Theresa and I look at each other, then at Pegasus Bay co-winemaker Matt Donaldson. I shrug. "I don't know anything about them, so…"
"Oh, you have to. Hold on." He reaches for his mobile phone, and a few minutes later he's chatting with someone. There's much talk about vacations, and scheduling, and then Matt looks at us. "It's all set."
1 December 2003
We're enjoying a wonderful dinner at the well-known d'Urville restaurant in Blenheim. Everything is very good, but we can't stop talking about the wine, a majestic expression of New World pinot noir behind a decidedly Old World label. The winery? Fromm, though the dominant words on the label are "La Strada." The road.
2 December 2003
We're rumbling along Middle Renwick Road in James Healy's truck. A classic, sporty-in-a-different-era auto purrs by, somewhere between restored and rustic. There appears to be an afro behind the wheel. Healy waves. "There's Hätsch."
"Hätsch from Fromm? We're meeting him this afternoon."
He turns a speculative eye to me, for just a moment. There is the faintest suggestion of a raised eyebrow. "You'll taste some good wines."
Vineyard tales
The man most responsible for all this foreshadowing looks a little like one of those bench-riding backup centers one used to see in the NBA back in the seventies: big hair, a little spindly for the rough stuff, but very tall. Hätsch Kalberer, winemaker at Fromm (also identified as "La Strada," which differentiates it from the owners' other eponymous venture, in Switzerland), is a serious sort of guy, simultaneously passionate and regimented; very Germanic. Put another way, there's a quiet but firm evangelist inside him, and the evangelist's pulpit is his vineyard.
Marlborough men
Within a few moments of our arrival at the winery's tasting room (which is just closing up for the day), Hätsch is leading us to the vineyards that surround the winery. The vines are unquestionably different from many in the neighborhood – closer together, close-cropped, restrained and controlled – and the differences are deliberate. "Three meter spacing, 850 plants per hectare, no shortcuts," he announces, rather firmly, and proceeds into a oral treatise on the necessity for crop control in Marlborough. Dry it may be, but if one is to achieve anything other than boisterous and obvious fruit flavors, Kalberer believes one must be severe long before the grapes reach the winery. He is fully supported in this by the winery's founders and owners, Georg and Ruth Fromm, and their commitment to quality over profit is demonstrated by the fact that their interest is and has always been primarily focused on reds, quality examples of which from Marlborough are thin on the ground. The counterbalance to this, however, is that the wines are expensive compared to many of their peers.
Pinot noir is the showpiece red grape, though there are also plantings of merlot, malbec, syrah, the two cabernets, and sangiovese/montepulciano. Whites are led by a series of rieslings done in a very German-influenced way (right down to pradikats), gewürztraminer, chardonnay, viognier (for co-fermentation with the syrah) and a little sauvignon blanc.
It very quickly becomes clear that Kalberer is an unrepentant traditionalist, an appellation he enthusiastically (to the extent that he expresses enthusiasm) endorses when I mention it. He simply doesn't believe that there are ways to get around the fundamental truths of quality winemaking, no matter how popular the products of the Marlborough region might be. Yet his approach is as different from many of his contemporaries as it is cautious; there's a reason I had never heard of the winery, and while the wines are theoretically available in many countries, export quantities are as proportionally small as the winery's total output.
A shot of Clayvin
Back in the tasting room, Kalberer lines up a few bottles, rejecting a few as having been open too long (and opening new ones in all but one case), and we proceed to taste. There's not much talk here, except regarding the basics of each wine; such a traditionalist in the vineyard is not likely to do much tinkering in the cellar, so there's just not much to say.
Fromm "La Strada" 2001 "Dry" Riesling (Marlborough) – 13.5% alcohol. Intense lemon rind coated with powdered chalk, turning even more intense through a long, dry finish. Good, and somewhat striking, but a little austere.
Fromm "La Strada" 2000 Chardonnay (Marlborough) – Very floral (perhaps lilies), with solid pear and concentrated honeydew flavors drizzled with honeysuckle squeezings and fragrant white plum. Crisp acidity. Quite terrific, with the stuffing and the structure to age and improve.
