Matt Thompson's Blank Canvas in Marlborough. Harvest 2020 almost knocked out by Covid19!

Matt Thompson's Blank Canvas in Marlborough

Harvest 20 almost knocked out by Covid19! 

Experienced winemaker Matt Thompson and partner Sophie Parker-Thomson told us about their big escape as they gave the latest masterclass in the current Liberty Wine series. As the virus struck the country, there was a local campaign in Marlborough, where their Blank Canvas winery is, to shut down the industry. “It would have been a nightmare,” said Matt. “The shutdown would have been effectively for a year, not just weeks, a very scary time. There was panic, no insurance to cover it. “ 

But in the Year of the PPE (personal protection equipment), they were able to continue the vintage. Sophie: “Everything took longer. Both the weather and the fruity quality were fantastic.”

The weather had also been kind earlier, in December, leading to the "most spectacular flowering". The yield was up and, with some varieties having highly packed bunches, there was a danger of disease. “But it stayed dry and there was no disease”, said Matt. “A dream vintage,” concluded Sophie.

The work in the winery is not quite finished yet. While they operate mostly on Marlborough, their Syrah comes from the North Island, from the small Element vineyard in the famed Gimblett Gravels area. This has three or four weeks more to go before bottling.

Liberty Wines MD David Gleave introduced the couple saying he first met Matt in Italy in 1994. “He has done numerous vintages in Italy since and also in Marlborough where he also works as a consultant. He knows Marlborough inside out. With his own label he is pushing Marlborough into areas where it hasn’t gone before, making some great wines, including a terrific Gruner Veltliner (with “its stunning yet restrained aromatics”).

Sophie confirmed that they are pushing boundaries, ”wine without recipes”. Matt said they “make wines for grown-ups”. “We keep it small, helps us experiment. When it works, we bottle it. We have no vineyards, yet, and we choose very carefully where and who we work with."  Note too that all their wines are single vineyard.

“The vineyards are quite spread out,” said Sophie “and we have a very important partnership with our growers.” While the vineyards are “spread out”, the distances between them are not great. For instance, the Reed family vineyard (see map) is just 25 miles inland from Cloudy Bay. The Reeds are not only trusted suppliers but they are also great customers!

Mission statement!

The Holding family are nearer the sea and that saline note is present in their Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Healthy soils here too and great diversity. “They don’t plough at all,” said Matt. “Ploughing is a huge contributor to climate change and destructive to organic matter.”

Grüner Veltliner, highly praised by David Gleave, is a relative newcomer to the Blank Canvas portfolio. “It’s fun to make it, totally different,” enthused Sophie. Unusually, the Syrah was co-fermented with 7.5% Grüner Veltliner skins. Matt: “I preferred the white pepper character of the Grüner to the riper Viognier fruit.” 

David asked about climate change and specifically mentioned copper sulphites (“effective but doing long term damage”).

Matt confirmed the copper usage in Marlborough “is next to nil”. “Copper is destructive on some flavours of Sauvignon Blanc so that benefits form the next to nil usage here.” He also hinted that a  “biological spray” may be a way forward in the vineyard in future. “It is a spray of competitive microbial bugs that swamp out the pathogens.”

And then we were on to SO_2.

Okay, so what is SO₂? You’ll see the words Contains Sulphites on every bottle of wine as sulphites occur naturally as well as being added during the process. SO₂ is the active form of sulphites and is used in very small concentrations in wine (and in lots of other drinks and food, eg dried apricots, soups, and orange juice). Some wine-drinkers say they get a headache from the sulphites. But, if that were the case, then a couple of dried apricots would give you one as well.

So why is it used?  It can be a bit technical. It is used as an antioxidant and also as an antimicrobial agent (where it is very effective against most bacteria, germs don’t like it). It comes in a bound form and in a free form (each has its own properties) and total S02 is simply the sum of the bound and free. Matt emphasised that winemakers should know more about bound and free as it “is in everyone’s interest to manage it properly”. He also said that industry should talk more about the subject, as it is the preservative of choice for winemakers and the wine industry.

