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The wines
of
Seresin Vineyards, Marlborough, New Zealand
Michael Seresin is one of those rare people who has
managed to make a name for himself in two quite distinct fields:
filmmaking and wine. His first career was as a cinematographer: born
in Wellington, at the foot of New Zealand’s north Island, he left
New Zealand in 1966 to forge a successful career in the movies, which
he continues to this day. He’s famous for the nine films he’s made
with British director Allan Parker, as well as working with Alfonso
Cuaron on the third Harry Potter film, The Prisoner of Azkabhan. When Seresin first left New Zealand in the late 1960s for
Italy, he found it a real culture shock. 'How people lived was
opposite to how I'd lived in New Zealand', he recalls. After a spell
in the UK, he moved back to Italy once more, and clearly was captured
by the culture of food and wine he experienced there. 'I like what
wine embraces', he says, and when he decided to turn his hand to
making the stuff, his first thought was to do it in Italy, before
settling on his home country as the destination. 'I didn't think I'd
be smart enough to do business in Italy', says Seresin. 'Besides, you
are free to do a lot more in the New World than the Old'. As befits a filmmaker whose attention is frequently on the
quality of the light, as much as what is in the shot, the Seresin
wines have a transparency to them. There's almost a quality of
lightness that brings a sharp focus on what is present in the wine
(does this sort of synaesthetic description work, or does it just
sound pseudy?). The time Seresin spends in New Zealand varies, but is
typically blocks of 2–6 weeks two or three times a year. He has a
small but good cellar, mainly featuring northern Italian whites,
central Italian reds and high-end Burgundy. UK agent: Armit www.armit.co.uk
– retail prices in the UK are given in brackets Seresin Riesling 2004 Marlborough Seresin Gewürztraminer 2006 Marlborough Seresin Pinot Gris 2006 Marlborough Seresin Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Marlborough Seresin Marama Sauvignon Blanc 2005 Marlborough Seresin Reserve Chardonnay 2005 Marlborough Seresin ‘Leah’ Pinot Noir 2005 Marlborough Wines tasted 01/07 Below is an earlier report on Seresin, from November 2003:
Seresin Estate, Bedford Road,
Renwick, Marlborough, New Zealand A
chance to revisit the wines of Seresin, a Marlborough
producer whose offerings impressed me more than
a year ago. I wasn’t disappointed: these are really superb
across the board, with the highlights being the Marama Sauvignon and
the Pinot Noir.
I had a chat with viticulturalist Bart
Arnst, previously of
Montana. He explained the lengths they went to with their viticulture,
such as pruning the shoulders off the bunches of grapes (these are
usually less ripe than the main part of the bunch) and ploughing
alternate rows to simulate the effects of partial root drying (a
viticultural technique that aims to make the vine think it’s
suffering drought when it isn’t, resulting in better quality grapes
for lower water input).
Seresin Sauvignon Blanc 2003 Marlborough, New Zealand
Marama Sauvignon 2002 Marlborough, New Zealand
Pinot Gris 2003 Marlborough, New Zealand
Riesling 2001 Marlborough, New Zealand
Reserve Chardonnay 2002 Marlborough, New Zealand
Pinot Noir 2002 Marlborough, New Zealand wines tasted November 2003 see also: tasting notes of New Zealand wines |
