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Last week Taupo was treated to an interesting wine tasting evening presented by Mountford Estate's blind winemaker CP Lin and owner Kathryn Ryan. Ian Isaacs, Executive Director of Scenic Cellars, had discovered the vineyard on a trip to Waipara, North Canterbury, in 2008, and became an immediate fan of the property, the winemaking and the wines.
I caught up with Kathryn, CP, and guide dog, Winston, before the Scenic Cellars tasting event.
CP Lin has been employed as Mountford Estate's winemaker since 1998. He has a wealth of knowledge, and has travelled extensively, consulting and working vintages in Australia, Europe and the USA.
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Taiwanese born, CP first discovered his interest for wine while studying Maths and Engineering at the University of Canterbury, when he joined the Uni's wine club. He discovered he had a talent for remembering the wines that he sampled, although "in the 90's there were far less wines, especially from overseas, to remember than there is today", says CP.
CP lost his sight at age two, but strongly believes that his blindness has nothing to do with his winemaking abilities. In fact, questions relating to being blind and winemaking are his least favourite interview questions, "refer to the previous article written about me", so I'm glad I didn't have any of those questions on my list.
For Kathryn, there was no specific moment that defined her passion for wine. Growing up in a ‘foodie' family, she'd always appreciated good wine with good food, and it was while her and partner, Kees Zeestraten, were looking for a property that they stumbled into the wine industry, purchasing Mountford Estate.
Kathryn enjoys nothing better than gathering a group of wine enthusiasts around the table and blind tasting wines, debating their finer points and listening to the stories of where the wine was purchased, how it was made, where it comes from, etc.
CP has a very diverse taste in wine, and has no preference for one style over another. "As long as it is good quality, it doesn't matter".
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Kathryn agrees. While she loves Riesling and Pinot Noir, she also enjoys trying different varietal and wine styles. One of her favourite wine memories is sipping a Pinot Noir on a mild autumn evening in Beaune, France. "There is just something about the romance of wine that makes it so special".
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And with that romance, there is also the history. CP shares a tale of one of his favourite wine memories, being part of a private tasting in Tokay, Hungary. The venue was a 1,000 year old circular cellar, 4km long, and very deep, and on a mid summer's day it was like a fridge. For some, just tasting the library stock 1972 Essencia would have been memorable enough, but to team that with the knowledge that King Stephen II was crowned in that very room 1,000 years ago, now that's a wine memory.
Unfortunately New Zealand's wine history isn't nearly as old as Europe's. CP feels that New Zealand is such a young wine producing country that it is still in the experimental stages. The New Zealand wine industry needs to explore new varieties, climates and growing conditions, before we will truly know what the regional differences and qualities of wine are. He believes that the industry will have to be patient, as it could take 30 - 100 years before they've really worked it out. "We do only have one vintage each year to work from."
Mountford uses the Burgundy (French) model of wine selection. All fruit is picked for the ‘Estate' range of wines. CP tastes over 200 individual barrels of wine and declassifies those that don't aren't at high quality standards into lower tiers, leaving only the premium fruit in the ‘Estate' range. The usual model that the NZ wine industry follows is that the premium grapes are elevated into a premium level brand. This quality control provides Mountford with a premium quality Estate Brand that they can proudly ‘hang their hat on'.
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Mountford Estate also ensure attention to detail in the vineyard, with fruit picked at optimum ripeness. As CP explains "You can't buy flavour. You can add sugar, tannin, and acidity to wine (and the NZ wine industry does), but it is vital that fruit is as ripe as possible for the best flavour".
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Ian was intrigued by the attention to detail that the Estate implements, from vineyard management to wine making. All vineyard practices from planning to harvest, and winemaking practices are carried out by hand and even foot, as much as possible. Their premiere Pinot Noir label ‘The Gradient' is crafted by placing the whole-bunches of grapes into French Oak barrels and treaded by foot.
The Mountford wine tasting event at Scenic Cellars was very successful, with a sold out crowd of wine enthusiasts attending to learn about Mountford Estate and their wines.
CP's laid back presentation style and sense of humour ensured that the crowd thoroughly enjoyed their tasting experience, "Please just call out if you have any questions. There's no point raising your hand, because I can't see you".
The wines tasted included:
Because of rain, Waipara's 2008 vintage has been deemed by critics as not being as good as previous vintages. Mountford, however, had picked their Pinot Noir grapes before the rain hit the region, and although the wines won't be officially released for another 6 months, Kathryn and CP opened three of their 2008 Pinot Noirs for the tasting, so that consumers could judge the quality for themselves.
Ian believes the 2008 Pinot Noirs were well made with bright fruit characters. "There is perhaps not quite the density of 2007, but nonetheless, these 2008 are very finely crafted."
Celeste Bowden
(c) Scenic Cellars 2010 |
