Friday, 29 April 2016 06:55

River T Estate

Written by  Mark Orton
River T’s Karen Tweed and Murray Turner. River T’s Karen Tweed and Murray Turner.

Driving from Central Otago to the Waitaki Valley, you could be forgiven for that no wine region existed here.

Apart from a few pockets of grapes, it’s hardly like driving through Gibbston, Bannockburn or even the road from Cromwell to Wanaka. But with more than 12 labels currently in production, The Waitaki Valley does a pretty good job of flying under the radar, though it’s hardly by design. For Murray Turner and his partner Karen Tweed, the launch of their new label, River T Estate, is something they certainly want people to know about, even if that just involves the 350 permanent residents of Kurow for now.

Arriving at their four hectare site, the rustic sign and wagon wheel sum up the down-home feel and philosophy behind River T Estate. With over 40 years of horticulture heritage in the Waitaki valley, most of that spent in his family’s stone-fruit business, Murray Turner knows more than most what the challenges and benefits are.

After taking an 18-month break in Australia in the late 90s, Turner always knew he would return to the valley, so purchased back a block of land that his family had sold in 1997.

“The joke around here was that I moved across the road via Australia.”

When Turner did return, he discovered that Dunedin businessman Howard Patterson had taken an interest in the area and was planting the first grapes in the valley at a place called Doctor’s Creek. Turner had developed an interest in viticulture at University in the late 1970s, so was keen to get involved, if not a little skeptical.

“It was a little random really, but after we planted the first four hectares in 2001 and had a great growing season that first year, other’s started to plant at the same time.”

The excitement in creating a new wine region was one thing, but for those pioneers there was something intrinsically special below the surface, a relic from an ancient sea that once enveloped the area, that convinced them they were onto a good thing.

“The limestone was the key. Certainly Jim Jerram (Ostler) thought so after he used a plane to find the site that he has down in Duntroon. That site is basically on a limestone escarpment.”

In 2003, the fledgling valley had their first vintage which Turner describes as ‘spectacular’. Not quite Central Otago and not quite Waipara, the Waitaki Valley started carving out a reputation for wines that didn’t sit easily in either of those camps. It is often looked upon as a promising upstart that hasn’t delivered on the initial promise. Both Turner and Tweed grin wryly over their tea-cups when musing on some of the things that have been said about grape endeavours in the Waitaki Valley.

“As stone-fruit growers we were lumped in with Canterbury and often people try to tack us onto Central Otago for the wine, but we aren’t either” says Turner. “It’s different you know, and that’s why there was such interest in the early days. The long growing season and ethereal climate gives the wines that we are producing now a real distinction. Though, it’s certainly not for the faint-hearted.”

With harvesting in the Waitaki going right through until late May, it takes a certain type of character to ride the rollercoaster of anticipation that happens each year. When winemakers further north have put their wines to bed and are planning their winter adventures, in the Waitaki they will be clenching their teeth, looking skyward and often itching to start picking. With such an inconsistent climate and untold challenges, the question must be asked…why bother?

“Well, we’ve always been able to ripen, so the nervous wait at the end is just part of it. Though, any temperature spikes in a marginal area like this are really magnified. That year that the iceberg came up past Dunedin was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Fortunately, the lateness of our grapes actually works quite well for our winemaker Antony Worch (Alexandra Vintners). He has time to process his Central Otago grapes before ours arrive.”

Through a process of trial and error with root stocks, varieties and clonal selections, Turner and Tweed reckon that with 10-15 years of hindsight, Waitaki winegrowers are only now starting to realise the true potential of this pioneering district.

“My brother and I had a company, that pretty much planted and managed every single block that ever went into the valley” says Turner. “In fact we only stopped managing some of them last year so that we could do our own label.”

“Back in the mid-2000s there was an awful lot of Pinot Gris planted which we now regret, so people are already revising what we have here,” says Tweed.

“There has been quite a bit of re-planting which includes Chardonnay, and that is looking really good.”

From the dusty collection of trail and farm bikes stretching back to the 60s, everything about this place still feels like the town where a young lad with the surname McCaw learned to play rugby. Times are changing though, and with a mini property boom in Kurow itself, Turner and Tweed were convinced that the time was right to launch their own label.

“Rather than just grow grapes, we want to be part of the whole thing and have some fun with it.

“Up until now, from our 10,000 vines out here, we had just been growing and selling to Grant Taylor (Valli) for his Waitaki Pinot and Riesling. He is very much part of our story.

“We don’t have time to market to every restaurant and that is not our skill, so we thought that if we can move our wine through local outlets at a price point that rural people can accept, then that will be our focus.

“At this stage we are trying to cover off every possible outlet within 100 kilometres of where we are sitting. As we own all the viticulture equipment and Karen does all the day-to-day vineyard work, we can keep the cost down so we can pass on those savings in the bottle price.”

Part of the crusade that Murray and Karen are on, if you can call it that, is to educate the locals to take pride in an industry that is 15 plus years old, yet still relatively concealed. In a valley overshadowed by a couple of prominent labels, both Turner and Tweed who have worked on the majority of vineyards in the district, want to shout about more than just their own label.

“The locals have no idea what is grown here and most of them could only name two labels in the whole district.” says Tweed. “The worst thing is going to the liquor stores in Oamaru (50 minutes away) who do absolutely nothing to champion the wine from here.”

With the Alps 2 Ocean cycle track passing through town and plenty of holidaymakers floating about in the summer, River T would also love to see tourism Waitaki getting behind the labels in the valley.

“The people who are coming through have some money to spend and they want to drink wine, but people show up here and ask ‘where are all the wines’? Fortunately the trail goes through the rear of our property so it might be time to put a cellar door in.”

Given all the challenges that a tempestuous growing season provides and the tricky nature of selling wine, both Turner and Tweed are positively brimming about what the future holds, but not without a healthy dose of realism.

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