Grasshopper Rock Make It Three In A Row

GRASSHOPPER ROCK MEDIA RELEASE 21 OCTOBER 2009

A dynamic equity partnership has been thrust into the spotlight this week with their third vintage of Pinot Noir consolidating their outstanding track record of award-winning wine and in the process is helping distinguish Alexandra as a significant sub region in Central Otago with its quality fruit-driven character Pinot Noir.

Grasshopper Rock’s 2008 vintage has been rated by Cuisine this month as one of the country’s top ten Pinot Noir from a total of 244. This follows its recent rating as Equal Top pinot noir by Winestate magazine in a regional tasting of Otago and Canterbury wine. The 2007 vintage won a Gold Medal at the Bragato Wine Awards and the first vintage, 2006 won a silver medal at the NZ International Wine Show and the Wine Advocate scored it 92/100. The vineyard was only planted in 2003.

Phil Handford, former Waikato rural banker and now fulltime Managing Director of Grasshopper Rock, says that at the heart of this impressive success story is a passion for wine that all five families in the partnership share.

“We all made a commitment to be the best in the world at making Pinot Noir and that has driven our business model.”

Between them the partners, who are spread from Waikato to Southland, have business experience in dairying, deer, sheep and beef farming, the finance industry, marketing, event management and the creative arts. They count among themselves, whitebaiters, duck shooters, rabbit hunters, divers and fishers, all of whom are now toasting the success of their own award winning Pinot Noir.

Handford describes the partners as the new breed of ‘good keen men and women’. “We are all hunter-gatherers at heart, but we love to test ourselves both physically and professionally, we’re driven to achieve.”

With four of the partners having worked at some time for the Rural Bank they were well disciplined in seeking out the best advice and had a head start when it came to rural contacts.

Handford says, “In my experience you can’t go past local knowledge particularly in the wine growing business where you have to understand the microclimate. When I met the Moffitt brothers I knew I was dealing with 20 years of local experience.”

Mike and Steve Moffitt set up Dry Gully vineyard that borders Grasshopper Rock on Earnscleugh Road. Mike became vineyard manager for Grasshopper Rock and Steve, who owns his own vineyard Rock’N’Pillar, was taken on as Consultant.

Consistent quality wine has always been a driving factor says Handford. “We’ve always been driven by quality not quantity. We’ve dropped barrels out to improve consistency and rather than grow maximum yields we’ve thinned grapes to improve the quality of grapes left.”

When the American Magazine Wine Advocate scored their first vintage 92pts /100pts, Handford started receiving orders from around the world.

“I hadn’t even seen the review and was getting enquiries from Scandinavia, Hong Kong and North America. Sales really took off.”

Grasshopper Rock’s wine maker, Carol Bunn from VinPro, says the success of Grasshopper Rock has been a big team effort.

“It’s about good management not luck. They have really looked after the operation through what can be nail-biting times. The success is indicative of the maturity of decision-making that is becoming more prevalent as those in the industry communicate with each other and pay attention to detail. It’s helping lift the quality of wine every year and helping establish the character of wine from a sub region like Alexandra. ”

The vineyard takes its name from a rare grasshopper, which is found only in Central Otago, and predominantly on the Earnscleugh gold tailings, which lie along the Clutha River, across the road from the vineyard. The ‘rock’ alludes to the gold.

Handford says that despite the continued success of their Pinot Noir the partnership has made a conscious decision to keep the price to around $30 a bottle. “We want to deliver consumers value for money, consistent quality wine at a good price. Both of our first two vintages sold out. We are proud of that.”

Once a year the five families meet in Wanaka for a partnership review. They bring the spoils of their own food gathering efforts: whitebait, scallops, crayfish, blue cod, venison and rabbit. This year they’ll wash it all down with an award winning Pinot Noir from Alexandra. It has soft chewy tannins and very fruity characters – Grasshopper Rock 2008.

ENDS

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