A winery with a mysterious kick

Press, 28 December 1978, Page 9

A winery with a mysterious kick

I had taken only a couple of swigs of the Spence brothers’ latest riesling before I was reeling out of my chair and grabbing for the Laboratory bench to stabilise myself. “Cor, that’s potent stuff; if you let that loose on the New Zealand public you’ll be charged with attempted genocide,” I exclaimed, trying to cover what I thought was a sudden inebriation. “No, it’s not the wine mate,” said Bill Spence with a grin splitting his face. “It’s that rickety chair you’re sitting on.” And he was right; it was a rocker which swivelled and its rockerreturn springs were missing.

“Anyway, what do you think of that stuff,” said Bill, nodding at my glass. “It tastes good, fruity and fresh like a young riesling, but what have you done to the nose — it smells like paint thinners'?” Now, winemakers do not like having their wine described as paint thinners but I couldn’t resist it this time, especially after Bill’s merriment at my tangle with his swivel chair. Besides, he could smell the thinners as well as I could. We were sitting in the laboratory of the brandnew Matua Valley winery which was being built at the same time that this year’s vintage was being made into wine.

The finishing touches were being added to the building when I visited, and the reek of paint and varnish made it impossible accurately to evaluate the wines; but since then I have partaken of many Matua Valley wines and I assure any doubters that the paint thinners never passed the corks. Perched on the top of a low hill, the new winery with its high stud and wooden beams commands a marvellous view across gently rolling farmland, much of which will eventually support the many interesting vines for Bill Spence and his brother

Ross to produce their wine.

Both brothers are as at home swilling beer and watching rugby as they are making the nectar of the gods, but in no way does this detract from their abilities as winemakers. Ross is chiefly in charge of the wine-making — having spent eight years as wine-maker for Villa Maria — and Bill looks after the vineyard.

And Bill has no intention of planting the übiquitous riesling sylvaner grape, as he says there is too much of it in New Zealand already. Although they do make a riesling wine some of the grapes are bought from Gisborne growers, and plantings at the new winery are concentrating on varieties seldom seen in this country. They include hermitage and the white grapes from, the Bordeaux region of France, semilion and Sauvignon blanc. Already Matua Valley produce a small bottling of Sauvignon Blanc which is sold at the winery only, and which I place in the same category as this country’s best pinot chardonnays with its dry flinty flavour and deep yellow colour. This may seem odd to some, for these two grapes are usually used in France, and increasingly in Australia, to make sweet dessert wines. And perhaps we can look forward to a top-class dessert wine (rare in New Zealand) from Matua Valley. Bill and Ross are justly proud of their Grey Riesling which is one of the few bottlings from this grape in New Zealand. It is a soft mellow wine with good keeping qualities; but, alas, it is produced only in small quantities.

Readers may curse me for talking so'much about wines which are not easily available but if they cared to write to the wineries concerned I am sure many of the wines would be forthcoming. A good selection of

Matua Valley wines is available in Christchurch and it includes their 1977 Cabernet Sauvignon, which I think has been released too early but it shows excellent berry character on the nose which with age, I hope, will extend to the palate.

At present Matua Valley Wines produce about 25,000 gallons of wine a year and the new winery has the capacity to handle 80,000 gallons a year which, if the brothers can maintain’ their present high standard, will make them a force to be reckoned with on the New Zealand wine market. With the co-operative attitude that is apparent among the second-gen-eration wine-makers in the Auckland region (such as the Spence Brothers, Nobilos, Babich, Selak, and the Collards, to name a few) and their awareness of public demand, I predict that Matua Valley Wines will be well worth watching.

For exciting things are happening northpwest of Auckland where winemaking ideas and advice are being traded more freely than ever before; and with the younger wine-makers more willing to modify their techniques for a better wine than their forbears, the results can only be good.