Cover Story - Gimblett Gravels wo ads

WineNZ
Autumn 2020 $9.90
New Zealand's favourite wine magazine
PINOT
NOIR
TASTED
AND
RATED.
HAWKE'S BAY
GIMBLETT GRAVELS
From Rough River Gravel
TO FINE WINE
NZD $9.90
WINE TASTING OPTIONS AND THE BEST WINE REGIONS TO VISIT

Cover story | Hawke’s Bays Stony Success
In The
Beginning
There Was…
Nothing Much!
By Martin Gillion
Gimblett Gravels Hawke’s Bay’s
Stony Success
Images and
maps for
this feature
were kindly
supplied
by Gimblett
Gravels
Wingrowers
Association,
plus numerous
wineries,
winenz.com
and Richard
Brimmer
photographer.
There’s a common thread in any number of
folk tales and allegories that demonstrate
the rewards of seeing beyond outward
appearances and searching for hidden
values, however difficult or even repulsive
the search might be.
As the princess found out, kissing a frog can result
in a great career move!
And early times in the Gimblett Gravels bring
some of these themes to mind.
Not that pioneers of the area around Gimblett
Road (Gavin Yortt, Chris Pask and Alan Limmer)
could claim that deciding to invest in the area
around Gimblett Road; a barren stretch of land that
was deemed useless and certainly had no scenic
virtues, was as bad as cuddling up to toads or
other slimy members of the of the Anura order. But
it certainly took a lot of courage and determination
to plant their grape vines there; plantings that led to
the ultimate foundation of a world-class viticultural
area known today as the Gimblett Gravels Wine
Growing District.
Since its foundation in 2001 more than 26 wineries
have committed to abide by the rules of the trade
mark that not only defines the 800ha of stony river
gravels to which it applies, but also regulates many
aspects of its use.
But in 1996, when WineNZ Magazine was born,
there was no such thing as the Gimblett Gravels
Wine Growing District. But there were a few pioneers,
a very few, who had recognised the possible wine
growing potential of the stony riverbed exposed as
a result of a change in the course of the Ngaruroro
River in the disastrous flood of 1867.
Dr Alan Limmer, with
Gimblett Gravels in
the background, in
the early days of the
area's development.
8
WineNZ Magazine | Autumn 2020

Hawke’s Bays Stony Success | Cover story
It was a flood that bowled
bridges and flooded towns and
settlements (sound familiar?)
and one in which a severe slip
changed the course of the
river to its current path through
Fernhill.
It is these stony river flats
that are now the home of the
Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing
District; one of the world’s most
robustly defined viticultural
areas. It’s one that has world
recognition not only for the
quality of the wines it produces,
but also for the rigorous
delineation of its boundaries.
Few, if any, French AOC
designations are as carefully
and scientifically defined as
the GGWGD.
But in 1996 there was no
definition of the area, although
a number of wines with the
Gimblett Road nomenclature
had achieved acclaim and
had kickstarted what became
a cult like following. Wines from
Babich’s Irongate label sourced
from the Gimblett Road vineyard
of the same name, gained
considerable following.
Having discovered them was
one of the reasons I visited the
area in 1998.
At that time, besides a number
of initial plantings, the area
was dominated by a council
rubbish dump on the northern
boundary, a police and army
rifle range close to Mere Road,
a quarry company crushing the
stone for roading, also in Mere
Road and a stock car raceway
on the corner of SH50 and
Gimblett Road itself.
As I remarked at the time
it was hardly the picture of
a potential world renowned
viticultural area; no picturesque
chateaus, charming canal-site
www.winenzmagazine.co.nz
9

