A Day In Martinborough's 2010 Vintage With Vynfields And Martinborough Vineyard

The 2010 Vintage
The prospects for an outstanding vintage in New Zealand were somewhat dim with the dreadfully cool and wet summer period. (In Martinborough, 154 mm of rain fell in January, with 42 mm in one hour!) For most of the country bar Central Otago, ripening was around two weeks behind as autumn approached. The thought of less than ideal ripeness or fruit not worth picking was looming, and creating a great deal of nervous energy and anticipation among most of the winegrowers in the country. But as has been the case for many such slow growing seasons, excellent weather over the autumn period has saved the day. Warm temperatures and dry weather has allowed ripening to catch up, with the grapes in a very healthy condition and negligible disease pressure. Picking began as varieties achieved optimum physiological and sugar ripeness.

Such was the case in Martinborough, and the belief is that excellent wines will be made, showing the benefits of a slow and long ripening period, these wines to show pronounced aromatic character. The word is already out that there will be many exciting white wines. Similarly, the Pinot Noir wines will be particularly floral, and in the elegant and refreshing style, though quantities will be down due to poor flowering. Most wineries report a significantly lower crop, some up to 30% less than the norm. At the time of the Martinborough Trade Day, much of the fruit was already in, except the crops from the later-ripening blocks, grapes destined for late-harvest Riesling styles and the Bordeaux varietals. Thankfully the forecast for the remainder of the vintage period was looking very favourable and it was expected the harvest would be completed without any problems.

The Vynfields Experience
Vynfields is one of the newer and smaller operations in Martinborough, run by the genial, gracious and cultured Kaye McAulay and John Bell who were corporate high-fliers in another life. Taken by the dream of a life and vineyard in the country they transported themselves and the historic Maranui homestead in Lyall Bay (dismantled to five pieces!) over to Martinborough. There, on an existing 4 hectare vineyard which was planted in 1991, they set about rejuvenating the site retaining the Riesling vines, adding Pinot Noir in 1998 and expanding the plantings to 5.3 hectares. The Vynfields vineyard, on the Martinborough Terrace, is certified organic and the viticultural regimes are biodynamic. Kaye and John see the balance the vines have achieved enabling them to withstand difficult growing seasons, maintaining fruit health and quality. The quality of the fruit has allowed celebrated winemakers Kai Schubert and Marion Deimling to consistently make first-class wines.

The Vynfields range rests on Riesling and Pinot Noir, with variations on the varietal theme. Dry and medium-sweet ‘Classic’ Rieslings are the white offerings and can be counted as sitting in the top tier for the region, the style at the fuller, richer end of the spectrum, regardless of sugar level. Pinot Noir-based rosé wines have become something of an unexpected and extremely successful specialty for Vynfields; the dry Pêche de Noire an excellent food wine and the off-dry Pinot Rosé what others aspire to make. However, it is the Pinot Noir wines that have put them on the map, every vintage, whether ‘regular’ label or ‘Reserve’ capturing a gold medal or 5 star rating. On this record alone, Vynfields can be placed among the leading labels of Martinborough. And as a curiosity, John and Kaye produce small quantities of the ‘Mad Rooster’ red wine, made from a mysterious, unidentified Syrah-like variety.

Our Martinborough Trade Day at Vynfields consisted of grape sampling, as there was a hiatus between the fruit already picked for the rosé wines, Pinot Noir and Dry Riesling, and the fruit still not ready for the Classic Riesling and Mad Rooster. It was fascinating exercise to pick berries correctly for accurate sampling, noting the differences in brix levels depending on the vineyard location, as well as the variation in juice between the Riesling and the thick-skinned Mad Rooster. However, the highlight for me was the excellent luncheon and accompanying wines served! I found the 2009 Pinot Rosé was as good a food wine as the 2009 Pêche de Noire. A 2003 Classic Riesling indicated how much aging potential the 2008 Classic Riesling has ahead of it. Another 5-7 years easily, and those gorgeously complex toasty notes will emerge. The 2008 Pinot Noir shows the up-front fruit expression of this friendly vintage. It’s one of the leading labels of 2008 and very good value with it. The 2007 Reserve Pinot Noir is practically sold out now. If you can find any, grab it, as it has just started to come together and begun its climb to its plateau. This should cellar another 6-8 years.

Vynfields certainly captures the spirit of Martinborough at its best. The proprietors are hands-on; you’ll meet them at the cellar door, and they will personally show you into their vineyard accommodation. The wines are high quality and sadly, limited in production. The styles of the wines show the terroir of Martinborough. We can only see Vynfields growing in reputation in the coming years.

- Raymond Chan

The Martinborough Vineyard Experience
It was a fantastic day at Martinborough Vineyards for five trade people including myself. We were given a tour of the winery at Princess Street and also went out to Burnt Spur. Our first task was harvesting Pinot Noir fruit. After a few buckets were filled, it was time for lunch – venison burgers. The winery crew assured us that harvest was not normally so relaxed! We then had the opportunity of tasting the wine line-up from Martinborough Vineyards. Paul Mason and his team are certainly making quality wines across the range. The activities for the rest of the day started with hand-plunging. After 30 minutes, your arms are pretty tired…..and I thought I was pretty fit to start with!

All of those attending the Martinborough Trade Day were invited to Coney Wines for the evening. On arrival, we had the luxury of tasting a huge range of Martinborough wines, many of then hardly ever seen because of their rarity or often because of their expense. This line-up showed that there are stunning wines coming out of this tiny region. Preceding dinner was a quiz based mainly on facts about the Martinborough region. Host Nick Tansley made it a lot of fun, and we came away realising that we don’t know enough about Martinborough! A big ‘thank you’ to the organisers for a wonderful experience.

- David Hughes