Growth Industry

We can see the fruit ! Uniform growth and practically 2 bunches on every shoot. Next job in the vineyard will be to think about shoot thinning where things look a little crowded. Thinning helps limit the crop and open up the canopy to light and wind flow which helps ripening and to reduce disease pressure.

In a few weeks we will begin to see flowering and fruit-set take place. NZ's national weather bureau have just issued a prediction of a warmer and drier than average summer. Which would be great news but can they be trusted ?

Grape Expectations...

Its that time of year when we as a winery are out visiting our growers, taking a look at the vineyards to see how the current season has begun, and also reviewing the previous season - how the grapes were, things that could be improved from both sides and a look at the pricing structure.

With regards to pricing generally, it is amazing how random it all seems to be. Most people seem to plump for a figure somewhere near last years prices with a small increase factored in, with perhaps a premium added in cases where vineyards are perceived to have a high quality terroir or for grape varietals that are in high current demand. There seems to be very little knowledge of how those prices were first arrived at and little or no discussion about how they relate to the operating costs of a vineyard.

Most growers are paid by the tonne. Some also have an incremental scale based on ripeness or other such quality parameters. Another system not used often in NZ but which seems to approximate the current grape prices well is the 100 x bottle price formula. A few growers are involved in profit-sharing schemes with the wineries. Some wineries opt to lease the vineyard outright.

No doubt the Economists would tell us its all simple demand and supply - Pinot Noir often sells for twice the price of Riesling so growers shouldnt expect the same prices for their fruit despite the fact that all the good ones will spend exactly the same amount of time in the vineyard on both varietals.

Life isnt fair sometimes (if you grow/love Riesling!)

Waipara - late October

Back to work. Here's a photograph looking across the Waipara Valley. Waipara is New Zealands fastest growing premium wine region and is home to some of the country's best Pinot Noirs and Rieslings. It offers a wide array of terroirs with soil types ranging from the clay and limestone hills to the loess/gravel valley floor. Although only 50 kilometres north of Christchurch it is generally 2C warmer, largely due to the protective influence of the hills in the photograph above which shelter the valley from the cool Easterly wind coming off the Pacific ocean directly on the other side. There are around 80 vineyards and a dozen wineries in the region and the number grows every year. Large scale recent investment from the big wine companies in New Zealand is a real vote of confidence and has raised the profile greatly both here and abroad. The infrastructure in the local town of Amberley is steadily growing but it still remains a quintessential NZ farming town.

At Sandihurst we grow our fruit at 3 vineyards in Waipara. Williams Hill, Bellbird Spring and Georges Road. Pinot Noir, Riesling and Pinot Gris are the varietals. And while we don't want to put the Commentators Curse on it, with the frost and flowering periods not yet over - the 2008-09 season has started so well people are beginning to say they cant remember a start like it. Long may it continue.

Labour Day...anything but

A public holiday in New Zealand today, its Labour Day and so its all about NOT working. We headed for the beach. Roll on Summer...

In the Vineyard again...

Following on from bud burst around the end of September/start of October depending on where your vineyard is, the vine has dodged a couple of frost scares and the new shoots now seem to be happily growing bigger each day. Looking across the vineyard there is a picturesque sea of green. At this stage of the season each shoot has between 3-5 leaves unfolded and you can now see the inflorescence's on each shoot (mostly 2 per shoot). All going to plan, these inflorescence's will swell, flower, and set fruit before the year is out.

Even now we can get a rough guide to the potential crop by looking at the average number of inflorescence's on each vine and applying a bunch weight guesstimate based on the historical data of the vineyard. The major variable in the equation is the weather over the flowering period which plays a big part in the number of berries that set on each bunch , and therefore the potential crop size.

When the Merde hits the fan...

Following in the footsteps of wines like Cats Pee on a Gooseberry Bush or Fat Bastard comes this Rose wine from the Languedoc region of France. Apparently not 'merde' at all and 7 Euros to boot, it seems to be another marketing/labelling stunt that has met with success. You can watch some BBC footage of it here.

Its not the first time the use of 'Merde' has appeared in relation to French wine. British writer Anthony Hanson once famously wrote that 'Great Burgundy smells of shit'. And in another classic incident a Lyon magazine was ordered to pay £200,000 in damages to a group of 56 co-operatives in the Beaujolais region when they quoted the opinion of François Mauss, president of the Grand Jury of European Wine Tasters who said of Beaujolais 'C'est un vin de merde.'

A bientot

Thats my boy !

Heres my son Thomas doing his bit during our recent party for the launch of our 2008 Sauvignon Blanc. He loved it...but hes more of a Riesling man, just like his father.

The Bud Brush...