Cover story | Hawke’s Bays Stony Success
villages or half-timbered houses.
In fact apart from a few vines,
the dump, the range, the quarry
and the raceway, there was very
little at all.
But a few intrepid viticulturists
had seen the possibilities of the
area and with considerable
courage led the way by planting
grape vines on the stony flats.
Chris Pask, a top dressing pilot,
had vines at Korokipo in Fernhill
but found it hard to fully ripen
Cabernet. Frequent flights over
Gimblett Road convinced him
that the stony river bed could
provide better conditions.
Unlike the high tech mapping
of the Ngaruroro soils which
came later, Chris comments that
they did their mapping by spade.
“Everywhere we dug holes. In
some cases, despite the fact
that silt had been deposited
on the river bends, underneath
was a deep, consistent layer of
stones. The heat and the lack of
natural nutrient was ideal; not
far different from the Rhone Valley
itself.”
And so it proved. He bought
land in the area in 1981, secured
options on further parcels
and planted Merlot, Cabernet,
Chardonnay and Cabernet
Franc. It was certainly a leap of
faith that was to the precursor
of a new development in New
Zealand wine.
He left the world of grape
growing contracting and began
making his own wines.
The first vintage from CJ Pask
was in 1985, with considerable
success, especially for the reds.
And yes, Chris did take up some
of those options for more land.
Also increasingly enamoured
of the gravel sites were
Gavin Yorrt and David Irving
who had planted on Gimblett
Road in 1980.
“We were the first vineyard
planted in Gimblett Road when
we settled on a privately owned
block at the far end,” says Gavin,
now proprietor of Squawking
Magpie wines. “At first we planted
some Riesling and even some
Sauvignon Blanc but quickly
saw the advantages for both
Chardonnay and the reds. We
contracted a portion of the
fruit to the Babich family who
marketed it under our Irongate
vineyard name.”
David Babich reflects that the
first Babich Irongate Chardonnay
won trophy at the NZ National
Wine Competition of 1985
and again in 1987. Its success
launched a string of gold medal
wines for both Chardonnay and
Bordeaux blend wines from the
site. The success of the wines
sparked increasing interest in an
area hitherto dismissed as waste
land of little importance.
Gavin points out that their
vineyard was eventually sold
but the Irongate brand was
retained by the Babich family
who attached it to the vineyard
they had acquired next door to
the original.
Now Gavin makes wine from
a vineyard just to the north of
The Gimblett
Gravels today – a
world acclaimed
viticultural area.
10
WineNZ Magazine | Autumn 2020

Hawke’s Bays Stony Success | Cover story
Chris Pask
the road junction itself. “We think
our current location is even
more successful and our Syrah
has featured prominently in just
about every Gimblett Gravels
Annual Selection.”
At around the same time,
in Mere Road, just a stone’s
throw from the Gimblett Road
SH50 junction, Alan Limmer,
a doctorate of Earth Science
and Chemistry had also seen
the potential to make small
quantities of fine wine from
the stony terrain and established
Stonecroft
In 1983 he planted 4ha vines
on the more silty soils in Mere
Road making his first wines in
1987 and planted a further 3ha
in the more stony soils under the
shadow of Roys Hill.
While the ‘regular’ varieties that
suited the ‘Gravels’; Cabernet,
Merlot and Chardonnay were
present, he also included
Gewurztraminer and a
newcomer to the New Zealand
portfolio, Syrah.
It was this last choice that
was going to eventually change
the face of New Zealand red
wine making.
So by the mid to late 1990s
the success of wines from
the Gimblett Road area were
generally acknowledged.
While only a small proportion
of the area had been planted
already there were moves to
reclassify the zoning. Battle lines
were drawn between quarrying
interests, the council and a
consortium of winemakers.
The council were hard put to
understand the unique character
of the stony shingle beds that
would not even support basic
horticulture nor any form of
viable animal husbandry.
They found it even harder to
believe that land that you could
not give away was suddenly
unique and potentially valuable.
The proposition to grind it all up
for road gravel and concrete had
seemed eminently sensible!
But the Gimblett Road Society
that had formed to protect the
area for viticulture claimed that
the area was distinct and unique.
It was distinct they said because
it was restricted to the particular
soil types deposited on the old
river course.
Not content with the
generalisations that came from
the sort of spade evidenced
examinations that Chris Pask
remembers, the soils were
meticulously defined, analysed
and an accurate soil map was
produced. The area was defined
by science rather than tradition
or village names as was so often
the case in the old world.
That mapping lies at the heart
of today’s Gimblett Gravels
Wine Growing District and
was the lychpin for the move
spearheaded by Steve Smith
MW, viticulturist for Villa Maria
and Alan Limmer of Stonecroft,
to get the land reclassified and
protected as an area of special
viticultural significance.
The process ended in a court
dispute but It was a hard for
the council or the quarrying
company to negate such
empirical evidence. In 2001
the court ruled in favour of the
winemakers and they succeeded
in gaining protection for the
area from the ravages of stone
quarrying for road metal.
In the same year the Gimblett
Gravels Winegrowers Wine
Growing District was established
as a protected trade mark and
the rules for its use determined.
So What Makes the
‘Gravels’ So Special?
Strangely for a horticultural
venture, the appeal of the area
is that it does not grow things
very easily – at least not in the
manner we homestyle gardeners
hope the way our peas and
tomatoes will flourish.
Grapevines produce the best
fruit when they are stressed to the
max and the best way to achieve
this is to control the amount of
water and nutrients available
and to manage sunshine and
heat as much as possible. Excess
vigor is not what you want.
www.winenzmagazine.co.nz
11

