No-frills gumboot couple are pure gold

Drive 30 minutes northeast of Whangarei along the Ngunguru road towards Tutukaka, then slow down as you head towards Matapouri because halfway between these two idyllic Northland settlements is a secret wee road called North Gable Way, which takes you to the tiny, yet perfectly formed Sailfish Cove winery and boutique lodge.
"We're an eclectic sort of gumboot group up here," says Gaylene Corkin of Sailfish Cove as she takes my suitcase from the rental car and hauls it up the stairs to my room. As we walk I steady myself against their vertigo-inducing steep vineyard, which looks out to the Poor Knights Islands and runs down toward the rugged and rocky Tutukaka coast.
"We bought the land in 1992," says Gaylene's husband, Harvie Ferguson.
"And did you always have a boutique vineyard in mind," I ask.
"Gawd, no." shrieks Gaylene from the kitchen. "We bought it with the sole purpose of retiring."
Harvie thought that owning a vineyard would save him loads of money on all the wine he used to drink, and Gaylene thought it would be a nice little relaxing backyard business. "How many times have you heard that before?" she says.
"It was an idea we dreamed up one night after a few wines."
"We'd been at a flash restaurant in Parnell and we couldn't believe the cost of the wine when the bill came. So Harv said: 'That's it. We'll make our own and we'll get rich'."
Retiring from the chemicals industry, well, more specifically, bog manufacturing, gave Harvie the motivation to do something more organic, which is why he is responsible for the 12ha of bush, sea and vines.
"I got out of bog when it was huge - we sold heaps of it in my day. They don't really use it much anymore.
"Rusty old Holdens and Falcons used to keep us in business. now they just replace the panels."
Bog, he tells me, is made of resin, talcum powder, a couple of other things and tiny wee glass spheres. But I'm more interested in how they make wine up here at Sailfish Cove.
There are less than a handful of formally trained winemakers in this part of the country, leaving enthusiasts such as Gaylene to learn on the job, regularly taking the advice of more experienced local winegrowers to get the fruit from the vine into the bottle.
"I'm making changes and improvements all the time," says Gaylene. "You can't get precious about it. I've made mistakes but after a few years I've got my head around our fruit now and I'm going with good advice and gut instinct.
"Northland fruit acts differently, what works in cool climate wineries doesn't work up here."
With chardonnay, riesling, pinot gris, shiraz, merlot and cabernet varieties in the ground, and some chambourcin on the way, there's always plenty to learn - although some of the lessons have been painful. "We've done quite a bit of replanting recently because some varieties just weren't right for our site," Harvie says, "and the chambo is just a weed. There's a heck of a lot of work keeping it in check but we love it and I reckon it's becoming a real Northland signature."
I couldn't agree more. As soon as the tasting bottles come out it's pretty clear which other varieties are doing very well here - with a lovely, clean, crisply sweet riesling, nashi-like pinot gris, peppery shiraz and the ever-present Northland port.
The quintessential ambassador for Northland produce, and the consummate hostess, Gaylene sources a selection of the most fantastic local artisan breads, fresh oysters, local cheeses, olives, smoked fish, mussels and Makana chocolates for her guests.
The self-contained two-bedroom apartment at Sailfish Cove is spacious, chic and constantly in demand, as is the splendid location for weddings, functions and corporate team-building weekends.
The exposed terrain is what makes Sailfish Cove so beautiful, but also difficult to work. "Sometimes we get storm winds that come round the corner and shred all the plants," says Harvie. "We've had these amazing years early on where we'd walk the vineyard in the cyclones and storms with the terraced vineyard full of sea foam.
"After the sea foam disappeared and things settled down all the leaves had burned off and just the bunches were left," says Gaylene. "It looked like they'd been nuked. But that's just nature, and we deal with it."
Despite describing themselves as a "no-frills gumboot couple", after a few hours and a few wines with Gaylene and Harvie you'll realise they're actually pure gold.
Visit Sailfish Cove by appointment, ph (09) 434 3121 www.sailfishcove.co.nz
Jura Service ...
Believing that all the big money for rare wine was coming from Asia, wine industry pundits had a shock last week when a bottle of wine made in 1774 was sold for €57,000 ($100,500) in the eastern French region of the Jura.
The wine was a rare example of vin jaune (yellow wine), which is made exclusively from the savagnin grape which, until recently, wasn't found outside the Jura.
If the winning bidders decide to drink it they won't be disappointed, says a group of wine experts, which declared another bottle from the same batch "excellent" when tasting it in 1994. It scored 9.4 out of 10 for its amber colour and notes of walnut, curry, cinnamon, vanilla and dried fruit. The wine itself was made by Anatoile Vercel (1725-1786) from grapes grown during the reign of King Louis XV.
The price was a record for the relatively obscure wines of the Jura, prompting auction organisers to declare that they're now up there with big players from Bordeaux and Burgundy.
Savagnin is aged for six years in huge oak casks, where it grows a sherry-like flor that allows it to stay drinkable for centuries. A third of the wine evaporates - that's known as la part des anges (the angel's share) and nowadays what's left is put in bottles of 67 centilitres, known as clavelins, rather than the usual 75 centilitre size. Savagnin is identical to the variety taminer, of which gewurztraminer is a mutation.
At present, 38 Australian wineries have savagnin in the ground and last year I was fortunate to try the Zonte's Footstep Savagnin Blanc from Langhorne Creek.
It was white-gold with lifted honeydew melon and citrus aromas, and a burst of lemon freshness in the mouth. It had a lovely, minerally tang on the finish, too. I don't know if anyone in New Zealand has any planted, but I'd love to taste a home-grown example before I die.