August 23rd, 2010
A beautiful blue sky day in Canterbury today. Warm, with hardly a cloud to be seen. The soil temperature is on the rise, grass and weeds are growing again and its lighter at both ends of the day. It can only mean one thing, Spring is on the way and with it, budburst. Usually around mid September for our Waipara vineyards ...
August 20th, 2010
You cant breathe in New Zealand without some reference to Rugby or next years Rugby World Cup (or the fact that we havent won it for over 20 years). Now Air New Zealand have got in on the act with their new safety briefing. This will be shown on all planes but here it is. Bound to be popular...
August 15th, 2010
China is often seen as the great opportunity for wine exporters (all those people , if only 0.5% of the population drank a glass of wine a day etc etc) but what do we really know about the culture? A friend has just forwarded a few photos from a recent trip to Chengdu in China. Heres a few bugs on sticks at a local street market. Quite nice by all accounts but ...
August 12th, 2010
Source of the soon-to-be-released Sandihurst 2009 Waipara Pinot Gris and Riesling - the Georges Road Vineyard. Currently in the middle of pruning and a general pre harvest tidy up. The block has been heavy cut and is about half pulled out. Maybe a third is trimmed and tied down. Its quite a mission and hard physical work too. Taken hourly, progress can seem quite slow but after ...
August 5th, 2010
Filmed at the recent Riesling Rendezvous event in the Seattle, Etienne Hugel talks to WinePress about all things Riesling. There is also a little more feedback on the conference at these other sites. All well worth reading. The Wine Hub , The Gray Market Report, Wine Peeps and JoelButlerMW. New Zealand was represented by Forrest, Villa and Framingham. Despite similar talk in most years there does actually seem to be a rising surge of enthusiasm for Riesling from producers AND consumers. Producers here in New Zealand have made great ...
August 4th, 2010
Into August now, possibly only another 6 weeks from bud burst. Hard to believe (its still cold here) but it certainly lighter in the mornings and evening now. Heres a quick update of things around Sandihurst. Out in the vineyard its cold and July was quite a wet month. Pruning is the major task at hand and looks on track to be completed in time for budburst (approximately ...
August 2nd, 2010
There is a growing number of New Zealand wineries using Twitter and Facebook these days. So I thought Id give them a plug because it all helps and ocassionally we've even got something interesting to say. I'll just add the Twitter links and you can take it from there.
@sandihurstwine, @greystonewines, @fiascowines, @giesenwines, @tewharerawines, @saintclairwine, @mvpinot, @durvilleawines, @nautilusestate, @invivowines, @wairauriver, @villamaria_wine, @thewildrockguy, @crossroadswines, @thecrossingsnz, @toreawines, @larrymcpinot, @sileni_estates, @elephanthill, @forrestwines_nz, @lake_chalice, @mishasvineyard, @drumsara_pinot, ...
July 30th, 2010
You have been warned,
Thanks Pacific Rim. Good luck with the harvest.
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 ...
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 ...
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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