When I tasted Tarras Vineyards' The Steppes pinot noir earlier this year I was intrigued by its distinctive structure, so when I was in Central recently for the spring-release tasting, I visited the vineyards along Maori Point Rd for the first time to find out what made this small patch different from others.
Four vineyards, three of which produce single-vineyard wines, have been planted on the Clutha terraces below the gravel road near Tarras.
Apart from wilding pines, one of many The Lord of the Rings locations in Central, the area was a dusty, rabbit-infested, barren desert, according to John Harris, a retired medical professor who, with wife Marilyn Duxson, established Maori Point Vineyard.
"You could stand on the ridge, look at the Clutha and watch the dust blowing off. It was a blank slate. Even fossil pollen shows it was so dry only grass and matagouri grew there," he said.
The area was named after a group of Maori who panned for gold along the river in the 1860s.
There were also Maori trails up this side of the Clutha, several camps in the area and a semi-permanent settlement at Hawea on the greenstone route over Haast Pass.
Like other parts of Central, this area is harsh and unforgiving, baking during the day in summer, but with temperatures reaching as low as 1degC or 2degC at night, even in February, and heavy frosts in winter.
Harris knows how severe the frosts can be, as 80% of the vines he planted in 2002 were too young to withstand the winter frost and had to be replanted.
Spring frosts, when the buds are bursting, and autumn frosts, when the grapes are ripening, are also a problem and all the vineyards have dams filled with Clutha water for sprinkler frost-fighting.
Even so, there is often a patch of blue sky above the terraces when Cromwell, down the valley, is foggy or Wanaka, up the valley, is cloudy, Harris says.
With the help of irrigation, he finds it satisfying to grow something where nothing would grow before.
However, it may be the soils that make the wines from this region distinctive from others grown nearby at Bendigo or across the river on the Wanaka road.
The soils, such as they are, are mostly silica, which reflects light and heat.
While other parts of Central have silica as a component in their soils, their soild are virtually all silica, according to Harris.
The terraces were formed by terminal moraine from the ancient Hawea glacier and boulders, some the size of garages, are buried in it.
The shape of the oxbow from the melting glacier is still visible curving round the vineyards.
Wind and the reflection of light and heat produce thick grape skins, which may contribute to the distinctive tannins in the wines, he suggests.
Intense summer heat, heavy winter frosts, wind and low humidity keep many of the worst bugs and diseases at bay and the vineyards are managed organically.
Tim Morrison-Deaker, who manages The Steppes Vineyard, owned by Americans Gary and Nancy Carlston and planted in pinot noir, has hens to control the grass grubs and sheep to mow the grass - although he says he has to take them out weeks before harvest to meet US import requirements.
Close by, Tony Poole and Debbi Lawry are establishing Clutha Ridge Vineyard.
Prof Poole still works at the university and commutes between Dunedin and Wanaka, but Ms Lawry now works in Central.
So far they have only planted pinot gris, but they plan to build a house on the vineyard and find it exciting being part of the Central Otago wine revolution.
Although the vineyards here may be young, pinot noirs from the Steppes and Maori Point are firmly structured but restrained, with an underlying minerality.
They are also capable of generous fruit and savoury undertones as the Maori Point 2008, the Steppes 2008 and just-bottled 2009 demonstrate.
A barrel sample of the 2010 Maori Point was beautifully silky, one to look out for when it is released in a couple of years.
Pinot gris from Clutha Ridge and Maori Point are aromatic and mouth-filling, again with that characteristic underlying minerality that may be an attribute of the silica soils.
There are also a couple of stylish roses, food-friendly as all the wines from this patch appear to be.
On the web
www.tarrasvineyards.com
www.maoripoint.co.nz
www.clutharidge.co.nz