Cover story | Hawke’s Bays Stony Success
Vines growing in the stony soils.
The stony
character of
the Gimblett
Gravels soils.
“The advantage with the
‘Gravels’ is that this is all achieved
naturally,” winemaker Damian
Fischer of Trinity Hill tells me. “The
stony soils drain most of the
water away almost instantly. The
gravels are really deep, retain
little moisture and contain few
natural nutrients. We can control
both. As a result our crop levels
are naturally low.”
Gordon Russell, Chairperson
of the Association and long-time
winemaker for Esk Valley concurs.
“Because of natural
devigoration, yields in the
‘Gravels’ are quite low, perhaps
6-8tonnes per ha. That means
12
WineNZ Magazine | Autumn 2020

Hawke’s Bays Stony Success | Cover story
Harvest time.. Babich Gimblett Gravels
that the wines need to be made
and sold in the higher price
brackets although that presents
some difficulties in a segment of
the
New Zealand market is not
growing.”
Nearly all the winemakers I
spoke to agreed with Chris Pask’s
early hunch that the ‘Gravels’
were warmer than most of the
other Hawke’s Bay sites and
most agreed that a margin of
2 degrees was probably about
right. “The large stones that form
the basis of the soil structure
absorb heat during the day to
release warmth at night,” said
Damien. “It reduces the diurnal
range and makes the vines work
a bit longer.”
Paul Mooney of Mission Estate
revels in the generally reliable
Autumn weather and the
boost given from the radiant
heat of the stones. “We came
into the ‘Gravels’ in 1997 and
our viticulturist was using GPS
technology to map vine health
and virus infections within the
whole area.
I can see from their
explanations that the conditions
are just what’s needed for the
Bordeaux varieties but perhaps
not what you’re looking for in
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc?
Despite the soils being
described and mapped, the
District is not as uniform as you
might think, but certainly more
contiguous than any others that
come to mind. But where the
river ran there were shallows and
silty banks on the bends and
these all provide some variations
in the soils that ensure diversity
in the varieties grown and the
viticultural processes.
In a my visit of 1998 Gus
Lawson of Te Awa Farm guided
me through his vineyard tracking
the silty twists of the old river in
contrast to the bare rocks where
the river had moved swiftly. Even
then he
was selecting different varieties
for the different patches but as
he said at the time, the problem
was that the soils could vary quite
quickly even within a row of vines.
One of the super stars of the
original plantings were Babich’s
www.winenzmagazine.co.nz
13

Cover story | Hawke’s Bays Stony Success
A visitor’s guide to the Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing District
Irongate Chardonnays that
came from the these more silty
soil options and today these
seem to be the best for the
variety in contrast to the barren
stony landscape of vineyards
behind Trinity Hill’s cellar door
that are the powerhouse for their
Homage Syrah.
Gordon would like to see the
Bordeaux Cabernet dominant
blend love affair of the earlier
days of New Zealand wine
growing re-invigorated and for
the modern wines to get the
credit they deserve for the quality
they can provide.
“There’s no doubt that the
quality is there,” he comments.
“The 2008 comparative taste
off in London where a selection
14
WineNZ Magazine | Autumn 2020

