Browse the Real Review Top Wineries of New Zealand 2023 here.
]]>Browse the Real Review Top Wineries of New Zealand 2023 here.
]]>Liquid delight: Blackenbrook Family Reserve Gewürztraminer 2019
Score: 95/100 ★★★★★, top rank
"This wine makes a strong statement. It is intensely aromatic without being at all cloying.
A great example of Nelson Gewürztraminer.
Liquid delight: Blackenbrook Family Reserve Gewürztraminer 2019
Score: 95/100 ★★★★★, top rank
"This wine makes a strong statement. It is intensely aromatic without being at all cloying.
A great example of Nelson Gewürztraminer.
Medium-dry Gewürztraminer with vanilla, white rose petal, pot-pourri aromas and a suggestion of lychee supported by gentle acidity. Strongly varietal wine that is deliciously drinkable now but no rush. Good purity and an ethereal texture."
"Ursula Schwarzenbach from Blackenbrook Vineyards dropped in some samples from the 2022 vintage for me to try. She told me that despite the weather challenges, she and her husband Daniel are really happy with the wines they made this year.
They had put a huge effort into vineyard management to ensure the significant rain events didn’t ruin their crop. Daniel and the vineyard team worked hard on leaf plucking and shoot thinning to keep the vine canopy open, so the grapes were exposed to gentle winds and lots of sun to dry them out after the rain and avoid disease pressure.
The wines Ursula dropped in for me to taste are clear proof that the Blackenbrook Vineyard location on a gentle sloping hillside at Tasman along with their hard work has resulted in some delicious wines, wines you should hunt out."
"Last week, Ursula Schwarzenbach from Blackenbrook Vineyards dropped in some samples from the 2022 vintage for me to try.
She told me that despite the weather challenges, she and her husband Daniel are really happy with the wines they made this year.
“It started off like a dream: a warm spring, mild conditions for flowering and a strong fruit set, lots of blue skies and just enough rainfall to keep the vineyard happy and working at its best,” said Daniel.
“But 70mm of rain followed by two weeks of warm, humid weather in February had us deeply worried about our crop. The weather recovered, but the grapes were now very fragile and wouldn’t survive another big rain event.
“And where would we find pickers? Covid 19 was raging and the borders closed. But the community support was absolutely amazing with lots of people offering their help. We ended up bringing in a beautiful harvest with the best picking team ever – such a relief!”
Ursula told me they had put a huge effort into vineyard management to ensure the significant rain events didn’t ruin their crop.
“Daniel and the vineyard team, including Thomas and Isabelle, our children, worked hard on leaf plucking and shoot thinning to keep the vine canopy open, so the grapes below the canopy were exposed to gentle winds and lots of sun to dry them out after the rain and avoid disease pressure.”
The wines Ursula dropped in for me to taste and review are clear proof that the Blackenbrook Vineyard location on a gentle sloping hillside at Tasman along with their hard work has resulted in some delicious wines, wines you should hunt out."
Read Neil Hodgson's article here
]]>Around 10,000 wines were tasted to discover the most promising New Zealand and Australian wineries.
Naturally we are extremely proud to see our name featured on the list, humbly claiming its place amongst some of the most fabulous winemakers in our country.
]]>Around 10,000 wines are tasted annually to award the Real Review Top Wineries Certificate to a select group of wineries that consistently produce excellent wine. The Top Wineries list has become a well respected national benchmark providing independent advice to trade and consumers alike.
Naturally we are extremely proud to see our name featured on the list, humbly claiming its place amongst some of the most fabulous winemakers in our country.
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In the winery we are gearing up for bottling . We are currently filtering our wines, the final step before filling around 54,000 bottles with the delicious 2022 vintage in the upcoming school holidays. Needless to say all hands will be on deck...
Wow, what a monster wine and I mean that in the best way!
Mark A'Court
Nelson Fresh Choice
Quality and quantity are outstanding, and the fermenting wines already show great potential - big smiles all round!
]]>We had a beautiful harvest despite Daniel and our two children contracting Covid on the first day of picking. The weather was stunning and amidst the wide-spread labour shortage we were blessed with a fantastic team of hand-pickers.
Quality and quantity are outstanding, and the fermenting wines already show great potential - big smiles all round!
