Multi row versus Single row netting...

Only one winner here. In our Georges Road vineyard in Waipara we have been busy these last two days putting the bird netting on our Riesling and Pinot Gris.

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The Riesling has multi row netting while the Pinot Gris has single row. Both blocks are the same size - approx 60 rows 2.5m apart and 160m long. The Riesling was netted and pegged down in 4 hours (one tractor and 6 people) whilst the Pinot Gris took most of one day to net (tractor and 3 people) and longer to clip up. And the beauty of the multi row nets is that you can still work on the fruit underneath the net. A no-brainer. If anyone wants to buy the singles then please contact me.

Hello Everybody and Welcome.....

With 80000+ people watching his WineLibraryTV internet show daily, you would be hard pressed to find someone in the wine world who hasnt heard of Gary Vaynerchuk. Love him or hate him (and clearly there are people in both camps) Vaynerchuk has come along way in a short time thanks to his over-the-top entertaining style and enthusiastic embracement of the Internet and its various social media applications like Twitter, Facebook, Cork'd etc. He clearly knows his wine but also is very strong on branding, of both himself and his business. On his Internet show he is a loud, fast, in-your-face talker with a lot to say on everything. Its entertaining stuff.

News today that he is coming to New Zealand as a keynote speaker at the upcoming NZ Wine Exporters Forum to be held in Christchurch in July. Gary Vaynerchuk is a born keynote speaker. I expect the event will be a great success.

"Could be one out of the box"

Thats the early prediction from Marlborough growers this year. With all the negativity surrounding 2008s large volume/average quality vintage the region has gone to great lengths to ensure that this year is a return to form for the region. The NZ Wine Industry has rightly realised that, at 50% of the national crop and such a key component of our wine exports, we cannot afford to have the quality or image of our Sauvignon Blanc tarnished in any way.

The following press release was issued a week or two ago which provides a look at the season to date and highlights the effort and strategies that have been adopted this year.

Wineries and Growers Work Towards Highest Quality Vintage
Ever
Cool conditions during late December in Marlborough have created variable flowering of the region’s flagship variety Sauvignon Blanc. The later ripening areas of the province were most affected when cool southerlies hit just prior to Christmas, resulting in lower than expected fruit set for some. The earlier ripening areas of Marlborough had the opposite scenario, with excellent fruit set, according to Dr Rengasamy Balasubramaniam, (Bala) from Delegat’s Wine Estate.

With quality being the mantra of the 2009 vintage, companies have been working with growers to ensure controlled yields. Some growers have chosen to drop canes to limit the vine’s fruit, while others have been shoot thinning. Wine Marlborough Board Chair, Blair Gibbs says the industry has responded well to the call to limit yields, following a much larger than expected 2008 vintage. “Everyone is working towards making the 2009 vintage one of the best ever, in terms of quality.”

Workshops on yield forecasting have been held by all the major companies, according to Pernod Ricard’s Commercial Manager of South Island Vineyards, Peter McLeod. “We have had a very good response to our requests to control copping levels and from our perspective the vines and fruit are looking very good.”

That sentiment has been echoed by Mr Gibbs, who says the crops and vines are in
balance, as the region heads into the hottest months of the year. “People have only just started irrigating, which is late for Marlborough. It means there won’t be any pressure on resources later on in the growing season.” He says with all the work undertaken on canopies, it’s likely ripening will be earlier than normal. “Things are looking good out in the vineyards and barring some bad weather scenario, we are looking at a high quality vintage.”

Spare a thought for Australia...

From todays paper, a photo of fire damaged vineyards in Australia Yarra valley, just outside Melbourne. The bushfires, Australias worst in history, have tragically killed more than 100 people so far. Smoke from the fires has spread so far that even the air/sunlight quality in NZ has been affected. The state of Victoria has been gripped by a drought and heatwave for weeks and temperatures in Melbourne had been forecast to hit 47C yesterday.

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Ironically, at the same time, the state of Queensland, in the north of the country, is largely under water in the worst series of flooding to hit the area in decades. The Australian airforce has been flying in food and other supplies to cut-off areas.

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The heatwave in the south has all but ruined large numbers of vineyards crops, making 2009 a year to forget. Original predictions of a much needed reduced Australian crop have since taken a more pessimistic turn. You can read more about it in Wine Spectator.

A word from Jancis...

Jancis Robinson, amongst other wine luminaries, is here in NZ for the Pinot Noir Celebration in Central Otago. Heres a short video that appeared on TV3s Campbell Live.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/CampbellLive/tabid/367/articleID/89616/cat/58/Default.aspx#video

Is it an Alsatian or a German Shepherd ?

