In the last in a series of interviews with new New Zealanders involved in the wine scene in New Zealand, Isabel Gilbert Palmer interviews Ichiyo Terauchi, sales and marketing executive of Te Mata Estate, New Zealand's oldest wineries Ichiyo, you are the last person I have chosen to interview in my series about new New Zealanders living and working in the Wine Industry in Hawkes Bay but you are working in a different but important area and are passionate member of the New Guard Group there. What is your interest and involvement in the industry? I am in Sales and Marketing Executive for Te Mata Estate. Its a family owned winery which was established in 1896 where the three original vineyards planted then are still in use and one of New Zealand's oldest like Mission Estate. What led you to come here? I first came to New Zealand when I was 17 years old on a school exchange program to learn English because I was fascinated by it as a language. At the time we could chose to study … [Read more...]
Guillaume Thomas (Maison Noir): A French harvest nomad follows his dream in New Zealand
Isabel Gilbert Palmer interviews a French man who has settled in Havenlock North, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand and who has just started to produce wine under the Maison Noir label. Like many in the food and wine world, he took a long time to find out what he wanted to do in life and after a life in music decided to work in the wine industry, studying winemaking and wine marketing and then becoming a harvest nomad to travel around the world. He finally settled in New Zealand, the place where he met his wife and had a daughter. Guillaume as the first New New Zealander in this series lets begin with.. So where are you from originally ? I was born and spent my childhood in a very small French village,there were only 12 homes, in La Vrignais in the Aigrefeuille-sur Maine, the Loire-Atlantique department of western France, in fact near the city of Nantes on the Atlantic coast, in Brittany. Its perhaps an assumption to say that because you were born in a historical wine growing … [Read more...]
The natural wines of Goyo Garcia Viadero: Amazing in their purity
A swirl of the glass, I smell the wine and I get that preliminary 'animal' smell which indicates that this is a natural wine. Within minutes, the smell mellows down to reveal a stunning 100% Tempranillo. We had no idea at this stage that this was a natural wine though I could suspect from the smell. But this is one of those wines which really challenges your perception of what a natural wine should be. While natural wines may get away with being 'unstable' this was neither unstable nor does it have any sign of oxidisation even though it has been open for more than three hours and has been double decanted. Last week, I tasted three wines made by Spanish winemaker Goyo Garcia Viadero at a wine-tasting of Ribero del Deuro wines at a wine club I am member of. Present for the wine tasting, Goyo, the Spanish winemaker, told us that for 50 years he had been working in vineyards. "I've worked all my life in vineyards for others. I was a bit of a 'mercenary' but I had this idea of the … [Read more...]
Bishop’s Gin: Blending tradition with modernity
Bishop's Gin is a new London Dry Gin that has just been launched on the Belgian market. Created by Thierry Ponet, founder of Ponet Spirits and Matthieu Chaumont of Brussels cocktail bar Hortense, it is a gin that is steeped in tradition while being innovative at the same time. The gin with its distinct label designed by Stranger and Stranger is already competing for the best packaging in the World's Packaging Design Society. This new gin is the result of a collaboration and a discussion between master cocktail maker Matthieu Chaumont who was on the watch for a versatile gin and Thierry Ponet who wanted to revive his family's anestral genever craftsmanship. Ponet lived in London for 15 years before moving back to Belgium around two years ago. "Thierry wanted to relaunch the distillation activity of his family but we reflected that it would be better to create a gin rather than genever. The name Bishop's Gin comes from the fact that when they were looking at Thierry's family … [Read more...]
A tour of Sicily through its wines
Goethe said in the 18th century that to have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything. Is that valid for Sicily's wine? And how do you take a tour of Sicily during a wine tasting? That was the question I tried to answer in a tasting of Sicilian wine that I presented recently. A tour of Sicily is by no means easy. Many refer to the largest island in the Mediterranean as a continent and you can see why when you are in the process of selecting the wines for such a tasting. You can approach Sicilian wine in many ways. Maybe the simplest approach would be to focus either on Mount Etna as a region on its own or else look at some of Sicily's indigenous grapes and showcase them specifically comparing the way the wineries work with the grapes and their terroir. But I wanted to take a different approach which was that of showcasing the different styles of wines that you can find and also challenge stereotypes. The … [Read more...]
