Redwood Wine Club

29/04/2016

On Tuesday 10th May 2016 we have our AGM and welcome Treasury Wine Estates.

Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) is an Australian-based global winemaking and distribution business. It is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, and until a demerger in May 2011 was the wine division of international brewing company Foster's Group.

Foster's began to build its wine division from 1995 onwards. Through acquisition, it built the division in to one of the world's largest wine makers. In 2005, it acquired the Australian famous brands including Penfolds, Lindemans and Rosemount, and also Beringer Vineyards in the Napa Valley, California.

However, the division was a poor performing business and in 2011, 99% of Fosters Group shareholders agreed to split Fosters Group business into separate brewing and wine companies. Treasury Wine Estates officially became a separately listed company on 9 May 2011.

The business is divided into four global regions: Australia and New Zealand; The Americas; Europe; Middle East & Africa and Asia. Globally the company manages over 14,000 hectares of vineyards with over 3,500 employees in 12 countries, with sales totalling over 35 million cases of wine annually.

TWE purchased the remaining 50% of Rapaura Vintners Limited from Babich Wines Limited recently. Rapaura Vintners Limited is an integrated winery, packaging and warehouse facility located in the heartland of the New Zealand wine industry in Wairau Valley, Marlborough. TWE now has full control over the state of the art facility, to be known as ‘Matua Marlborough’, and plans to expand the facility to increase the crush capacity.

Securing the Matua Marlborough facility delivers uplift in wine production capacity and provides further expansion and growth opportunity for TWE. Matua produces a wide range of distinctive, and award winning wines, including New Zealand’s first Sauvignon Blanc. TWE produces wine in New Zealand under four brands - Matua, Secret Stone, Angle Cove and Squealing Pig.

After the attempt of two separate buyout proposals was rejected by TWE, Chief Executive Mike Clarke led a rescue plan to turn the business around and has been largely successful. Earnings from the America's rose 67 per cent and European earnings more than doubled, albeit off a lower base. Asia was remarkable as well, more than doubling.
The strength of the business is based on TWE's 15 big-hitting, and big-selling wine brands – known as the Priority Portfolio - led by Penfolds, Wolf Blass, Wynns, Beringer, and Lindeman's. These brands now account for 85 per cent of sales.

Things may get tougher from here on. Pumping up sales of famous global wine is one thing, but getting the next level of brands humming will provide another challenge. TWE has launched a new marketing push for what it's calling its Australian "gem" brands, but this growth trajectory is less certain than with the big-name brands.

Clarke must also manage the integration of its purchase of Diageo's wine business, based mainly in the United States. The US has not proved a happy hunting ground for Australian wine companies in the past and while the Diageo business is built around premium US brands including Sterling Vineyards, Beaulieu Vineyards, Acacia, Provenance and Hewitt, it also comes with the lower end British brand, Blossom Hill.

Treasury Wine Estates is a sponsor of the Oracle Racing Team.

