Postbox@the entrance to Clos Henri
In November 2007 there was a Circle of Wine Writers trip to New Zealand. Over two weeks we had a full and very interesting programme visiting producers from Auckland to Otago. Unfortunately it was impossible to include a visit to Clos Henri, the Henri Bourgeois property in Marlborough, into the Circle itinerary. However, I stayed on with CRM for the best part of another two weeks so we were able to visit Clos Henri after the rest of the Circle party had left New Zealand. This is the account of our visit.)
26th November: We took the Trans-Alpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth. This is rightly billed as one of the great train journeys of the world. Christchurch station is well out of the centre and there do not appear to be any signs for it until you are almost there. The first part of the ride is across the flat Canterbury Plains. Then the train starts to climb up through the Alps with magnificent scenery on both sides of the train. The best place to take photos is out on the open viewing platform if you can stand the cold.
After hiring a car in Greymouth we headed north and stayed overnight in Murchison in a fairly basic motel.
27th November: This started out a beautiful sunny day with an intensely blue cloudless sky. Another magnificent drive along almost deserted roads with a brief stop at St Arnaud to see Lake Nelson. Then we headed towards Marlborough to visit Clos Henri. Around 10-15 kilometres west of Wairau Valley we passed a substantial area of vines in the process of being planted.
On the road from Wairau Valley to Renwick, in New Zealand’s Marlborough region, 639 The Highway is Clos Henri. This is the New Zealand outpost of leading Sancerre producer Henri Bourgeois and, for the moment, is one of the most westerly wine estates in the Wairau Valley.
Tasting room@Clos Henri
In 2001 the Bourgeois family bought 90 hectares here – a combination of mixed gravel and clay on the flat and clay and loess hillside. Currently they have planted 34 hectares – mainly equal amounts of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir although there is a little Sauvignon Gris planted. Eventually the plan is to plant 65 hectares probably in the same proportion as in Sancerre – around 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Pinot Noir.
Unusually the viticulturalist is Japanese – Takaki Okada. He has been at Clos Henri since the start but took over responsibility for the vineyards two years ago. Damien Yvon, the winemaker, comes from Chinon and has an impressive CV having worked for Mouiex in Bordeaux plus Dominus in Napa as well as Campo di Sasso in Tuscany. Nelly France, from Lorient in Brittany and the sales and marketing manager, completes the on-site management team.
Every two months someone from the Bourgeois family is out to see how things are going. Lionel Bourgeois comes out to check on the viticulture, Christophe (or Jean-Christophe to give him his full first name) overlooks the winemaking, Arnaud the sales and marketing, with the patriarch – Jean-Marie – oversees everything.
Takaki and Damien explained that the approach here is between New Zealand and France. The planting density is considerably higher than the average in Marlborough – 5050 plants per hectare for the Pinot Noir and 4400 for Sauvignon Blanc, almost double the normal planting density in Marlborough though well short of the 8000 vines per hectare the Bourgeois have in Sancerre. Yields also tend to be lower than Marlborough average – 5 to 6 tonnes per hectare for the Pinot Noir and 8 to 10 for the Sauvignon Blanc. The customary average for Sauvignon Blanc is more like 10 to 12 tonnes per hectare.
As elsewhere, frost in the flat vineyards has become a concern. “Last year we used a helicopter but we have stopped using them as they are too expensive,” explained Takaki. “Because we are new here there were no helicopters at Blenheim available to us so we had to get one from Christchurch with a cost of $NZ4500 (£1,677.08) here and back. Then you have to pay on top for the time it circulates over the vines. We will be putting windmills everywhere. One of these cost $NZ45,000 (£16,770.80), so they soon work out cheaper than using helicopters.”
They also tend to pick later. “We want to avoid the green, vegetal flavours that we don’t like,” explained Damien. “40% of the Sauvignon Blanc is picked by hand and all the Pinot is. For the Sauvignon Blanc we use minimal skin contact and tend to ferment at a higher temperature than most. The average here tends to be low – between 10˚ and 12˚. Instead we ferment at between 15˚ to 19˚ even up to 20˚ if necessary. We leave the wine on the lees and bottle late.” The Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc 2007 was only bottled recently.
“Some producers here do their first bottling at the end of May,” said Damien, “and a lot of the Sauvignon Blanc here is bottled in June. Generally very little lees ageing is done here.”
The 2007 Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc has attractively round fruit with pineapple and tropical notes, while 2006 Pinot Noir is soft with ripe plummy fruit. The second wine of Clos Henri is called Bel Echo but is not available in the UK.
(Jumping ahead: tasting note on 2008 Pinot Noir, Clos Henri.)
The amazing Craglee Lodge on the Marlborough Sound at 6am
Following our visit to Clos Henri we headed for Picton to take a water taxi out to Craglee Lodge in the Bay of Many Coves on the Queen Charlotte Sound. Just as we pulled out of Picton harbour on our 40 minute ride out to the lodge we were briefly joined by a couple of dolphins.
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