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...

Driving to the bottom of the cliff...

Its 25kms from my home to the winery. Today an ambulance followed me the whole way. After a while it became quite unnerving. What were they waiting for. Did they know something I didnt....

Burgundy 09...

The view on the vintage from Burgundy, courtesy of Decanter magazine.

Riesling image of the day...

Looking, I think, at Schloss Ehrenfels and down across the Rhein to Bingen. The lower vineyard is Berg Schlossberg, the upper Berg Kaisersteinfels. The Riesling harvest is due to get under way in the next week. By all accounts its going to be an exceptional year in the Rheingau and, in fact, most of Europe.

Something for the weekend...

A little something as we head into the weekend. Suggested by Adrian Sank, our agent in Hong Kong. Pairs well with the Sandihurst Waipara Pinot Gris 2008.

NZ PM John Key on Letterman...

For some reason this was quite a big deal here in NZ. The humour is classically American...hmmm...

Return to Winter...

Quick radar image of the New Zealands South Island at midday today. The green and yellow area is obscuring Christchurch and hasn't moved much all day. Its also cold at around 9C. Worse still the next few days seen to be forecast the same.