THIS BLOG IS MOVING TO A NEW HOME

The Sandihurst Wine Blog is moving house to

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www.sandihurstwines.co.nz

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please adjust your settings and i'll see you over there

Jancis Robinson...Riesling...

A quick reminder, if you needed any, about the magic of Riesling. The introduction to Jancis Robinsons Wine Course episode on Riesling. JR refers (rightly) to Riesling as making 'the greatest white wines in the world' and labels Chardonnay as 'boring'. She talks to a youthful looking Ernst Loosen and also points the finger at the Germans for creating the image problem Riesling is currently facing.

A quick tour of Central Otago vineyards...

Pinot Noir in the Brennan vineyard, Gibbston Valley, flowering just underway, a slightly cooler start to the season than normal but remarkably no frosts in November.

The iconic Cardrona pub on the Crown Range road from Queenstown to Wanaka

Looking back across to the Pisa vineyards from the Bendigo side of the lake. Theres a real diversity in soil types here and regional climatic differences can put harvest dates 2-3-4 weeks apart.

Clone 115 Pinot Noir spur pruned in Bendigo. 3 spurs each side, great open canopy

Prophets Rock Pisa vineyard - Pinot Noir

Flowering well advanced in the Pisa sub-region, probably more than any other region. This vineyard was practically complete whereas in Gibbston flowering was only just underway.

Dog Trials - a real Kiwi iconic pastime. Possibly not as popular as it used to be (even had its own TV show)

Yes! Fresh snow in December. At 45 Latitude, this is very cool climate. The combination of a short but intense season and the very marginal nature of viticulture is great for Pinot Noir.

First signs of flowering in Gibbston. This bunch has a little shoulder bunch to the right of the photo which will be cut off later in the season.

Pinot Noir - Jancis Robinson...

Jancis Robinsons Wine Course TV programme - Episode 7 Pinot Noir. Just an 8 minute taster. Brilliant stuff. Great quote that 4 out of 5 Burgundies JR tastes are 'disappointing' but that people are prepared to put up with that for the brilliance of the 5th. Thats worse than cork taint!

Back labels, can you trust them?

"...Located on Auckland idyllic Manukau Harbour, the Ihumatao vineyard sits in a sheltered 20,000 year old volcanic crater...". So reads the back label of Villa Maria's Ihumatao Vineyard Auckland Gewurztraminer 2008.

Obviously that was preferable to writing 'from the vineyard in front of our massive winery, situated on the edge of an industrial estate only minutes from the countries busiest airport'.

Somewhere in between lies the truth. Regardless, the wine is very good. New Zealand should be producing superb Gewurztraminer given our climate and lack of winemaking limitations but to date I would suggest there are as many misses as hits, something we need to address.

Google Goggles...a brilliant tool...

You point your camera or phone at the product and Google figures out what it is and provides you with the background information. It uses OCR, optical character recognition to identify key words and labels. Just launched, this product is probably only the start of things to come but would be such a brilliant tool inside a wine shop. Check out more about it at the TechCrunch site here, complete with a video or two.

Bottling Day c'est arrive...

Dont let this happen to you...

Recently, hard though as it is to believe I know, certain people were discovered not to have even sampled the wines of Sandihurst. They had to be taught a lesson. Don't let this happen to you...we do have a cellar door, open 7 days a week, we ship wine freight free around the country and soon a new feature - online shopping on our website. It couldn't be easier.

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SO CONVENIENT, SO SIMPLE, SO BUY SOME........................You have been warned...

Noble gesture...

In a new agreement with the EU, the New Zealand Food Standards Authority have announced a relaxation of the rules that previously did not allow NZ wines with a potential alcohol level of 15% or greater to be imported to the EU and UK markets. This effectively ruled out all NZ sweet wine styles. However, commonsense has prevailed and now you people in the North can prepare yourselves for some real vinous treats. The cool climate regions of NZ are capable of superb 'stickies' with fantastic aromatics and great natural acidity. Read more on the Decanter website here.

Wine in the movies...Jules et Jim...

A (wine) scene from Francois Truffauts 1962 classic film Jules et Jim. Starting to look a little dated although Jeanne Moreaus classic French attitude to Frances place in the world isnt!

Behave!

From a first glance this poster appears to be telling us to go overboard at home...

Gluhwein time...

Its not all about Riesling you know, the German Christmas markets are second to none...

