In this month’s Marlborough Wine Podcast, winemakers Brian Bicknell and Murray Cook talk about Chardonnay – a variety that made up just 4.6% of New Zealand’s harvest in the 2023 vintage, but is getting a lot of attention right now. This recording is being released just before the Aotearoa New Zealand Chardonnay Symposium, running in early October in Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay. It’s also nearly time for the Marlborough Pinot Boot camp, on November 23, which despite its name will be focused on Chardonnay as well.

Brian is the founder of boutique producer Mahi and has been a pioneering force in Marlborough’s wine industry for more than 20 years, devoted to the association of wine to place, along with hands off winemaking. That’s the focus he’ll have at the Chardonnay Symposium (hawkesbaywine.co.nz/symposium), where he will speak about single vineyard Chardonnay as part of The New Zealand Society for Viticulture and Oenology technical workshop.

Murray Cook is Winemaker at Dog Point Vineyards, having shifted his career plans to wine in 2003, after plans to ski in Central Otago were displaced by a pruning season. Twenty years on, Murray is part of the committee that organises an annual Pinot boot camp for Marlborough producers. Last year they moved the focus to Chardonnay, and they’re doing it again this year, bringing together a team of devoted producers to share knowledge, insights, and trial work.

Both Brian and Murray talk about their love of a variety that can be hard to find space for in Marlborough, where Sauvignon steals the limelight and accounts for 24,222 hectares of Marlborough’s planted area, which is just under 30,000ha. Chardonnay plantings are a small but beloved 1,000ha or so of the vineyard area, compared to Pinot Noir at 2637ha, and Pinot Gris at 1237ha. Companies like Mahi and Dog Point are committed to retaining a greater stake in the variety, and Brian and Murray talk about why Chardonnay needs to play a role in Marlborough’s wine story.

This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of Riversun Nursery

50 Years; 50 Stories

Stories that we’ve never heard, people that we didn’t know about. That’s how journalist Mike White reacts to Tessa Anderson’s new book 50 Years, 50 Stories in their interview at the 2023 Marlborough Book Festival in July.

Mike and Tessa talk about the early pioneers of the industry, including Frank Yukich and Wayne Thomas, and about those who have helped drive its extraordinary success over the past 50 years. Tessa’s book, which was launched on August 24, half a century after Montana planted the first vines in the region, pays homage to the people and places behind Marlborough wine, as well as the hero variety that has put it on the world stage.

Some of us take it for granted that Marlborough is wine country, says Mike. “But it wasn't like that. Certainly not when I was growing up here. And it is an amazing story.”

Thanks to Tessa, Mike and the Marlborough Book Festival (marlboroughbookfest.co.nz) for sharing this wonderful recording. To buy Tessa’s book go to: Rata Publications

This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of Riversun Nursery

Fifty years of wine in Marlborough – a conversation with Allan Scott

In the early 1970s, Marlborough was vastly different from the vine-swept valleys seen today, instead dominated by sheep farms and crops. In the August edition of the Marlborough Wine Podcast, Allan Scott recounts some of his extraordinary experiences over the past 50 years, as a vineyard worker, pioneering grape grower, and founder of Allan Scott Wines.

On a dry and dusty development in August 1973, no one would have thought that Marlborough’s wine industry would be one of the “cornerstones” of New Zealand’s economy, Allan says.

Marlborough Wine general manager Marcus Pickens also joins Sophie Preece in the introduction to this podcast, discussing the half century of Marlborough wine, and how the region’s winegrowers, makers and marketers view the industry today.

This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of Riversun Nursery