Well its neither of course. It is without a doubt a New Zealand Gewurztraminer, the 2008 Sandihurst Gewurztraminer in fact . Soon to be bottled. Stylistically is probably sits somewhere between the two. Its a dry wine which combines the very distinct and powerful aromatics of Gewurz together with some serious palate weight brought on from 6 months plus on full lees.

Two parcels of fruit have gone into making this wine. One from Canterbury, picked earlier to retain some acidity (Gewurz has naturally low acid levels as a varietal) and to add a different flavour profile to the blend. And the other parcel from Central Otago picked later to maximise aromatics. Both parcels were crushed into a fermenter and given a 24 hour skin soak to extract more flavour from the skins before being pressed. Following cold settling the clear juice was fermented cool (for aromatic retention) until dryness. The wine then remained on full fermentation lees for 6 months with occasional lees stirring to enrich and broaden the palate weight. I'm starting to filter the wine now in preparation for bottling at the end of Feb.

True to form the Gewurztraminer vine isn't a big cropper and subsequently we only have 1000L this year. So unless you order any of it through the website you will have to visit the cellar door or one of a number of Christchurch restaurants to try it.

Short back and sides...

Time to give the vines a haircut. Vines are a bit like weeds in a way, they are quite hardy and give want to keep on growing. We need to manage the vine so that the vegetative growth is in balance with the fruit development.

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Trimming also opens up the canopy which is beneficial for the fruit on the vine. It allows increased light into the canopy and onto the bunches. Airflow within the canopy is improved and so disease pressure is reduced.

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Timing can be an issue as trimming too early in the season can promote excess lateral growth (ie: more leaf area). Also too much sunlight on bunches can cause sunburn. And trimming must be timed in with netting so as not to cause too much regrowth through the nets.

Off the beaten track...

Ive been trying to write something for the back label of our 2008 Waipara Riesling which we are about to bottle. And let me tell you its not easy to be informative, appealing and entertaining all in the space of 30 words or so.

This Riesling will be a special wine for me. A wine I tried to make as naturally as possible and with the minimum of intervention as possible. Great fruit from probably New Zealands best region for Riesling, whole bunch pressed, settled, natural ferment, which naturally stopped, the wine then on full lees for 6 months followed by a light filtration, a little protective sulphur and into the bottle. No enzyme, no commercial yeast, no cooling, no cold stabilising and no fining. An individual, one-off expression of Riesling.

As a winemaker individual expression should be highly prized. Each small producer has their own point of difference and story behind each wine they sell. Somebody has to make Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc but it isnt me.

The photo above is the cover of 'Real Wine', a book by Patrick Matthews who also wrote the excellent book 'The Wild Bunch'. Both looked into the world of natural and individual wines and the people who make them. His new book 'Burgundy:How to find great wines off the beaten track' looks to be more of the same. Great stuff.

Busmans Holiday...

A few photos from my recent 'holiday' in Central Otago. Its been a good hot dry summer from all reports and, apart from a few early frost issues at the start of the season, the grapes look good. There has been a noticeable increase in new vine plantings too, especially along the Wanaka-Cromwell road areas of Lowburn and Pisa.

Scorchio!

Its been HOT here in Canterbury with barely a drop of rain since Christmas Day. Temperatures in the Garden City (that's Christchurch) hit 41C yesterday. Its unusual but the long range forecast (if you can believe such things) for the remainder of the summer is for drier and warmer conditions than usual.

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The grapes are loving it but they have needed an extra drink of water lately. Without that the leaf stop photosynthesising and basal leaves start to yellow and die. Which in turn would halt berry development. Not wanting to put the commentators curse on things but this season is really starting to look very very good indeed.

Hello Singapore...

New Zealand - Land of the Long White Cloud

In anticipation that this blog is to be screened at a wine tasting in Singapore on Wednesday, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your support of Sandihurst Wines and sincerely hope you enjoy the tasting.
Kirk Bray, Winemaker

A plea for 09...

John Forrest has likened it to standing on the edge of a cliff. Read more about the 2008 Marlborough grape glut and current reaction as we head towards the 09 harvest. Is Marlborough in danger of ruining its reputation, and by implication, the image of all New Zealand wine abroad?

The Marlborough Express has the story here.

Growing season nearly halfway through

Great shot that

Indeed we are almost now in the back half of the growing season. Here in Canterbury the grapes are rapidly growing and are approaching (or in some cases are there already) bunch closure. From here the grapes will rapidly grow, the hard berries will soften as they accumulate sugar and colour. The vines will be trimmed of excess growth, crops will be thinned and bird netting will be applied. More on that as it happens.

