The Hermit Ram

2015 Sauvignon Blanc Nattura

Making wines with little or no Sulphur has always intrigued me. I wanted to challenge myself to make New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc which was able to handle no preservatives, yet still express its origins well. North Canterbury Sauvignon Blanc is less aromatically punchy than its Marlborough cousin but it expresses minerality powerfully. This mineral tension is very important to keep the wine fresh and not clumsy.

The fruit was taken from a vineyard in the middle of the Waipara Valley. It was whole bunch pressed to ancient barrels for fermentation. It under went a native malolactic ferment. It was bottled unfined, unfiltered and unsulphured. It is essentially nothing but grapes. 

2015 Field Blend Skin Fermented

The act of fermenting which ever varieties are planted in your vineyard together is intriguing and the results can be delicious and a really unique picture of a particular vineyard site and region. This wine is a field blend of Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Gewurztraminer. It comes from one of North Canterbury’s earliest planted vineyards. It presents itself like a delicate pinot with insane aromatics.

The fruit was picked on the proportions it grows in the vineyard. It was destemmed and naturally fermented on skins for 6 weeks. Pressed off in to some ancient barrels and allowed to go through a natural malolactic ferment. This wine was bottled with no fining, filtration or Sulphur.

2015 Muller Thurgau Skin Fermented

Muller Thurgau is the forgotten grape of the New Zealand vineyard. Widely planted in the 80’s it’s now a bit of a rarity. The wine from the vines still planted is these days generally lost in to bulk blends.

The fruit for this wine comes from one of the oldest vineyards in Canterbury. The vines are 35+ years old and produce a miserly amount of grapes per plant. I found the idea of using old vine (for New Zealand) fruit and a completely unfashionable grape for a skin fermented white too hard to resist.

The grapes were destemmed and fermented in an open top fermenter and a concrete egg. The open top fermenter was pressed after approximately 6 weeks of skin contact, and put to ancient barrels for a natural malolactic. The concrete egg went through alcoholic and malolactic ferment on skins, and was pressed after 168 days to be blended with the wine in barrels just prior to bottling.

Intensely aromatic, deep cloudy orange with incredible texture, this wine was bottled with a small addition of Sulphur. 20 ppm SO2 Total.

2014 Pinot Noir Limestone Hills

This wine is the first produced under this label. It comes from Gareth Renowden’s tiny, super close planted vineyard deep in the Waipara Gorge. It is an intriguing site. The soil is made up of limestone rocks and clay marl. It has high active lime through the profile.

The fruit is farmed naturally with no synthetic sprays. It is picked quite late as the site is amongst the coolest in North Canterbury. The combination of the lateness of this site and the beautiful active limestone soils creates a wine that is delicate, saline, and other worldly.

The fruit is 100% destemmed to vat. Only indigenous yeasts are used. The fermentation is carried out over 6 weeks on skins. The extractions are very gentle in order to promote the ultra-delicate aromas this wine has. The wine is matured and undergoes natural malolactic in ancient hogsheads and is bottled unfined and unfiltered after the next vintage. 30 ppm SO2 Total.

This wine is aromatically very complex. The aromas are less about fruit but more about limestone, salinity and truffles. Very autumnal. The palate is lithe a layered.It will continue to unfold in the glass to give a hugely rewarding drinking experience.