News & Press

Riesling 2018 - 25 Mar 18

The final act - the Riesling comes in from Domain Road vineyard ......under sunny skies which provide a welcome relief from the cold starts the pickers have had on the previous couple of days.  

Sua and Pavia - the gatekeepers, lifting the nets to allow the tractors and pickers access to the rows.  A cold job when the nets are wet but not so bad in the sunshine.

Rows of wonderful Riesling - with the Sauvignon Blanc vines on Templars Hill on the ridge against the skyline.

Pickers buckets waiting to be picked up by the tractor ....

And into the bins...the last stop before going onto the old Bedford truck and then to the winery for Pete to work his magic.   

From here it is over to Pete and the team in the winery - great fruit with fantastic flavours, so we are looking forward to some wonderful Riesling from the 2018 harvest .....we just have to be patient for a year or so before we get to try it!! 

Pinot Noir 2018 - 25 Mar 18

A glorious start to the day ...... a sunrise that it is worth being up early for.  

The first of the Pinot from Domain Road comes in....clone 777.

Clone 943 from Defiance Vineyard.....

Tomas empties yet another bucket of fruit into the bins whilst Jodie picks......

Antoine admires the bunch he has just picked.....

Smiles help the day to pass.....

Doesn't it look wonderful - both the fruit and the sight of it coming in under sunny skies.....

Even though it is still March we still have snow for harvest .... looking down across Domain Road vineyard to the snowy hills!!

Picking on mornings like these makes for cold hands and the grapes are hard to handle.....

Claire is wrapped up warmly ......

And everyone welcomes the warmth of the sun during smoko......

And the last of the Pinot comes in - now its over to Pete and the team at the winery.   A great job well done Fiona and team.

Sauvignon blanc - 25 Mar 18

The Sauvignon Blanc coming in from Domain Road vineyard - looks good!!

Seb overseeing the picking of the Sauvignon blanc from Domain Road Vineyard........

Whilst Jodie admires the great looking fruit. 

Domain Road Sauvignon waiting to be picked .... a crazy row towards the eastern end of the vineyard.  

Chardonnay Harvest - 20 Mar 18

We had a brilliant sunrise on the day that we started to harvest the Chardonnay from Defiance Vineyard - a good omen we hope for another great Chardonnay!

Buckets of Chardonnay going into the bins with two to our team of pickers - As usual we have a cosmopolitan crew, French, Italian, Czech, Thai, Japanese and one older Kiwi led by Fiona, our Scottish Vineyard Manager.

And at the end of the day the Chardonnay goes through the next step from vine to wine - being pressed in at the winery later that day!!

Harvest 2018 - 11 Mar 18

As predicted harvest has started early this year - on 8th March in fact.    The trusty 58 year-old Bedford Truck was once again an important (crucial!) part of the operation - not quite sure what we will do when it finally has to be retired!

With the Pinot Gris (looking good in the bins below) and Sauvignon Blanc from Defiance Vineyard coming off in two long days for the vineyard team.

As sometimes happens we had the occasional bunch of Pinot Gris that could not make up its mind whether it wanted to be Pinot Gris or Pinot Blanc!!  

PS 8th March was also an important day for us as the 2017 Pinots and Chardonnay were bottled. Looking good, but you will need to be patient as these will not be available until next year at the earliest.