The weather since Christmas has been brilliant - hot dry days where the temperature got close to 30C often. We probably havent had a start to summer like this since 1998 (a great vintage year). The only rain to speak of came down on Christmas Day (brief) and Saturday just gone (torrential-30mm in 2 hours) which interupted the one-day cricket match between NZ and the West Indies. The season continues to shape up as potentially great.

For the record the West Indies won the rain shortened 28 over game, scoring the winning runs off of the second-to-last ball of the match.

Merry Christmas

Seasons greetings from everyone here at Sandihurst. We hope you have a great Christmas and enjoy the holiday period. Despite all the winter imagery, here in New Zealand it is summer so its usually hot - our holidays usually feature BBQs and beaches at some stage or other. Especially since nowhere in NZ is further than about 1.5 hours from a beach. Its a great time for friends and family - and of course to enjoy a special glass or two of wine. Sandihurst wine. And if you dont have any then drop by the tasting room, we'll be open right through.

Growing Berries...

Practically no rain for a month and then over the weekend we get 30mm. It warm again now but that little burst should get the vines (and the weeds) moving.

Canopy work continues, thinning, leaf plucking and adjusting the folliage wires. Things are tidy, bunches are exposed to the light and airflow, the weeds are under control and the vineyard dogs are slowly working their way through the local rabbit population. Soon it will be time for a pre-bunch closure botrytis spray to keep the grey mould in check.

In the Vineyard just before Xmas

At this time of year the flowering is now complete and the little grapes are beginning to grow. Presently they are around 3-5mm diameter. As well as finishing our shoot thinning we are also starting remove leaves from around the fruiting zone. This has a number of benefits. It aids berry development and can reduce green flavours. Berry skins thicken which is great for tannin and colour extraction in red varietals. It increases airflow in the canopy which reduces disease pressure. It exposes the berries to UV light early and reduces the risk of sunburn later in the ripening process.

This video just briefly shows the mechanism of leaf removal - essentially the leaves are pulled into a rotary blade by means of a vaccum. Other more technical machines such as the Collard Defoliators work on pulsed air pressure to do the same job.

Everything you need to know about French Wine in a minute

Excerpt from the recent James May/Oz Clarke TV series. Some of it might be true.

Give some wine this Christmas...

Boxing clever

Sandihurst has a great Christmas wine special on at the minute. For only $115NZD and including free delivery anywhere in New Zealand you get;

2 x 2008 Sandihurst Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
2 x 2007 Sandihurst Central Otago Pinot Noir
2 x 2006 Sandihurst Canterbury Riesling

Amazing value and a real saving. This would be a great Xmas gift as these wines are all drinking beautifully now.

You might also consider a great looking wooden box for your wine, as seen in the photo above. The boxes cost $8 for a single, $11 a double and $23 for a 6 bottle box. In addition you will get a further 5% off the retail price of any wine you decide to purchase to go into the box.

Order forms can be found on our website or you can email us directly at info@sandihurstwines.co.nz

In the news today...

Put that down!, slowly.

The most expensive wine for sale in NZ at this moment - here's a shameless just-in-time-for-Christmas piece of journalism about two bottles of Chateau Petrus. Is there anyone in NZ who could do it justice? - can I suggest instead a case of Sandihursts finest every week for a year would be a better bet. Practically the same price.

No such thing as bad publicity of course but this article, in NZs national Sunday newspaper, is about the Waipara Valley wine region. Substance not included.

More worrying for small wineries like ourselves is the next article in toady's NZ Herald regarding the huge volume of Sauvignon Blanc 2008 that is available and the cheap prices it is selling for. With last years crop 40% up on previous years, massive new plantings about to crop and a fabulous fruit-set period just passed, this years crop is likely to again be huge. Great for the consumer perhaps but those in the industry must be seriously worried. With 50% of the nations vineyard under SB we cant afford to ruin our reputation overseas.

How much is out there ??

With fruit set in the vineyard practically over its time to get a feel for how much crop is out there. It was warm and fine throughout the fruit-set period so its likely each vine will be carrying a reasonable sized crop. This initial crop estimation is a general guideline as to whether we need to drop any fruit at this stage.

Usually growers will randomly select a number of vines through the vineyard, count the number of clusters per vine, apply a historical bunch weight average, add a dose of gut instinct and then arrive at an approximate yield.

We expect each vine to carry not more than 2kg of fruit through to harvest. At our average row spacings of 2 x 1.5 this should equate to around 5 tonnes/hectare - a figure in line with most quality conscious vineyards and will also give a juice yield equal to legal limits in France for Grand Cru vineyards.

