Classy Wines

“Consistently Classy Highly Drinkable wines”, Michael Cooper
Working in agriculture has its own pace. The seasons never stop advancing. The rhythm is always the same but different. Here we are again: Spring. Was it that long since we had harvest? This is not a cycle we can either stop or get off, we just keep pedalling.

Organic Biogro

We are now certified organic (BioGro) in 9.5 ha of the vineyard, the balance (13 ha) is in its second year of conversion. Though it’s creating a lot of work we are thrilled to see the amount of life entering the soil in the more recently converted area. It’s as though this part of the vineyard is sighing with relief. Meanwhile compost has been made and spread. Everything is becoming verdant.

Latest Vintages

On the wine front we released our latest vintages at the winter solstice. An auspicious time for us as one growing season moves into the next. The wines were really well received, The Churton 2010 Sauvignon Blanc continues along the path of a bone dry, tightly wound style with texture and length and not merely aromatics. The Churton 2009 Pinot Noir is in, Sam’s view, our best yet: very structured and savoury but with great fruit complexity, layers and length. Then there is the first release Churton Voignier, 2010 it was barrel fermented in large 600L Demi Muids. It’s produced a weighty, textured wine with wonderful intensity of dried apricots and white flowers.

Michael Cooper’s Review

Michael Cooper the top NZ wine journalist recently wrote in The Listener: “Sam Weaver’s Churton…produces consistently classy highly drinkable wines” See the full interview and review here And Bob Campbell and Huon Hooke gave the 2010 Churton Sauvignon Blanc 5 stars and 94 points “concentrated weighty Sauvignon Blanc…long and linear”

Our latest family members Constance and Florence (Red Devon heifers) calved under the gentle supervision of Kevin from the vineyard.

Their offspring Bonnie and Horace are growing like weeds and frolicking around the home block with their attentive mum’s. Their elder siblings, last years steers have been grazing happily in the rows in the vineyard. They are doing so well on our interrow herbage that they are verging on the obese.

Sam at Taruna College

Sam has been studying the Taruna College course in Organic and Biodynamic agricultural, in between numerous market visits. Apart from learning to sing in harmony (he now goes round the vineyard humming to the vines) it’s led to a few interesting experiments and trials. There is the experimental compost heap or loaf of bread (Hovis, for those brought up in England) that was put together with a variety of wild and woolly ingredients. (Grape marc, sea weed, leaf litter, Chook manure, cow dung, hay and various bits of garden waste). Then the vines that appear with tags on them that are being closely monitored with observations recorded on a regular basis.

It wasn’t that long ago that we were all complaining about the coldest winter we’ve ever had. Snow in the vineyard for the first time. It’s unheard of to have snow lying in Marlborough, certainly not for 40 years or more.

The snow’s now a distant memory; we are well into spring and all our spring routines, soil applications cultivating and drilling in readiness for the new season. The cycle keeps on turning.

Merry Christmas everyone and welcome to the last newsletter for 2010. It has been a busy few months with lots of interesting things to report just before we roll on in to Christmas.

On the wine side of things:

Recent Reviews: – We continue to receive great press from around the globe. Lisa Perrotti-Brown, who is Robert Parker’s person on the ground in this part of the world, visited the vineyard recently. She reviewed a couple of vintages of Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir as well as the Abyss Pinot Noir. Click here for Lisa Perrotti-Brown’s Churton Sauvignon Blanc review
Churton Pinot Noir review
The Abyss Pinot Noir review

Michael Cooper’s Buyers Guide 2011 is also out with reviews of The Abyss, the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc and the 2008 Pinot Noir. For the full write-ups please see the adjacent column. Click here for Michael Cooper’s Churton Sauvignon Blanc review
Churton Pinot Noir review
The Abyss Pinot Noir review

Vineyard
Cow Pat Pits: – These are a new addition to the Biodynamic regime at Churton for 2010. Along with Preparations 500 & 501, composting, companion planting and making use of natural growth rhythms the cow pat pits take us further in the journey of growing grapes “purely and simply”. It doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to work out the main ingredient here, which alongside a mix of powdered egg shell and basalt dust amongst other things, is stored in the ground for 6 months. The end result is a compost full of microbial goodness with wide ranging uses around the vineyard from foliar feed to soil inocculant. Here we are making our first ever pits:

Auckland University collaboration:-:
We are excited to be part of a research project run by Auckland University. Dr Mat Goddard, a microbial ecologist is looking at indigenous yeast populations in the Churton vineyard and subsequently in the grape juice from the vineyard. His hypothesis is that individual sites have a widely varying natural yeast flora and this variation between site and indeed country can be a significant factor that influences wine quality. In other words terroir; the French concept of site expression in wine, (and other foodstuffs) can partly be explained by these different yeast populations. Fascinating stuff if you are a microbiologist (like Sam!). We’ll be sampling two of our Sauvignon Blanc blocks: Saddle and Loin.

