Atypical and super-sippical – Bay Buzz Magazine Sept/Oct 2024

[As published in September/October BayBuzz magazine.]

Hawke’s Bay is New Zealand’s oldest and second-largest wine region boasting over 200 vineyards and 76 wineries. It’s also an incredibly diverse region and one that I unashamedly call ‘the ultimate wine region’ because there’s almost no grape you can’t grow and no wine style you can’t make here.

We produce world-class, conventional Syrah, Chardonnay and Bordeaux-style reds, yet there’s an expanding population of tiny local producers pushing the envelope and blazing different trails with lesser-known grapes, and techniques that set them apart stylistically. Let us introduce you to three of them.

Supernatural

Greg Collinge’s journey into wine began, by accident in 2009. “I was selling grapes back then. But when the buyer reneged on me, and my then-winemaker partner decided to start a wine company in the immediate aftermath of the GFC!”

Greg’s brand began life with the name ‘AndCo’ or &Co which was meant to represent the concept of wine being better with company. Nice idea but in 2010 his designers (Arch and Jane MacDonnell of Inhouse) suggested trying a better name. “By then we’d switched to farming our vineyard organically and knew we wanted to go down a more natural path, hence how, over several glasses of wine at the late, great SPQR, we came up with Supernatural.”

Greg’s vineyard sits below his accommodation business (Millar Road) overlooking Haumoana. “Most people think of Hawke’s Bay vineyards as gravels and being about ‘hot’ reds and whites. My block is on hard, lime-rich clay with volcanic topsoil. It’s a wee bit elevated (60-90 metres) and just 2km from the coast. So it’s warmer at night and cooler by day than a typical Hawke’s Bay vineyard and therefore suited to the aromatic varieties. He also sources fruit from Gisborne and Martinborough for certain wines.

“The Green Glow and The Paranormal come from a variety of Millton’s vineyards in Gisborne,” he adds. “They’ve been farming biodynamically for close to 40 years. I think there’s a wonderful ‘Millton seam’ which runs through all wines off their blocks. Our Quiet Earth comes mostly from a block at Dry River managed by Lance Redgwell at Cambridge Road. Martinborough Pinot Noir is my favourite style in NZ with its earthiness and chalkiness.”

Collinge says he generally tries to make all his wines to reflect their place and time, rather than following a recipe. All Supernatural wines go through malolactic fermentation and as little sulphur as possible is added, depending on the stability of the wines. “Three of the 2022s only had 20ppm versus an overall limit in New Zealand of 300ppm,” he explains.

Organics was inspired by Greg’s progression toward a healthier lifestyle as he got older. “I had to start working out again and eating better to lose all the weight I’d put on in my 30s,” he laughs. “My minimalist winemaking approach was inspired by the exciting wines I was tasting from places like Slovenia and Friuli when we were developing our style.”

Collinge is also a fan of chilled red wines leading to developing a Syrah/Malbec blend named ‘Paranormal’. “I’ve been lucky to drink some deliciously ‘salty’ reds on my travels around places like Sicily and its volcanic soils. Paranormal was inspired by these adventures and I love the balance between the fruit and the acidity. It’s a versatile wine to sip in the sun or enjoy with barbequed fatty meats.”

He’s also a huge fan of amber or ‘orange’ wines, crafting one called ‘Green Glow’ each year. “It’s like making red wine but with white grapes,” he explains. The skins are left in during the beginning of fermentation and this gives tannic structure and the ability for these wines to age well in bottle.” Greg also believes he was the first company in New Zealand to make a skin-fermented Sauvignon Blanc, despite Sauvignon being our most planted grape. “That was in 2013, and that wine has developed spectacularly in bottle since then.”

However, Greg agrees it’s tough out there when it comes to selling wine. “I took 2021 off because of Covid then Cyclone Gabrielle forced me to take 2023 off as well. Yet all the work I’d done pre-Covid building my distribution network, meant I was lucky enough to sell most of my 2022 wines – but the challenge is still to sell the rest of my stock. I hear a lot of folk saying ‘Survive until 2025’ because it seems that global inflation and cost of living pressures have put the brakes on a lot of discretionary spending. And that hits people like us hard.”

