News

We're almost at the shortest day already, which means about 6 months to Christmas, but fortunately only a couple of months until the weather starts warming up again. Just a little unfortunate that I have to get the pruning done in the cold bit. Still, it could be worse - the vineyard could be in Central Otago.We have recently had a stand at the Wellington Food Show where we miscalculated the thirst (and good taste) of those in the capital, and sold out of our entire stock over the three days. That includes the extra 5 dozen begged from our distributor...

Found this online today from Wine Searcher and I couldn't have put it better myself - except I'd have added something about Hawkes Bay and the Bridge Pa Triangle. Merlot is one of the world's most popular wines, so why doesn't it get more respect?By Don Kavanagh | Posted Tuesday, 17-Nov-2020 Want a poster child for much of what's wrong with the wine world? Step forward Merlot. Cruelly underappreciated by the so-called intelligentsia, Merlot has been on the wrong end of the received wisdom for a while now, even before Miles began unfairly traducing it in the movie Sideways. It has fallen...

After 12 months of pandemic pandemonium and the emergence of way too many Covidiots (especially in positions of power and influence around the world), we've now got earthquakes and tsunamis to contend with. Godzone, of course, finally had reason to be thankful for being an isolated little bunch of islands in the middle of nowhere, but Mother Nature just had to point out that we were not going to get off that lightly. So not just one, but three decent shakes later, we're all hanging out for a brandy to calm the nerves. As well as battling an invisible virus and...

What a year! Drought, pandemic, lockdown, bizarre elections, crazy house prices, interest rates below 2%, and that's just the headline stuff. Fortunately there has also been wine, possibly the best way to help us through the madness. If you've ever wondered what it must have been like to live through major historical events, you've just had a taste of it. Spring kicked off very early this year, with the first budburst before the end of August, and things have only picked up the pace since then. All of our tucking wires are now up, and flowering had me gobsmacked by starting...