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Viognier:-
The 2010 vintage saw the first fruit being taken off the Viognier vines that were planted in 2007. We have kept this little surprise reasonably under wraps as Sam has been unsure exactly what was going to happen with the resulting wine. Would it be sold off? Would there be some sort of ‘proprietary white blend’ created to encompass the Petit Manseng that will have its first vintage in 2011? Or would there be a third varietal to join the current Churton pairing; Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir? The answer pretty much rested on the quality of the fruit which as it happened came in beautifully ripe; showing excellent apricot and floral characters that are indicators of good ripeness in Viognier. 100% fermented in barrel it is a weighty wine with the Churton hallmarks of texture, length and minerality. The 2010 Churton Viognier will be released in June 2011. 

Bragato:-
At the end of August Sam presented his views on organics and biodynamics on a panel at the Romeo Bragato conference. The essence of his presentation was that running Churton using a biodynamic approach is to obtain more individual and character full wines of higher quality. Sam said, “In Marlborough we are blessed with a growing environment that is easy; the season tends to be dry and windy, disease pressure is limited as are vine pests. So why wouldn’t you run the vineyard organically?” At Churton wine quality is everything. The continual slow evolution of our biodynamic practices has led to more stable wines that are easier to ferment with much better balance and structure. If you want to know more about the technical issues that Sam believe result from an organic approach please contact Sam directly …
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In the market:-
We have a new UK customer Berry Brothers and Rudd (BBR). Sam has had a long standing association with BBR; his first ever full time wine trade job was in their cellars in Basingstoke more than 30 years ago (yes 30!). In those dim, distant days the working day was as follows: 8am, start work; 10.30 am, tea break; 12.00 noon, Beer Break; 12.30 lunch; 3.00pm tea break, 4pm Beer Break; 5pm home! A fine start to Sam’s wine trade career. It is with much pleasure that Churton has obtained its first order from the venerable, old company and from early next year they will be stocking the 2009 Churton Sauvignon Blanc, and 2008 Churton Pinot Noir.

Thank you all for your wonderful support for Churton during the year. We all know how tough the year has been so it’s with great appreciation that we wish you a very Happy Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year.

With Best wishes, Sam, Mandy, James, Andrea and the Churton team.

Vintage 2011 has come and gone. What a fantastic vintage too.

We had another cracker of an autumn with a long Indian summer. It allowed us to harvest great fruit just when we wanted. With clean fruit at optimum conditions winemaking was really easy. The Pinot Noirs did what pinots should do. The Sauvignon Blanc did what Sauvignons should too!

Seriously the wines seem to be getting easier to make as we have moved further into biodynamics. The natural balance is far better. This means our winemaking is more guiding than intervention. The resulting wines just seem to be comfortable the way they are!

New Zealand’s first commercial crop of Petit Manseng. On 28th April we picked our first crop of Petit Manseng. Though tiny in quantity we are thrilled to have the first commercial crop of this slightly obscure Southern French variety. Originating from Jurançon in the Pyrénées Atlantique it produces some interesting dry wines and great sweet white wines. We’ll be making a sweet style Andrea having picked some very ripe bunches…Click here for the full Marlborough Express Article

News and Reviews Over the past 6 months we’ve had some great coverage check out the rave review given to The Abyss by Curtis Marsh, “ Weaver has certainly hit on grand cru territory here and the wine is most certainly in the league of the upper echelons of Vosne Romanee”.
Click here to read the full article

Rosemary George MW who has known our wines for a long time gave the 2009 Churton Sauvignon Blanc 5 stars and 18.5 points in Decanter. She has really understood what we are doing with our concentration on vineyard and fruit expression …”Wonderfully textured Sauvignon Blanc with layers of flavour. Quite fresh and rich with a very satisfying finish. Drink 2011-2014.”

Meanwhile locally Sophie Preece wrote a very good article for the Marlborough Express, “Answer really lies in the soil” . It describes Churton’s approach to the environment, working with the landscape and soil to bring out the best expression of our terroir in our wines. “It’s all about terroir”

Jack Weaver has now done his second vintage for Churton working with his father. It’s pretty cool having a second generation working on the vineyard and with our wines. He brought a bit of attitude to the winemaking and a great deal of care. See Jack unloading Pinot Noir at the Winery.

Churton dinner and new release:
“We like the idea of showing and releasing our wines at the winter solstice.” says Sam. “It seems a natural pause in the rhythm of the year; one growing season passes to the next. The land has drawn a deep breath; it’s pausing before exhaling into the new season. Our wines have rested in bottle for six months and more; they too exhale, relax and express themselves.”

Churton dinner at Toto’s Restaurant in Auckland will feature the first release of Viognier alongside the new release 2010 Sauvignon Blanc and the 2009 Pinot Noir. There will also be a chance to try Churton, The Abyss 2008 with Chef Sergio Maglione’s great food 23rd June.

Lastly we’re pleased to welcome Victor Hoi of Macau Bazaar Co Ltd as our latest agent. Victor will be supplying to the Macau market and into mainland China. We look forward to working with Victor and developing a new and exciting market.