Take a break from the Christmas rush and call in for a sneaky tasting and chat. All your favourites will be open for tasting - Savvie, Aromatics, Chardy, Reserve Pinot Noir and of course the legendary Montepulciano.
As a special Christmas treat we'll dig into the library stock and bring out a bottle of the amazing Pinot Blanc 2019. It's now beautifully mature, silky smooth, honeyed and extremely moreish.
We can't wait to see you!
Free Tasting
18/19 December, 1 - 5pm
51 Baldwin Rd, Tasman
"The 2021 harvest delivered a small crop, 18% lighter than in 2020. But the good news is that small vintages typically yield wines with greater concentration than usual, and you can see that in the strikingly aromatic, flavour-packed 2021 Sauvignon Blancs now arriving on the shelves."
We were super-proud to see our Savvy featured in the list of his favourite new releases:
4½ Stars for Blackenbrook Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2021
Estate-grown in Tasman, this hand-harvested wine was fermented in tanks (mostly) and old oak barrels (4%). Highly aromatic, it is fresh and punchy, with an array of herbaceous and tropical fruit flavours, a touch of complexity and a crisp, dry, lasting finish.
"The thing I love about this wine is its cool, calm mood. Unlike a lot of Gewurztraminer styles that are all jazz hands and stage voice, brash, blousy and wearing way too much perfume. This new release rolls out subtle ginger, rosewater and musky spices on the nose and unveils layers of nashi, nutmeg and poached peach on the palate. Having spent a quiet, sleepy year in bottle before release, it’s soothing, dry and softly styled."
5 Stars Yvonne Lorkin
Read more here.
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Just wanted to report that I opened up a bottle of your “2014 Family Reserve Chardonnay” to go with a chicken and lentil dish which Maria had prepared, and it is delicious.
Wonderful colour and great flavours.
I will enjoy more of it tonight! Not sure how long ago I bought it from you, but I only wish I had more.
Well done. Many thanks,
Philip Archer
Richmond
Glad I’ve got a few tucked away in my cellar.
Graeme Nicholls
Wellington
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It's hard to stop ourselves from going back to the tanks to sneak just another little taste...
The wines haven't been moved since fermentation. Once the yeast cells had converted all the available sugar into alcohol, they settled at the bottom of the tanks, giving our wines a gorgeous creaminess.
He came to Nelson to write the latest instalment of his Wine Uni Blog designed to prepare students for WSET and Sommelier exams.
Here's what he wrote about our humble vineyard:
"Blackenbrook is Swiss quality-focus transplanted to New Zealand. And the results are astonishing!
This family-owned winery planted their first vines in 2001, and now they grow their grapes on 20 hectares of land in the Moutere Hills, next to the Tasman Sea.
They use a gravity-based winery, which allows them for minimal intervention, resulting in well-crafted and nuanced wines.
There were many highlights of this visit. The Blackenbrook Pinot Rosé 2020 was excellent, full of ripe flavours, with lifted florals, medium body and crispy acidity.
We were absolutely surprised by the Blackenbrook Family Reserve Montepulciano 2019 – a rich and robust wine, with herbs and spices adding to its finesses.
We also enjoyed Blackenbrook Family Reserve Pinot Noir 2019 – complex and concentrated aromas, full of character and length."
Jakub Jurkiewicz, DipWSET
Read the entire blog here.
The nets are on, neatly clipped up to protect the precious grapes from the ever-so hungry birds.
The canopy exudes vibrancy and health, working hard to produce amazing flavours and sugar for the upcoming vintage 2021.
Let's keep the fingers crossed for tons of sunshine and dry weather. Harvest is expected to start mid-March - watch this space!
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Nelson is tucked away at the top of New Zealand’s South Island, sheltered from the rain-rich westerlies by the formidable Tasman Mountains.
The region competes with the Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough for having the highest sunshine hours. It’s about an hour-and-a-half’s drive from big brother Marlborough.
Nelson has 42 mostly small family wineries and just 27 grape growers. It ranks as New Zealand’s sixth-largest wine region in terms of vineyard area.
One statistic that never fails to surprise me is the fact that sauvignon blanc occupies around 55% of Nelson’s vineyard area. Only Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay have more sauvignon blanc vines. Ask most wine lovers to name Nelson’s “hero” grape variety and they are more likely to nominate the more glamorous chardonnay or pinot noir, both of which perform with distinction at wine competitions.