Fromm "La Strada" 2001 Chardonnay (Marlborough) – 100% malo, but that's the only acid adjustment performed on this or any other Fromm chardonnay. Also, Kalberer won't stand for leftover residual sugar. As a result, he finds the 2000 a bit more acidic than he'd prefer, while this one exhibits more of the balance he's looking for. I'd tend to agree with his assessment. Very fragrant, with red cherry blossoms (and red fruit, even of the floral variety, is always a welcome component in white wines), with slightly more tropical pineapple and mango flavors. This is all bound by wonderfully-balanced acidity, and the potential for improvement here seems greater than that of the 2000, though the palate impact of the former is more striking over the short term. In any case, this is a most impressive pair of chardonnays, nearly rivaling those at Kumeu River.
Fromm "La Strada" 2001 Pinot Noir (Marlborough) – A blend from two different vineyards in the Brancott Valley and from young fruit that lacks the structure that Kalberer wants in their flagship pinots. Very light in color (Kalberer dismisses the obsession with color, especially in pinot, as unimportant…a subject on which we agree), showing potpourri and cooked red cherry syrup on the nose. The palate tends more towards crushed leaves and citrus peel (what is it about these New Zealand pinots, and where is all this citrus rind coming from?), which turns a little bitter on the finish. It's a good pinot noir, though a touch incomplete and disjointed.
The view Fromm the winery
Fromm "La Strada" 2001 Pinot Noir Clayvin Vineyard (Marlborough) – The vineyard gets its name from the expected source: the soil is almost solid clay. This is the second vintage produced since an extensive replanting of the vineyard (with what Kalberer doesn't say, though one assumes better clones), and is decidedly less hospitable than the 2000 we tasted at the d'Urville, starting immediately with a tight, unyielding nose. Red cherry, plum, and high-toned strawberry flowers are balanced and fresh, supported by lithe, leafy raw tobacco and autumn forest floor notes and a complex, sandy quartz structure that emerges more strongly on the finish. I simply don't have enough experience with this wine to judge its potential vs. the 2000, but it certainly has a good deal of potential. Impressively large-boned pinot that retains an essential lightness.
Fromm "La Strada" 2001 Pinot Noir Fromm Vineyard (Marlborough) – From the vineyard that surrounds the winery, the one planted in 1991 when the winery literally got off the ground. Graphite and upfront, dark-toned fruit dominated by plum, black cherry, and walnut; to abuse an analogy somewhat, this is Côtes-de-Nuits to Clayvin's Côtes-de-Beaune. Serious pinot noir, concentrated and structured for the long haul. "Burgundians prefer the Fromm," notes Kalberer, "though over two-thirds of the drop-in visitors to the tasting room prefer the Clayvin." He comes as close to smiling as he will all afternoon. "And which do you prefer?"
I punt, as I often do in such situations. "The 2001 Fromm, but I'd like to taste it against the 2000 Clayvin." He nods, thoughtfully, though what he's actually thinking is anyone's guess.
Double-barreled
We temporarily abandon the bottle tasting for a chilly barrel room. It's surprisingly small, and even more surprising when Kalberer notes that there's really not much more wine than what surrounds us.
Fromm "La Strada" 2002 Pinot Noir Clayvin Vineyard (barrel sample) (Marlborough) – (From a light toast François Frères barrique; this will be blended 50/50 with wine from an old barrel. Tasted post-malo, but having yet to undergo sulfuring or racking.) Incredible concentration and balance, showing plummy walnut flavors in a rather intense way.
Kalberer notes that this wine, like all others except the rieslings, are the result of wild-yeast fermentation.
Fromm "La Strada" 2002 Pinot Noir Fromm Vineyard (barrel sample) (Marlborough) – Black cherry, blackberry, and boysenberry. The structure lurks in the background, obviously significant, but still biding its time.
Fromm "La Strada" 2002 Syrah (barrel sample) (Marlborough) – (Just finished malo, with co-fermented viognier.) Black peppered meat and butter, showing violet and dark plum with a thick coating of black dirt. A touch woody, but that and the butter are to be expected at this stage.
Fromm "La Strada" 2002 Merlot (barrel sample) (Marlborough) – (Yet to commence its malo.) Blackberry and lavender, with a solid structure. The lavender, especially, is compelling. The acid balance is very surprising, considering its pre-malo status.
Fromm "La Strada" 2002 Malbec (barrel sample) (Marlborough) – Raw aged meat, leafy black dirt, and quite rough. In other words, fairly classic malbec. (Kalberer has no insights into why New Zealand has such an unusual amount of malbec planted.)
Stairing down the barrel of a Clayvin
Auslese is more
Back in the tasting room, we sample the destinations of the last two wines, plus a few more whites.
