WINES & CHEESES with Liz Wheadon

The best of New Zealand cheeses

I thought it about time that I wrote about some New Zealand cheeses, it’s not that they are not good – in fact there are some exceptional cheeses.

Just a quick note about names and styles before – more of a stuck record really!

Many New Zealand Cheeses are labelled as Brie, Camembert etc., and then made in all sorts of shapes.

French Brie comes from Brie in France and is made in large rounds, Camembert is from – you guessed it – Camembert and comes in small rounds.

They are both very different cheeses, the pasture that the cows graze on, what they eat, the ‘terroir’ affects the milk, and then there’s the culture, the production and aging.

In New Zealand, we tend to aim to confuse the consumer and label our soft rind cheeses either Brie or Camembert with no correspondence to the cheese itself. Unfortunately cheese labelling is not like wine, if Champagne is not made in Champagne, it can’t be labelled as such, but with Cheese this does not apply. It does frustrate me though that we are not prouder of our cheese and have to refer to the French names, we should label them with New Zealand names and be proud of that.

Anyway, off my stuck record and onto the cheese - Here’s a few of my favourite cheese makers.

Karikaas is one of my favourite New Zealand makers – They make a selection of cheeses inspired by the great Dutch styles. Karin and Rients started Karikass in North Canterbury in March 1984. My favourite cheese is their vintage Gouda, it has wonderful texture and complexity. It’s excellent with a rich chardonnay.

Clevedon were the first in New Zealand to make Buffalo Mozzerella – They started in 2006 with Riverine water buffalo which graze on pasture in Clevedon. It’s wonderful to have fresh Buffalo Mozzarella on our door step.

Over the Moon Diary is a boutique cheese maker in Waikato, producing about 9000 kilograms of cheese a year – Their triple Cream brie is made from Cows milk; it’s one of our top selling cheeses and is made from non animal rennet.

En Primeur – Bordeaux Futures

En Primeur is a process for acquiring arguably the best wines in the World at smart prices and in the format that you prefer. Essentially it is wine futures, similar to the way that coffee, cotton and other items are traded on international commodity futures markets.

The process can be traced back for centuries but only recently did it reach the popularity that it has today. It was in 1972 when Chateau bottling became compulsory for Classified Growths that En Primeur in its current form was born. Prior to this, the Chateau in Bordeaux would sell their wine in bulk or in barrels to a wine merchant. The wine was then bottled by each merchant at their offices in Chatrons.

The benefit of purchasing Bordeaux En Primeur is three fold. Firstly, in most cases the price that you purchase the wine at En Primeur is significantly less than the wine will be on the retail shelf two years later (that’s if it appears at all). Secondly, there’s the availability. In vintages like 2000, 2005 and the vintage being sold at the moment, 2009, many of the wines will only be available En Primeur and won’t make it on to New Zealand shelves. The third is the bottling. Purchasing En Primeur you have the option to choose how you’d like your wine bottled, whether it is half bottles, standard bottles or even up to six litres.

The process of En Primeur essentially works like this (looking at the 2010 Vintage which we are selling at the moment as an example).

Whilst the 2010 Vintage wines are in barrel in Bordeaux...

The Chateau invite the international press to taste and review the young wines in April 2011.
The Chateau in Bordeaux offer their 2010 vintage wines to a Merchant around May – July 2011.
The Merchants offer their wines to Retailers/Importers throughout the world around May – July 2011.
The Retailers then offer the wines to consumers around May – July 2011.
Customers secure their requests for wines En Primeur with their retailer around September 2011.
Then around August 2013 the wines arrive in New Zealand

What was the 2010 Vintage like?
2010 is clearly a great vintage, one that I have been fortunate enough to taste. I had the opportunity to join the world media in April 2011 in Bordeaux to taste the 2010 vintage. It’s a tricky vintage in that it follows 2009, which was rated as the best in a life time. The problem 2010 has is that it’s probably better, but how do the Bordelaise stand up and say – we’ve got another ‘Vintage of a life time!’

With the wines from the 2010, you are clearly tasting (drinking) the different appellations, more than in the 2009, where the wines were very ripe and the vintage quite consistent across the region. In 2010 there are very clear examples of Margaux, Pomerol, Saint Emilion, Saint Julien, Saint Estephe and the other appellations. Terroir has tended to express more clearly in 2010, than in 2009. The characters of the appellations have a slight difference to what we have come to expect. For example, the wines of Margaux are usually discussed with reference to their feminity. Yet in 2010, the wines seem to have some of the power you’d expect to see in Pauillac, whilst maintaining their feminity.

The acidity in the wines is a consistent and key feature of the vintage. The acidity gives the wines more forward aromatics and a freshness that’s quite delightful. The acidity in these wines suggests that they will have a long life ahead of them in the cellar.

The alcohol content of these wines was a touchy subject in Bordeaux. They are clearly higher than we’ve seen in recent years. Petrus and Cos are both 14.5%. Whilst this was a discussion point, I did not find the alcohol forward or pronounced in these wines.

In the St Emilion Appellation, it’s clear this year that the Cabernet Franc liked the season, there’s a higher percentage of Cabernet Franc in most of these wines and they are loving it. Cheval Blanc (usually high in Franc anyway) was 56% Cabernet Franc in 2010.

Are there any catches? Things you need to watch out for?
Definitely. There have been horror stories internationally with En Primeur purchasing, particularly in time of recession. It’s very important that the retailer you are purchasing from has a strong financial position (the wines going to be delivered two years after you request your wines and pay your first payment). You need to discuss with the retailer and ensure they are purchasing from reputable merchants, that are secure. Unfortunately with the high praise for a vintage like 2010, where demand exceeds supply and new international markets have emerged, there’s a lot of rogue operators at all ends of the operation.

............................................................................................................................

Glengarry has been selling En Primeur for more than 25 years, with established connections and long term relationships. Visit www.enprimeur.co.nz or www.glengarry.co.nz for more details.