"Is this what the weather's like all the time?" I ask Cloudy Bay oenologist James Healy, pointing at the low-hanging clouds that necklace the surrounding mountains with misty gray shadows.
"Yeah."
And so far, he's right. Our second morning on the outskirts of Renwick begins like the previous one, with a heavy and ominous threat of rain. This time, however, there are no more than a few brief spits and sputters, and we're quickly out the door for a day of serious tasting, this time with appointments.
First up is Cellier le Brun, one of the original proponents of Marlborough sparkling wine, now outside-owned while the le Bruns (originally from Épernay) make their own and others' bubblies at the nearby Le Brun Family Estate. It's an odd and confusing arrangement, that a winery should carry the name and the cuvée designations of someone who is making wine under their own name elsewhere, but it seems to work for both parties.
The obvious worry, of course, is that le Brun's current ownership by non-wine interests will dilute the quality of the wine. It must thus be noted that these wines are a complete blank slate to me, and thus I have no idea of quality has slipped, remained the same, or improved vs. the actual le Brun era.
Daniel and Adele le Brun came to Marlborough from Champagne to make sparkling wines in the traditional Champenois style. Under winemaker Allan McWilliams, that tradition is retained, though there's a stated emphasis on "better quality control," as well as a reduction in what he terms "oxidative" characteristics. However, McWilliams also wants to avoid the "overt fruit" that the Marlborough terroir too easily provides, especially in their pinot noir base wines, for which they've stuck to older New Zealand pinot clones in an effort to shed strong "strawberry and cherry" flavors. As for chardonnay, their own vineyards are undergoing extensive replanting from the Mendoza Clone to Clone 4. Viticulture and vinification mostly follow the traditional Champagne recipe, though (for obvious reasons) the dosages are lower. Current releases rely heavily on base wines from the '96 and '97 vintages, though '98 reserves are starting to make their presence known.
No coat at Brun
In addition to the centerpiece lineup of Cellier le Brun bubblies, there's also a cheaper brand called Terrace Road, designed for accessibility and drinkability, and it is with a wine from this line that we start our tasting. McWilliams and I retrieve a table from a slick tasting room/café, add a few chairs, and soon we're enjoying a breezy but increasingly sunny Marlborough day while tasting our way through a series of sparkling wines.
Terrace Road "Classic" Brut (Marlborough) – 50% pinot noir, 50% chardonnay (or so McWilliams tells me, though their Web site suggests entirely different percentages; likely, either he misspoke or I misheard him) from younger (5-6 year old) vines, undergoing a long, cool fermentation with the emphasis on protecting the wine from any uncontrolled or unexpected processes. It spends 28 months en tirage, and retains a blatantly obvious residual sugar of 9 g/l. Slightly funky at first, then turning rather overtly fruity (I guess that particular goal was not met here), showing peach, pear, apple, grapefruit, and ripe orange. Frothy and friendly with not-insignificant sweetness, this would be a great alternative to all those chemical-tasting tank-method or artificially-carbonated bubblies that are the bane of wedding toasts everywhere.
I've always been intrigued by the ways in which different cultures approach sparkling wines. In France, for example, all manner of bubblies (including Champagne) are an everyday beverage, not at all reserved for special occasions. In the U.S., on the other hand, price (and the price of similarly-styled domestic sparklers) limits that sort of frequent use; wildly successful marketing is to blame, perhaps, but such positioning is ultimately detrimental to the growth of the category. McWilliams opines that New Zealanders are "more open" than previously to the regular consumption of sparkling wines, but the problem is a lack of worthwhile examples; there are good wines at the top price level, a lot of profoundly uninteresting wines at the lowest price level, and not much in between. As with any market, constant promotion is necessary to maintain brand awareness, and while by-the-glass programs at restaurants are gaining steam, they're dominated by the biggest players (Montana, and to a lesser extent Cloudy Bay).
Daniel le Brun Brut "Taché" (Marlborough) – 70% pinot noir, 20% chardonnay, 10% pinot meunier, more or less, with 5 g/l residual sugar and spending 36 months en tirage; this is a small-production salmon-colored rosé that McWilliams calls "difficult to sell" in New Zealand. High-acid raspberry and grapefruit flavors dose up some red apple cider, with a little bit of drying tannin on the finish. An interesting wine, with seemingly unrealized potential, but I wonder if it has the stuffing to age or if it will just fade under its acidity; I suspect the latter. Still, it's a pretty nice wine at the moment.