Add the vineyard area of pinot gris, gewürztraminer, riesling and albariño together and you get 173 hectares (ha), still well behind sauvignon blanc at 610 ha, but comfortably in second place.
Nelson has two significant subregions: the Waimea Plains and the Moutere Hills. Waimea is Maori for “river garden” and was a popular spot for crops, orchards and hops before grapevines elbowed their way in. Soils in the Waimea Plains are stony, free-draining river gravels. Close proximity to the sea tends to moderate temperature extremes. Cooler conditions translate to crisper, punchier wines. Notable wineries on the Waimea Plains include Greenhough Vineyard, Brightwater Vineyards, Waimea and Seifried Estate.
The Moutere Hills, as the name suggests, allows vineyards to take advantage of the hilly terrain and to maximise sun exposure. Clay-rich soils, known locally as Moutere clays, produce more concentrated and longer-lived wines that offer some compensation for the difficulties involved in planting and maintaining hillside vineyards.
Nelson sauvignon blanc is, stylistically, not miles away from the Marlborough model, although it tends to have punchier acidity and more pronounced oyster-shell minerality. Assertive acidity, attractive purity and high energy are a feature of other varieties both aromatic and non-aromatic.
Nelson is famous for its artists and artisans. Wine fits neatly into that mix. Nelson offers a compelling wine trail and a rich hunting ground for wines that are not normally seen on shelves outside the region. Visitors are likely to find that the person behind the counter is also the owner and winemaker. Top wineries here include Neudorf, Kahurangi Estate, Moutere Hills, Himmelsfeld, Gravity Winery and ABEL.
By Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review, 15 Feb 2021
Photos by Chocolate Dog Studio
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The ‘gold of golds’ Champion Trophy Medal was awarded to Nelson winery Blackenbrook Vineyard for their first-ever vintage of Pinot Blanc at this year’s New Zealand Aromatic Wine Competition in the ‘Other Aromatic’ category.Held last week at the New Zealand Agricultural Show in Canterbury, the New Zealand Aromatic Wine Competition, in its 16th year, focuses on aromatic wines, such as Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Viognier, and other varieties, including Muscat, Verdelho, Arneis, Rose and Sauvignon Gris, made in an aromatic style from any internationally recognised region.
Blackenbrook’s 2019 Pinot Blanc was launched only last month, quickly receiving 4.5 stars from Michael Cooper MA ONZM, author of the annual New Zealand Wines: Michael Cooper’s Buyer’s Guide. Blackenbrook owners Daniel and Ursula Schwarzenbach are thrilled at the reception their newest wine has received.
“Balance and clean varietal characters in our wines are really important to us,” Daniel says. “It’s always rewarding to receive recognition for the hard work our vineyard team and family have put into creating our signature wines, like the Pinot Blanc. With only 11 hectares of Pinot Blanc grapes planted throughout New Zealand, mostly used for blending, we knew it would be a challenge to introduce an unfamiliar wine to Kiwis.
The Nelson Mail 11 Sept 2019, by Neil Hodgson
It was a serendipitous visit to Switzerland that led Blackenbrook winery's Daniel and Ursula Schwarzenbach to produce a new pinot blanc.
OPINION: I have been a fan of Blackenbrook Vineyard's wines for years. In fact, I have been following the evolution of this family business since their first wines hit the market in 2004.
Daniel and Ursula Schwarzenbach moved to Nelson in 1998 and both initially worked at Seifried Estate. They always intended to buy some land and establish their own vineyard and wine label so, while both working they spent their spare time searching for the perfect site to plant their own vines.
In 1999, the couple bought a piece of rolling hillside land at Tasman overlooking the estuary and planted their first vines in 2001, had children in 2003 and 2007 and launched their first wines in 2004.
Working long days at one job and then coming home to work even longer hours in their own vineyard showed how this couple are prepared to work incredibly hard with a determined focus to produce the very best wines they can.
Daniel and Ursula have always been mindful of their environmental footprint and designed a winery that has as little impact as possible on the natural environment, including all wastewater from the winery being collected and used for irrigation.
It was also designed to be as gentle as possible when it comes to handling and processing the grapes they grow. They want the wonderful varietal flavours of each wine to shine.
