or not, but my heart did sink slightly when I saw the length of the menu – another tour de force which, coming so soon after last nights Sydney onslaught was a bit much. If my colon could have got up and walked away from it all, I very much think it would have.
My fears were unjustified though as while extensive, it was a very light and leaving out the cheese and petit fours, I think I survived it. We started with oysters with the 2006 Sauvigon Blanc – lean and flinty and not at all Marlborough in style (which is a good thing) – a very good match although I was a lot less sure about the Chardonnay vinegar sorbet which they came with. Perfect on their own, they really did not need any else and the sweetness was actually quite horrid. The 2003 Ata Rangi Pinot Gris was showing very well at dinner – rich, honeyed and smoky – and it went absolutely perfectly with a smoked eel salad.
The Chardonnay’s were the star of the white wine show though – the 2003 was ever so slightly oxidised and a bit clumsy (the last vintage by a male wine maker before Helen took over and Phyll thinks the vintages after that have a more feminine touch) but the 2005 was gorgeous – lean, flinty, box fresh Chardonnay fruit enriched but in no way overpowered with just the merest hint of buttery oak. I have never been a fan of New Zealand Chardonnay but things have evidently moved quite far, quite quickly. This was wonderful wine.
2001, 2000 and 2005 Pinot was served with the main course – I had a summer Risotto (courgettes and lemon oil) which was lovely and fresh and while the Pinot’s were not a perfect match, they did not clash. The first bottle of 2001 was rather oxidised so we tried again. Thank god for screw cap!!
Cheese followed – which I skipped – but the accompaniments were fantastic. Honeycomb, seriously good dried fruit, prunes which tasted like they had been soaked in some sort of herbal tea and small squares of ginger bread. Who needs cheese when you have such things?
Finally, Petit fours were served in the library by a roaring fire (it really is very cold and wet this evening). I tried, but could not manage even one which was a shame - they looked fabulous.
As far as serious gastronomic meals go, this was the best of the trip. It rivalled mine from last night, but then I apparently did a lot better than everyone else thanks to my special menu requirements. I am not usually a fan of meals like this – I prefer much more rustic simplicity – but when it is done well, it can be wonderful and this was done very well indeed. Excellent service (the restaurant manager was ex-Conran as well and came and introduced himself. ), really good food and, of course, great wines.
After dinner, I am alone in my little cottage (really it is a small bedroom with a bathroom) in the middle of a field that used to be a vineyard which was recently grubbed up. I already very much love New Zealand. I wanted to try not to use the word ‘quirky’ as that sounds a bit patronising and this place is far too beautiful and amazing to be patronised. The people are far too kind and intelligent to ever have that treatment either. However, chatting to the restaurant manager after our marathon dinner, it is the word he used (originally from Lancashire, he has settled here), so I feel justified.
It is quirky. While at the same time being majestic and awesome in a way the Australia, lovely as it was, simply never managed. Perhaps it is the verdant green. Almost certainly the steep sided valleys and hills have something to do with hit. Definitely the clear light I mentioned before is a factor. The combination of all of these plus something indefinable – the energy in the air – makes this one of my favourite places in the world already and I have not yet been here for even 24 hours.
My arrival in New Zealand will definitely go down in my personal history as one of the strangest yet. There had been a problem with the luggage and most people were waiting quite a while for their bags. Mine arrived almost immediately, so I made my way out well in advance of the rest of the plane. The customs area lay directly behind a large, frosted glass door which opened as I approached and stepped out into the arrivals area.
Usually, these are places of great bustle and noise and movement, but this one, in a relatively small room, was full of people who were completely silent and still. Rows of them sat in airport chairs, their eyes glued to the frosted door but not moving or saying a word. There was music playing and it seemed louder in the hushed air of expectation. Something folky and very mournful – a haunting, plaintive female voice with guitar and piano.
This was so surreal that I almost felt quite alarmed. Where on earth had I landed? Being the first of our group, I stood to one side and watched silently with the others. The next person out was a middle aged man with straggly, long-ish blond hair. As he appeared through the doorway, an immaculately made up older lady – his mother, I’m sure – rushed up and they embraced each other. This was the longest, most heartfelt hug I have ever seen at an airport. It went on for so long and with such feeling, the sad woman singing all the while, that I got tears in my eyes and suddenly missed my own mother terribly.
Eventually they disentangled and went off arm in arm as more people started streaming through the doors, the music changed to something with a reggae beat and a very other-worldly moment passed away completely.
