We have had an interesting series of articles recently about Southern Hemisphere wines: Jancis on Chile, Julia on Patagonia, Tam on Victoria and Jancis on Henschke, as well as a NZ Sauv Blanc wine of the week by Richard. Fun!
The February edition of Richard’s Singapour said there were some notes to come on Pinot Noir NZ conference - are they still coming? It would be interesting to compare Pinot Noir from Victoria, New Zealand and Patagonia.
Central Otago in NZ is about the same latitude as the Patagonia vineyards. Though the Ventisquero wines from Chile are actually slightly further south. They seem to be on a level with Invercargill, at the southern tip of the south island, where I don’t think wine is grown. It is hard to compare these places using North Atlantic focused maps.
Hi Robert, they are indeed! They are currently in a queue, because there are several other NZ articles pending. Stay tuned!
[three months later …]
The Pinot Noir tasting notes from New Zealand have now been published! See New Zealand and the great Pinot paradox. Thanks for your patience, @robert_seattle!
Hi Robert, Julia Harding’s excellent article on Patagonian wines gives a good insight into growing Pinot Noir at that latitude with Otronia at 45.33 S and Ventisquero at 46.3 S. Our vineyard is one of the southernmost in Central Otago, NZ, at 45.25 S. There are no viable vineyards further south in NZ because it is too exposed to the cold southerly weather. I have compared the climate data between the two regions and the monthly temperature data is almost identical although we experience slightly higher max temperatures in summer and lower minimum temperatures in winter. Probably due to the moderating influence of the lakes and maybe wind. It is significantly windier than Central Otago. Note the extensive shelterbelts in both vineyard photos in Julia’s article. Wind has a significant impact on Pinot Noir skins. It would be difficult to compare wines from the two regions because there are so few Patagonian examples. I think there will be similarities due to both regions experiencing long slow ripening due to low nighttime temperatures and dry weather but how much this is overshadowed by Patagonia picking earlier than we do and winemaking decisions I don’t know.
Thanks for your comments on that article, Phil. As you say, the wind is certainly a defining characteristic of the Patagonian vineyards I described, as well as the shorter growing season. What effect does the wind have on the Pinot skins?
Hi Julia. The vine’s response to continual wind exposure is thicker grape skins and potentially smaller berries. The result is wine with more intense tannins and boldness. Shelter belts and other systems aim to reduce the wind impact but probably won’t totally eliminate it and may have some other outcomes such as shading or competition for moisture.