Barone Ricasoli: A visit to the oldest winery in Italy and the one which created the Chianti Classico
The Brolio Castle in the heart of Chianti Classico between the communes of Gaiole in Chianti and Castelnuovo Berardenga is an imposing castle dating back to the middle ages. It houses the oldest winery in Italy, Barone Ricasoli and the second oldest in the world. Although I had already visited the castle some years back, the children on a recent trip to the area wanted to visit the castle given we were in the area. The largest winery in the Chianti Classico area, it was in this castle that the Baron Bettino Ricasoli invented the Chianti Formula in 1872. Francesco Ricasoli, Bettino's great-grandson who has been at the helm of the family business since 1993 says that 'the research we do today has almost one thousand years behind it'. You get a sense of history the minute you step in the grounds of the castle. This is one of the oldest standing family businesses in the world. The first stones of Brolio Castle date back to the middle ages. The castle passed into the … [Read more...]
A visit to Antinori’s new winery in Chianti Classico
There is something special about the Tuscan countryside. It may sound like a cliché but everything about the region is special. From the landscape to the food and wine, you are always in for a treat. It is therefore no wonder that it is one of the most sought after regions in Italy if not the world. There is a lot on offer and no matter how many times you visit, you will always discover new things. On our last visit, we decided to head to the new Antinori cellars in Bargino, San Casciano in Val di Pesa. The cellars of this renowned Tuscan (and Italian) winemaker were inaugurated on October 25, 2012 and are a homage to the family's historic ties with the region. For Italian wine lovers, Antinori needs no introduction. The have been producing wine for over 20 generations with the last generation improving on the winery's already stellar reputation with the creation of high-end wines with a story like Tignanello and Solaia. Their new cellars and headquarters in Bargino are unique in … [Read more...]
10 Chianti Classico producers you should know
There is no question that when it comes to Italian wines, Tuscany and Piedmont are among the favourite regions of wine connoisseurs. The wines of Tuscany like the region are special and there is a lot to write about but in this post we would like to place the spotlight on the Chianti Classico, which is a region within the Chianti region between the Tuscan cities of Florence and Siena. Most wine lovers will know a Chianti wine but few will actually be able to name producers from the Chianti region. Older consumers might also remember a squat bottle which used to be enclosed in a straw basket but this is only used by very few producers now. For many years, Chianti had a bad name and was associated with cheap Italian wine but when made by great producers this is a wine that has character and is exceptionally good value for money especially when compared to the pricier Super Tuscans, Brunello di Montalcino or the Nobile di Montepulciano. It was Baron Bettino Ricasoli who … [Read more...]
From journalism to winemaking – the story of Clos de L’Obac
The wines of Clos De L'Obac don't need any introduction among lovers of Spanish wines. These wines are known for their balance and elegance and have great ageing potential. I recently caught up with Guillem Pastrana at a tasting organised by Belgian importer of Spanish wines La Buena Vida. He is the son of former journalist Carles Pastrana and his wife, a Barcelona enologist Mariona Jarque who embarked on their life adventure devoting their professional and family future on a project to recover the wines of El Priorat and to make these wines internationally recognised. 30 years later, you can easily say that they have succeeded in their mission to make their wines internationally known. The wines are exported to over 40 countries to the extent that Guillem says they are no longer looking to expand. Guillem explained the philosophy of the winery. "At the age of 34, my father, who was a journalist in Spain, wanted a change in his life. He decided, together with my mother, to … [Read more...]
Albert Jané (Acustic Celler): ‘Great wines are made in the vineyard’
Albert Jané is a passionate winemaker who is considered to be one of the pioneers of the D.O. Montsant region, in Spain. Coming from a winemaking family in the heart of Penedes, Albert had full confidence in the Do Montsant regionI had the pleasure of meeting him recently at a wine tasting event organised by La Buena Vida. The name of the winery ‘Acustic’ reflects not only the style of wine but also Albert’s philosophy of winemaking. He told Food and Wine Gazette that he likes to make great wines from exceptional vineyards. “It is the grapes and the weather conditions which express the history and reflection of a region and not the winemaker. I firmly believe that wine is made in the vineyard not by the winemaker,” he tells me. “Wine is pleasure, emotion and passion,” he tells me. “When you take a good bottle of wine and listen to what it tells you, it gives you a similar feeling to music. That is why I have used ‘acustic’ for the winery. “I like to think of my wines as being … [Read more...]