Waitaki wine praised

In the tiny wine-producing region of the Waitaki Valley, there is no place for anything but excellence and "that's a wonderful challenge", Jim Jerram says.

It might only be a drop in the glass in terms of size but the area is "punching above its weight" in terms of what it is producing and the exposure it is getting, Dr Jerram, who is chairman of the Waitaki Valley Wine Growers Association, said.

In the December/January edition of Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine, international wine judge and master of wine Bob Campbell listed Ostler Audrey's Pinot Gris in his top 12 New Zealand pinot gris and gave it a score of 95 points, top-equal with four Marlborough wines.

Mr Campbell said a strong mineral thread gave the wine "quite an individual taste in a slightly Chablis-like manner" but with a bread-crust yeast-lees character and pear and stone-fruit flavours. It was a dryish wine with "character and class".

The Independent in the UK listed Ostler Caroline's Pinot Noir 2009 in its top 50 wines worldwide to have for Christmas, describing it as a "sensual, sensational Kiwi pinot noir from an obscure region based on limestone soils".

Pasquale Wines at Kurow, owned by Antonio Pasquale, won several awards at the Romeo Bragato Wine Awards, including champion gewurztraminer.

Wine producers from the valley were obliged to get their wines reviewed and shown as much as possible, to get the accolades to help sell premium wines at premium prices, Dr Jerram said.

The market was "definitely dumbed down" and sales of bulk New Zealand wine around the world were not helping.

It was a very competitive industry and, at Ostler, they felt the premium end of the market was the only place to be for a small boutique winery.

The story of Dr Jerram's foray into wine began in 1998, when he met his future brother-in-law Jeff Sinnott, who was already an established wine-maker.

Mr Sinnott came down from Marlborough and said he liked the look of the limestone country inland from Oamaru.

At the time, Dr Jerram was running the University of Otago's Student Health Service, having worked as a volunteer doctor at Kunde Hospital, near Mt Everest, and as a family practitioner in Nelson.

He had always loved wine, along with the idea of primary produce, and had always been agriculturally inclined.

He was familiar with Waitaki, recalling childhood trips up the valley, salmon fishing and driving over the dusty Lindis Pass to a bach at Hawea.

The weekend he met Mr Sinnott, they drove up the valley, ostensibly looking for salmon - but the future Ostler site was identified above the Maori rock drawings near Duntroon.

Ostler was a family name for Dr Jerram and familiar in the Mackenzie district. His great-grandfather William Ostler emigrated from Yorkshire to manage Benmore Station, near Omarama, in 1852.

He soon sought his own station and, in time, bought first Ben Ohau Station, behind what is now the Twizel township, and then Lilybank Station, at the head of Lake Tekapo.

Dr Jerram and his wife, Anne - Mr Sinnott's sister - planted a trial 2ha of pinot noir in 2002 and the vines "looked like they were supposed to be there".

In 2004, a small first harvest became the first Ostler vintage and, to his delight, the complexity and savouriness of that wine was "exactly" what they were looking for, in terms of a less fruit-driven style. They wanted a more continental style, Dr Jerram said.

Ostler has grown to produce seven labels from three vineyards - two rieslings, three pinot gris and two pinot noirs.

A new vineyard site has been developed at Lake Waitaki, on land bought by Dr Jerram's father-in-law, Paul Sinnott, which was a warmer site and not limestone influenced.

Ostler now has seven export markets - the UK, Denmark, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Canada.

Between about 120ha and 125ha of grapes are planted in the Waitaki Valley, of which Ostler has about 14ha.

Critics said the wines from the valley were distinctive, with a "quite special" minerality, Dr Jerram said.

It had been a steep learning curve for him, involving "lots of reading, lots of listening". It was also what he laughingly described as "fiscal madness" and a hard grind.

However, there was nothing quite like getting his hands dirty in the vineyard one day and, the next day, seeing the face of a sommelier in Melbourne when the wines were presented to him, he explained.

The couple loved the Waitaki Valley and the fact they were "pioneering something here".

The area was home to some extraordinarily capable and independent people, he said.

Mrs Jerram co-ordinates international research in spinal cord rehabilitation. The New Zealand Spinal Trust has reaped the fruits of the labour of volunteer pickers at the vineyard, as the couple have given money to the trust, based on the pickers' work.

In 2009, the Vintner's Drop was opened in the former Kurow post office, providing a wine-tasting and retail facility for local wines.

Under the stewardship of Dr John Forrest, a Waitaki Week was being investigated, with producers getting together to promote their wines in the main centres.