Stepping away from the pressure occasionally is important self-care and for Greg, this means indulging his cricket obsession, listening to down-tempo, world-electronica music, and walking dogs. “I adore dogs, and they seem to like me, so I spend a lot of time walking various hounds at Te Mata Peak.”

Organised Chaos

Hayden Penny graduated from EIT with a Bachelor of Wine Science and a Bachelor of Viticulture and took a job as an assistant winemaker at Te Awa before travelling the world, making wine, and moving back to Hawke’s Bay permanently in 2010 to work for William Murdoch Wines in the Gimblett Gravels.

In 2014 he moved coastward and began making wine for the Supernatural Wine Co, and then further toward the beach to become Vineyard Manager and Winemaker for Te Awanga Estate, which is where he’s currently based. And yet the urge to go on a side quest was strong within him, which is why, a few years back, Hayden began a life of Organised Chaos.

“It’s life, right? He grins. “My wife Tarryn and I both work full-time and we have an 8-year-old (Otis) and our 19-year-old daughter (Carys) has just started university. So juggling work/life/play is organised chaos!”

Hayden has an experimental outlook on crafting his wines. “Our Gamay Noir is made initially by a process called carbonic maceration. This is an enzymatic fermentation that occurs inside the berry before crushing, and gives the wine a lovely candied and floral profile, typical of the Beaujolais nouveau wines of France,” he says. Gamay is one of the rarest grapes in New Zealand, yet Hayden’s managed to secure a special parcel.

“Our Sparkling Pinot Noir is made in the Petillant Naturel (Pet Nat) style which means we bottle before the end of ferment and allow the remaining natural sugars to finish fermenting in the bottle.” That’s what gives the wine its trademark, almost unstoppable, fizz. “I’ve been making Pet Nats since 2017,” Hayden adds. “I love how fun and fresh they are. But they can be quite stressful to make. Choosing when to bottle is very time-specific, but popping a bottle on the deck in the sun with friends, far outweighs that stress.”

He’s also developing a following for his Chenin blanc and Albarino. “I think stylistically, those grapes suit our young soils and they’re perfect for kiwi summer drinking.”

For Hayden, winemaking is about the land and the fruit expressing itself with minimal intervention. “As a grower first, I work all season to produce the best possible fruit from any given site. I believe that making wine tells the story of that season, and to do that story justice, you need to work with what you have.” Up until 2023, Hayden worked with three vineyards, but Cyclone Gabrielle destroyed the Petane vineyard in Esk Valley, where Hayden got what he believes was the best Pinot Gris in Hawke’s Bay.

“Hopesgrove (owned by Pieter and Annabelle Koopman) is the home of my Syrah and previously my Chardonnay. It’s a north-facing, hillside vineyard on beautiful limestone soils in Pakipaki … so say no more!” he laughs. Hayden’s other preferred site is the Two Terraces vineyard in Mangatahi. “It’s Ian and Linda Quinn’s baby, a block planted on ancient, free-draining, alluvial river terraces which is perfect for our Gamay Noir, Chenin Blanc and Albarino.”

But it’s a competitive, cutthroat business being in the wine game at the moment, especially when you have a full-time job, a family and your own business. So how does he decompress? “I love the outdoors, land or sea,” he says. “The fresh air, peace and thrill of the chase that comes with hunting and fishing spin my wheels. Plus I love spending time with the whānau,” he adds. “My son Otis loves coming to the vineyard but he’s not quite at the wine stage. And Carys is 19 so she thinks it’s cool having a wine dad,” he laughs.

Kenzie

Dave Mackintosh’s family originally came from Scotland and settled in Ahuriri, Tutira and Putorino in Hawke’s Bay. Dave grew up around farming and had a love for chemistry and art, so winemaking felt like a natural fit.

