Heron's Flight Matakana Vineyard Growing Sangiovese and Dolcetto
We currently have 15 acres of vineyard planted to the Italian grape varieties Sangiovese and Dolcetto. And we have been growing grapes since 1987.
We began looking for good viticultural land in the wider Auckland region in the mid-1980s. Two years were spent searching for land with contours facing north, friable clay loams, and reasonable sea breezes.
In 1987, we found 20 acres having all these features in the Matakana region, within an hour’s drive from Auckland. At that time, there was one other vineyard in the area, a small 3-acre block planted in the early 1980s. Other than that small parcel, we were on our own in establishing what worked in this climate.
In the 1980s, Richard Smart was conducting his canopy management work in New Zealand, and we utilised his services in deciding on the best trellis system for this area. After much discussion, and visits with him to his trellis trial blocks, it was decided that a ‘lyre’, or ‘u’, system would work best.
This is a humid and often wet area, where fertility is a constant issue. The ‘lyre’ system works by using Richard Smart’s ‘big vine’ theory. The assumption here is that in a fertile area, the vines require a higher bud number, and hence more shoots, in order to achieve that magical concept of a ‘balanced’ vine. And that on a standard VSP system, adding more shoots means a denser canopy. The ‘lyre’ system, on the other hand, actually splits the vine into two canopies â€" thus allowing the higher bud and shoot number to be divided between two canopies. It was a perfect solution for us.
First plantings
We initially planted our vineyard to the traditional Bordeaux varieties and Chardonnay. In 1991, we released our first wine- a straight Cabernet. This wine was a happy combination of an excellent summer and the involvement of one of the doyens of NZ wine- Alex Corban.
The 1991 Cabernet won one of the top golds at the 1993 Air NZ Wine Competition; and was the only NZ wine poured at the prestigious Australian Wine Society’s Christmas dinner.
Second thoughts
But within 6 months of releasing that wine, we had become fascinated by various Italian wines and decided to put in a trial block of various clones of Sangiovese to see whether one or two of these might work well in this climate. We did this in 1993.
We discovered that one of these clones performed remarkably well, even in summers where the Cabernets struggled. After about 5 years of trial work, we decided to replant 10 of our acres to one of these clones of Sangiovese.
As we were the only vineyard in NZ interested in Italian varieties at that time, we had to use the existing trial block budwood to propagate sufficient vinestock for the 10 acres we wanted to plant. As a consequence, the replanting took 4 years to complete- finishing in 2000.
Sangiovese, comes from Tuscany and has been grown there for about 3000 years. Most of us know it as a component of the wine Chianti. But when it is grown around the medieval town Montalcino, it produces one of the worlds great wine- called Brunello di Montalcino.
Sangiovese ripens late in the summer, typically mid to late April. It is a fantastic variety to work with, with thick skins to withstand much of the late summer rains in Matakana. It has very large berries for wine grapes, with intense pigment in its skins. As the grapes get physiologically ripe, the colour from the skins actually begins to leach into the juice. This is one of the tests of determining harvest times.
But we also wanted to have an early variety. So we began looking at the Piedmontese Dolcetto. This typically ripens about a month earlier than Sangiovese, and we therefore thought this a good bet.
Sourcing a few vines in 1999, we planted about half our remaining 5 acres to Dolcetto in 2000. The whole replanting was completed in 2003.
Dolcetto, meaning ‘little sweet one’, has small berries, but big bunches and gets very ripe and sweet early in the summer. Hence the name. Physiologically, it also has large bunches, and is prone to something called ‘shatter’ on cold mornings. This means that some of the berries actually fall off. As the crop is typically large, this helps us with our crop management programme!
In Piedmonte, Dolcetto is regarded generally as the third most regarded variety- after Niebbiolo and Barbara. But it also what the Italians drink for themselves! They vinify it largely without oak and bottle it after 6 or so months. Consume that vintage, and do the same the next vintage. Sounded good to us!
Therefore, with what began as a vineyard planted to the usual French varieties, with the completion in 2003 of the Dolcetto replanting, our 15 acres are now exclusively growing Italian grapevines. And we belive we are the only vineyard in NZ to be doing this.