One of the auxiliary, though no doubt important, goals of the new ownership is to ramp up the total production of still and sparkling wine to 30,000 cases, which is a little less than 10,000 cases more than they make now. In the short term, those goals can only be met by extensive purchasing of grapes, and one wonders how this will affect wine quality without strict controls on the growers.
Daniel le Brun Brut (Marlborough) – The non-vintage cornerstone of the sparkling lineup, representing 75% of the total production (McWilliams doesn't clarify if this is just sparkling wine production, or total production), from about 65% pinot noir, 25% chardonnay, and 10% pinot meunier that is taken exclusively from reserves; there's no "new" wine here, and in fact this bottling – the newest release – is based primarily on '98 stocks ("a warmer year," according to McWilliams) of wine from older vines. This is somewhat of a fruit basket, and I can see whence the worries about "overt" fruit come: lemon, peach, orange, and grapefruit overlaid with a light rubbery character and a slight, yet welcome, yeastiness. There's good acid on the midpalate, but the finish is rather abrupt and "powdery," almost as if it has been dosed with powdered sugar rather than something more traditional. A good wine, but it could easily be better.
Daniel le Brun 1996 Brut (Marlborough) – 50% pinot noir, 50% chardonnay, harvested at two tons/acre, disgorged after four years en tirage, after which it receives up to four years of bottle age. This wine represents a slight increase in the percentage of chardonnay, to "add elegance and increase acidity." Produced an average of four to five times per decade, this wine carries somewhere between 3 and 4 g/l of residual sugar and is intended to age for a decade. Well, we'll see. Orange and grapefruit with a solid apple and walnut skin core and a very slight styrofoam character, turning into lemon yeast on the finish. A little odd and disjointed at the moment, and I can't quite get a handle on it.
Daniel le Brun 1996 "Blanc de Blancs" (Marlborough) – 100% chardonnay, and the first vintage making use of Clone 4 chardonnay vines. An elegant, floral nose redolent with dandelions and orange blossoms, turning quite fruity on the palate with grapefruit and tangy lemon flavors. Excellent balance, and the unquestioned class of the tasting.
Late afternoon vines
McWilliams is an engaging host, and this is a revealing tasting, but what it reveals are either the difficulties at Cellier le Brun or the ongoing limitations of Marlborough sparkling wine; we'll taste a better one later in the day, but the unquestionable common thread – as McWilliams clearly understands – is a balance tilted severely in favor of ripe fruit rather than the complexities of Champagne-style sparkling wine. One wonders, in fact, if the goal of making that sort of bubbly is even worthwhile in Marlborough; yes, the climate is suited for chardonnay and (though not enough are succeeding with the grape) pinot noir, but what's good for still wines often isn't good for sparkling wines. Further, the investment necessary to bring such wines to the highest quality level is extensive, and may not be worth it if the potential profits from higher-quality still wines remain consistent. From this and other tastings, it is entirely possible that sparkling wine will always be a marginal product in Marlborough; capable of a certain potential, but rarely reaching or surpassing it. Are there other, better regions in New Zealand for bubbly? It's impossible to say.
An alternative, of course, is to rethink the inspiration for Marlborough bubblies. The Terrace Road, made more in the style of the sweeter kinds of Prosecco one often gets by the glass or from unlabeled bottles in northeastern Italian bars and trattorias, might be something much more suitable given Marlborough's growing conditions. And who says that sparkling wine has to be dry, or has to be made in the Champagne style, anyway? But that's the trail the le Brun family blazed, and the new ownership shows no sign of a desire to deviate from that path.
Ultimately, the only reasonable answer is that it's still too early to tell. The almost unbelievable youth of this wine region, already known the world over for its sauvignon blanc, makes any pronouncements of absolute quality (or lack thereof) exceedingly premature. Time will tell if there's the potential for world class sparkling wine or not, and if there is, in which style or styles it will succeed. And as the most established major player in this particular scene, Cellier le Brun is sure to be there. At the forefront or in the middle of the pack, though…this, too, is a question for which any answer would be premature.
Though if anyone has the clout to venture some answers, it's the "superstar" of Marlborough sauvignon blanc, Cloudy Bay. And that's our next stop.
![[Allan McWilliams & the author]](http://www.wineloverspage.com/graphics/le_brun_duo.jpg)
![[Marlborough vines]](http://www.wineloverspage.com/graphics/marlborough_vines_late_afternoon.jpg)