Portovino
Alessandra Zecchini
A feeling of conviviality fills the air as Italian Wilma Laryn of Cracroft Chase winery in Christchurch talks about the grape harvest.
“We don’t have to call for help,” she rejoices. “The neighbours and friends from the local Residents’ Association dive in, all fashioned in their gardening best.” And once the harvest is in there’s a party for all, as Wilma and husband Alessandro put on a picnic, quenched with Cracroft Chase Wood’s Edge Pinot Gris.
This quality of life is part of what encouraged the Laryns to move from Monza (near Milan) to New Zealand with their six-year-old daughter Fiona in 1996 after a visit the year before. They felt at home in Canterbury, and chose a 9.3-hectare property in the Port Hills district of Cracroft, just outside Christchurch.
After soil analysis and climate consideration, the couple, who had never made wine before, decided to grow Pinot Gris grapes – “a sensible decision”, recalls Wilma. “The Christchurch climate is similar to that of the north-east of Italy, where Pinot Grigio abounds.”
They planted 4500 vines over five hectares in 1997, back then never envisaging that Pinot Gris was soon to become so in vogue in New Zealand. And from that moment their lives changed.
 Alessandro, a marine biologist and ex-commodity trader, and Wilma, a former maths teacher, fell into the rhythm of land and seasons. Because of the fertile soil the vines were planted in a lyre or U-trellising system, with each plant split in two directions, rather than trained on to a single line. This doubled the crop of each plant and also meant compulsory hand-picking and the involvement of the local community.
How fortunate that their winery should be just a few kilometres from the centre of the garden city. Most of their willing helpers are retired people with keen green fingers and the 10 regulars become 40 at harvest time.
The son of friends was due to return from France, where he had studied viticulture and winemaking, and in 2002 Alistair Gardner joined Cracroft Chase as winemaker. The winery, equipped with Italian machinery, was completed in 2003.
Careful storing and blending, and a combination of lees stirring and malolactic fermentation, give a good balance of flavours, creating a very drinkable dry Pinot Gris.
The initial vintage in 2002 was drunk at home. In 2003 the first small commercial output of 3000 bottles earned a 31⁄2-star rating in Michael Cooper’s Buyer’s Guide to New Zealand Wines. In 2004 came a tenfold increase to 31,000 bottles and another 31⁄2-star rating by Cooper, who found it a “characterful, well-made wine which, at $20, is above-average quality and average value”. That was reaffirmed in 2005 with a further 31⁄2-star rating and the comment by Cooper: “Youthful and immaculate, it should reward cellaring.”
Alessandro’s aim is not to produce an Italian-style Pinot Grigio. “The peculiarities of New Zealand soil and climate can provide results that can be quite different from those of the same varieties grown elsewhere in the world,” he says. “Therefore it’s worth assuming a touch of serendipity and to try to allow our grapes to develop their own potential.”
But are the Laryns confident they can make a good Pinot Gris every year, given that Canterbury is a marginal grape-growing area?
Alessandro’s recorded data over the past eight years confirms a mesoclimate in their valley. It is true that last year’s crop, at 16 tonnes, was significantly smaller than that of 2004, yet the Laryns consider themselves fortunate, as many Canterbury growers lost their entire crops during the exceptionally wet December.
“We have to be philosophical about it,” says Alessandro. “Adverse meteorological conditions can affect our wine in terms of quantity and quality, although the choice of lyre trellis paid off in assuring a balance
of both. We also believe in the control of potential diseases by minimal application of chemicals.”
The Laryns do their own marketing, calling on potential customers with a bottle to sample. Having seen Wilma in action, I don’t know if it is her Italian accent or the fact that she appears so unpretentious, but she does get people interested.
And behind the glitter of wine bars and restaurants, she says, there’s an army of hard-working people, competent and dedicated, “and without exception kind and polite”.
Is it easier to sell in Canterbury? “Naturally there is the home-turf factor, and a widespread attitude of supporting local business always helps,” she says.
Elsewhere, selling is a matter of patience, tenacity and sometimes coinciding with the preparation of a new wine list. “The main challenge for a new-entrant winery in the market is constant supply and logistics,” she says.
Wilma holds proudly to her Italian heritage. She is president of the Dante Alighieri Italian Society of Christchurch, and producer of the Italian radio show Cartolina on Plains FM 96.9. Recently the Italian government named her Cavaliere III classe (similar to the title of a Dame – cavaliere means knight) awarded for cultural activities.
Alessandro, by comparison, seems to have become a real Kiwi farmer, sliding into his gumboots and going down to the vines on any pretext.
Active sponsors of a number of schools, charities and cultural groups, the Laryns seem to have a flair for making things happen. This year they started a project with the Christchurch Rudolf Steiner School, teaching 15-year-olds all the stages of grape growing and production.
And, as if they didn’t have enough going on, the 250 Frantoio and Leccino olive trees they planted alongside the vines in 1997 are now bearing fruit.
“I suppose it’s time we started dealing with that too,” smiles Wilma. “The neighbours can’t wait.”
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