That then was my introduction to this very green land. The light is crisp and exceptionally clear, rendering colours flawlessly bright and everything sharply in focus. It is not at all golden, as it was in Australia. Wellington, where we flew in – is a very sweet town perched on rolling green hills overlooking a bay. I know already that I am going to like it here very much.
We drove for about 30 minutes before we started to leave houses completely behind. The steep, green hills were amazingly beautiful; the forest dotted with very tropical, exotic looking plants which seemed part giant fern and part palm tree. We began to ascend and the valleys, packed with green vegetation rolled out, endlessly in front of us, their steep sides descending to a floor that was not visible from the road. When it did become visible, I almost wished it hadn’t – we were perilously close to the edge on a very winding road and there was only the flimsiest of wire fences between us and eternity. Also, the weather was lousy – strong winds and rather heavy rains.
We were headed for Matinborough, the best known of the Wellington wine sub-regions. Covering just 3,000 – 3,500 acres, of which only 1,500 are planted, it is relatively tiny by Antipodean standards. Pinot Noir reigns supreme here; in better years, it is one of the warmer areas for this variety in New Zealand and I do find these wines have a slightly richer texture than those from say Cantebury or Central Otago.
The Wellington region as a whole lies in the South of North Island and there are climatic similarities between here and Marlborough – the most famous region of New Zealand.
Both have mountain ranges on their borders where rainfall is extremely high but both are incredibly dry – the rain clouds rarely managing to push over the natural barriers. As if on cue, the rain were we driving though thinned out and then stopped altogether as the bus began its descent onto the flat.
Martinborough is broadly cool climate, almost continental although they do get some benefit from sea breezes, moderating things somewhat. Frost is often a huge problem in the spring. 2007 here is echoing the natural disaster stories we encountered all over Australia, with the smallest fruit set they have ever had after a particularly bad frost earlier in the season. Looking out over the vineyards when we finally arrive is horribly depressing for us and must be completely heartbreaking for them – over the rows of vines, only one or two dotted in patches here and there are netted – those that aren’t all failed to produce anything
Winds here are gale force which can also inhibit fruit set – not all bad as it keeps yields and humidity low so disease is not a big problem in the dry, fresh air. Ata Rangi (which means ‘new beginning’ or ‘dawn sky’) are, to all intents and purposes organic but they do keep their options open so that they can use something if they really need to. This is a hands on place though – leaf plucking by hand during the growing season, hand picking and in the winery, gentle hand plunging of the cap.
Ata Rangi was the dream of Clive Paton who was one of the viticulture pioneers here when he bought a 5 hectare block in 1980 with the intention of making great wine. This was despite the fact that there had previously been no great success with the growing of grapes in the region before and he know nothing at all about wine making and viticulture. He was a farmer though, so had no illusions about how tough working in tandem with nature can be. He was however minimising risk with the choice of a low rainfall area not too far from Wellington where the free draining alluvial river gravels are perfect – low vigour and fertility which again means low yields – and these are amazingly low here, typically 1.25 – 1.5 tons a acre on average.
They now harvest fruit from about 85 acres, 75% of which is owned or leased by them with the balance coming from 3 contract growers. Their closeness to those who grow some of their precious grapes is very obvious – our group is farmed out to stay with these growers and it feels not unlike a big, extended family
Clive’s wife Phyll who came on board shortly after – as a partner in both his home and business – and togerther with his sister Ali, the three run Ata Rangi today. They them come out of their small, bucolic wooden shack which is the tasting room/cellar door sales/office area to great us as we get off the bus.
I love this place immediately. Martinborough feels small scale, but in an increasingly global, mass market world, I think small is more beautiful now than it has ever been. The green of the vineyards is almost luminous in the crystal clear air against a blue sky and the first thing I see when we enter the tasting room are the bottles which are for sale, wrapped in either green or purple tissue paper and lying stacked on their side, they make a beautifully simple but really stylish display.
And that is very much Ata Rangi I think – they do things simply and without fuss but with great style none the less. Ali’s house where we have the tasting later is a dream home – large fireplace, vibrant green walls which echo the green of the vineyard and really lovely pieces of art by local artists. Again, simple but stylish (and believe me, I think the green is stylish no matter how it may sound. I probably would say that though, as it is the exact colour of the outside of my shop.)
I am told that I am staying ‘through the hedge’ – which is every bit as fabulous as it sounds. Ali leads me past one of their original vineyards, down a thick, fluffy hedge of what looks like a sort of pine bush until we get to a gate ankle deep in pine needles, through which I somehow managed to drag my stupidly heavy suitcase, past a house to a small wooden cottage. Small but very perfectly formed, this has gorgeous painted furniture and a big bed covered in a floral throw which is bright and cheerful against the blue walls.