The couple recently introduced solar energy into the winery, now use an electric forklift and customers can also give them the packaging back for reuse. All of this is to further reduce their environmental footprint.
The experimental evolution of Blackenbrook has been with varieties they produce - riesling has come and gone (to my disappointment) and muscat has also come and gone from the vineyard.
"Basically they were the wrong varieties for the site and as we learned about our land we knew other varieties would do better," said Daniel.
"Riesling struggled to ripen enough before autumn rains arrived each year and muscat was always an experiment. From eight or nine vintages of muscat we only had three crops worth making wine with.
"As much as we love the variety and the wine we made it just doesn't make sense to make wine one year in three."
The riesling was replaced with more chardonnay and they were looking for another aromatic variety to replace the muscat.
"Daniel came back from judging a wine competition in Switzerland, the Mondial des Pinots, where various types of pinot are judged (pinot noir, pinot gris and pinot blanc all have the same genetic links) and he was really taken by many of pinot blanc wines he tasted, he thought it would do very well on our site," said Ursula.
Pinot blanc can be quite a bland variety but Daniel says it really does depend on how you grow the grapes.
"It takes the right site, intensive work in the vineyards and low cropping levels but it is also a very versatile variety," he told me.
"You can go in the direction of a chardonnay by aging the wine in oak barrels, towards a fruity pinot gris style or even towards a spicy gewurztraminer style depending totally on how the grapes are grown. It is one variety that is wonderful when produced on the right site."
Blackenbrook have planted three clones of pinot blanc with Daniel saying "there's very little difference in the vineyard while the vines are young but we do expect to see some small differences as time goes by."
"The key difference is likely to be seasonal where one clone does better than others depending on the weather during the growing season."
There is a total of approximately 11ha of Pinot Blanc planted in New Zealand, including some at Greenhough Vineyards "but a lot is blended away as a structural component in another wine, some is aged in old oak like Greenhough do with theirs.
"I thought it could do really well in our clay soils and the first vintage is looking very promising for the future of Pinot Blanc in our vineyard," Daniel said.
"Because we had a vine nursery here when we established the vineyard we had trialled various rootstocks, the 3309 root stock is particularly suited to our soils and climate, it is a deep rooting rootstock so handles dry weather very well, the pinot blanc vines we planted are all on the 3309 rootstock."
Ursula told me the first harvest of their pinot blanc went better than they had hoped for.
"We had perfect ripeness before the rain came, and because we put so much effort into making sure the vineyard was in peak condition to handle any adverse weather the fruit was harvested in great condition."
So what does this very first Blackenbrook pinot blanc taste like?
The pale lemon-gold colour sparkles in the glass and because the wine is made with very low levels of sulphur and relies on natural CO2 from the fermentation process as a preservative it has a delightful spritz on your tongue when you first taste it.
The 6-8gms of residual fruit sugars delivers a lovely rounded texture without being heavy and the beautifully ripe, low pH acidity balances the wine nicely.
This is an outstanding new wine for Blackenbrook, a wine packed with flavour, a wine that is textural in the mouth, a wine that has juicy acidity in the finish and a wine that is beautifully clean.
The hallmark varietal purity we have all come to expect from Blackenbrook wines shines brightly and it is anything but a bland Pinot Blanc, it is a wine with personality made in a style everyone will enjoy.
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Blackenbrook Vineyard is releasing its first vintage of Pinot Blanc, which Michael Cooper MA ONZM, New Zealand’s most acclaimed wine writer and author of the annual New Zealand Wines: Michael Cooper’s Buyer’s Guide, has called “attractively-scented, vibrantly fruity and mouth-filling.” Mr Cooper awarded it 4.5 stars.
Winemaker Daniel Schwarzenbach says the new Pinot Blanc is virtually a one-of-a-kind wine in New Zealand.
There are only 11 hectares of Pinot Blanc planted in the country. Nearly all of these grapes are blended into other white varietals or matured in oak, which brings the texture and flavour closer to a Chardonnay.
“But Pinot Blanc is aromatic and fruit-driven all on its own. We have made the wine in a way that allows the varietal flavours to shine by maturing it in stainless steel rather than oak. This way the grape expresses its pure style from our Nelson vineyard.”
When fermented in stainless steel, Pinot Blanc tastes more in line with its close relative Pinot Gris.