05/04/2016

On Tuesday 12th April 2016 we welcome Giesen Wines Estate from Marlborough.
In 1980 Alex and Theo, then aged 21 and 22, emigrated from a grape-growing region south of Frankfurt, Germany to start the company the following year. They bought a 28.3 hectare sheep-grazing block in Canterbury and started a wine venture. Marcel emigrated about three years later, first completing a winemaker’s course in Europe. Although they had a good look at Australia they decided on New Zealand.
While their first vineyard was in Burnham, just outside of Christchurch, the Giesen brothers had their eyes on the Marlborough region, owing to the areas exceptional climate and diverse soils. By 1993, they had purchased a dairy farm and converted it to a vineyard, marking the largest development of its kind at the time.
The company has subsequently sold all its vineyards in Canterbury and has bought vineyards in Marlborough, now owning 13 in the Wairau Valley with the spread of 293ha providing diversity against climatic risk, particularly frosts. It also has contract grape growers in Marlborough and other growing regions such as Hawke's Bay.
The company has established a winemaking plant in Riverlands, near Blenheim, worth about $56m, and is investing in 20 extra 240,000 litre storage tanks, built to the seismic code. The investment comes despite the recent earthquakes centred near Seddon, which caused some welded joints to give way on tanks which lost about 2000 litres.
Another innovation is the work with Fuder barrels. The brothers have sourced traditional 1000-litre German oak barrels to ferment and age Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. The company has also invested in new winemaking technology and secured a deal with WineWorks to do their bottling in the region. The reason for the investments was because the company had experienced "meteoric growth", especially in its premium brands, such as The Fuder and The Brothers series.
Award-winning winemaker Nikolai St George was head-hunted from Matua Wines having worked there for 7 years, starting at the company in late January 2016. St George has been recognised as Winemaker of the Year for the past three years in different awards ceremonies, the first the 2013 New Zealand Easter Show Wine Awards. As well as stints in Central Otago and Waiheke Island, he has also worked in wineries around the world, such as Chile, Australia, France and the United States.
96 per cent of the bottled product is exported mainly to Europe and the USA. In Germany, interestingly wine is carried in service stations in much larger volumes than soft drinks. The American market has been a key focus lately and now makes up about 25% of exports. Giesen Wines has signed a distribution partnership with Barossa Valley’s Peter Lehmann Wines due to a perceived weakness in Giesen’s Wines line-up in not having a quality red.
Despite being one of the earlier converts to Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Giesen didn’t have a cellar door until 2011. The cellar door is located on Rapaura Road with a tasting room opening out onto a courtyard. Platters are available, each one focused on one of the wine ranges.
With an eye to the future the Giesen brothers have embarked on a new path, that of organics. Giesen ripped out an 18 acre vineyard leaving the land fallow for two vintages before replanting in October 2010 as a wholly organic, close planted Pinot Noir and Syrah vineyard. Additionally, two existing Giesen Wairau Valley vineyards Dillion’s Point and Stump Creek are in the process of becoming 100% organic. On completion Giesen will have more than 30 hectares under organic production. In 2012 Giesen had its first organic production and in 2013 saw its first fully certified fruit under BioGro. All the other company vineyards are fully certified under Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand (SWNZ).
The brothers together also own Kaiser Brothers Brewery, which had previously contracted out to local brewers but will become fully operational later this year. The brothers are credited by the NBR Rich List as being worth $130 million.
WINE STYLES - Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon Blends, Syrah, Pinot Gris, Riesling

22/03/2016

We would like to thank Jarrod Englefield, the Global Sales Manager at Misty Cove Wine Group Ltd, for our first tasting of 2016.
Jarrod explained that he was a professional cricketer before heading to Europe and starting in the wine industry. He had 8 years’ experience managing high end restaurants and specialist wine stores in The Netherlands and Germany. Main focus was New World wines, especially New Zealand.
Jarrod explained that now his focus is where he started, New Zealand Wines, specifically Misty Cove Wines which is a company producing both conventional and organic wine from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. He said Misty Cove has created several brands within the group and it’s his responsibility to manage all the export markets and develop marketing plans to implement the wineries strategic vision.
Misty Cove is a family owned and operated boutique wine company producing from the Marlborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand. Founded in 2008, Andrew Bailey and his family oversee the vineyard and wine-making process right through to the sales, marketing and administration ensuring every bottle of Misty Cove is lovingly hand crafted. Jarrod mentioned that he had known Andrew prior to leaving Marlborough for Europe.
As well as taking us through the tasting of 6 excellent wines including an organic Sauvignon Blanc, Jarrod then tested our European wine knowledge with an impromptu quiz.

12/01/2016

On Tuesday 8th February we welcome Andrew Bailey, founder of Misty Cove Wines here in Marlborough. http://www.mistycovewines.com/

The Misty Cove Wine Company of Andrew Bailey and his family was founded in 2008 and is a 100% family owned and operated company producing wines from the Marlborough, Central Otago, Hawkes Bay and Canterbury regions of New Zealand. Spending his summers growing up in Marlborough has fostered a passion for the Misty Coves of the Marlborough Sounds where he lives. Having worked in the New Zealand wine industry for many years, Andrew’s passion and drive led him to establish and launch his own brand, Misty Cove Wines New Zealand.