I could definitely live here.
Once I have settled, I walk back through the hedge and past the vineyards to Ali’s house for the tasting.
Before we start, the three of them and wine maker Helen Master - who joined them just after school and has worked her way up to the top spot in the winery – explain their involvement in the Crimson project. Established in 1995 and sponsored by a Green Electricity provider in New Zealand, this is a project all about protecting indigenous trees. These are magnificent plants which have been under threat of complete extinction due to the insanity of the original English colonists who had burnt huge swathes of native forests to the ground in the land clearances of the 1880’s The famous rata trees are quite spectacular - when fully mature, a small family could live in the vast trunks (almost literally as these are hollow) and, from November to January, branches are festooned with bright crimson flowers. These days, finding small groups of them is incredibly rare. However, when Ata Rangi bought a plot of land in the Wairarapa region a few years ago, they discovered more than 70 mature trees and now intend to repopulate the Southern Wairarapa with these magnificent beasts as well as the native pohutukawa trees.
This is not simple – the trees don’t propagate easily from cuttings and there is great variation in flowering from year to year. As well as the rata, Ati Rangi have, together with their neighbours, formed Waihora Watch with the intention of recovering both native plants and wildlife. They got involved with the Crimson Project through this work and not do an invaluable job getting the story of the tree conservation project to a wider audience.
Now in its 3rd year , their Crimson wine comes from younger vines than the top red (in particular a clone which is better for early, easy drinking) and I cannot think of a better reason to buy or drink a wine. It helps that it is also very delicious, of course.
At this point, James the cat began wailing piteously at the door to be let in, standing on his back legs and staring through the glass. He had been banished as one of our group have an allergy to cats. Through the window, the dying light of the day is touching the distant hills, rendering them softly golden. The air is chilly but we are tasting at a long table by a fire, so we are just fine.
If only all my tastings could be this serene and delicious.
2000 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir
Still fresh red fruit on nose. Good, balanced acidity, extremely fine tannin, light to medium body with sweet red fruit overlaid with notes of undergrowth and black coffee. Lovely elegant sweet red fruit towards the back and a fresh cranberry finish. Perfectly balanced, still very much alive and showing great development.
Recommended.
An average year for Martinborough in terms of the weather – not too hot but not too cold during the ripening period. Years like these tend to produce very good wines in Martinborough. This was also a year when the yield was reasonable – about 2.5 tons per acre which has not been matched since.
2001 Pinot Noir
Quite closed but deeper, richer base notes than the 00 – hints of black fruit. Balanced acidity, slightly more structured but still very fine tannins, medium body, black and red cherry fruit with the some slight farmyard (very clean farmyard), animal notes underneath. Very good length and great fresh fruit and black coffee finish with slight Pinot aromatics coming out as well.
Recommended.
Clive first planted a clone called Abel here which is what gives these wines their very fine, silky texture and tannins. They always make sure that they have this clone as a percentage of the wines.
They harvest according to clones here and often treat them slightly differently in the winery in order to get the best out of them. They tend to all ripen slightly differently and are often planted on different rootstocks, certainly in the different vineyards.
The vines here are grafted as they have always assumed that Phylloxera would arrive and they were completely right – it was first discovered here last week. A Martinborough neighbour has found that they are riddled with it. Most of them have plantings on original rootstock but everyone has known that it will come at some stage and so there is a slow and steady replanting.
2002 Pinot Noir
Also quite closed on nose.
Has opened up on returning to it – ripe red fruit and milky coffee. High but balanced acidity, structured, fine tannins, medium body with crisp cranberry, sweet red cherry and cloves. This has wonderful complexity for a light, lean wine so far, albeit still in a very young form. Lovely sweet spice development on the palate with a fresh, youthful black coffee finish. This is pretty, delicate wine.
Highly recommended.
This was a rainy year with Jan and Feb being damp and cloudy, hence the lighter wine. ‘Triffid like’ canopies refused to stop growing because of the rain and they were only saved by the gravels which are so free draining that none of the moisture hung around for too long.
I love this wine - a true testament to the dedication in the vineyards and the skilful winemaking at Ata Rangi. This is a classic example of a vintage which could have been a disaster but instead, they have produced an superbly elegant, real delicate ballerina of a wine which is delicious and might lack weight (which is not a criticism – almost the opposite) but does not lack complexity.
