Central Otago Focus: Mount Difficulty

Mount Difficulty is one of the top producers of wine in New Zealand’s Central Otago region and produces some stunning Pinot Noirs – a grape variety that put not only the vineyard but the region itself on the world map. Founded extremely recently in the late 1980’s Central Otago has rocketed to fame amongst wine drinkers that are looking for affordable, approachable and easy drinking Pinot Noir, that also have the character and complexity serious wine drinkers are looking for.

The winery does not only produce Pinot though, it also produces Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling and, of course, the grape that New Zealand has come to be its own; Sauvignon Blanc. Firstly, the Sauvignon is not the tropical fruit bomb that that has come to characterize wines from more northerly climbs – namely Marlborough. These Sauvignon’s have more acidity and are less “in your face” and, overall, a far more pleasurable experience in my view.

The Rieslings made at Mount Difficulty are superb with good dry Riesling on offer and a ‘medium’ Riesling that I honestly could not get enough of. Pinot Gris, another grape that is slowly warming to drinkers who like honest, pleasurable white wines from New Zealand is also very good from this winery.

Michael Herrick, a winemaker himself and the sales and marketing manager for Mount Difficulty was in Hong Kong last week and, after a mammoth tasting of all his wines available in the city, we decided sit down with him and talk about Central Otago’s rise to fame, how he got into the wine business and his thoughts on sustainable farming as opposed to organic or bio-dynamic farming.

WTHK: What do you can be attributed to this meteoric rise in popularity of Central Otago wines in such a short space of time?

MH: “I think the wines speak for themselves and the quality is exceptional. Pinot Noir has actually managed to thrive in the area and it’s one of the few climates in the world where you can grow Pinot exceptionally well and one of the few places it’s found a home outside of Burgundy – the other one would be Oregon. But the wines are so accessible and they really over deliver in terms of taste and quality. There are some really exciting Pinots and that’s what Pinot fans are always looking for – the subtlety and elegance especially. We are yet to see a poor vintage in Central Otago as we do not have to fight against the weather as they would do in places like Burgundy”.

WTHK: You have the oldest vineyards in Central Otago, is that right?

MH: “They are amongst the oldest vineyards yes. The first plantings were in the Gibbston valley and from there they came through to Bannockburn and Felton Road with Olsen’s in about 1989. In 1990 Felton Road winery itself was planted and we followed in 1991/2. When Olsen’s planted they had about 16 hectares – this alone was responsible for double the entire size of Central Otago at the time. It gives you a perspective on how young the region is”.

WTHK: Quoting from your website: “Ethical viticulture with minimal intervention”. Do you farm organically or bio-dynamically?

MH: “It’s about keeping the land healthy and giving it the respect that it’s due. Making sure that you leave the land in a better state than when you found should be common sense. We like the philosophy of organics – although it’s debatable whether or not you can see or taste this in the wines – but there should be less chemicals in the food chain thus we are fans of it. We are looking to achieve a farming status that is more suitable to the environment we farm in and our single vineyards are organic, but essentially we don’t have the right soil types to completely farm organically – our soils are just too light unlike up in places such as Hawkes Bay for example. But we do use organic fertilizers and thus we call it ethical viticulture – it’s all the good parts of organics and more without, the stigma that comes with it”.

WTHK: Do you have a flagship wine and what are you trying to achieve by it?

MH: “Our flagship wine is undoubtedly the Bannockburn Pinot Noir, that’s the wine that’s put us on the map and picked up accolades all over the world since day one. This is why in such a short space of time we have made global headlines and the wines punch well above their weight. Our Pinot philosophy is a celebration of place – not just to celebrate Pinot Noir but also to show the regionality. We feel there’s something special about the region and we want to show this off through the wines we make. We let the wine lead us and show us which direction it wants to take. We want to show off the sub-region of Bannockburn with this wine as it’s so diverse and you get quite different wines from quite different plots”.

WTHK: You have made a name for yourself with the restaurant at the winery. Do you have any thoughts on wine and food pairing in general?

MH: “I think most people now don’t think you necessarily need to have food with wine, wine’s becoming more and more a beverage you can just enjoy in its own right. Our philosophy is much more geared toward food and food pairing as we get wonderful natural acids and structure in the wines. It’s the natural evolution when your wines have structure and style that they are food friendly and we think you should do more than just talk about it, you should showcase this. Thus the birth of the cellar door restaurant which gives us the ideal opportunity to bring people to the region and experience the wine and the food – we are very lucky to have a great chef from South Africa and he brought the whole experience to the next level”.

WTHK: You have been with the company since 2003 but in 1989 you worked in the UK. How did you end up in the wine business?

MH: “At the start I was studying accountancy which was not really my thing. I went to Australia and was pruning grape vines in South Australia, ended up in the Barossa Valley and fell in love with the industry. I enrolled at Roseworthy and worked with Wirra Wirra in McLaren Vale and from there I had the offer of going to the South of France to make wine. It was a life changing experience for me and I was introduced to ways of selling wine too. I worked with Oddbins in the early ‘90’s in London and it progressed from there. My four years in Europe was spent between the South of France and London making wines and learning how to distribute them. I can back to New Zealand in 1997 and did a brief vintage with Villa Maria before working with Montana wines where I learned a lot. I then went down to Central Otago where I found there was a real passion for wine”.

WTHK: Before you got into the business were you a wine drinker anyway?

MH: “Yeah, I always had an interest. My parents always enjoyed a glass so I had always had the exposure and they were pretty liberally minded in letting me try it. They always encouraged it so I had a basic idea – but now taken it to a different level. We never had a wine school in New Zealand so back then as a youth it was never really on my radar. Not like nowadays”!

Mount Difficulty wines are available in Hong Kong from Victoria wines and can be bought on line from www.victoriawines.com.hk