Julicher wine claims top trophy

BY CATHERINE HARRIS

For the first time in 20 years, a Martinborough wine has won the country's top award. But if you think the winners must be long-established exponents of their craft, think again.

At Julicher Estate, the Air New Zealand Champion Wine of the show trophy sits proudly on the factory coffee table. It awaits the return of the winemaker who helped win it, Outi Javovirta, who was in Finland when the news came out.

There can't be too many winemakers from Finland but Ms Javovirta has managed to achieve much since she set out to travel the world's vineyards and ended up in Martinborough five years ago.

The winery's owners, Wim Julicher and his partner Sue Darling, are also stoked. The phone has been ringing off the hook.

"For the public, outside of the retailers and the trade, I think are more aware of the Air New Zealand wine show and we've been inundated with orders and inquiries."

Locals have also been calling to congratulate. It's not only the first Martinborough wine to win the award for 20 years, it's the first Martinborough pinot noir and as such is a boost to the region.

"I suppose they see it as a trophy for Martinborough as well and fairly so. I mean, we are Martinborough and it is good for everybody."

Competition, says Mr Julicher, has been stiff from the pinot noir of Central Otago and from Marlborough's huge volumes of sauvignon blanc. Add domestic oversupply to the worldwide wine glut and winemaking at present is not for the faint-hearted.

Nevertheless, judges at the Air New Zealand awards were effusive about Julicher's 2008 pinot, which fought off more than 300 other pinot noirs and over 1600 entries in total.

"This is the first time the pinot noir pioneers of Martinborough have claimed the top trophy, and it is truly deserved," said chairman of judges Steve Smith.

He said pinot noir was one of the year's standout varieties and praised Julicher's "deep brooding black cherry colour, dusty plum and autumn forests on the nose".

It's not the first big win for Julicher's pinot – its 2006 vintage was top wine, champion pinot and gold medallist at another big event, the New Zealand International Wine Show in 2007.

What's stunning is that Julicher is a remarkably young vineyard, having had only seven vintages, and both Mr Julicher and Ms Javovirta are relative newcomers to the industry. Mr Julicher, a builder from Lower Hutt, bought the bare land of his Te Muna estate, 5km east of Martinborough, in 1996, with a view to growing olives in his retirement.

But when a frost in 1999 wiped out half his trees, he decided to switch to grapes.

"Always we wanted to make our own wine but initially we were planning to sell off the grapes and get a small quantity made for ourselves. But the vineyard we were dealing with was not interested in that scenario and we decided to start a bit earlier producing our own wine."

Mr Julicher, who came to New Zealand in the early 1970s from Holland, did not have a horticultural background but had always thought he would grow something.

So in the best traditions of Kiwi and Dutch DIY, he built his own winery and sought guidance where needed for the grape-growing bit.

"I wasn't shy to ask what are you doing, how do you do it, why do you do it, what should I do? And, of course, everyone has a different opinion and you had to make a choice. And after that, there was a lot of common sense involved.

"Every time we found a hint of there might be something wrong or whatever, we consulted somebody and made sure it was not a major item that needed correcting."

The death of his wife just before the first vintage in 2002 was almost enough to make him give up. But he carried on and, after meeting Ms Darling, they went on to build their own winery and hired Ms Javovirta in 2005.

Ms Darling says he was so busy on his own that when she first moved to Martinborough he had a year's worth of wine stacked up unsold. They soon realised that a concerted sales effort was going to be necessary, and Ms Darling did a crash course in marketing before hiring a marketing consultant, branding expert and sales rep.

Mr Julicher believes the success of the label is down mainly to the dry alluvial soil at Te Muna and sheer hard work.

"Quite a few winemakers from the South Island, they ask me how do you do it? There's no secrets here. It's a matter of the soil, the terroir, and being meticulous in growing grapes and viticulture and meticulous winemaking. Treating every batch of grapes as if it is a potential gold medal wine. "

Ms Javovirta's experience in wine began in sales and marketing for a wine seller in Finland. She remarked to a client how much she would like to see the process and was invited to spend a summer on a vineyard in Bordeaux. From there she travelled as a cellar hand to Australia, France, Germany, California and New Zealand, where she ended up on Martinborough Vineyard and did a post-graduate degree in oenology from Lincoln University.

Ms Darling and Mr Julicher heard of her and decided to offer her a sole charge winemaking position.

"She's so dedicated to making top quality pinot noir," Mr Julicher says. "Pinot noir is her passion and she is meticulous in everything she does. The first year I wasn't even allowed to clean a tank."

Ms Darling says Ms Javovirta got news of the award over the internet and went out and celebrated with friends and champagne. She was due to return to her job this week after a summer making wines in Spain.

Despite the win and higher profile, Mr Julicher says it's unlikely the estate will expand. About 60 per cent of his land is planted in pinot noir, about 20 in sauvignon blanc, and the rest in chardonnay, rose or award-winning riesling vines.

This year's harvest is shaping up to be as voluminous as last year's, which at Julicher produced 84 tonnes of grapes and 5000 cases of wine.

And Mr Julicher is happy to keep production at boutique level. "We've got the possibility of 38 to 40 acres of grapes and that's what we want to develop, to get the best out of it."

IF THERE was some advice he could share with aspiring winemakers, he says one point would be "to think very long and hard". "It's a very costly industry to invest in and if you don't dedicate your full time to it, you're always going to be behind the eight-ball."

Another would be to sort out their finances, as it's sometimes a long time between incomes, particularly if one is trying to cement an export market. Employing good staff is also a key.

"Get some professional help, people who know their particular field," Ms Darling says.

She adds that their consultant was quick to say they should have focused on developing their domestic market first to keep cashflow flowing.

"We went with a New Zealand Winegrowers [trip]. They set up all these tasting opportunities in Australia and we spent thousands going to these trade shows, and we were just unknown. Nobody had heard of Julicher. It was a silly place to start. We could have saved ourselves so much money if we had just started small and started locally."

Julicher is not content to rest on its laurels. Wim intends to try again in the awards and retirement is looking very far away.

- © Fairfax NZ News