Ein attraktives Programm mit tollen Aktionen bietet der Frankenthaler Weihnachtszauber. Besucher, Gäste und Kunden kommen dabei voll auf ihre Kosten. Eine Premiere erlebt die mobile Eisbahn im historischen Ambiente der Erkenbertruine. Zugleich geht damit auch ein lang gehegter Wunsch der Stadt Frankenthal endlich in Erfüllung. Auf einer 300 qm großen Eislauf-Arena können Schlittschuhläufer mitten in der Stadt ihre Runden drehen. So ist unter anderem eine große Silvesterparty mit Livemusik und Schneekanone geplant. In unmittelbarer Nähe zur Eislaufbahn lockt der traditionelle Weihnachtsmarkt auf dem Rathausplatz mit wärmendem Glühwein und duftendem Lebkuchen.Der Weihnachtsmarkt kann täglich von 11:00 bis 21:00 Uhr besucht werden. Ein stimmungsvolles Bühnenprogramm mit weihnachtlicher Musik, Tanzdarbietungen und Kinderunterhaltung ergänzt die kunsthandwerklichen und kulinarischen Angebote der zahlreichen Buden und Stände des Weihnachtsmarktes.

This weekend in Hong Kong...

So now you have options this weekend. You could go to Lamma (see blog post below) or you could go to the Winenow Wine fair. Click on the image to enlarge for details.

Weekend on Lamma...

The end of a busy week in Hong Kong and no doubt there will be countless people taking the ferry over to Lamma for a spot of lunch at one of the many waterfront restaurants. If that sounds like you then could I direct you to two restuarants in particular - The Genuine Lamma Hilton and the Shum Kee Seafood Restaurant. Not only do they both serve excellent seafood they also serve excellent wine, Sandihurst wine! I cant think of a better wine to accompany some of that food than our 2008 Sandihurst Sauvignon Blanc. I could have done with it back in 1998 when I ate at the Shum Kee, a plate of garlic sea snails, hmmm...

Remember the name and give it a try this weekend.

Late November in the vineyard...

Heres a photo of the Pinot Gris from our home vineyard here in West Melton. The canopy is developing well with the first fruiting wire now in place. Most shoots have two bunches on them and each bunch looks to be average-to-above average in size at this stage. The bunch above clearly shows each flower and is probably about 2 weeks before bud burst. There are between 150-200 potential grapes in this bunch.

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But not all flowers will set, more like around half in a normal year which, on historical average berry weights of around 1.5g will give us a bunch weighing somewhere between 100-150g max. From here we can begin to estimate the current crop in the vineyard. Weather conditions at flowering will play a major part in determining how many of these will 'set' and become grapes. And from there, the weather for the remainder of the season, disease pressure, bird damage and canopy management all play a role in determining the final amount of fruit that is actually harvested.

The worlds premier cool climate wine region is about to get cooler!

As reported in various news media around the globe, a group of around 100 icebergs, having broken away from Antarctica, is slowly drifting towards New Zealands South island, only the second time since 1931 they will have been visible from the NZ coast. Heres some TV3 news footage from the 2006 incident.

Where to get Sandihurst in Auckland...

The Wine Vault, in Grey Lynn, is now stocking the Pinot Noirs of Sandihurst. These are wines of superb quality and great value, wines that would easily outperform many other NZ Pinots twice the price. Brilliant vineyards from two superb years, traditonally made with no compromise on quality.

2006 Canterbury Pinot Noir - Top100 Gold, Decanter highly recommended, Cuisine 5 star

2007 Central Otago Pinot Noir - International Wine Challenge London - Gold

2007 Waipara Pinot Noir - 2nd place (outof 244)/5 star in recent Cuisine NZ Pinot Noir tasting

So dont take my word for it, get in there and try them for yourself.

The Wine Vault - 453 Richmond Road, Grey Lynn

Where to find Sandihurst in Hong Kong...

So you live in Hong Kong? And you are looking for a bottle or two of that fantastic SANDIHURST wine. Where do you go? Here are our current local retailers...

DAH LEE HONG
399 Lockhart Road, Wanchai - Phone 28342959

FINEST LIQUOR DISTRIBUTOR
G/F 81 Austin Road, Kowloon - Phone 27306638

KIMBERLEY WINES & CIGARS SHOP
G/F Shop 501B, Kimberley Hotel, 28 Kimberley Road, Kowloon - Phone 27215211

SOGO
East Point Centre, 555 Henessey Road, Causeway Bay - Phone 28338338

TAK WAH HONG (Tsuen Wan)
Room6, G/F, Wan Shing Lau, Heung Wo Street, Tseun Wan, NT - Phone 24906512

TAK WAH HONG (Sham Tseng)
Shop R, G/F, Chan Kee Plaza, 42 Castle Peak Road, Sham Tseng, NT - Phone 29406398

Sandihurst Sauvignon Blanc in the UK...

