Thursday, 16 February 2012 11:34

Golden Bay

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Tucked away in the top north-west corner of the South Island the stunningly scenic Golden Bay area is home to three wineries. While part of the wider Nelson region, Golden Bay has slipped under the radar from a winemaking point of view. However when you look at the climate and soil structures it is not surprising there are some outstanding wines being produced in the region.

People who haven't visited Golden Bay or spent any length of time there often think of the region as part of the West Coast because of its geographic location and assume the weather conditions are similar - how wrong they are. The rainfall in this little piece of paradise is about the same as in Nelson's Moutere Hills, sunshine hours are huge, the elevated sites are either frost-free or very near to it because of the gentle sea breezes that drift in everyday and the soils range from alluvial (similar to the Waimea Plains) to limestone and granite (just like Burgundy) and black, warm, free-draining sandy soils on the coast.

The wine industry has its own very talented Dr Wendy Parr living and producing wine in the area. Parr is an acknowledged world expert in sensory perception, has been a guest professor at Paris University and is deeply involved in Sauvignon Blanc research in New Zealand.

Wendy Parr and Philip Simpson produce wine under the Parr & Simpson Limestone Bay label. Wendy said she realised that the land they owned high on the hills overlooking Limestone Bay had a very similar soil and climate profile to that found in Burgundy. It seemed the obvious place to plant a small one hectare vineyard. Philip is a botanist by trade, has had a number of books published on subjects such as our native cabbage tree, and as well as being the Project Crimson South Island Coordinator, was one of Project Crimson's founding trustees.

With huge amounts of passion and a commitment to making something from seemingly nothing (a less than flat limestone hillside about 125 meters above sea level) they have been producing a small range of handcrafted wines including a Burgundian style Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Add in a Pinot Gris and one or two rows of heritage grapes they are playing with and you have a true artisan winery that sells most of its production to local restaurants and liquor outlets.

The acknowledged patriarch of winegrowing in Golden Bay is Dave Harraud from Waiwera Estate. Everything he does seems to include a dose of laughter but never at the expense of quality. In seemingly impossible hillside land above Clifton, he has built a house, planted 250 avocado trees, established a Pinot Noir vineyard, built a winery and created a sanctuary that is a very special place.

He also makes pretty good wine. In fact he planted his first grapes in 1989 and made his first wine in 1991. He says, with a chuckle, not many people heard about it because it was a little rough around the edges in the early days.

His single minded focus on Pinot Noir production has resulted in the delivery of some very good examples in later years including silver and bronze show medals.

Golden Bay Wines was established by Peter and Kathy Orange who owned a piece of land and were trying to work out what they could do with it when Harraud gave them the answer – plant grapes and make wine. Their most well known wine was a sparkling wine branded as Petros. Their climate and soil conditions proved to be perfect for the production of a dry, elegant bubbly. Peter and Kathy sold the operation in 2009 and unfortunately the new owners decided making wine was too hard and pulled out the vines so they could graze cattle; four wineries became three.

Further away from the Takaka township at Pohara, Bruce Richmond planted vines in 2000 because he wanted to 'get rich quick' (said very much tongue-in-cheek) and went looking for a successful Golden Bay enterprise. He met Harraud who in his usual enthusiastic way espoused the virtues of the grape and gave him some cuttings to start a vineyard. Because Kawhatu Estate has not much more than a hectare of vines getting rich in monetary terms is a wee way away, but in culture terms he is a very wealthy man. Perched about 100m above Pohara Beach his vineyard enjoys expansive views most of us can only dream about. With plenty of humour he has branded some of his wines 'Get Loose with Bruce'.

The winegrowing business in Golden Bay may be small by any measure but we all know good things come in small parcels.

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