On a vine spacing of 1.5m each vine will have approximately 10-15 shoots each supporting 2 bunches of fruit. Depending on the varietal we can expect the average weight of each bunch to be around 100g. Growers will keep annual bunch weight data to help predict yield more accurately. And so we arrive, after thinning and other canopy management techniques, at something around 2kg/vine.

What we don't want is a repeat of 2008 when everyone everywhere seemed to be caught out by larger than average berry sizes which resulted in huge crops and overflows in wineries all over the place. Not good for the wine quality and ultimately the image of NZ wine abroad.

The issue that wont go away...

A good article written by Jamie Goode over on WineAnorak prompted by the BBCs new TV programme called Cork,Forest in a bottle. The basic premise of the article is that cork is a wonderful natural product with a current problem (TCA). This resulted in the inevitible rise in popularity of alternative closures which , in turn, has forced the cork industry to make huge inroads into solving this issue. Corks are fighting back !

The fact of the matter is that if screwcaps did exactly the same job as cork then of course we would all be using them. They dont and cannot. The interesting point surrounding corks is their ability to aid in the bottle development of wine via the interaction with air. Not air from the outside but from the compressed cells within the cork itself. There is some semi-technical but really interesting reading on the subject over on AppelationAmerica here and here dispelling the myth that corks 'breathe'.

A word from the floor...

Just a word on what is going on in the cellar at this time of year.

08 Pinot Noir - 140 barrels, most of which have been there for around 6 months were recently tested for levels of Malic acid to see how complete the MLF was. All barrels came back with a level of below 0.01g/l

The 08 reds are exhibiting slightly higher pH levels than in the past as growers tried to give the grapes extra hang time in order to achieve full ripeness. Bacteria work better the higher the pH levels are so the current dose now is needed to keep them at bay. This should see the barrel maturation period out nicely before I need to rack/blend and bottle in April next year. Its the first sulphur the wine has had since the grapes arrived.

08 White Wines - Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer - Our whites spend a little longer than most on lees and consequently we bottle later too. While there are a lot of 08 whites on the shelves already ours wont come out for another 4 months or so. All the whites have been sitting on lees up until now - gaining a little texture and complexity. From today I will be giving each wine its first coarse filtration as I begin to assemble the blends. Coarse filtration by plate/frame filter as we use here, essentially brightens up the wine from its cloudy state, takes out the larger particles and gives us a clearer idea of where each wine stands.

At this stage the Gris and Gewurz are going to be dry wines whereas we will have two Rieslings - one Canterbury and one Waipara - with between 15-25g/L sugar. This is a great fresh style balanced with higher acidity and low levels of alcohol, around 10-11%. Its a winner.

Another reason to love corks...

At Sandihurst all our wines are bottled under cork. We believe it is the best closure for the developement of the wine in the bottle. Now Decanter magazine reports on another reason to love the mighty cork.

A year-long life cycle analysis of the environmental impact of cork, plastic and aluminium screwcap stoppers has found what is already widely accepted: that cork is the most environmentally-friendly stopper. The was study undertaken by analysts Pricewaterhouse Coopers and was commissioned by Amorim, the world's largest cork manufacturer.

The report found plastic stoppers, including the plastic capsule that goes over the top of the bottle, are nine times more damaging to the environment - and aluminium screwcaps are twenty-two times - than cork stoppers, including corks with a plastic capsule.

The first independent survey comparing all three main types of wine bottle stopper, the study was conducted in accordance with ISO (International Standards Organisation) protocols which require peer review, and involved representatives from manufacturers of the other types of closures as well as a life cycle analysis expert.

It calculated various environmental impacts: non-renewable energy consumption, water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, atmospheric acidification, formation of photochemical oxidants which cause ozone layer depletion, the production of solid waste, and the eutrophication (loss of animal life) of surface water. Of the seven environmental impacts studied, cork performed best on six of them.

The anti-cork brigade will no doubt be up on their soapboxes already, yes we know the report was funded by a cork manufacturer. But this result is clearly not in question. Most of these people are forever on about cork taint as opposed to wine developement, i think a more important issue. One day cork manufacturers will beat the taint issue and where we we be then ?

Sandihurst - Google Street View

Here we are , as seen from the new Google Street View application launched this week. Not that exciting really.

Where in the world is......Brennan Vineyards

Driving out of Queenstown towards Cromwell/Wanaka. The first Valley you come to is the Gibbston Valley, home of Bungy Jumping and a number of well known wineries - Peregrine, Chard Farm and Gibbston Valley to name a few. Just past Peregrine but not as far as Waitiri Creek, on the opposite side of the main highway, you will find the Brennan and OVO Vineyards. This is where we source our Central Otago Pinot Noir. Check out Google Earth for a broader view of the region.