They have 60 plus parcels of different fruit to manage at Ata Rangi which is really extra-ordinary – that is very, very high maintenance given how closely they manage things.
They also do a fair amount of splash racking which tends to spread the tannins. This is where the side valve is opened to let all the juice drain. It is then poured back over the top of the cap. This cools down the ferment which means the yeast stays healthy and happy and increases more than it otherwise would, which in turn helps to fine the tannins.
2003 Pinot Noir
More vibrant red cherry on nose. Balanced acidity, quite chunky velvety tannins – very integrated, medium body, black and red fruit, richer and riper than the 02, with smoky, clove and cinnamon flavours coming out towards the back. Great fresh fruit and clove finish. This is also still very young but is already good to drink and will get even better once it softens and blossoms.
Highly recommended.
03 started with frost which decimated them early in the growing season. They have never seen anything like it before or since but the rest of the season was perfect, made better by the fact that it was a small crop.
It can be very difficult to manage the ripeness levels in a bad frost year as you get fruit set at different times but again, thanks to their very careful vineyard work, they have come through with a beautiful wine.
At this point, we had a discussion about Stelvin (screw cap closures) Part of wine making is the production of sulphides which can cover the fruit quite a lot – this happens often in all sorts of wine. The permeability of cork means that these dissipate when the wine is in bottle - sadly not the case under stelvin. To avoid this, they treat with copper with the result that the wine is now almost even cleaner than it was under cork.
Of course, ensuring that fruit is very healthy is also a guard against sulphides as these tend to form more easily in the absence of nitrogen and various other nutrients during the fermentation.
To this end, they do their own composting and use compost teas on the vineyards. They don’t use insecticides and never have, planting wild flowers instead which encourage a healthy insect population which keeps pests in check. They do use herbicides to control weeds and wish they didn’t have to but their yields are so low as it is, they don’t have a choice. They are not sceptical about biodynamics but practically, they find that running 80 – 90 acres with a relatively small team makes this impossible at the moment.
2003 was also the year they first switched to Stelvin. New Zealand seemed to get a run of really bad corks from 1996 through to the big change to Stelvin around 03. There remains huge random bottle oxidation from those years . They now buy corks from a Portuguese man who lives in New Zealand who has told them that he thinks New Zealand was getting batches with Morrocan cork blended into the Portuguese. This was because of the huge explosion in the wine industry – the Portuguese could not keep up and started to cut corners with, it transpires, pretty disastrous results as more and more producers decided enough was enough.
Ata Rangi now use stelvin on everything except the magnums and the dessert wines. Clive believes that there will definitely be on-going development in the closures with Stelvin eventually able to replicate the benefits of cork as far as a reduction in sulphides goes.
They have been very happy with how the wines age under Stelvin – things definitely happen more slowly, but the fruit is still there.
2004 Pinot Noir
Aromatic red and black fruit, some sweet spice – light, fresh and delicate on nose. High but balanced acidity, very fine but very structured tannins, light to medium body with fresh cranberry and red cherry and a sprinkling of aromatic pinot perfume. Much lighter, more perfumed style but really just as beautiful – just in a different way.
Highly Recommeded.
A warm December, promising January and then it started to rain in the southern part of North island. Rivers were flooded but where the grapes are managed to stay fairly dry – mainly because of the gravels, but they also did loads of leaf thinning and had to drop fruit because of botrytis.
The end of the season was lovely and they managed to harvest some lovely fruit.
2005 Pinot Noir
Quite closed cranberry fruit on nose. This has become very slightly gamey when I return to it. High but balanced acidity, very perfumed red cherry fruit with a hint of warm spice underneath. Definitely richer and rounder than previous vintages. This is deliciously perfumed – the most obvious perfume of all of them which is surprising given the richer fruit – I usually equate more perfume with more restrained fruit. Very good length with an especially perfumed finish.
Highly Recommended.
£30
Another small crop but quite a hot year. This is very popular in Australia apparently because of the richer than usual fruit.
James continues to yowl outside. He is staring in fixedly at me and alternates between this and running off to the bathroom window to make a lot of noise there.
2006 Crimson Pinot Noir
Lighter, fresher red fruit nose – very vibrant. Very balanced acidity , soft, very approachable tannin, light to medium body and packed full of bright, primary fruit. Not hugely complex but utterly delicious to drink. Good length and good fresh finish.
Highly Recommended.
£16.25
The Crimson 06 has some of the younger vines batches and the ferment is shorter as they are not looking for extraction. Cold soak happens similar to the other wine and it is then pressed and goes into oak, for a shorter period of time.
