-and-Tim-Heath-with-the-2015-Cloudy-Bay-Sauvignon-Blanc-2.jpg?resize=720%2C405&ssl=1)
Cloudy Bay
Helicopters file away into the skies over Marlborough’s Wairau Valley looking like a scene out of legendary TV comedy M.A.S.H.
There’s no emergency here though, we’re at the Cloudy Bay winery celebrating the release of their 2015 sauvignon blanc and 30 years of producing New Zealand’s most internationally recognised wine.
The helicopters are buzzing a small group of media over the various grape plantings that festoon this world-famous patch of dirt.
Wine always has an air of calm sophistication, but there’s plenty of pressure to make magic out of the crushed and fermented fruits on the vines below.
Photography by: Cloudy Bay
It’s a precarious business, wine making, and at Cloudy Bay I learn myriad pitfalls lurk before their sauvignon blanc gets its worldwide release at the start of October each year.
You see, helicopters really do play an emergency role in the skies over the Wairau Valley before harvest time.
Frost damage to ripening grapes is one of the biggest dangers vineyards face and Cloudy Bay vineyard manager Peter Lamb describes one night when scores of helicopters sat hovering over the vines one frozen Marlborough morning in 2014, with the rotors keeping the frost from settling on the delicate fruit.
The most dangerous time for frost is between about 3am and daybreak and last year Cloudy Bay’s bill for helicopters alone was around $100,000. Setting up stationary fans in the vineyards is equally as pricey, especially if you have a few frost-free years and they sit idle.
Photography by: Cloudy Bay
Peter looks to the heavens, like Colonel Potter lamenting the futility of war, wondering if, one day, there will be enough helicopters in New Zealand to save the ever expanding vineyards of Marlborough from frost when the big one hits.
Frost isn’t the only danger that can befall the grapes either. ‘Tinned asparagus juice’ is clearly the stuff of nightmares for Cloudy Bay viticulturist Jim White.
We’re kicking the dirt on a walking tour of Cloudy Bay’s vineyards a little later and he’s talking about their sauvignon blanc plantings and the flavour profile they want to achieve.
They look to avoid strong herbaceous characters and focus their plantings in the Rapaura, Fairhall, Renwick and Brancott sub-regions of the Wairau Valley, which emphasise citrus, stone fruit and lemongrass flavours.
Photography by: Cloudy Bay
Location is key, but there’s also the importance of harvesting the grapes at optimum ripeness while avoiding any heavy rain, which can damage the grapes and make the winemaker’s life hell. You want no rain at all between February and early April, when they are harvested.
In 2014, Cloudy Bay got their sauvignon blanc crop in one day ahead of a long period of heavy rain.
They dodged a bullet there, but not every Marlborough winery walked away from that harvest unscathed. They lost some good fruit out there…
Canopy care is crucial, thinning out the vines so the fruit doesn’t have to remain on the vines longer than necessary means less fruit, but an earlier harvest. Get greedy, leave too much fruit on the vines and the rain can come and damage your crop.
Cloudy Bay’s barrel room Photography by: Cloudy Bay
Back at Cloudy Bay’s barrel room we’re cool, calm and collected, the 2015 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc is sitting pretty in its bottle and we’re about to taste it.
Head winemaker Tim Heath has pulled a swag of other Cloudy Bay sauvignons from over the years for us to sample too. He also presents a tasting of their unique sauvignon blanc expression Te Koko.
I first tried Te Koko in 2013 and was instantly a huge fan. I’m probably doing Tim and the Cloudy Bay team a disservice, but it’s like sauvignon blanc for chardonnay drinkers; it’s fermented on indigenous yeasts, creamy with mineral and stone fruit characteristics. It also gets a bit of malolactic fermentation, which is a signature of chardonnay, and imparts the buttery flavour you find in the wine.
The one thing that surprised me most about the cellared sauvignon blanc, is that you can cellar sauvignon blanc.
You can age any wine that is well made, apparently. To prove it, Tim produced a 1998 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc.
Photography by: Cloudy Bay
Tim explains it is quite similar to their 2015 release as both were produced in near draught-like conditions and emphasise citrus and stone fruit and doggedly avoid any herbaceous characters (tinned asparagus).
The aging in bottle adds a toasty richness and roundness to the 1998 sauvignon. By comparison, the 2015 is fresh and crisp and the exact thing that excites wine drinkers around the world about Cloudy Bay sauvignon.
The point is, you can see where the 2015 is going if you feel like aging it. Cloudy Bay gifted the media folk a bottle of the 2015 to take away, I drank mine immediately upon returning home and it was bloody nice. But, if you forget it’s in your wine cellar it could still be great in 10 years. Incidentally, there is exactly zero chance of that happening at my house or my cellar (my cellar is a cupboard).
The Te Koko is a more rounded and savoury wine that offers different textures for food matching compared with the sauvignon blanc.
It works well with rich white meats like roast pork and as I discover a bit later, rabbit.
By comparison Tim calls the 2015 sauvignon an ‘oyster wine’ that also pairs well with seafood and many South East Asian flavours.
Over dinner at Cloudy Bay’s wonderful private dining room The Treehouse we work through a degustation dinner matched to Cloudy Bay wines and get a chance to judge for ourselves.
Photography by: Cloudy Bay
A dish of salmon sashimi with horseradish cream, yuzu sorbet and pickled vegetables is matched with the 2015 sauvignon. The acidity of the wine cuts through the fattiness of the fish and the citrus elements work in harmony with the sorbet and pickled vegetables.
There’s a treat for the chardonnay fans too, with Tim bringing out their 2006 chardonnay to go with the quail, which is rolled in prosciutto and served with charred sweet potato and a rich jus. The wine is creamy and toasty and the spicy French oak characters balance the rich quail, salty prosciutto and sweet potato.
Just to tip us all into sensory overload, a braised Angus short rib parcel with a mushroom ragout follows and it’s served with their 2013 pinot noir. The spiced jus of the sauce bridges the wine to the dish and the earthy mushroom ragout highlights the fruitiness of the wine.
It’s a well thought-through menu and makes for some luxurious eating; by the dessert course of raspberry cannelloni with cinnamon crumble, I’m reeling. If it was matched to something I’ve forgotten what it was. I matched it to chardonnay because that’s what I kept drinking.
The evening slipped away between more wine and decent conversation, mostly about wine.
Around the world, vineyards have long and storied histories, but Cloudy Bay is one of the elder statesmen in New Zealand and their 30 years of championing New Zealand sauvignon blanc is well worth toasting.
The 2015 release of their sauvignon looks destined to be a huge success for the winery and they’ll continue to fly the New Zealand sauvignon flag (there’s an idea) in the overseas markets.
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