Wine
Make mine a merlot
by Michael Cooper
Reluctant to spend more than $15 or $20 on a bottle of red? Go for a Hawke's Bay merlot.
Which grape produces New Zealand’s best-value reds? Pinot noir is fashionable, but does not yield impressive, low-priced wine anywhere in the world. For most of us – reluctant to spend more than $15 or $20 when selecting a bottle of red off the shelf – the best bet is one of Hawke’s Bay’s flavour-packed merlots or merlot/cabernet blends.
Merlot’s producing area in New Zealand soared from 535ha to 1487ha between 1999 and 2004, but has not expanded since, whereas pinot noir and lately syrah have increasingly stolen the limelight. Nevertheless, merlot is second only to pinot noir as this country’s most extensively planted red-wine variety – and far ahead of cabernet sauvignon. There are about 250 New Zealand merlots on the market.
Exports are a major challenge because merlot produces distinguished reds in many wine-growing countries, from France to Chile and Australia, but last year our winemakers shipped well over 200,000 cases. By far the biggest seller overseas is the full-flavoured, plummy, spicy and smooth Oyster Bay Hawke’s Bay Merlot. (“The trick is – not too much oak,” says winemaker Michael Ivicevich.)
Merlot produces alluring reds, fleshy, rich and well-rounded. In Bordeaux, the world’s greatest red-wine region, merlot plantings are far more extensive than those of cabernet sauvignon. Merlot truly comes into its own in the Pomerol and St Emilion districts, where it yields great, yet relatively early maturing, reds.
The classic French variety has a lengthy history in New Zealand. Government viticulturist Romeo Bragato in 1906 distributed merlot vines imported from Italy. Corbans established merlot in West Auckland in the 1930s, and the Vidal brothers cultivated merlot in Hawke’s Bay during the postwar era. However, in the early 1980s, when the country’s plantings of cabernet sauvignon exceeded 400ha, those of merlot amounted to less than 50ha.
At first, merlot was employed here as a minority blending partner, adding its smoothness and floral, plummy fruitiness to the firmer, more austere and long-lived, predominant cabernet sauvignon. But merlot’s status as a noble variety in its own right has now been recognised, and so a host of unblended merlots and merlot-predominant blends have been marketed since the mid-1990s.
Merlot performs best in the middle and upper North Island. More than 75% of the vines are clustered in Hawke’s Bay, but its ability to also perform solidly in regions not usually noted for claret-style reds, such as Gisborne and Marlborough, is a bonus. There are also substantial plantings in Auckland.
So, what to buy? Main Divide Merlot/Cabernet 2006 ($21), from the top Pegasus Bay winery at Waipara, North Canterbury, offers blackcurrant, herb and dark chocolate -flavours, rich and smooth. Grown in Marlborough and barrel-aged for two years, it is generous, savoury and complex, delivering fine value.
Bell Bird Bay Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2007 ( $15) is an excellent “cheapie”. Made by Alpha Domus winery, it is full-bodied, plummy, spicy and smooth, with plenty of -flavour and more personality than you’d expect at its humble price.
Vidal Hawke’s Bay Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 ($20) is richly coloured and sturdy, with plum, spice and coffee flavours, a foundation of firm tannins and obvious cellaring potential.
Mission Reserve Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2007 ($23) is the best -vintage yet – densely coloured, with ripe, sweet-fruit flavours, bold and firm. Full of potential, it should mature gracefully for several years.
From a merlot-specialist winery, Esk Valley Hawke’s Bay Merlot 2007 ($26) is a classy young red, full-coloured, with an array of ripe blackcurrant, plum and spice flavours, deep and smooth. Craggy Range Gimblett Gravels Merlot 2006 ($30) shows excellent density, with a backbone of supple, ripe tannins and blackcurrant, dark chocolate and coffee flavours -seasoned with fine French oak.
Australia, in the past deeply committed to shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, is slowly getting to grips with merlot. Wolf Blass Yellow Label Merlot 2006 ($14.99) is worth buying – a savoury, earthy South Australian red, it is drinking well now.
