Larry’s View
New Office Manager
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Catherine Ellis has joined the Escarpment team as Office Manager. Malaysian born and yes another Aussie citizen Catherine joined the team in December 2009. She is your first point of contact and looks after all the day-to-day administration. She speaks fluent Chinese so we look forward to her contribution to our efforts in the new and rapidly expanding Chinese market. She comes to us from many years with an Aussie horticultural company where she looked after 400 staff members! Escarpment should be a breeze!
Escarpment is Making Great Headway
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The last 12 months has seen many rapid changes for our business. With the global economic recession we have had to learn to act quickly and decisively when it comes to sales and marketing. The Edge range has been expanded to include a lighter styled Chardonnay and a fully ripe Martinborough Sauvignon Blanc. We didn’t release the 2007 single vineyard range (mainly due to the very light 2007 vintage) but are very pleased to be offering the 2008’s which we believe will become one of the great years for the district. Another long-term goal was achieved with the bottling of our first Pinot Blanc and the return of our Hinemoa Riesling both from 2009 vintage.
With all this activity our growth has been incredible. Escarpment has managed to double its sales both in NZ and the UK. The UK result is particularly pleasing given the climate. We have been working very hard in this market predominantly with the Escarpment brand.
The US is still a challenge but we have joined the US high-end sales initiative so expect to see some action there as well. The Edge Pinot Noir has been received there particularly well. This wine has allowed us to enter into “wine by the glass programmes” in restaurants.
With our Australian joint venture ownership that market continues to perform well. With their help our second shipment has left for China so we look forward to what impact that will have in the Yabby Lake Cellar doors in the Guangdong Province of southern China.
Larry McPinot
Social media has been brought to our attention so you can follow Larry McPinot on twitter. We hope to make many new friends with this innovative use of the internet.
George Fistonich Medal
Larry McKenna and Escarpment Vineyard have been awarded Legends of Wine status by the organizers of the New Zealand International Wine Show.
The George Fistonich Medal is awarded annually to people who have been seen to have contributed a great deal to the NZ wine industry. Larry's recognition is centered around his contribution over 29 years and in particularly to Pinot Noir.
See the full article from Warren Barton, Southland Times in the reviews section.
Red to China
Escarpment Vineyard is excited to be involved in a special innovation in China. Through our partners in Australia, Escarpment wines are now available in a series of specialty wine shops. The first of these in Guangzhou, Guandong province has been received so positively by the locals that further shops will follow.
The shops known as the “Cellar Door” offer wines to the locals as they would be presented in an Aussie or NZ cellar door.
See the full article from Judy Sarris, Gourmet Traveller Wine in the review section.
Viognier
Escarpment is proud to release its first Viognier under the Edge label. The fruit had been sourced from Gisborne and made in an un-wooded dry style which exhibits the characteristic haunting floral scent for which the variety is renowned. Commenting Larry pointed out that the variety requires a lot of warmth to ripen so it was decided 4 years ago to approach long time Gisborne grower Reid Fletcher to plant a 2ha block.
It has been received extremely well by the trade within NZ.
Escarpment Vineyard, "Martinborough Insight Series"
Created from the superb 2006 vintage. Three new sites have been added in addition to Te Muna Road, Martinborough where the existing Kupe Pinot Noir is from. The wines allow for individual vineyard expression from exceptional sites utilizing some of the oldest vines in the district.
Kiwa, Te Rehua and Pahi are all exemplary examples of site specific Martinborough Pinot Noir.
They all possess unique site terroir which is consistent from vintage to vintage, while also presenting the hallmarks of ripe fruit, complexity and texture which has made the Martinborough Terraces famous.
KIWA, grown from a blend of clones UCD 5, 6 and 13 on Gill Cleland's Vineyard on Cambridge Road, is from vines planted in 1989. It always rewards us with savoury, complex and spicy wine which has become a favourite of the Escarpment wine making team.