2006 Pinot Noir
Deeper, denser black and red fruit on nose. This is still a barrel sample and has just been blended, so it is still tasting quite young. Balanced acidity, structured but very fine tannins – very dense black fruit with underlying aromatics but still very young. It is all in place though – the mid palate, length and finish are all spot on, with ripe black cherry and a slightly more herbal, floral aromatic profile at this stage.
Highly Recommended.
£30.00
They initially thought they would get another small crop this year, but it was quite a reasonable year in the end. The fruit was very good looking - perfect bunches which was a joy after the difficulties of the preceding years. This has always had strong violet and cherry stone character and they believe that this will be easier to drink younger than the 05.
Most fruit is destemmed with only a tiny percentage left as whole bunches. This is then cooled to 10 degrees and held there for 5 to 7 days after which it is either warmed up or warms it self up and during that period the natural yeast starts its work. Because it is natural, the start is very slow which gives a very natural long fermentation, peaking at about 31 degrees. They ferment in as small batches as possible typically, 5 ton fermenters with man holes in the top which allow for manual pumping. After pressing, depending on the year, they will either divert the last pressings or not.
Malolactic fermentation happens in barrel – both 228l barrels and also 500l.
After the tasting we repaired to dinner at the Martinborough Hotel in the dinky country hamlet of the same name. I was hungry, believe it or not, but my heart did sink slightly when I saw the length of the menu – another tour de force which, coming so soon after last nights Sydney onslaught was a bit much. If my colon could have got up and walked away from it all, I very much think it would have.
My fears were unjustified though as while extensive, it was a very light and leaving out the cheese and petit fours, I think I survived it. We started with oysters with the 2006 Sauvigon Blanc – lean and flinty and not at all Marlborough in style (which is a good thing) – a very good match although I was a lot less sure about the Chardonnay vinegar sorbet which they came with. Perfect on their own, they really did not need any else and the sweetness was actually quite horrid. The 2003 Ata Rangi Pinot Gris was showing very well at dinner – rich, honeyed and smoky – and it went absolutely perfectly with a smoked eel salad.
The Chardonnay’s were the star of the white wine show though – the 2003 was ever so slightly oxidised and a bit clumsy (the last vintage by a male wine maker before Helen took over and Phyll thinks the vintages after that have a more feminine touch) but the 2005 was gorgeous – lean, flinty, box fresh Chardonnay fruit enriched but in no way overpowered with just the merest hint of buttery oak. I have never been a fan of New Zealand Chardonnay but things have evidently moved quite far, quite quickly. This was wonderful wine.
2001, 2000 and 2005 Pinot was served with the main course – I had a summer Risotto (courgettes and lemon oil) which was lovely and fresh and while the Pinot’s were not a perfect match, they did not clash. The first bottle of 2001 was rather oxidised so we tried again. Thank god for screw cap!!
Cheese followed – which I skipped – but the accompaniments were fantastic. Honeycomb, seriously good dried fruit, prunes which tasted like they had been soaked in some sort of herbal tea and small squares of ginger bread. Who needs cheese when you have such things?
Finally, Petit fours were served in the library by a roaring fire (it really is very cold and wet this evening). I tried, but could not manage even one which was a shame - they looked fabulous.
As far as serious gastronomic meals go, this was the best of the trip. It rivalled mine from last night, but then I apparently did a lot better than everyone else thanks to my special menu requirements. I am not usually a fan of meals like this – I prefer much more rustic simplicity – but when it is done well, it can be wonderful and this was done very well indeed. Excellent service (the restaurant manager was ex-Conran as well and came and introduced himself. ), really good food and, of course, great wines.
After dinner, I am alone in my little cottage (really it is a small bedroom with a bathroom) in the middle of a field that used to be a vineyard which was recently grubbed up. I already very much love New Zealand. I wanted to try not to use the word ‘quirky’ as that sounds a bit patronising and this place is far too beautiful and amazing to be patronised. The people are far too kind and intelligent to ever have that treatment either. However, chatting to the restaurant manager after our marathon dinner, it is the word he used (originally from Lancashire, he has settled here), so I feel justified.
It is quirky. While at the same time being majestic and awesome in a way the Australia, lovely as it was, simply never managed. Perhaps it is the verdant green. Almost certainly the steep sided valleys and hills have something to do with hit. Definitely the clear light I mentioned before is a factor. The combination of all of these plus something indefinable – the energy in the air – makes this one of my favourite places in the world already and I have not yet been here for even 24 hours.