“If you love Pinot Gris, you’ll really enjoy our Pinot Blanc,” Daniel says. “We have three wines made in a similar way – Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Gewürztraminer. In terms of flavour, our Pinot Blanc sits right in the middle between our floral Gewürztraminer and our nutty Pinot Gris. It’s crisp and floral and aromatic.
“I think people will find the Pinot Blanc is beautifully balanced, has amazing fruit components, and will be really pleasing to drink. The fruit-driven style will suit the palates of New Zealand wine drinkers who look for young, vibrant yet elegant wines.
“However, if you want to experiment and let it age a bit, it will become richer and have a more complex texture over time.”
Daniel was inspired to plant Pinot Blanc grapes when he judged a European wine competition in the mid-2000s and tasted some of their tank fermented Pinot Blanc wines.
“I was absolutely blown away by the flavour. It was totally unexpected. I knew then that I wanted to grow it back home in New Zealand and that it would be a perfect fit with the other wines we produce in the style of the Alsace region of France.”
Most Pinot Blanc wine is produced in Alsace, Germany, and Italy. Daniel spent time working in Alsace early in his career, and it has had a significant influence on his style of winemaking.
“In Alsace, Pinot Blanc grapes grow in older soils and can be quite minerally with floral stonefruit flavours. You get more depth of flavour with the older soils, but I really think our first vintage has intense flavour characteristics already. The vines are still young and, as the roots grow deeper, we hope to get close to the concentration of flavour that you find in Alsace.”
Daniel says Blackenbrook’s Pinot Blanc is an original, fresh option for white wine drinkers.
“The focus with all our wines is balance. We want you to enjoy them with or without food. You shouldn’t have to guess whether our style is dry or sweet – our style is always balanced, always drinkable. The Pinot Blanc is no different. In fact, it’s eminently drinkable!”
Award-winning Cod & Lobster Brasserie on Trafalgar Street has added the 2019 Blackenbrook Pinot Blanc to their spring wine list. General Manager Rebecca Kirk says it will be an ideal match for their seafood dishes: “It’s juicy but still has a bit of dryness, its up-front sweetness is noticeable, but it’s not sugary because the acidity gives it structure. I’m certain our customers are going to love it.”
Blackenbrook’s 2019 Pinot Blanc can be purchased directly at www.blackenbrook.co.nz. It is served in selected cafés and restaurants throughout Nelson Tasman: ‘where to purchase’ information can be found on www.blackenbrook.co.nz.
ENDS
Contact:
Ursula Schwarzenbach
wine@blackenbrook.co.nz
03 526 6888 or 027 434 0697
Download Media Release here.
About Blackenbrook Vineyard, Nelson, New Zealand
On a gentle north-facing slope near Tasman Village, you’ll find Blackenbrook Vineyard, a 20ha block owned by Daniel and Ursula Schwarzenbach. Blackenbrook Vineyard produces seven grape varieties: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and the Italian red variety Montepulciano. Blackenbrook Vineyard is accredited by Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand.
It is a winery designed by a working winemaker. In this region, vines grow into Moutere clay soils and the mild maritime climate sweeps over the hillsides. The vineyard was first planted in the spring of 2001 and the first vintage was launched in 2004. Healthy soil, strong vines and sustainability are the focus of the vineyard management. Daniel, also the winemaker, strives for minimal interference with natural processes, which has resulted in pure and genuine wines. Most of Blackenbrook’s white varieties – including the 2019 Pinot Blanc – are completely unfined and vegan. Read more on www.blackenbrook.co.nz.
About the Pinot Blanc variety – from www.caros.co.nz
Pinot Blanc, a white mutant of Pinot Noir, has sometimes been confused with Chardonnay as they share regions of origin, physical characteristics, and taste profiles. Pinot Blanc resembles the more famous grape’s medium body and rounded apple/stonefruit, while its less distinctive (or just less obvious) individual character makes it less planted and more often used for sparkling wine.
However, in cooler climates where it retains acidity, like Italy’s Alto Adige, ‘Pinot Bianco’s’ neutrality allows elegant still whites with textural richness and focus on its particular subtle nutty/mineral characters. Now hardly planted in its native Burgundy it is more so in Alsace, with a little in Germany and Austria and promising New World examples from cooler climates in South America, New Zealand and Canada’s Okanagan valley.
Download Media Release here.
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