Its about now that one of the more tedious and strenuous vineyard jobs takes place. Its bud rubbing - the removal of unwanted buds/shoots that grow on the trunk from the head of the vine to the base. Normally this is a job that is the very definition of 'back-breaking'. Its a job that is almost always done manually and bending over every 1.5 metres 3 or 4000 times in every hectare can mean long tiring days and exhausted nights.

People mostly use some sort of glove with a rough surface, secateurs or just bare hands but now it seems some bright spark has invented a tool that looks like a cross between a toilet brush and an oversized toothbrush but which might actually be quite useful. At only NZD$26.50 we would be mad not to try it. Apparently they are selling like hotcakes in the USA. It seems too easy, its a wonder it hasnt been produced before.

Results to follow...

Glass half full....

At Sandihurst we are trialling, in conjunction with Lincoln University and MetaNZ, the use of recycled crushed glass as a reflective undervine mulch. The trial is being conducted in our Pinot Noir vineyard and is now in its second year. The trial is comparing Green glass, White glass, Mussel Shells and a Control area of vines without any mulch. Mussel shells have been used to good effect in previous trials at Neudorf vineyard in Nelson. You can get a little more detail about that here.

The benefits of using a reflective undervine surface are many and may especially help vineyards or varietals that are in marginal areas. The glass/shells act to reflect light and heat back into the canopy of the vine. The raises the temperature around the fruiting zone and may have an effect on photosynthetic rates and vine phenology. More light evenly spread around the cluster may also help even ripening and promote a more mature level of phenolic (tannin) development in the berry without pushing the sugar levels too high. Berry colour is also improved. Below the vine surface the mulches may also help to raise soil temperature and have positive effects on vine root development and as an added bonus helps limits weed growth too.

Initial tasting of wines made from the trial blocks were sensational to say the least. Where the control block came over as quite thin and with higher levels of green tannin, the glass/shell vines had an obvious depth of mid palate weight to them as well as excellent tannin structure and darker colour. The difference was chalk and cheese, from vines only metres apart of each other.

The Sandihurst trial has great potential as it combines all the known benefits of undervine mulch with the use of recycled glass, in itself a major issue for recycling companies in New Zealand. Its very exciting. The glass has been colour separated and arrives to us in 1 tonne lots. Amazingly there are no sharp edges in the crushed glass.

Stay tuned for more results as the trial continues...

Our day in the sun...

Last Sunday saw the inaugural Sandihurst Sauvignon Blanc Launch Party take place. It was a great success and close to 250 people attended the event which was held at the winery. The weather was brilliant and everyone seemed to have a great time sprawled out on the lawn in the sun, drinking our wines and listening to the live Jazz band. A local restaurant, Langdale, were also on hand with some great food.

People received a complementary glass of our 2008 Sauvignon Blanc upon arrival together with a food match by Langdale (a delicious Prawn Croquette) and could then sample through the range of our other wines, which included another new release - our 2007 Central Otago Pinot Noir.

All in all it was such a success it looks like we will have to make it an annual event.

Nipped in the bud...

This is moderate frost damage. The spurs either side of the middle one seem to be OK and healthy but you can see in the middle spur the shoot tips and leaves have been hit. This shoot probably wont make it. No leaves remain to photosynthesize and the tip is ruined so wont grow any longer. A secondary bud may emerge but it is already well behind the remaining healthy shoots so will probably have to be removed or will end up as an unripe bunch in the harvest.

Mother Nature meets Jack Frost

From far away, YESTERDAY, this vineyard looks great. THIS MORNING, upon closer inspection, it looks less than great. Temperatures in West Melton plummeted overnight to a low of -3.0 which, despite some desperate helicopter action, may well have caused up to 50% of the shoot growth to die.

Some shoots will recover and secondary buds will grow so it isnt all over just yet. Barring another whiteout there will still be a crop here but it will certainly be a smaller crop. And the season now just got shorter for the new growth so we will need it to be a better than average one just to get the full potential out of this fruit. The margin for error in the season just got tighter.

Better news from our other vineyards - no frost issues to date for our Central Otago, Marlborough or Waipara vineyards. Spring Frosts are a major issue on the New Zealand wine industry. The price of protection is huge but the price of total crop loss is worse.

Riesling Rules !

I have just received my free copy of “Riesling Rules”, all the way from the USA. Its published by Pacific Rim Winemakers (but you would hardly know it) who are really leading the charge in helping everyones favourite white varietal get the exposure and limelight it deserves.

This book is 40 pages of Riesling facts, lists and snippets, laced with quotes and tips that keep things light and approachable. ”How to Sound Like a Riesling Geek” is tucked in after some pretty decent information about Riesling Growing Regions, lists of key Mosel and Alsace producers.

Whether you’re already a Riesling aficionado, or just cannot quite figure out why everyone keeps telling you that you should like Riesling, or somewhere in between — this booklet will hold your interest.

“Riesling Rules” is available free — you can view it online here or order a hard copy online.

