Vinoculation

Balding vegetation lay exposed on the wind-torn greywacke of the Kaituna Valley walls; scraggly, tired, yet somehow resolutely beautiful. It’s a strange little place, occupying a narrow strip of land between Christchurch and Akaroa as one heads out to Banks Peninsula. Though classified as part of the Canterbury wine region - and I suppose that’s technically correct - you won’t find any other vineyards out here, nor any other wines in the region that embody the characters exuded by the Kaituna Valley wines.

I’d organised a very informal meet-up with Grant Whelan, the winemaker for Kaituna Valley (although he does consult for a number of small, boutique wineries in Canterbury), so we took a stroll through the vineyard and talked shop.

The site is tiny and rests upon loess-derived clay soils, which immediately indicates a strong capacity for water retention and nutrient availability. Thus, irrigation is not required and the low-moderate mean annual rainfall of Canterbury adequately supplements the vines. The vines are trained on a two-cane Scott Henry and when we made our pass, the canopy looked in terrific balance; healthy bunches, consistent shoot spacing and a leaf layer that happily broadcast dappled light. There are two cultivars planted; pinot gris and pinot noir. Grant has experimented with girdling on the pinot gris to improve fruit set and the results are rather obvious - it clearly works. The bark on the pinot noir is softer and thinner which precludes it from the same treatment, though less intensive girdling can be performed and is currently being trialled on certain rows.

Talk to any wine enthusiast, educator or maker and there appears to be wide anecdotal evidence as to common connections between soil type (or rather, texture) and sensory qualities of the resulting wine. Clay, I’m led to believe, results in wines that are structural, dense and robust. Having tasted the Kaituna Valley Pinot Noir on several past occassions, this soil corollary seems entirely believable; the wine is massively concentrated, rich and black fruit dominated, with intriguing spice derivations and other subtle complexities captured within a shell of acid, tannin and weight structure. Drink it too young (heaven forbid - from barrel) and you couldn’t be blamed for thinking there were some shiraz-esque qualities to this pinot. I’m dying to try one with some age.

Speaking of shiraz-esque and Australian traits, the Kaituna Valley Pinot Noir has a history with eucalypt. Now, this phenomenon fascinates me. You will find eucalypt characters in many South Australian reds, especially (in my experience) from those grown in Coonawarra, Padthaway and sometimes Mclaren Vale. Many will confuse the eucalypt for menthol and/or mint, which isn’t hard to do - those characters are also found in the wines from the aforementioned regions. But I digress. What I wanted to relay and discuss was the source of this eucalypt. Now, let me clarify - eucalypt is NOT a byproduct of oak. It comes from the environment and the question has always been “does it come from the soil, or from somewhere else?” The romantic, naive view of many (until recently, this included me) assumes that the roots of nearby eucalypt gum trees leach exudates that contain trace quantities of eucalypt compounds that would later be taken up by the vines of the nearby vineyards. Certainly not an unreasonable presumption, unless you have a solid grounding in plant physiology and know that this process is highly improbable. So, as Grant alluded to me in plain, forthright fashion last weekend, the eucalypt oil from the leaves and tree itself is simply carried by the wind and onto the surface of the fruit where it becomes worked into the must and eventually a component of the wine. Simple.

Regrettably (or not, depending on whether you like this character or not), the gums that formed a shelter belt on Grant’s wee property have since been felled and removed. The tolerance for the eucalypt character on the show circuit with judges was particularly low, despite a majority of the wine-drinking public enjoying the character. So the decision was made and future vintages of the Kaituna Valley Pinot Noir should be void of this conjectural character.

Incidentally, it’s quite possible that the pinot noir fruit from the Kaituna Valley vineyard comes off the oldest producing pinot noir vines in the country. Planted in the mid-late Seventies, I’ve been scratching my head to think of anyone earlier that hasn’t already pulled their vines out.

I haven’t even mentioned the pinot gris, but I haven’t tried one in ages, so stay tuned for a note in the not-so-distant future. Many thanks to Grant and his wife Helen for seeing us on a Sunday afternoon; the day before was blisteringly hot (39.5deg C) and we were half expecting them to have left for the beach. Wonderful people, artisan winemaking, old vines and a great story. What more does wine need?!!