Pinot Noir New Zealand 2010

“Sustainability? It’s the hottest topic in the wine trade.” Clive Weston, Pinot Noir New Zealand 2010

With the days shortening and autumn sunshine now falling on bare vines here in the Derwent Valley, summer seems so long ago for the team at Stefano Lubiana Wines. Even so, we still haven’t forgotten the hot topics covered back at February’s Pinot Noir New Zealand 2010.

This four-day celebration of all things Kiwi and pinot was held from Feb 1st – Feb 4th in the beautiful harbourside city of Wellington. It proved to be bigger than Ben Hur. More than 100 NZ wineries participated. A cast of national and international wine luminaries ensured there was as much brain food on offer as real food.

What you see and hear about this amazing red wine variety is certainly true. People just LOVE to drink and talk pinot noir.

We’re pleased we’ve made pinot noir our vineyard focus over the years. That makes for good wines, with plenty of talking and drinking along the way!

Delegates were treated to a dazzling array
of wonderful gourmet produce and culinary delights. New Zealanders really know about how to romance an incredibly strong brand based on product purity.
Keynote speakers presented a program brimming with ideas. As well, there were specific tastings based on the ageability of NZ Pinot Noir, perceived regional differences, and whether or not sustainably-grown pinot might be the way forward for the industry.

We came away from the event with a clear conviction that what we are doing here at Granton in southern Tasmania sets us right alongside our New Zealand pinot counterparts, especially when it comes to pursuing world’s best practices in the vineyard. Our recent moves in adopting biodynamic and organic methods of farm management will help to ensure that remains well into the future.

We fear one-time sustainability sceptic Steve Smith MW is right: “We are changing the world more rapidly than we are understanding it.”

Figures quoted by the Craggy Range Chief Executive Officer might provide something of a challenge for the Australian wine industry to replicate but they do indicate that Stefano Lubiana Wines is now riding the crest of the sustainability wave along with its Kiwi cousins:
“…the New Zealand wine sector has reduced its total agrichemical loadings of insecticides by 72 percent and fungicides by 62 percent, largely as a result of a strategic move towards properly researched and applied sustainable winegrowing methods.”
Steve Smith MW

Almost 12 hours of video can be watched online or downloaded from the event’s web site at www.pinotnoir2010.co.nz. The Day 3 sessions make compelling viewing.