The Misty Cove Wine Company supplies premium New Zealand wine to clientele in European markets that Andrew developed during his time working as an importer and distributor. Sourcing fruit from Marlborough and Central Otago, Andrew oversees the process from vineyard to winemaking through to marketing and sales. Sustainability is a focus in the vineyard and the winery, where the ‘3Rs’ – Reduce, Re-Use and Re-cycle apply. Encouraged by a high end organic retail customer in the EU, Andrew has produced his first fully certified and EU compliant organic Sauvignon Blanc; the 2014 Misty Cove ‘estate’ organic Sauvignon Blanc, “Ella Maria”, as well as Pinot Noir.

Andrew and his whanau cover every base in their boutique wine business. From the wine making and vineyard work to sales and marketing - a true 100% family owned and operated Kiwi wine company!

Pitched at modest prices and backed by an ever growing swag of awards and rave reviews here in NZ and on the international scene. Although new to the NZ market Andrew and his family have spent most of the last 5 years based in Europe pumping their Misty Cove wines out across the continent where they continue to grow.

Varieties grown include Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Merlot.

Watch a video about the winery at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKdXKf2OuC8

20/12/2015

We were sad to hear of the death on December 6th of Jackie McDonald after a short illness. Jackie had been a regular at the clubs wine tasting evenings for a number of years. Our thoughts are with Jim at this time.

18/11/2015

On Sunday 29th November we have our Christmas function which will be held at The Blenheim Club opposite Seymour Square, with wine tasting by Lawson Dry Hills. As per normal the meal will be supplied by Posh Nosh.

STOP PRESS:
Lawson Dry Hills have just informed us that they are unable to do the wine tasting. Your committee are working on a replacement. More to follow.

13/11/2015

On Tuesday 10th November we visit Johanneshof Cellars. The club will charter a bus to the cellar door, free to club members.

Nestled into the hillside and surrounded by vines, this is a lovely boutique cellar door. It’s unusual in that it’s on the main road to Picton rather than in the Wairau Valley. The wines are outstandingly good and there’s a wonderful underground cellar that we will visit. The underground rock cellar was the first to be built in New Zealand, in 1993, and covers a total of 50 metres. It was tunnelled into solid sandstone and is 20 metres underground. Visiting this subterranean cellar is like stepping into the old world of winemaking.

As the name suggests, there is a German influence here. The winery was established in 1991 by German born, fifth generation winemaker Edel Everling and New Zealander Warwick Foley. Both studied at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Edel’s native region of Rheingau. They continued to work for renowned wineries in Germany and New Zealand before setting up Johanneshof Cellars in 1991.

Warwick and Edel make all wines on site combining the traditions of the art of winemaking with modern technology. Their principals are to crop at a very low level to enhance fruit quality and flavours, harvesting the grapes predominantly by hand and interfering as little as possible with vines and wines. The estate vineyard is close-planted in European tradition and not irrigated. The winery is build multi-levelled to utilise gravity rather than pumping wines. A modern laboratory ensures control of fermentations but is not seen as a substitute to regular organoleptic evaluations of the wines.

The methode traditionnelle is mouth wateringly beautiful. But we can’t visit here without trying the gewürztraminer – it is one of the finest examples to be found in the country and it frequently shines in Cuisine’s tastings. Johanneshof also produce a range of spirits, including grappa and grade brandy.

http://www.johanneshof.co.nz/

18/08/2015

On Tuesday 8th September we welcome Yealands Estate Wines from Seddon. Established in 2008, Yealands Estate Wines was always destined to be a story of thinking differently. Crafting award-winning wines in harmony with nature has seen them lead the world in sustainable winegrowing. But most importantly, it means great tasting wines which don’t cost the earth.

