Champion Bubbles

THE START AND THE FINISH: Lindauer head winemaker Jane De Witt holds a bottle of the Lindauer Vintage Series Brut Cuvée 2017 named Champion Bubbles in the sparkling wine section of the New World Wine Awards. She is standing in the Indevin vineyard at Ormond which produced the grapes. Picture by Rebecca Grunwell

GISBORNE’S reputation as a wine region went up a notch this week, with local grapes producing the Champion Bubbles winner at the New World Wine Awards.

Three out of the five gold medal-winning sparkling wines are from Gisborne — the Champion Bubbles-winning Lindauer Vintage Series Brut Cuvée 2017, Verde Brut and Lindauer Vintage Series Rosé 2017.

Lindauer head winemaker Jane De Witt was in Gisborne this week and explained why the region’s grapes and vineyards were so successful.

“It’s a combination of soils, climate, grape clones and great grape growing,” she said.

The grapes are sourced from around the region — namely Ormond, Whitmore and Patutahi.

“Chardonnay, which predominates in these award-winning wines, thrives in Gisborne’s long, cool, maritime-influenced growing season, whether this be Chardonnay for sparkling wine or still wine.

“The early season harvest of sparkling grapes ensures surety of ripeness and acid balance, which is important for sparkling wine. It also ensures I get the grapes into the winery in pristine condition before any rain.

“Generally sites with strong silt and clay soils are preferred as they provide natural vigour and water-holding capacity necessary when vineyards are dry-farmed. Not using irrigation is a sustainable aspect that I like.

“Once harvested, the grapes go into the Indevin winery where they get crushed and fermented, and then undergo malo-lactic fermentation.

“At this point I taste and grade all the parcels of wine.

“As with Champagne, for our non-vintage sparkling wines we are emulating a style that needs to be consistent year after year. That starts at the base wine — staying consistent with the vineyards the grapes have come and the percentage of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir being used in the blend, and, of course, the sensory profile.

“Once the blends are sorted the wine goes to Lion’s wine-bottling facility in Auckland, where sugar and yeast gets added.

“The wine gets bottled under crown seal and gets placed in a bin and taken to a temperature-controlled (10 to 12 degrees) warehouse, where it undergoes secondary fermentation and spends its life — upwards of two years.

“With Verde being non-vintage, I am emulating a house style — as they do in Champagne — so the bottled Verde is a combination of different vintage years and a blend of 80 percent Chardonnay and 20 percent pinot noir.

“The time spent on yeast lees after secondary fermentation is really important as the yeast breaks down, imparting different flavours and characteristics to the wine.

“For Lindauer Vintage Series Brut and the Rosé, I was looking for the best sparkling cuvée I had out of the 2017 vintage – so these wines are 94 percent Chardonnay.

“I love blending. It is an exciting rewarding process, with a tweak here and there making all the difference.

“Vintaged sparkling wines tend to be wines from the best vintages — 2017 mightn’t be remembered as a great vintage in Gisborne.

“However, for sparkling grapes, which get picked early, it was fantastic, with the harvest being completed before a major storm for which I am very thankful.”