Watch out world…
July 30th, 2010
You have been warned,
Thanks Pacific Rim. Good luck with the harvest.
Posts by Kirk:
Out in the vineyards…
July 28th, 2010
Pruning is in full swing. Heres a few shots from the Georges Road vineyard in Waipara.
Heavy cuts made, wood pulled out to the mid row awaiting a good mulching.
Row 18 waits ...
A vine idea…
July 25th, 2010
Just reading over on wineanorak about Pisa Range, a small producer in Central Otago. Theres a comment about trialling sheep dags as a weed suppressant in the vineyard. This seems to be a classic piece of Kiwi number 8 wire styled ingenuity. And no reason why it shouldnt work. The dags probably not only block out light from the soil but could also act as a heat sink much in the same way the ...
Im a Terroirist, not a terrorist…
July 22nd, 2010
Ive been doing some lab trials for our 2010 white wines (Riesling and Pinot Gris) to determine the level of Bentonite that will be required in order to make the wines protein stable. Its a fairly essential step as a wine that is not protein stable and stored too warm, can throw a fairly unslightly haze in the bottle that would ...
Refreshing…
July 21st, 2010
Always great when you come across something quite refreshing. Heres a snippet from the recent winedirect newsletter about one of their recent Rhone arrivals. They love the wine but its good to see them telling it like it is because we all know the wine industry has its fair share of precious souls....
Domaine Roger Sabon is a relatively new agency for us, this being ...
A Kiwi classic lives on…
July 20th, 2010
I don't know what this really says about New Zealand as a country or the people who live here but this is a classic scene you certainly wouldnt find in too many other countries around the world.
Its a booth selling free-range eggs at the farm gate on the roadside of the main road through the Waitaki Valley. The booth is unmanned but has an honesty box for you to place ...
The ‘other’ Black Forest…
July 18th, 2010
Just back from a weeks holiday in an amazing place. After 50, mostly unsealed, kilometers off the Farlie-Tekapo road you come to Black Forest on the shores of Lake Benmore. Isolated and unspoilt, the sole farm here has built a couple of top class holiday houses, or bachs as we like to call them here in NZ (although the luxury of these places is stretching the definition of the word 'bach') . ...
Spooky – Predicting the future…
July 7th, 2010
The FIFA World Cup may have unearthed Paul the Octopus as the one of the great psychics of all time, surpassing even the legendary Punxsutawney Phil in his ability to get it right, but here at Sandihurst we have our own legend in the making - Woody the Winefly. Not only can he correctly predict if I have just enough sulphur in the wine he is also a genius at telling me whether I need to do a little extra cleaning in the cellar or if ...
Lunar landscape…
June 27th, 2010
Its Riesling but not as we know it. This year I have been experimenting in the winery, trying a different approach to my winemaking with a small batch of Riesling. Picked with relatively normal parameters I have opted not to whole bunch press the fruit as would normally be the case but instead have held the fruit ...
Plug that leek…
June 23rd, 2010
Im busy preparing some new oak for our 2010 Pinot Noir to mature in this year. Firstly a little hot water inside, bunged up and rolled around should reveal any obvious leaks - if I can see or hear steam escaping then thats trouble. After that I usually fill the barrels up with cold water and rest it overnight which helps to swell the wood and ...
Kirk Bray
A native of Christchurch, and a curious wanderer of distant shores, Kirk’s talent for beautiful wines can, at least in part, be attributed to his dark decade in chartered accountancy. There, amongst the spreadsheets, columns and rows, Kirk is said to have developed the finely-tuned attention to detail he was later to apply to Sandihurst’s advantage.
It was following a culturally eye-opening period in Europe and Asia that Kirk experienced the moment of truth that was to drive him to abandon his pinstripes and retrain. He had tasted life, French pastries and dim sum and now he wanted more. So, roll up his neatly pressed sleeves he did. Enlightened and decidedly un-accountant-like, Kirk then took his new-found talents to California and Germany’s Pfalz where he refined his vinous skills and gained further invaluable experience. And a family. Finally, and after several happy years, the lure of New Zealand proved too strong to resist, and Kirk returned home and into the veritable arms of Sandihurst Winery.
Artist and alchemist, whilst Kirk’s Mr Nice Guy persona belies a dry wit and wicked laugh, his genius knows only modesty. When he declares his wine to be “okay”, it’s time to bank another medal.
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