At Yealands they aim to leave the land better than they found it. Hence, their motto – Think Boldly, Tread Lightly. They have achieved this through a wide range of initiatives and on-going projects which include:

• Over 25 wetlands have been established and developed at the Seaview Vineyard to boost flora and fauna diversity. As a result, Royal Spoonbills, Black Swans, Teal Ducks, White Herons, Banded Dotterels and Pied Stilts all now choose to make the wetlands their home.
• Over 175,000 native shrubs and flaxes have been planted during the past five years. These have successfully attracted the return of Bellbirds and Tuis to Seaview.
• Participation in a breeding programme for the endangered native New Zealand Falcon, the Karearea, and the releasing of chicks onto the vineyard.
• Installing solar-powered lighting in the wetlands to attract the grass grub beetles away from the vines means that they were able to reduce their use of chemical pesticide.

Yealands Estate Wines was the largest privately owned vineyard in New Zealand. The winery was the first in the world to be accredited CarboNZeroCERT™ from inception, and the company continues to win sustainability awards, both domestically and internationally.

After the tasting you can ask for chicken feed and a map of the circular drive through the vineyard and stop off in one of the picnic spots in the wetlands. Listen out for the classical music emanating from the towers!

Yealands Family Wines is located in New Zealand's Marlborough Region. http://www.yealands.co.nz Led by legendary entrepreneur Peter Yealands, step by innovat...

08/08/2015

The Club’s Mid-Winter celebration dinner is this Tuesday the 11th August at the Redwood Tavern starting at 6.30pm. It will consist of a 3 course meal with Charles Wiffen Wines offering a tasting or two between each course. Should be a good night out!

Charles Wiffen Wines consistently win gold medal and trophy awards. Charles and Sandi Wiffen are long-established Marlburnians farming cattle and sheep on their 14,000 ha ‘Inverness' property just a few kilometres north of Cheviot. The Wiffens wine industry involvement began as partners in a share-planted vineyard in 1980, which saw them as one of the original grape growers for Penfolds and Delegats, supplying some of the earliest Marlborough wine labels. In 1997 they set up their own label, Charles Wiffen Wines.
The Wiffens have 50 ha of vines, planted in the Lower Wairau and Southern Valleys regions, on New Renwick Road, adjacent to Wither Hills. The varieties planted are Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Merlot.

17/06/2015

On Tuesday 14th July 2015 we welcome Dog Point Vineyard from Marlborough for the tasting. Murray Cook, part of Dog Point's wine making team, will be representing them. Murray has been with them since November 2013 and previously spent 5 years as a winemaker at Villa Maria Wines. Murray studied wine making at Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia.
Dog Point vineyard is located between on the southern side of Marlborough's Wairau Valley. With its silty clay soil and clay loam soils on the hillside, the land's excellent for viticulture. Dog Point's Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are sourced from selected parcels, all chosen from older vines and supplemented with younger hillside vines.
All fruit is estate grown, low cropped and handpicked. Dog Point combines both modern and traditional wine making techniques to produce hand crafted wines with a point of difference.
The property operates under the New Zealand sustainable winegrowing programme. This programme is an initiative established to promote the production of premium quality wine utilising environmentally friendly and responsible practices. A flock of around 2,000 sheep including Romney, Perendale Cross and Merino Wiltshire Cross are grazed in the winter to keep the grass low and fertilise as they go. A stockman is employed to manage the flock and a mob of 25 steers that also graze the property. After pruning; all the pruning’s, any grass or cover crops are mulched and added to the compost heap. This is spread under the vines to help conserve moisture and improve soil structure.

10/06/2015

Kirk Bray, owner of Georges Road Wines in the Waipara Valley, gave us another excellent talk. Kirk talked about the history of Georges Road Wines and took us through the tasting of 6 excellent wines. It was a pity that the excellent Rose had all been sold out and was unavailable for purchase by the club members. However, the 5 remaining wines of Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Noble Riesling more than made up for it.

Kirk explained that the winery was in fact in Mt Brown Road, a turning off Georges Road. It was however decided that Georges Road, which was in spitting distance, sounded a lot better. He also explained the significance of the key on the wines labels. This related to his wine making at Lingenfelder Estate in Germany with a key that was used to open the sample valves of the wine tanks for constant sampling.

Kirk explained that he was intimately involved in all aspects of the business, accountancy, marketing etc. with complete connection to the final wine in the bottle. On the marketing side Georges Road wines biggest market was New Zealand but was also available in Australia, Denmark, and Singapore.