To quote the rulebook;

The true triumph of Riesling is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it. – Voltaire

New Release...

At Sandihurst we are about to release out first wine of the 2008 vintage - our 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

2/3 of the fruit is from the Wairau Valley and was 'traditionally' handled (in the Marlborough sense) - machine harvested, clean juice and cool fermented to retain aromatics and freshness. The other 1/3 of fruit is from the Awatere Valley, hand harvested, whole bunch pressed and briefly settled before being fermented slightly warmer. Both wines then stayed on full fermentation lees for 3 months to build texture and palate weight before being blended and bottled in August.

The wine is typically Marlborough in style but is understated and restrained. Rather than a straight forward fruit bomb the wine offers texture and additional complexity which adds another dimension to the fruit aromatics and vibrant acidity. It is dry at 3 g/L residual sugar. This is a wine which will benefit from short to mid-term cellaring and should begin to bloom into 2009 as it develops in the bottle.

To celebrate the release Sandihurst is having an afternoon release party on Sunday October 12th. Live music, picnic food and of course a complementary glass of Sauvignon Blanc on our vineyard lawn. Please contact the winery for further details.

At this moment in time...

Here's the inside of the winery and here, at the beginning of October, is the current state of things.

140 barrels of Pinot Noir, 3/4 from Central Otago, 1/4 from Waipara, are all going through Malolactic fermentation at the moment. Yesterday I sent a number of samples to the local hospital who provide a lab service for checking the MLF numbers. I'm hoping most barrels are nearly through.

In the background you can see our tanks. We have about 500L of 2008 Canterbury Pinot Gris which is in tank sitting on light lees. Its really starting to build some texture and develop interesting character over and above the fruit.

Same deal with our 2008 Central Otago Gewurztraminer. About 1000L on lees. A rich full bodied wine which is tending towards Alsace in its style. A little residual sugar, about 14% alcohol and with serious weight behind it.

The other tanks are all Riesling. We have our 2008 Waipara Riesling, about 2500L, which was fermented entirely with natural yeasts and is currently still sitting on full fermentation lees. Ferment stopped naturally at about 25g/L sugar which is wonderfully balanced with its acidity.
My plan at this stage is that this wine will not be cold stabilised or fined in order to keep the wine as natural as possible.

Our other Riesling is our 2008 Canterbury Riesling of which there will be around 19000L. Its made in a lower alcohol (probably around 10-11%) style with around 25-30g/L sugar. The wine actually tastes much drier than it is due to the higher levels of acidity we retain here in Canterbury. On light lees at the moment. Should be a real winner.

Outside most buds are now out and budburst seems relatively uniform with between 1-3 leaves unfolded. No frost issues to date. Everything looking as good as possible at this early stage.

The Road is Long...

The Great Alpine Highway runs from Christchurch to the Kumara Junction on the West Coast. Its the driving equivalent of the world famous Tranz-alpine train journey. 255km long and packed with spectacular scenery on both sides of the Southern Alps.

Sandihurst Winery is located about 15kms from the start of the highway on the Christchurch side, just past the small settlement of West Melton. Its the only winery on the whole route and, if you are travelling west, quite probably the last winery you will see before getting to Central Otago, about 750kms down the road !

So dont forget to stop in. You've been warned !

Incroyable !

It appears from the video above that the French people know next to nothing about New Zealand wines. Shame on them. And you might think that people involved in the wine industry would be a little more knowledgeable. Incredible.

Well hopefully that all about to change because Sandihurst will shortly begin exporting some wine to France. No excuses now.

The envelope please...

The results are in from the International Wine and Spirit Competition. We entered 3 of our wines and the good news for us is that they all received an award.

The 2006 Canterbury Riesling was awarded Silver-Best in Class. Here what the judges had to say about it.
Greenish straw colour, showing minerality on the nose with slate and grapefruit pungency. Good fruit concentration, yet much delicacy. The palate is round, crisp, softened by residual sugar which is well balanced by delicate, mouthwatering acidity and gentle flavours. Very refined.

The 2006 Canterbury Pinot Noir was awarded Silver-Best in Class.
Light glossy garnet red. Gentle soft red berried fruits ,light floral notes. Clean soft and ripe in the mouth, delicate pinot character with some weight, fresh and just a bit warm on the finish.

The 2007 Nelson Riesling was awarded Bronze.

It is interesting to chart the recent competition results and tasting feedback. As a rough rule it appears that Sandihurst tends to do better in competitons outside NZ than we do in this country. Why is this? One reason may be partly due to my winemaking style which has been largely influenced by my time living in Germany and in conversation with other European winemakers.

Another noticeable trend is that our wines dont tend to show very well in the first year after bottling. They take a while to settle and develop. Im comfortable with that, they arent built to be fruit bombs, but hopefully to offer added complexity and interest as they develop. I think our wines have great ageing potential. Which, especially for Riesling, is just how it should be. Is there anything better than drinking aged Riesling ?