Its use is limited by European regulations, less for red wines, more for white and the highest limit is for sweet (eg Sauternes). If used at those limits or, preferably below, it keeps the wine fresh and, importantly for Matt, helps keep the qualities of the fruit and the place. “S02 can be used to ensure that the wine’s sense of place, or origin, is expressed rather than the microbial diversity under the winemaker’s fingernails.” 

Sulphites should not be confused with Sulphides! So I won’t add to the confusion here!

Matt and Sophie are quite a busy and experienced couple. He has 53 back-to-back vintages (northern and southern hemisphere) to his credit, while Sophie has 17. Matt has won countless awards, including being International White Winemaker of the Year (IWC 2008). Sophie, a lawyer by training, comes from a wine-making and hospitality family,  and her wine studies are very well advanced.

He says: “Blank Canvas represents my story as a winemaker.” We’re looking forward to the next chapter.

In the meantime, check out the Black Canvas wines on the Liberty Wines website here.

I’ll be there before you!

Previous masterclasses in this series:

Portuguese Grape Varieties with Antonio Braga

A masterclass from Tuscany by wine-maker Paolo De Marchi

Rebooting Armenia's Ancient Winemaking with Zoric Gharabian

Barolo 2016 with Franco Massolino and Giuseppe Vajra

Biodynamic Californian Winemaker Ted Lemon of Littorai

Charles Heidsieck is "freshened up" by Cyril Brun

Cellar Master Émilien Boutillat Details Climate Change Challenges.

Robots In The Champagne Vineyard. Cellar Master Émilien Boutillat Details Climate Change Challenges.

Robots In The Champagne Vineyard.

Cellar Master Émilien Boutillat Details Climate Change Challenges.

Locally manufactured robots tidy up the rows. Could Irish agriculture use these?

Champagne has faced many stern challenges over the decades. Climate change is the latest. And they are responding, according to Piper-Heidsieck cellar master Émilien Boutillat. But the response must be more than local. “It must be global,” he insisted during his Liberty Wines organised online masterclass last Thursday.

Émilien was introduced by David Gleave MD of Liberty who said climate change was an issue not just in Champagne but right across the world. “Émilien  was born in the heart of champagne. He has made wine around France, in Chile, in South Africa and in New Zealand. He has a global perspective, a scientific approach and is one of the rising stars of the wine world.” Not a bad intro at all!

Harvest dates get earlier and earlier

The cellar master reported that, under blue skies, the vineyard was “in good shape” and that “the winery was busy also.” And then it was straight to business. A series of charts on temperature (including soil temperature), rainfall and so on left no one in any doubt that climate change has been creeping up on the area for decades. 

Perhaps the most convincing was the one (above…) showing harvest dates. As you can see, from the 50s to the 80s, the vintage was mostly late September and sometimes in October. Not any more. Most now are in the earlier part of September with a few in August. And expectations, according to the Huglin indicator, could see Champagne having the kind of temperature that Montpelier now has by the end of the century. Not straightaway but, as Émilien said: “Even one degree is huge in wine.”

Émilien

He outlined probable responses under two headings, one is “to adapt to the change” and two is “to be part of a global effort to reduce our impact on the climate”. In the Piper-Heidsieck case, there are two specific areas, in the vineyard and in the winery.

The viticulture response to the fight against Spring Frost, for instance, could see active methods (wind-machine, heaters, over-vine sprinklers) employed but Émilien prefers passive methods (Adequacy grape/terroir, row grass cover, delayed pruning) because the impact of the active methods on the environment “is too big”.

So what about hail storms? “We cross our fingers!”. “Some hazards though are local, we get grapes everywhere in Champagne.” So if a few growers are hit by hail, more than a few will have no such damage. They encourage their partners (the growers) to farm more sustainably also.

