Credits: Article and images by Ken Gargett @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/03/12/gimblett-gravels-annual-wine-selection-2021-an-exceptional-wine-region-exceptional-wines/
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Gimblett Gravels is around just 800 hectares. Estimates of its lack of fertility suggest that one would need more than a hectare (three acres) to maintain a single sheep. It sits a mere 30 metres above sea level. This was not highly coveted land, miserable stony soil if ever any existed. It was used for drag strips, an army firing range and industrial warehouses. A concrete producer took up 150 hectares to quarry for gravel.
If not for the efforts of a few pioneers, no one outside a few locals and those in the concrete industry would have ever heard of the Gimblett Gravels and the place would be a hole in the ground.
In the late 1970s, a few Chenin Blanc and Muller Thurgau vines were planted. Then, in 1981, Chris Pask purchased forty hectares on which to try his luck ripening Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties – at the time, New Zealand reds had a reputation for being thin, green, weedy and herbal.
A year later, Dr Alan Limmer established Stonecroft, on soils that most certainly deserved the name, also planting Cabernet, but crucially, a single row of Syrah. The Syrah vines were ones he had rescued from the Te Kauwhata research station. They were the only Syrah vines in New Zealand at the time and were headed for destruction.
So what on earth would entice anyone to try and plant grapes, especially a variety that had seen no success at all anywhere in New Zealand, in such stony, awful soil? Surely, no sane man would attempt this. Fortunately for us all, Dr Alan Limmer was a soil scientist.
Limmer’s application to the local council to establish a winery was rejected but, again fortunately for all winelovers, this was overturned on appeal. Limmer then undertook a lengthy legal battle to stop the quarrying and have the land zoned for viticulture. Other winemakers joined him. It took over a decade, but victory finally arrived in 1992.
Prior to this, Bordeaux blends made by Pask from 1985 and 1986 had been very successful. By 1991, there were still only a miserly 20 hectares of vines planted here, but soon other companies were realizing that New Zealand red did not have to mean green, and plantings kicked off in a big way, for a small region.
Today, it seems that anywhere a vine could be planted, you’ll find one. The vast majority are red grapes, especially the Bordeaux varieties. Merlot is dominant with the Cabernets, Sauvignon and Franc, also prominent.
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Credits: Article and images by Ken Gargett @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/03/12/gimblett-gravels-annual-wine-selection-2021-an-exceptional-wine-region-exceptional-wines/