Growing reputation...

Much more interesting than watching paint dry, and faster too.

Salut Canada

This year Sandihurst began exporting wine to Canada. Our wines are imported through our agent Fred Lewis at Schoolhouse Wines in Ontario and sold through the LCBOs Vintages stores. We began exporting with our 2006 Canterbury Riesling earlier in the year and that wine recently won a silver medal in the 2008 Selections Mondiales des Vins Canada , the largest wine competition in North America.

Heres what NZ wine critic Michael Cooper had to say about the wine.

SANDIHURST RIESLING 2006 Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand

TASTING NOTE: The 2006 vintage was hand-picked in West Melton and Burnham vineyards, south-

west of Christchurch, and matured on its yeast lees for six months. It's a light, lemony, appleyCanterbury wine, gently sweet and crisp, with good flavour depth and slight earthy notes adding a

touch of European-style complexity. Worth cellaring.

Just so you know where to go and buy this wine, heres a list of the Vintages stores near you which stock the wine. Failing that please contact Fred or the team at Schoolhouse.

Fred came out and visited us in August this year and has subsequently added our 2007 Central Otago Pinot Noir and 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to the list. You can contact Fred directly for those too.

Let us spray...

Now that bud burst is here it wont be long before we need to apply the first spray of the season, probably a sulphur spray to prevent Powdery Mildew. It can be a bit time consuming driving up each row with a tractor and if you dotn have a cab on your tractor then it can get really hot in your spray suit & mask. Not the best job to be had in the vineyard.

Heres a video of spraying by helicopter in Burgundy. Looks like a great idea. Its something we dont do much of here in New Zealand and Im wondering why the big companies dont given the size of their vineyards. It looks quick and easy.

Then again it also looks really dangerous.

The sound of the Kiwi...

Another NZ music video. Not that recent but anyway. For anything more recent check out http://www.myspace.com/gregjohnsonmusic. I dont know if putting music videos on a wine site says anything, least of all about me. This one probably tells you I dont have long hair, piercings or tattoos. Stay tuned for some Portugese Fado...

Not all yeasts are good guys

What is Brettanomyces ?

Its a yeast, in short. Actually we can say its a a spoilage organism that can in fact, in small doses, be a complexing element in wine. Problem is we cant control the amount. Its more prominent in red wines due to their high polyphenol content and higher pH levels. And it loves wood, lees, tolerates alcohol and doesnt need too many nutrients. It grows slowly just feeding on the little bits of O2 that barrel ageing gives it. Its tough.

There are a number of compounds responsible for the aromatic identification of Brett. The most common are 4-ethylphenol, 4-ethylguaiacol and isovaleric acid. Among the aromas we associate with Brett are medicinal, mousy, smoky, barnyard, bandaid and cheesy. And all these come at the cost of fruit and oak. Basically it all makes for unpleasant drinking and can ruin a wine although as I said earlier in small doses it can be aromatically enhancing for some wines.

Im thinking about this because in our cellar Ive got a bretty barrel. Its at the smoky stage (4-ethylguaiacol) which isnt too bad yet. And out of 140 barrels it isnt going to ruin the blend if it stays like that. But I have to be careful. Firstly when tasting never to transfer any wine from this barrel to others. I'll probably rack this wine off its lees, make sure MLF has finished, adjust the free SO2, clean the barrel, keep it topped and monitor regularly from there. That wont stop it but I can try to make its life harder. At blending time I will need to make some careful decisions because the last thing I want is Brett developing in bottle. One option would be sterile filtration of this barrel and that will stop this portion ruining the final blend. Those decisions will come later.

The Norwester

Heres a photo showing the classic Northwest arch. This type of cloud formation is perculiar to Canterbury and is almost always accompanied by a strong, hot and dry wind. Its a summer thing and is usually at its peak betweeen bud burst and veraison. Its a good wind for the grapes, mostly, as it can have an effect by limiting fruit-set and usually also means that disease pressure is very low when we keep an open canopy for the wind to blow through. On the downside it can be hell to work in if you are out in the vineyard as it saps all you super powers pretty quickly.

The view from above

The Canterbury grape growing region has two sub regions - Waipara, to the north of Christchurch, and the Canterbury Plains to the west. Sandihurst Winery is located on the finges of the plains, about 20 minutes from the centre of Christchurch. As you can see the plains are a large multicoloured patchwork quilt of fields. And flowing the length of the Plains, from the mountains to the sea, are a number of big rivers. The one in the photo above is the Waimakiriri. These stoney, braided rivers have formed the basis of the soils in Cantebury with the majority of our vineyards being loam/loess covered ancient river terraces. Light free draining soils with a mineral edge - perfect for our aromatic wines.