The Joiy of Summer Wine; Winemaker Chris Archer

 

“It’s not about what hill it’s from, it’s just bottled happiness and you should drink it”! Says Chris Archer, winemaker and founder of Joiy, a New Zealand lightly sparkling wine that Chris makes from Riesling grapes. When we first found and tasted the product we told you that it was “girly, but good”, something Chris says is slightly wrong.

“The goal of the brand is to create the world’s first wine beverage, because wine is essentially a beverage. So many of today’s wines are really just the same so we wanted to create something that was a little bit different. It’s for everyone at the end of the day”.

Winemaker Chris Archer

It’s refreshing to hear a winemaker who, in his own right is a successful one with time spent at Tyrrell’s, Morton Estate, Pepper Tree wines and Alana Estate. Chris is an award winning winemaker but is bringing a novel view on wine to the younger generation, something we at Wine Times are great advocates of.

“It’s a Riesling Revolution. The grape is so versatile, but because it’s thought of as difficult to understand it’s harder to get people to drink it. Wine drinkers who are just starting off drinking wine are loyal to the brands they choose and we want this association to be made with Joiy”.

“At Joiy we are giving people the opportunity of a product that demonstrates Riesling’s flexibility without the intimidation. We are high quality but not using the traditional language of the wine industry. You could say we’ve removed ourselves from wine so that people look at it and go ‘wow, I want to try it’!”

Chris Mixes Up Some Bottled Happiness

Chris is not shy of mixing things up, literally! In a city that so maligns our mainland neigbours for putting soft drinks in their wines, Chris grabs a bottle of Joiy and we taste it. It’s nice, refreshing, easy going – a beverage. Then he adds a slice of lemon and the whole dimension of the wine changes. The acidity rises, the sweetness falls remarkably. We then play around adding orange marmalade to it, at one point some vodka…all the time engineering a new and hipper way of drinking this wine.

He even has a cocktail book of cocktails that can be made from the wine, not a posh cocktail book of products that you never find at home, but an easy one, for people who just want to have fun and mix up Joiy with everyday items that can generally be found around the house.

“I joined the wine industry because I was passionate about it and it was fun. Wine’s supposed to be fun but I am struggling to see that these days. I wanted the bottle to reflect what Riesling is, fun. It’s about escapism. You’ve had a bad day in the office and been berated by your boss. Drink a bottle of Joiy and you’ll feel the happiness and love in the bottle”!

“There are no rules. But I’m not sure if consumers are ready for that yet”, Chris says. “We don’t mind if people drink Joiy out of the bottle. People like the 9 per cent alcohol, they like the single serving. It’s a great and quirky drink for parties”.

Joiy really epitomizes the fun and youthful nature that can be brought to wine these days. It’s a summer and sunny day drink that can be taken on picnics, barbeques, beach and boat parties and can be just enjoyed by everyone from beginners to experts. It’s one of those drinks that just involves little to no thought process and matches the mood you should be in when you drink it; happy.

Joiy is available from The Crush On Line Wine Store. Check out the Joiy on their website www.thecrushhk.com