Tom Bullen and the team working on Claim 431 in Bendigo love a challenge.
They regularly produce grapes which are turned into premium pinot noir for Mud House, which also has vineyards in Marlborough and the Waipara Valley, but on the side work hard to also produce grapes that make quality pinot noir that can be sold at a "good price point".
"It is not top end but still good quality so we select a few blocks that were always consistent in providing the fruit for that sort of price."
The new label, Madam Sass, was developed in 2016 to showcase that wine. It has since placed in the New World Top 50 Wines under $25 four times.
"It’s great it’s getting some recognition."
They named the wine Madam Sass as a tribute the gold mining days of the region and the strong women who thrived in that era, reflecting the daring nature of the label. The vineyard itself is named after an original mining claim.
"The gold rush here is a big part of Bendigo here and seemed suitable for the label as we wanted it to be vibrant and fruitful, and easy enough to approach."
The vineyards in Bendigo (104ha) get more sunshine which enables them to produce grapes with a more forward fruit flavour.
"That’s the design of that wine. We aim for every year, that sort of style."
Bullen and the wine makers including Cleighton Cornelius work closely together to select the right blocks for the wine and then blend them in their Blenheim winery. The fruit is transported overnight between the vineyard and winery.
"It’s quite cold, so it’s basically a cold soak.
"By the time its at the winery it’s 6°C. It works quite well."
There were a couple of "little tricks" they could do to such as picking the vines a bit harder, slow the ripening down if they could and let the grapes hang a bit longer to add extra flavour at a different price point.
"It’s been a good label to have provide a little more quality."
"We like a challenge to make it affordable for everybody."
One of the hardest things is to carry the varietal characteristics of pinot across into a wine at a good price.
"I think that’s the biggest challenge, otherwise it turns into a fruity flat flavour where you can’t tell the difference between that and a merlot or something."
Bullen arrived from Victoria, Australia, keen to work on Central Otago pinot noir vineyards nine years ago so describes himself as still being the "new guy" at the vineyards as most of his colleagues have been working on the block for 15-20 years and know the place "inside out".
"It makes it easy for me as a manager to try and make those improvements and to keep the quality consistent."
He enjoys the experience of growing pinot in colder climes with more frosts and a longer hang time compared to Australia.
"Here you have time to work on the quality. It’s a privilege to manage fruit here, it’s such a good region here."
The experienced team also make it easier to adapt to Central Otago’s changeable weather given pinot is a "delicate finicky" variety, he says.
"Really extreme weather means you can never have one recipe, you have to have a few different techniques up your sleeve to ensure the fruit gets to the desired quality at the end and consistently year in, year out."
So far the season ahead is looking good as the recent cold, wet weather meant groundwater levels were high and the labour supply issue had eased giving wineries a greater chance to get all the winter jobs done before the busy season ahead.
"It’s been a good beginning for the year ahead. With the predicted dry weather ahead, it’s important to have the vines happy and healthy."
New World Top 50 co-chair of judges Sam Kim says 1200 entries were judged and scored by an independent panel of experts over three days.
They first awarded the Gold medal winners, then tasting through these wines again and again to determine the 50 best for the list.
"All the judging was blind — meaning we didn’t know the brand or price point of any entry, so consumers can trust that every winning wine really measures up."