Fromm "La Strada" 2000 Merlot/Malbec (Marlborough) – Sweet blueberry, black cherry, and blackberry, but the dominant flavor is boysenberry jam. Rough, rustic, and chewy, with a large amount of tannin. I'm unsure about this wine, which may have a more overwhelming structure than it can support, but I suppose time will tell. Certainly, I've tasted nothing even vaguely like it from Marlborough; the closest contenders have been from the much, much warmer Waiheke Island.
Fromm "La Strada" 1999 Malbec "Reserve" (Marlborough) – Rosemary, thyme, and mint tea in a thick, dark, tannic brew. So intense it makes a lot of Argentinean malbec look a little light in the loafers. I just don't have context to judge this properly, but the power and intensity are unmistakable. Even Kalberer seems a little bemused by the wine, but he says that it's very popular with people who prefer heftier reds, and usually get them from the extreme north, or from Australia. Serve with roast mastodon back at the cave, I guess.
Fromm "La Strada" 2001 Riesling (Marlborough) – Made in an spätlese style. It obviously wants to be slightly reductive at first, but eventually the fruit is just too overwhelming. Hugely ripe banana, cranberry, red cherry, and strawberry; lovers of red fruit in their riesling (I'm one of them) will adore this wine. Long, big, and very impressive; spätlese turned up to 11, yet remaining a spätlese.
Fromm "La Strada" 2000 Riesling Auslese (Marlborough) – Concentrated chalk-dusted red cherry, strawberry, raspberry, and ripe red cherry, jazzed up by lilies and huge, ripe limestone notes on the finish. Very, very impressive wine.
There are also a 2001 Beerenauslese and a 1998 Trockenbeerenauslese that we don't taste, for obvious reasons of expense and quantity, though we do pick up a few bottles of the former – one for us, another as a combination thank you/wedding gift for Matt & Lynette at Pegasus Bay.
Further on up the road
Not too many people know Fromm. For the balance of our stay in New Zealand, only winemakers (though not all of them) and one retailer will profess knowledge of the label. It's a profound shame, because – and I do not say this lightly – it is the best lineup of wines we'll taste on our entire trip. In fact, I'd go farther: with the caveat that I will likely never have the opportunity to taste the full Dry River portfolio at a sitting, I can say that, of all the New Zealand wineries from which I've tasted (on this trip and in the States), Fromm is unquestionably the best.
Marlborough sunset
It's the pinot noir that first entices us, and the pinots are indeed impressive. Paired with what can only be identified as groundbreaking rieslings and exciting chardonnays, here would be enough laurels on which any winery could contentedly rest. But ripe syrah? Powerful malbec? When wineries all over Marlborough are struggling to produce weedy, vegetal pinot and merlot? There's something special going on at Fromm, and it can only be what Kalberer claims it is: careful, yet relentless work in the vineyards.
So why aren't other wineries following in their footsteps? Well, they might be, though they're playing a game of catch-up at this point. Here and there in Marlborough, one sees the occasional patch of more tightly-spaced, more severely-pruned vines. Unsurprisingly, they're often on the land of the region's acknowledged leaders – Cloudy Bay, Isabel, etc. – but some smaller, less-heralded wineries have them too. Visuals aren't everything, of course. But it's a positive step towards the future.
"La Strada" means "the road," and it's the philosophical path on which Fromm walks; the knowledge of history and tradition behind, the endless journey ahead. Not even thirty years old as a wine region, Marlborough finds itself in a comfortable cul-de-sac. The region could probably subsist, happily and profitably, on an endless supply of zingy sauvignon blanc, sauvignon-like chardonnay, and the occasional decent red or dessert wine in a good year, and it's clear that, for many producers, this state of affairs would not be unwelcome. But even from Sauvignon Court, only the most blindly intransigent can fail to see the road; it turns, it bends, it gets a little rough at times. But it's the only path to the future. And if they squint and look far, far down that road, they'll see Hätsch Kalberer – tall, lanky, shaggy-haired – striding confidently forward, but leaving clear and large footprints behind him.
![[the author & Hätsch Kalberer]](http://www.wineloverspage.com/graphics/thor_hatsch_duo.jpg)
![[vines at Fromm]](http://www.wineloverspage.com/graphics/fromm_view.jpg)
![[Fromm cellar]](http://www.wineloverspage.com/graphics/fromm_barrels_glass.jpg)
![[Vintner's Retreat sunset]](http://www.wineloverspage.com/graphics/vintners_retreat_evening.jpg)