Sustainability's important at Piper

 Piper have been certified by two organisations for their drive towards sustainability and biodiversity. “We think outside the box… have more resistant grass between the rows… employ responsible viticulture. .. We do better every year.” Piper have water and gas management systems, recycling 100% waste from house vineyard, limit fertiliser use, zero insecticide, zero herbicide and more.

Then there is canopy management, maybe wider distances between the rows, maybe new grapes (Arbanne, Petit Meslier). Seven grape varieties are allowed in Champagne though basically just three (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier ) are used. While the big three grapes seem to have bene there forever, in the 17th century, the grapes used for Champagne were Gouais and Fromenteau. Who knows what will happen in the long term? During the Question and Answer session, Émilien said there are currently small amounts of the other grapes but “when you plant a vineyard it is for 50 years. It (replacement) will be slow, takes time, more for the long term.”

They support local and have invested in a local start-up to produce robots for vineyard operations. This one has wheels though and looks like a small bus. “It is electric and can find the start of the row automatically and then do the weeding along the sides. We really believe in it.. all the growers can benefit.” It does what the old farm implement called a scuffler used to do but much more efficiently by the looks of it.

The winemaking response will also be over a number of different fronts. The harvest date will be one and that will involve tasting, tasting, tasting. “Don’t just look at the numbers.”  Cooler terroir (within the area) may well come into play. As may Pressing Juice Splitting (to help with acidity). Malolactic fermentation may be blocked to enhance freshness in the reserve wines. Indeed, reserve wines from cool years, such as 1996, 2007, 2008, and 2013, could become ever more valuable. Dosage is the last step of the process and there is scope here to change the amount of sugar and in the choice of reserve wine.

Émilien's not a fan of over-vine sprinklers

Q: Will you be looking to produce different wines in the future eg still?

A: Champagne is known for sparkling wines, it is our history, our goal, our style is all about sparkling. I hope in a 100 years it will still be sparkling.

Q: Are you looking at England, or elsewhere?

A: I like making wine abroad. Champagne has great terroir, nice diversity, so lucky here, so I want to concentrate on Champagne. English sparkling wine is good and you don’t need a French winemaker to show you how!

Q: How do you convince new suppliers to work with you?

A: First we want to keep and work with our current growers in long-term partnerships, it takes time, takes years.

Q: Do the growers follow your guidelines?

A: There is external checking on their sustainability practices. We meet them fairly often ourselves. I go into the vineyards, close to them and sharing time and being on the ground with them is the best way.

Q: There were a few questions about going organic.

A: We are in sustainability not organic. But not a big difference between what we do now and organic, no pesticide, no herbicide. It is trickier here because of the weather (rain in particular). We are always experimenting, plenty of good things to take from different methods, but no dogma! We continue to improve sustainability with our partners.

Q: Will climate change force a shift in the boundaries of Champagne?

A: So far, no. The soil is part of it, so far we stick where we are. Again it is very long-term, as vineyards are planted for 50 years.”

For more info, see 

Piper-Heidsieck 

Liberty Wines

Okay. You take the left. I'll go right.

Previous masterclasses in this series:

Portuguese Grape Varieties with Antonio Braga

A masterclass from Tuscany by wine-maker Paolo De Marchi

Rebooting Armenia's Ancient Winemaking with Zoric Gharabian

Barolo 2016 with Franco Massolino and Giuseppe Vajra

Biodynamic Californian Winemaker Ted Lemon of Littorai

Charles Heidsieck is "freshened up" by Cyril Brun

Amazing variety of Portuguese vines detailed in masterclass by ace winemaker Antonio Braga.

Antonio (pic via Sogrape)

Superb masterclass on amazing variety of Portuguese vines by enthusiastic ace winemaker Antonio Braga.

“There’s a vast array of grape varieties in Portugal, a vast array of indigenous grapes that few of us know anything about” said Liberty Wines MD David Gleave as he introduced  Sogrape Vinhos winemaker Antonio Braga, one of the brightest talents on the Portuguese scene, making wine from Vinho Verde to Bairrada and Lisboa, to this week’s online masterclass. “Antonio is a great guy, a great winemaker and great that we’ve got him here today.”

