Blanc canvas becomes a work of art
Ihave been a fan of Blackenbrook Vineyard’s wines for years. In fact, I have been following the evolution of this family business since the 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 they spent their spare time searching for the perfect site.
In 1999, the couple bought a piece of rolling hillside land at Tasman overlooking the estuary. They planted their first vines in 2001, and launched their first wines in 2004 (and had children in 2003 and 2007).
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 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. The couple want the wonderful varietal flavours of each wine to shine.
They recently introduced solar energy, and now use an electric forklift. Customers can also give them the packaging back for reuse.
The experimental evolution of Blackenbrook has been with varieties produced. Riesling has come and gone (to my disappointment), and so has muscat. ‘‘Basically, they were the wrong varieties for the site, and as we learned about our land, we knew other varieties would do better,’’ says Daniel.
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, and he was really taken by many of pinot blanc wines he tasted. He thought it would do very well on our site,’’ says Ursula.
Pinot blanc can be quite a bland variety, but Daniel says it depends 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.
‘‘You can go in the direction of a chardonnay by ageing 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.’’
Blackenbrook has planted three clones of pinot blanc. ‘‘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,’’ says Daniel.
‘‘The key difference is likely to be seasonal, where one clone does better than others depending on the weather during the growing season.
‘‘I thought it could do really well in our clay soils, and the first vintage is looking very promising.’’
Ursula says the first harvest 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? Outstanding – this is a wine packed with flavour, that is textural in the mouth, with juicy acidity in the finish, and a wine that is beautifully clean.
It is anything but a bland pinot blanc – it is a wine with personality made in a style everyone will enjoy.