He worked in local vineyards in the late nineties and made wine here until 2005 before moving to the Yarra Valley outside of Melbourne. “Over there I started two small wine businesses and Kenzie was a little sub-brand that focussed on lo-fi, interesting techniques in Chardonnay and Savagnin (not Sauvignon),” he explains. “I love the name and label, so I continued it on this side of the Tasman.”

Kenzie is named after Dave’s great-grandmother Annabella (Nana Kenzie). “She was a strong, independent Scottish woman who, in 1923, left her family at the age of 23 to start a new life in Ahuriri,” he says. “She went through a lot, she took so many risks and was a total inspiration. My brand features a Scottish wildcat to symbolise that spirit of hers, of embracing risk, independence and trusting ourselves.”

Embracing risk and following his instincts is intrinsically connected to his winemaking philosophy. “I try to use minimal intervention, and I don’t make any additions apart from a little sulphur. I also don’t use filtration or fining and can accept a few imperfections.” Mackintosh also uses fairly uncommon techniques like picking earlier than most, wild yeast fermentation, low sulphur and fermenting his whites on their skins.

“I’ve never felt too comfortable adding things to wine or seeing vineyards overly sprayed. My day job in the Yarra didn’t allow me to push the envelope and yet my mates and I were drinking amazing wines from natural producers. So we used this as inspiration.”

Today all of the vineyards he sources fruit from are organically managed. “My main requirement is that my partners love their site, respect their vines, and are great people,” he says. “I also like to mix up the soil types, so I have vineyards from young alluvial soils at Paritua and TK Vineyard in Bridge Pā, limestone in the Raukawa Hills on the Geenty’s Vineyard.” One vineyard and grower Dave wishes he was still working with is Phil Barber at Petane in Esk Valley. “He’s such a dude who had such a beautiful vineyard before the cyclone destroyed it.”

One of Dave’s favourite wines is his Little Dreamer Sauvignon Blanc. “My first serious New Zealand winemaking job back in the early 2000s was at a huge, conventional Sauvignon producer. I remember questioning why we didn’t use wild yeast, barrel fermentation or lees stirring and asked if anyone had tried fermenting it on skins before. The reaction wasn’t overly warm.” He was laughed at but held onto those ideas.

“When I returned to Hawke’s Bay, I had to do just that. I’ve made a wine that’s still unashamedly sauvignon, but has savouriness and a chalky, crunchy texture.”

Dave also makes Duet, a chilled red that’s gaining popularity. “It’s a play on the artistic term chiaroscuro, where light balances with shadow. I take this as inspiration for Duet using extracted Syrah blended with rosé to produce a fresh, balanced wine where savoury aspects are matched with the fruitiness. Blending is the most artistic part of winemaking so I enjoy this process a lot,” he muses.

Being back home also gives him the energy to grow and thrive. “My family have always been supportive and have invested in my business over the years. My partner helps me pack orders and listens to my many issues,” he laughs, “and I even put the kids on the tools waxing bottle tops! He winds down by cooking, eating and listening to a lot of music and ‘geeky’ wine podcasts. I’ve always been artistic and painted my whole life, so if time and motivation align, I like to do this as much as possible. That’s descended into creating new artwork for my labels or trade posters which I love to do.”

But being in business for yourself isn’t easy and times are tough out there in wine land. “The last 3 years have been seriously challenging for Hawke’s Bay, with two cool, hard seasons followed by a low-yielding but amazing 2024 vintage, that’s put the squeeze on. There are cost pressures for everyone; growers, producers, retailers, restaurants and consumers, we’re all in the same boat,” he shrugs.

He feels winegrowers need to engage with consumers more and encourage them to buy from family businesses and independents, support local restaurants, or buy directly. “It’s way better than handing over our money to the supermarket chains. And we’re making better and more interesting wines in Hawke’s Bay and Aotearoa than ever before, so we need to tell that story.”

Yvonne Lorkin is a wine writer, the Co-Founder and CTO of WineFriend (NZ’s No.1 personalised wine subscription service) and she’s a proud, born and bred Hawkesbaylien.

winefriend.co.nz or yvonnelorkin.com