Antonio has worked in most areas in Portugal, having started with the Douro reds. “Now he is mainly looking at white”. Also with the same aims though: balance, character and terroir, to present the best expression of the terroir in red, rosé and white. With the whites in Portugal there is a strong Atlantic influence, cool in Vinho Verde and around Lisbon. The Douro and Alentejo are warmer and so you get more reds here.

Arinto was the first grape he spoke about, known as Pedernã in Vinho Verde. As Antonio said there may be over 300 indigenous grapes in his country but many more names! He reckons, because here you find it in its greatest DNA variability, that this one was “born in Bucelas”, next to Lisbon. It is a “good variety, travels well, even inside Portugal.. it presents a few challenges though and canopy management is important.”

Next up was another white grape, the Alvarinho (better known as Albarino in  neighbouring Rias Baixas). David Gleave told us and Antonio that he loves the Alvarinho at Azevedo, “a different style” to that across the border. Antonio though hinted that there is more to come from Azevedo. “Still work ongoing to improve it… studies going on… We’ll be able to deliver better in the future.”  And he also said that the Alvarinho blend with Loureiro (another local white) is “more than happy”.

Later, during the Q & A session, Antonio spoke on the different styles of the Alvarinho. “We are always experimenting both in the vineyard and winery. So many different tools to work with.” One of the main ones would seem to be the endless enthusiasm and curiosity of Antonio himself.

He also loves the texture of wines made from the relatively recent Sercialinho grape with its classical aromas, vibrant and crisp acidity. Other Portuguese white grapes that you may have come across: Loureiro, Encruzado, Trajadura, Bical, Rabo de Ovelha, Gouveio, Viosinho and Sercial.

Alfrocheiro was the first red he spoke on, “a new passion for me”. He acknowledged it was hard to pronounce but “worth the effort to get a glass!”. “Now is the time for Alfrocheiro,” he declared.

Though he is now concentrating on white wines, “still in my heart is Touriga Franca and Touriga Nacional”. The Franca,  he says, “is very consistent” while the Touriga is “the queen.. amazing… lots of floral aromatics.. great balance… love to use it in blends with the Franca…”

Other red grapes that you may have come across:  Vinhão/Sousão, Alicante Bouschet, Tinta Amarela, Rufete, Bastardo, Tinta Cão, Jaen, Tinta Roriz, Castelão

There’s much work going on at official and other levels in an attempt to classify and preserve the native Portuguese varietals and David Gleave asked Antonio, during the Q & A, if there are any surprises out there. He answered: “So many varieties… a world of secrets to be discovered… an adventure.. As winemakers, we will discover these wine treasures and present them to the market."

One questioner worried about the survival of Field Blends.

Antonio: “I like to blend, I like to test. Back in the 80s there were many blind moves but nowadays it is more cautious, more testing. If we like them, we keep them. We try to keep the field blend alive. It is part of our patrimony, very important.”

He was asked about oak and had he a preference as to where it comes from.

Antonio: “Focus is on the final product. I want to show origin, not cooperage, but a good barrel is wonderful for wine! Must be top quality, no matter from where, don’t like to buy at second level.”

Does he compare international varieties? He had earlier touched on Alvarinho and Albarino.

“I love comparisons, great for learning. I’m inventive, like challenges. The blend of the Tourigas is close to Bordeaux.”

The Touriga Franca as a stand alone varietal?

“I love it but, on its own, tends to be unidirectional. But works very well in blends.”

Organic, sustainability, climate change came up in a few questions.

Antonio: Focus is more and more on sustainability. I would

l like to present more organic and biodynamique but we still haven’t made that move but that’s the trend.”  David Gleave did point out that it is easier to go organic in the warm areas (Douro and Alentejo), but would take longer in Vinho Verde and Antonio agreed.

Dennis of Liberty Wines, our usual doorman, coordinated the Q&A session and had one himself towards the end, asking Antonio his opinion of Encruzado.

