New Zealand Syrah quality continues to forge ahead

New Zealand Syrah quality continues to forge ahead

The 6th Annual New Zealand Syrah Workshop, held at the Bayview Chateau Tongariro from the 11 to 13 February, with Dr Andrew Markides, Managing Director of Lallemand Australia as the International Guest Speaker. Prior to joining Lallemand, Dr Markides had over 20 years winemaking experience, and has taught for 30 years, holding the position of Dean of Roseworthy Agriculture College for its last four years before it merged with Adelaide University. Andrew’s presentation encompassed the unique conundrum that syrah winemakers face, whereby a range of natural compounds that in high concentrations can spoil a wine, in low concentrations those same compounds form the aromatic signature that makes syrah special.

The other guest speaker at the workshop, David Ramonteu of Mobius Consulting, was able to present some new French research demonstrating the unique ripening profile of syrah and related this back quite different winemaking methods to manage unique wine styles, building on the foundation created by Dr Markides during his presentation.

The New Zealand Syrah Workshop is held annually to bring together winegrowers in New Zealand to study and improve both viticultural and oenological practices as they apply to the variety Syrah. Andrew Markides was impressed with the range of flavours that New Zealand Syrah exhibited. He felt the workshop concept, which encourages frank and open discussion, was a fantastic medium to share knowledge on what can be a precocious grape variety. Markides also felt the level of collegiality and support shown by fellow delegates was noteworthy, given how competitive the wine industry has become.

This years Convenor, Tony Robb, acknowledged the efforts of Rex Sunde in establishing the Workshop on the national winemaking calendar. “Without Rex, I doubt we would have seen the quantum leap in the quality of our syrah wines over the past few years” said Robb. “We owe him a huge debt of gratitude and I’m personally excited by the increased awareness of what we are achieving. The overall quality of this year’s wines set a very high standard, the 2009 vintage Syrah’s will be pretty special when they are released.” This year saw the largest number of delegates attending the workshop since its inception.

The success of New Zealand grown Syrah can be seen in recent prestigious competitions:

“CHAMPION WINE OF SHOW, AIR NZ WINE AWARDS 2007”

“CHAMPION WINE OF SHOW, AIR NZ WINE AWARDS 2008”

“CHAMPION WINE OF SHOW, ROYAL EASTER SHOW WINE AWARDS 2007”

“CHAMPION WINE OF SHOW, ROYAL EASTER SHOW WINE AWARDS 2008”

“CHAMPION WINE OF SHOW, TRI-NATIONS WINE CHALLENGE 2007”

TROPHY: "Best Lighter Bodied Dry Red Table Wine, Sydney International Wine Competition 2009.

ENDS

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