Villa Maria winemaker Dave Roper, Marsden Estate's Rod MacIvor and Longview Estate's Richard Vuletich get down to business at Fight Club.
Northlanders club together to brave the criticism of their peers
In 2011 I took a road trip through the wine region of Northland for the first time. Northland is technically New Zealand's oldest wine region, as the missionary Reverend Samuel Marsden planted the nation's very first vines in the Bay of Islands in 1819.
In the late 1800s Croatian immigrant gumdiggers hungry for a taste of home established their European winemaking traditions here, ventures that would form the foundations of our national industry. Yet it was a century before these northern climes would create noise when it came to quality winemaking, thanks to Monty Knight's Okahu Estate near Kaitaia garnering gold medals in the 1990s for his syrah and chardonnay. This success sparked a surge in vineyard plantings by fresh-faced fearless individuals and now the 7-year-old Northland Winegrowers Association boasts 50 members, covering a 240km stretch between Mangawhai and the Karikari peninsula.
One would assume that in a leafy paradise where guavas, avocados, passionfruit, pineapples and bananas thrive, grape growers would have an easy time of it - but not so. I found out on my road trip that the challenges of crafting wine in a subtropical climate have given rise to a thing called Fight Club. Everywhere I went, the wine people of Northland would say "Fight Club" in hushed voices, with furtive glances over shoulders when discussing the current state, or future potential of the region's wines. "Tell me more," I pleaded. "We're not allowed to talk about it," they'd say.
Three years later I had a phone call: "We think it's time you came to Fight Club."
When Rod MacIvor, owner and winemaker at Marsden Estate in Kerikeri, picked me up from the airport I asked if an ambulance would be on hand. He laughed and said something about bruised egos only.
Here's what happens. Each year Northland's wine producers submit their unfinished wines to be tasted in a single event by their peers. This is to identify faults that can be addressed and fixed before wines are bottled and hopefully to showcase some solid regional characteristics and signature styles. There will be more than 100 wines. Sauvignon blanc, pinot gris, viognier, rose, chardonnay, gewurztraminer, syrah, pinotage, tempranillo, merlot, malbec, sangiovese, and even arneis - Northland boasts it all. "But if someone comes up to Northland and the first thing they try is a bad wine, then they're not going to go any further," MacIvor says. "That's why we have to collectively improve the breed year on year."
Our first day begins in the ballroom of the Duke of Marlborough hotel in Russell in the Bay of Islands. "The Bay of Islands has sort of become our meeting place because it's in the middle of the region and equidistant for everyone," says Monty Knight. The Duke's owners are clearly huge supporters of Northland wines, which make up 20 per cent of their wine list. "This is the first time we've held the event over two days," MacIvor says. "In the past we haven't been able to see what the corrected wines are like when they're finished, so we'll look at the unfinished wines on the first day and the finished ones on the second to see how they've evolved."
About 50 of the area's winemakers and a couple of outsiders, including me, are seated at large tables, handed glassware and tasting sheets, then told by MC Bruce Soland to get started. "At the end of each tasting if the winemaker could talk about that wine and how it was made, that would be great. And if anyone has suggestions for how the wine could be improved, then speak up."
We taste the wines blind, having no idea whose wine is which. People say what they think of each wine before a nominated representative gets up and shares their table's "collective" views of each wine. Bruce then reveals the wine and the discussion begins.
Some of the wines are absolutely superb, however there's nothing more awkward than saying a wine "tastes thin, watery, downright grubby and all kinds of ugly" then realising the winemaker is sitting right next to you. It's hard to look at the face of a young winemaker who has just been told his wine smells like "supermarket deli-section fruit-cheese balls"; and even harder to see the same winemakers having to explain faulty wines time after time.
It's brutal. But to their credit each winemaker gets up, bravely takes it on the chin and listens intently to suggestions such as "do some sugar trials", "see what it's like after cold-stabilisation", "sort out your incomplete ferment".
"It's an honest critique of what we think of the wines," MacIvor says. "Fight Club started over 10 years ago with a bunch of us sitting around a table upstairs at my winery - and it keeps growing. What it does for people coming into the industry is it shortcuts years of them trying to figure things out for themselves.
"It's about looking at wines that are part-way through their life and providing help to see if they can be made better," Knight says. "What does it feel like when you receive negative remarks about one of your own wines?" I ask.
"Well you're disappointed, but on the other hand you're relieved that someone has told you. You've now got an opportunity to go home, get in your cellar and do some work. We do get 'cellar palate' because we taste our own wines all the time. Yet benchmarking them against others in the region can show they may not be as good as we'd thought. That's why it's called Fight Club. You don't actually have a fight, but you have to be able to take the punches."
Northland has a lot of newcomers who want to be part of this little group because they get instant support and knowledge. Essentially Fight Club grew out of a desire to help each other to get to a better place by aiming to make better wines and I think that's a great thing. What's even greater is that there are very exciting Northland wines waiting in the wings.
Sips of the Week
Paroa Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2014, $29
Sauvignon blanc is a bit of a rarity in these parts, especially those displaying cress and lemongrass loveliness like this one. Pragati Thorat and Paras Dhuria manage the Paroa Bay property and have done a pretty decent job crafting a tangy, tasty specimen.
With saucy aromas of toasted croissant, coconut, grapefruit and lemon, this is a very pretty wine. Each sip rewards with peachy freshness, creamy texture and solid lines of toasty oak - nice stuff indeed.
Outstanding stuff here. Boasting grilled grapefruit, sweet stonefruit and elegant acidity combined with lemon-butter notes, almonds and a delicious, tangy complexity on the finish. Not just a Northland success - it's a New Zealand classic.