Hawke’s Bays Stony Success | Cover story
of Gimblett Gravels wines from
2006 were blind tasted against
top flight Bordeaux from 2005
(a good year) stunned the
UK media. For not only did
international wine critics find it
difficult to tell which wine was
from was which country but the
top 6 included two of the Hawke’s
Bay Gimblett Gravels wines! The
four French wines placed 1 st ,
2 nd , 3 rd and 5 th averaged a cost
of £800 each! The ‘Gravels’ wines
averaged just £16!
And in a strategy that has
built on this experience in
order to get global recognition,
each year wines submitted by
winemakers for inclusion in the
Annual Vintage Selection are
assessed by Australian Andrew
Caillard MW. He selects his top
12 wines from the entries in a
blind tasting and then the wines
are sent to more than 50 critics
and wine influencers around the
globe for their appraisal. “It’s a
way of keeping our region to the
forefront of the world press.”
In a brave move Gordon says
that they distribute the collection
in all vintages, both the good
and not so good. “Critics worldwide
get to understand the real
nature of the District not just
the best wines from the best
vintages.”
But the District has not
remained static since its
inception in 2001.
The area under vines has
increased to 800ha and by all
accounts there are very few plots
still to be planted. Most of the
major players in the New Zealand
wine scene have interests in the
District and operators such as
Babich, Delegats, Villa Maria, and
more recently Craggy Range,
have the lion’s share of the
plantings. But with a membership
of nearly 30 wineries smaller and
medium sized producers played
a part. Medium sized producer
Trinity Hill stamped its mark on
the region when in 1998 it built a
stunning winery and tasting room
just a few hundred meters from
the ‘Road’ itself. Even some South
Island producers have taken sites.
In most cases the wines are
branded with the Gimblett
Gravels trade mark that requires
95% of the fruit to be sourced
from the area. But a few use the
‘Gravels’ fruit as the base of their
wines but blend fruit from other
Hawke’s Bay vineyards to perhaps
ease the cost and maybe add
some other aspects. These do not
fly the GGWGD flag.
Gordon says that there are
good relationships within the
area and these have helped with
replanting as well as co-operative
www.winenzmagazine.co.nz
15

Cover story | Hawke’s Bays Stony Success
ventures that are to the benefit of
all. He comments quite proudly
that as a region they have
battled the leaf-roll virus that has
infected as much as 20% of the
vines. “Working collegially and
with the help of GPS tracking we
have got it down to around 2%”
It’s just 35 years since Gavin
Yortt, Chris Pask and Alan Limmer
planted vines on the stony flats
around Gimblett Road.
In the fable, all the princess
gained from kissing the frog was
a princedom and a castle or
two. The determination of these
pioneers to see the potential
in an ugly stony wasteland has
now turned it into a national
winemaking asset!
Better than a castle any day!
The Bordeaux First Growth, Gimblett
Gravels London Shoot Out
In a daring move in
2006 Gimblett Gravels’
representative Rod Easthope
took 6 Gimblett Gravels
wines from the 2006 vintage
to London to get a panel of
international judges to match
them up against 6 top rated
Bordeaux wines from the 2005
vintage (by all accounts a good
one). All 12 were to be ranked
in a blind tasting and the top 6
selected.
Rod must have felt like a
provincial rugby team giving
the All Blacks a bit of a pre
match warm up, for the judges
consisted of 30 or so Masters of
Wine, somelliers and fine wine
buyers from around the country
and included such wine-critic
luminaries as Jancis Robinson
MW, Bordeaux expert Neal Martin,
Oz Clarke and Michael Schuster.
Definitely the A team you might
think and they would certainly
know their clarets!
At the time Rod admitted
he was being a bit audacious
bringing the ‘Gravels’ wines
to the historic centre of claret
consumption. “But we’re
confident in the quality of what
we make,” he said at the time.
“We are young and curious and
need to know where we stand.”
At the end of the tasting
held at New Zealand House in
London’s Haymarket he certainly
knew where the wines stood and
those assembled were stunned
by the result.
For while only two of the
Gimblett Gravels wines were
selected in the top 6 (beating
a 2005 Chateau Haut-Brion into
4th place) several of the judges,
Jancis Robinson included,
commented that they had
difficulty in telling which wines
came from which country!
The provincial team had scored
more than a few tries!
Even more startling were the
relative price comparisons.
The French wines in the top 6
averaged £800 apiece! The two
‘Gravels’ wines were priced at
£15 and £17 respectively.
The results:
#1 Château Lafite- Rothschild
2005, Pauillac - £975
#2 Château Mouton-Rothschild
2005, Pauillac -£675
#3 Château Angélus 2005,
St-Emillion -£295
#4 Sacred Hill Helmsman 2006,
Gimblett Gravels - £17
#5 Château Haut-Brion 2005,
Pessac-Leognan -£470
#6 Newton Forrest Cornerstone
2006, Gimblett Gravels, £15
It was certainly a result that
highlighted the potential quality
of the Gimblett Gravels District
and it’s something still talked
about in Hawke’s Bay as well as
in the fine wine circles of London.
16 WineNZ Magazine | Autumn 2020