TE REHUA was grown on the Barton Vineyard, Huangarua Road from vines over 20 years old. A combination of deep alluvial gravels, which the Martinborough Terraces are renowned for, and a blend of many clones grown in a very sheltered spot always rewards us with a classic example of New World Pinot Noir. It has a unique site derived complexity combined with black cherry and plum fruit flavours.
PAHI was grown on the McCreanor Vineyard Princess Street, one of the oldest Pinot Noir vineyards in the district. The combination of slightly heavier soils, a single clone, and 10/5 on own roots always rewards us with this particular style of soft, ripe, pure fruit expressions in an exceedingly New World Pinot Noir.
KUPE. This is the third release from The Escarpment Vineyard's close planted vineyard on Te Muna Road, Martinborough. The season was exemplary for this block being the first fruit harvested from Te Muna Road after a warm early ripening period. The fruit was harvested in brilliant condition in April 2006. The wine was given every priority during its elevation and now shows all the hallmarks of a great young wine on release in March 2008. It is at the vanguard of Pinot Noir style in the New World and should age gracefully for up to 10 years.
This range now completes the Escarpment collection of Pinot Noir. The future will allow us to present unique vintage expressions from these sites and allow enthusiasts to explore the range and distinctive characters of each site. We trust the serious Pinotphile will find these wines provide interest and enlightenment into the complex world of Pinot Noir.
Great NZ Pinot
Escarpment Vineyard is thrilled to announce the publication of the first Great NZ Pinot Noir Classification by Matthew Jukes & Tyson Stelzer, in their book Taste Food & Wine 2008. Escarpment has gained the top rating (5) along with Ata Rangi, Felton Road and Mt Difficulty (you can see full classification details on page 371).
Larry McKenna is obviously delighted by Escarpment's inclusion onto a list, which is long overdue as the book points out. Who knows this could lead into a legal classification on Pinot Noir Vineyards which Escarpment has been thinking about for some time. From the 2006 vintage Escarpment will release its first Single Vineyard Martinborough Pinot Noirs the “Insight into Martinborough Series” (in March 2008) these Larry feels will be one of the first steps along this route. When vineyards are classified by quality assessed over at least 5 vintages consumers can start to rely on place, or terroir, rather than just brand.
Innovative cork closures guaranteed
After many years of frustration with traditional cork closures Escarpment Vineyard has found the latest, ideal solution: Diam corks from Sabata, a closure company in France.
What's different about these closures?
100% cork taint free is the guarantee we can now offer our exemplary wines and customers. These corks also offer near perfect seals which means, virtually nil random cork oxidation and leakers. Every cork is identical so machinery can be set correctly for cork insertion. They re-expand at the same (and quicker) rate resulting in better seals.
How is this achieved?
Cork is reduced to "cork flour" then washed with super critical Carbon Dioxide - a process which removes the TCA or cork taint. This process was developed jointly with the French Atomic Commission and the French closure company Sabate. It is similar to the technique used for decaffeinating coffee beans. The "flour" is then reconstituted using the same polymer that contact lenses are made from.
Any other advantages?
One of the real concerns over other alternative closures and one of the reasons Escarpment Vineyard has not changed to screw caps is that fine wines need to age and develop in the bottle over time. Part of this process is a very small ingress of Oxygen through the cork allowing the wine to expand and age successfully. Perfect gas barriers don't allow this to happen and the wines age in atypical ways. Corks and Diam corks allow a small amount of gaseous exchange resulting in the typical aging characteristics we are all familiar with.
What's the future of wine closures?
The development of alternative closures for wine has sparked a huge debate in the wine world with many inventive and intelligent solutions being developed. It would now seem clear that certain wines require certain closures. In the future a whole range of diverse seals will be employed to protect wines of different styles.
Which Escarpment wines carry these seals?
All of our 2004 and 2005 Escarpment branded wines will be sealed with Diam corks. An ongoing assessment of all closure technology will allow us to provide our loyal customers with the latest and most suitable closures for each of our varietal wines while guaranteeing that the wines are cork taint free, arriving in your glass just as we intended.
Larry McKenna
Winemaker
Director, Escarpment Vineyards