Its always nice to read a review of your own wine that reaffirms exactly what you have tried to achieve when making the particular wine. Neil Phillips is a leading wine expert in the UK with over 20 years experience in sales and marketing roles with companies such as Pernod-Ricard and Gallo. In his newly established blog 'The Wine Tipster' he reviews our Sandihurst Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008. You can also find him here on Twitter.

Sandihurst thought provoking Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc

Celia and Hennie Bosman, who own the Sandihurst Winery, are making excellent wines across the board and their Sandihurst Sauvignon Blanc 2008 Marlborough New Zealand, GBP11.99, delivers some of that typical gooseberry character but not in the overpowering extrovert at the party style. Here you also find cut grass, exotic fruit flavours and a lovely dry finish with crisp acidity. This is a quality Sauvignon Blanc for those of you who want to sit back and appreciate. Sancerre fans you will like this too.

Wine and cricket...

I heard this morning that a recent MCC poll conducted in NZ, South Africa and India found that less than 10% of people prefer Test Cricket. More than half of all Indians polled prefer the 20-20 format of the game. In a world where money and time are key, Test cricket is (sadly) on the way out.

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Also in my mind recently was the news that the massive Marlborough winery Yealands Estate is to launch a Sauvignon Blanc in a plastic bottle. This could be the first of a majority shift by the winery to plastic. The bottles weigh only a tenth of a normal bottle so the freight savings alone must be impressive. They are also naturally cheaper and easier to recycle. And apparently if drunk within 18 months there are no issues surrounding either taint or premature ageing to consider. Is this the way of the future?

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Naturally I can hear the purists turning over in their graves. What is the world coming too? It seems just as Test cricket is dying a slow death so it seems the wine world is changing.
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There will always be a market for a premium product, in wine as in everything else. As a producer it depends on which pool you want to swim in. The concept of Terroir, aged Riesling and decanting are important only those at that premium end of the scale. Most wine as we are told is consumed within a few hours, if not minutes, of purchase. The mainstream wine market, todays youth and future consumers, are increasingly open, expectant even, to innovation where marketing and branding are arguably more important than the product itself.

Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave..............

How could I have left out the crucial penalty save, as important as the goal itself. The crowd loved it....

Goooooooooooooooaaaaaal.....................

This wont be news to anyone living in New Zealand by now but for you overseas readers, the New Zealand 'All Whites' have qualified for the Football World Cup, next year in South Africa, for only the second time ever. Its great news for football in NZ. The largest crowd for a match ever in New Zealand, largely dressed in white, created an amazing atmosphere. Heres the goal that took us there...

Up in Smoke...

Waipara's The Crater Rim winery burnt down over the weekend and with it went most of their 2009 vintage and almost all equipment. An electrical fault is thought be at blame. A real tragedy. Not only wont they have the wine for sale but they have a real race on their hands to be up an running for the 2010 harvest. Read a little more here in the Christchurch Press.

Taste Sandihurst in London...

A heads up for all you British readers. Finish that cup of tea and head down to the BBC Good Food Show London at the Olympia where you will be able to taste the wines of Sandihurst. Get yourself along to the Consolidated Wines Stand WH2 where our agents K and L Wines and Spirits will be showing our wines.

The show runs from Friday to Sunday. Nearest tube and train is Kensington Olympia. Or take a bus, plenty of choices, the 9, 10, 27, 28, 49 or 391.

See you there !

The Dirt on Waipara...

Heres a look at the soil structure from the area in Waipara where we have our Riesling and Pinot Gris vineyard. These soils are called Canterbury Gravels and are the predominant soil type along the western part of the Waipara Valley. Deposited during the Pleistocene period and more recently during the last major glacial advance. Quite a while ago in other words. Looking at the photo above you can understand why most vineyards in the area are very free draining - lots of stones and gravel with minor water holding capacity. The majority of the upper soils are Loess with plenty of deposited river gravel, silt and sand. Underlying this are layers of greywacke and argillite. Geological observation of the Waipara Valley began in 1855 although the major fieldwork from which most information is now derived was carried out between 1951-1954.

Waipara, seasonal update...

Heres the scene, about 2 months on from budburst. Cool October but no frost issues, everything growing well, bud burst very even, 2 bunches per shoot on most canes, 3 sulphur sprays to date so no issues with Powdery Mildew, undervine weeds starting to reemerge so will need to zap those soon. Otherwise fine...

Aotearoa...

New music release from Kiwi band Minuit. Great new Kiwi image-filled video for their new single 'Aotearoa'. In case you didnt know, Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand!