Antonio admitted to falling love with it. “It grows in complexity as it ages, is great for oak ageing. It has a wonderful gastronomic ability to cut through fatty foods. It is an autumn wine, a fireplace wine. It may not be in fashion but it is a wonderful variety, wonderful to work with.”

And, on that upbeat note, we left the meeting, as they say on Zoom. 

* All pics are screenshots from the masterclass.

Delightful Wines from the Beaujolais Region

Delightful Wines from the Beaujolais 

Dominique Morel “Vieilles Vignes” Fleurie (AOP) 2107, 12.5%, €22.99

160, Cinnamon Cottage, Wine Centre and www.wineolnline.ie

Colour is light to mid ruby. Those fairly typical red cherry aromas, mixed with floral notes, soon announce themselves and stay with you to the finalé. Right through the elegant palate of light and bright flavours, delicate yes, but far from weak and that too applies to the persistent finish. Very Highly Recommended.

I was, it seems, getting the best of its floral and refined side; that comes between 6 months and 3 years. Later, from 3 to 7 years, you’ll be enjoying the fully mature wine, all according to the producers website.

This Morel is produced by Gry-Sablon and wine has been made at the domaine for over a century. Gry-Sablon make wine in five of the ten crus of Beaujolais and also in Burgundy. 

The Gamay grape thrives in the granite soils of the Fleurie village in the heart of the Beaujolais region. With its delicate cherry scents and flavours of red berry fruits, this very elegant wine is an excellent partner to a wide variety of lighter dishes. Recommended serving temperature is 15%.

Dishes indicate suitable are Poultry terrines, all delicate white meats, Bresse poultry, lamb chops with herbs, lyonnaise-style veal liver, roast rabbit, old-fashioned pork loin, pigeon, fish, fresh goat cheese , strawberry profiteroles.

The year 2017 was another difficult vintage for producers in the Beaujolais. Spring frost, vicious hailstorms during July and the drought of the summer months all combined to make it so. Fortunes were somewhat retrieved with a welcome rain just before harvest, which brought freshness to the resulting wines. Still much damage was done, particularly by the hail which resulted in a 40% loss in volume.

In the winery, all went well and the wine was aged in stainless steel tanks on fine lees for 5 to 6 months before bottling in the estate. An excellent result then after so many hurdles. 

Frédéric Berne “Pierre Bleue” Beaujolais-Latignié (AOP) 2018, 14%, €21.99

World Wide Wines  and www.wineonline.ie

Colour of this Gamay is a deeper red than normal, close to purple. There are intense fragrant aromas of berries (blue and black), floral notes. Gets even better as the palate comes into play, terrific fruit backbone along with soft tannins. No shortage of acidity either. Finishes well also with a touch of spice. Highly Recommended.

The Latignié terroir, just a short drive from Beaujolais crus such as Morgan, Fleurie, and Chiroubles, has played its part here. Grown on 'Pierre Bleue' soils, the Gamay “gives wines which have deeper colour, fragrant perfumes and soft tannins”, according to the producers. Unlike the western side of Lantignié where the soils are predominantly granite, the grapes used for this wine come from the eastern side of Lantignié where the soils are mostly clay. Frédéric has six hectares between the Beaujolais Villages, Morgon and Chiroubles, and is currently converting all his vineyards to organic viticulture so uses no pesticides.

The year 2018 turned out to be a very good one, despite a very wet spring. Conditions during harvest were ideal, and the vintage produced a good quantity of healthy, ripe Gamay grapes. As a result 2018, for producers in the Beaujolais, is heralded as one of the best for quality and quantity in recent years.

On the label, you may read their “mission statement”: We do not inherit the land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. I chose the path of natural agriculture to help you discover authentic wines that respect their environment. Breaking away from intensive chemical farming, the team takes care of its vines according to the precepts of agroecology.

Another Frédéric Berne wine to watch is his Morgon ‘Corcelette’, also available via Liberty.