Wine Innovation profile: Little Beauty

Little Beauty Marlborough Pinot Gris – one of the entries in our Wine Innovation Awards – certainly can’t complain of a lack of pampering.

The meticulous attention to detail paid by the vineyard’s management team sees each individual Pinot Gris vine enjoy its own personalised care regime which could see them handled up to 45 times throughout the season in order to maximise the characteristics of the grapes.

Little Beauty Marlborough Pinot Gris is extremely limited in availability. Only 900 bottles of the 2008 vintage were produced from a small single vineyard in a sheltered and intimate site in the Waihopai Valley – and it was not that long ago that the sustainability-accredited vineyard was once the quintessential Kiwi sheep farm. Planting started in 2002 – and only 1.98 ha is Pinot Gris.

Fleur McCree, founder of brand owner Vinultra, explained to the drinks business why the site was selected.

“The Little Beauty site presented itself as super intriguing for grape growing,” she said.  

“Tucked away under a steep ridge, not only did the site offer intimacy, it also showed uniqueness in its topography, micro climatic indicators and its soil profile.

“Its undulating river terraces, extreme temperatures, daily solar radiation levels, and unlike many other sites in Marlborough, the multiple soil profiles – inherently stony – suggested it had something special, and the potential to make well balanced, fruit driven varietal wines.”

The growing process is similarly unique, with the team selecting a particular pruning regime that helps to manage the crop. Only two suitable canes from each vine are selected to produce fruit.

At bud burst, each cane is examined further, the buds counted and the bud numbers reduced if need be. At flowering, when the florets are visible, each vine is individually and repeatedly assessed to ensure the estimated crop is on target and in balance.

After veraison, further crop thinning is done, and importantly every ‘second set’ removed.

To further help with ripening, riverbed rocks are piled around the base of the vine, which heat from the high daily temperatures, consequently maintaining a higher ambient temperature.

“Then there’s Mother Nature to deal with – and depending on the season, she can be either friend or foe,” said McCree. “To help the viticultural team understand better, Campbell Scientific climatic monitoring hardware has been installed at various locations around the Little Beauty vineyard.

“Via a radio mesh network and in 15 minute intervals, climatic variables are captured and sent to a central server which management can access via the web from anywhere in the world.

“Variables such as air temperature, canopy temperature, wind speed, wind direction, evapo-transpiration, solar radiation, soil moisture and rainfall are collected and interpreted.   

“It’s a sophisticated investment and is particularly useful in helping combat certain events such as frost.”

Working in concert with the technology solution is a very advanced irrigation infrastructure designed with conservation in mind.

McCree explained: “Most sites of this size and shape would probably install two or three irrigation stations, but across the Little Beauty vineyard you’ll find a total of 27, supported by an electronic flow meter.

“The whole point of this advanced infrastructure is to provide the team with the flexibility to optimise the water management regime where possible.”

After six years of intensive development, the debut 100% varietal 2008 Little Beauty Pinot Gris has made it to the UK.

“Although Pinot Grigio is one of the UK’s volume varietals, it’s not often you’ll see them from New Zealand – especially of such limited volume, and one that has been aged slightly prior to release.

For further details email info@littlebeauty.co.nz or call +44 (0)800 046 7373

Click here further details about the Wine Innovation Awards

Alan Lodge, 13.05.2010