Spring Celebration at Sandihurst...

A warm Sunday afternoon...lounging on the lawn at the Winery, glass of wine in hand, listening to a little live Jazz....sounds ideal. And it was, last Sunday when a couple of hundred people came out to the Winery for our second annual Spring Celebration event. A relaxed day where people could sample the wines of Sandihurst. Local restaurant Langdale provided the food, local artists exhibited their works and there were specially priced 6-bottle cases available in support of The Westpac Rescue Helicopter Trust. The weather was superb and a great day was had by all.

How low can you go?...

I was very surprised to read a blog post over on http://wineeconomist.com/ about a cheap store called Grocery Outlet. Their mission, it seems, is to source and provide known brands at well below normal retail price. Which is fine of course. And they sell wine too, great. But the later half of the post is devoted to three New Zealand wines, all of them outrageously cheap.

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Understandable is the Babich wine, a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, which is no doubt a large volume lower tiered label that looks to deal with the large 2008 vintage surplus. Whats shocking are the other two wines, an Isabel Sauvignon Blanc 2008 for USD$5.99 and a Te Awa Merlot 2004 for USD$3.99. As a small producer we know what is costs to produce a bottle of wine and and that's no where near it. Question is, who is taking the hit - the winery or the someone along the US distribution chain?

Unlocking the Wine Vault..

He doesnt wear a hat or sport a moustache but thats just an extra feather in the cap of the excellent Jayson Bryant from The Wine Vault. Not only does he run his wine store in Grey Lynn, Auckland, but Jayson has been at the forefront of wine promotion in New Zealand through the Internet with his blog and WineVaultTV program and social media sites like Twitter (he is @thewinevault).

You can also catch him on the Radio Wammo show on Kiwi FM. In the clip above he talks a little about Sandihurst and reviews our Central Otago Pinot Noir 2007. We also love Jayson who reviewed our 2006 Canterbury Pinot Noir on his blog as 'the best pinot in the country'. And he also reviews both our 2007 Waipara and Central Otago Pinot Noirs on his excellent WineVaultTV program. Marvellous!

Whats he like?

And what was he thinking ? Celebrity sommelier and all round pukka bloke, Matt Skinner has just released his new book 'The Juice 2010'. Subtitled 'the coolest guide to the hottest wines' with the ringing endorsement on the front cover by mate Jamie Oliver claiming 'I have learned more about wine from Matt than anyone else'.

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All good and well until it emerges that some of the New Zealand wines he has reviewed were not even in the bottle at the time the book was released. So he has not in fact even tasted them!

Chilly Reception...

Heres what can happen when Jack Frost pays your vineyard a visit. Things got a little chilly on a couple of nights last week. At a certain point the growing shoot goes into internal cellular meltdown and a few hours later the result is the drooping brown shoot you see above. Its all over for the season for this shoot but secondary and even tertiary buds from the same node may then grow. Of course you have lost that early advantage and the resulting shoots/fruit probably wont end up quite as ripe. .

The Word on the Street...

Kirk and Hennie discuss Sandihurst Winery, with added dance moves. Part 1 in the "The Word on the Street' series.

Suave and Virile...

It all started with this...

The new issue of Cuisine Magazine is out today and features a comprehensive New Zealand Pinot Noir tasting. 244 wines to be exact and the 2007 Sandihurst Waipara Pinot Noir was rated 5 stars and came in at Number 2 on the list ! Brilliant news for us. The judges described the wine as suave and virile expression with great flavour complexity.

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This is on the back of our 2007 Central Otago Pinot Noir winning Gold at the London International Wine Challenge earlier in the year and a previous Liquorland Top100 Gold for our 2006 Canterbury Pinot Noir.

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Less brilliant from this tasting was the fact that only one Waipara wine made the top 10 (ours) and nearly half the wines tasted failed to acheive a 3 star rating - this from NZ's signature red. But more on that at a later date. Right now we are still lapping up our success.

A great Australian whine...

For years New Zealand supermarkets were flooded with cheap Australian Chardonnay. Now it seems the same thing is happening across the Tasman with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and the Australian winemaking industry doesnt like it one bit.

And who can blame them. Dumping of NZ Sauvignon into Australia following the massive and sub-standard 2008 vintage has seen prices go as low as $5 a bottle. Australian labels just cant compete. Bad news for them and possibly bad news for us too as consumers get used to the bargains making it harder to regain that loss ground.

Read the full article from the Adelaide Age newspaper here.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/epicure/aussies-drawing-a-blanc/2009/10/19/1255891769394.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

Zum Wohl ! End of the harvest in the Pfalz...

