Aiming for stardom in the wine industry was the last thing on the mind of Erica Crawford, whose 2022 Loveblock Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc is expected to soon make its U.S. debut through Pennsylvania’s Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores.
In her early 20s, the South African native was working as a research scientist at the University of Cape Town’s famed Ischaemic Heart Research Unit (now the Hatter Institute).
When she had spare time, per a 2019 interview published on the New Zealand Wine website, she “explored wineries and new varietals that were right on our doorstep in Cape Town and Stellenbosch. Some of those wine farms are 300 years old; wine tourism has been well developed for a long time.”
“I had the time of my life,” she said.
But that career path took a sharp turn during a trip to a wine festival with a friend, where she met a New Zealander named Kim Crawford. Three years later, she moved there, had two children, and as she described in the profile, “started the Kim Crawford [wine] brand on $20,000 from the spare room of our little central Auckland home.”
It became an international hit and was purchased by Constellation, an international producer and marketer of wine, beer and spirits, in 2006. While it involved multiple producers, Kim Crawford soon became the biggest growth brand from that acquisition.
Loveblock Farm has two distinct parts: the Woolshed and Hillside blocks. Woolshed and Triangle on the valley floor were planted in 2004, have aged free-draining alluvial soils, and are Certified
Organic. The Hillside blocks are at 500 feet elevation with silt loam on clay soils that produces outstanding flavor.Loveblock Winery
As the brand with her husband’s name on the label was achieving worldwide recognition, becoming the biggest-selling New Zealand wine in the U.S. and Canada, she created her own line of wines called Pansy! Rose in 2002, a wine for the LGBT community. “It was one of the better things I have done,” she said in the interview. “It was against the advice of many, but what a party that was!”
Two years later, she would purchase her first property, a 460-acre farm high above Marlborough and Cook Strait, which she told The Somm Journal helped strengthen a “soft spot” in an operation that already was excelling at winemaking.
The couple left Constellation in 2008 and began looking for a project where they could see their commitment to sustainable and terroir-driven wines realized.
They would fulfill that goal over the next several years, first by finding a 200-acre piece of land in Marlborough’s Awatere Valley, and then launching Loveblock in 2013, with a priority on organic and sustainable vineyard management and wine production.
The name was inspired by the labor of love that’s required to maintain a block of vines.
“If we were into it for the money, we certainly wouldn’t be doing this,” Erica told the Somm Journal. “The growing terrain is incredibly challenging. We planted grapes where nobody has planted grapes before. It’s windy, with difficult soil. We initially managed [the winemaking] just like we did [using fruit from] the valley floor, because we didn’t know [better].”
Erica Crawford brings heart, soul and viticultural expertise to Loveblock and Kim Crawford brings years of winemaking expertise, guided by the principals of organic and low impact farming. Together they’ve created Loveblock.Loveblock Winery
So what are a couple of the key things to know about Loveblock wines? Here’s a short list:
As a leader in sustainability, Loveblock treads lightly and all wines are made per organic and sustainability standards, certified or not.Limited yeast and fining materials are available to use, meaning mistake-free winemaking is required.Loveblock limits the use of sulphur and additives.All Loveblock wines are vegan-friendly.Loveblock wines are 100% estate-grown and bottled in a lightweight bottle.
“Organics and sustainability are at the heart of our wine and brand, and in our view, organic and ethical winegrowing is the way of the future,” Erica Crawford said. “With organic wine, it’s what you DON’T put in that matters: no chemical pesticides or herbicides, less winery inputs, and a lot of blood, sweat and love.”
She told The Somm Journal that she adds that she believes the market is more accepting of organics today than it was five years ago. “It’s been a long road, but finally I can see the demand for organics,” she said. “It’s about what’s in the bottle, how a company conducts itself, and how it treats its people.”
Loveblock Tee is Certified Organic, single
vineyard, vegan-friendly, and has no sulphur added.Loveblock Winery
The Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc sources grapes from the Loveblock Farms Hillside block, sitting at 500 feet elevation, in Marlborough’s Awatere Valley. It’s the lone sparkling on a list of wines that include Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc.
Fine Wine & Good Spirits will be the first retailer in the United States to carry it.
Loveblock also makes what it calls Sauvignon Blanc Tee, which is Certified Organic, single vineyard, vegan-friendly, and has no sulphur added.
Instead of sulphur, the traditional preservative used in winemaking, green tea tannin extract is used as a natural antioxidant to preserve the wine. Green tea (Camellia sinensis) is known for its antioxidant properties and provides appropriate protection in winemaking against oxidation and spoilage.
Tee translates to “tea” in Afrikaans, a nod to Erica’s South African heritage (and her second language) and the green tea tannin extract.
“Sulfites have been used for so long, and it’s very effective in preserving wine, but it’s also quite a blunt instrument,” she said in a training video. “By using a lighter touch to protect the wine, and using a natural source, it actually really allows the wine to show its true colors.”
What’s also unique are the Loveblock labels, which feature the wild dandelion, the only flower to represent the three celestial bodies of the sun, moon and the stars. The bright yellow flower and the cloud-like head are brought together at the root to illustrate how deeply rooted Loveblock is to nature and sustaining the land for future generations. Together, the sun and moon symbolize unity and cooperation amid diversity, a key phenomenon in biodynamics and one that is only seen in nature’s ecosystem.
Fine Wine & Good Spirits will be the first in the U.S. to carry the 2022 Loveblock Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc.Loveblock Winery
As for Crawford’s orbit, she’s not only busy as an organic farmer and recognized as an expert in sustainability, in addition to having developed her expertise as a marketer, but she shares that experience and those skills by mentoring young women.
“Through my lifetime, which is a long one, when I was young, there were certain expectations that were just put on women,” she told interviewer Laurie Forster on a podcast called ”The Sipping Point“ in November 2024. Crawford was inducted into the Business Hall of Fame for Women Entrepreneurs in 2016 and is a member of the Global Women NZ Advisory Board.
“And we worked pretty hard to change some things, but still, sometimes it’s the assumed characteristic and the assumed duties that are placed on women. And sometimes it’s just a look or an exclusion, and it’s most often unconscious vibes. I don’t care [what it is], I call it out.”
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Dining and Cooking