The harvest team from Weingut Lingenfelder, my old winery, celebrate the end of the harvest a few days ago. They have just picked the last of the Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) from the Hang vineyard which is the one just to the left in the photo above. The village of Grosskarlbach, where the winery is located, is behind and I can see my old apartment from here. Here in the Pfalz, as in a lot of places in Europe, the vineyards occupy the best parcels of land with the villages wedged in the colder, low lying spots between.

It just isnt fair...

News to hand that sales of Rose account for 11% of all wine bought in supermarkets and off-licenses across the UK. That's up 15% from the previous year. Rose is clearly on a roll. As is wine in general as Britons consume a record amount of wine this year, in excess of 100 million cases.

Nothing against Rose which is a truly great wine style, largely unappreciated here in NZ. But where is Riesling in all this ? Not where it deserves to be is the likely answer. In NZ it commands a about 3% share of supermarket sales and doesn't seem forecast to grow. In a country whose climate is tailor made for Riesling even the national body, NZ Winegrowers, isn't forecasting any significant growth in plantings in the next 5-10 years. 3% is about the proportion of the national vineyard. Seems too low but how can we get the public to start drinking more of it? Yet another article on the coming Riesling Renaissance wont do, we need a new approach. Any ideas? I don't have any yet.

Perhaps we need to make and market more Rose !

Rose Photo: Wine Terroirs

Tannins, read on if you dare...

One of the great things about winemaking is there is no set recipe. All the theory in the world can only get you so far. You have have a feeling for what you are doing and the outcomes that can result. Experience counts for a lot and you learn new things with each vintage you do.

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Tannin in grapes and wine is one of the cornerstones of great red wine. Its a hard topic to delve in-depth in but worth a try in order to put a little foundation behind what you are tasting next time.

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Heres a interesting article from Wines and Vines about tannins and their behaviour in wine. Warning- moderate winegeek content. Read it here.

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Also worth checking out is Jamie Goodes article on Tannins on his Wine Anorak website. Read it here. The writing is very accessible but the Geekrating is moderate to high.

But whats in it for us...

Its all a bit odd really. Is Christchurch really a wine capital? Well when I say 'Wine Capital' apparently I should be referring to Christchurch City's bid on behalf of the South Island and its four main wine growing regions - Central Otago, Canterbury, Waipara and Marlborough, two of which are at least a four hour drive away from Christchurch. So its looking less like a wine capital already.

As for the 'vote' - Christchurch was apparently in the running along with only one other city, Hastings which is probably more of a town than a city. So in the 'competition' for a wine capital there didnt really seem to be one.

To cap matters off the four regions will have to pay a 'joining fee' of $35000. We have yet to be told of the benefits of such a prestigious award. The Wine Capital website is a little vague but the various City councils have described the 'win' a 'coup' and 'recognition on the world stage'.

Time will tell. Its some global publicity if nothing else but the local wineries would no doubt like to see some direct benefit. Increased tourism perhaps? Maybe someone from Bordeaux or Bilbao could let us know.

Welcome to the Wine Capital of New Zealand...

What does Christchurch, New Zealand have in common with Bilbao, Cape Town, Bordeaux, Mainz, Florence, Porto, Mendoza and San Francisco ? Not only are they all attractive and vibrant, and of course not to mention the great wineries that surround them, they also have been voted wine capitals of their respective countries. Christchurch has just been voted on most recently. Theres even a website...

Tis the season...

Helicopters were out in force across Marlborough and Central Otago this morning as temperatures dipped into the danger zone. Most vineyards in the South Island will have at least some tender new growth that must be protected. And with frosts being not uncommon as late as early November there are bound to be a few sleepless nights ahead.

The Tree of Life...

The Sandihurst Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008. As we move into the warmer months this wine really comes into its own. Showing some superb development after a year in bottle and demanding food as the perfect compliment. Its Marlborough alright but in a restrained mature style. With the 2009s now also in release this the better looking and brainier older brother. Its lunch on the terrace at your place on a hot summers day. With a crisp fresh green salad and some Portuguese styled grilled sardines straight from the barbecue.

Growing Gruner...

Our Gruner Veltliner, in its second year here in Canterbury. Cut back to two buds during the winter and shown here, in late September, with signs of bud burst. Seems to be somewhere in between our Pinot Gris and Riesling in terms of timing. Stay tuned as I try and record this vines growth over the course of the season. One of these buds should provide the shoot that we crop from in the following season. But first things first, the next month will provide some thrills as we do battle with Jack Frost.

The Second (label) Coming soon...