I have just had news of a successful 2008 harvest in the Barolo producing region of Langhe. After some difficult conditions early on the late summer seems to have been excellent and Ciabot Berton have reported a very successful harvest in their location between La Morra and Santa Maria. Hopefully this has been replicated across [...]
Wineries that are looking at their Euro export options will be in to this faster than a rat up a drainpipe. Contact me if you want your wines on show there in the next couple of days, as there is a very hot deal on offer that won’t cost you an arm a leg to [...]
Tannat is not a variety that you see often, particularly as a New Zealand varietal. It is the basis for the wines from the French appellation of Madiran. Despite it’s rarity here in NZ I have seen a couple this year. One was fermenting in West Auckland earlier this year the other, I tried just [...]
Yesterday I was lucky enough to attended a launch function for Misha’s Vineyard from Central Otago at the Grove restaurant in Auckland. Four wines were shown, a Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Noir. Sue (who was also there) already has tasting notes over at the “Wine of the Week†blog or perhaps try the [...]
A little more from the 2008 exports statistics, this time the top four markets over the last ten years. The interesting thing here, is the growth in exports to Australian. Particularly from 2004. Whilst the volume growth of the Australian market is impressive so is dollar growth. Australia is now a larger market by dollar [...]
Mission Estate has announced that Lionel Richie will be the star of their popular annual vineyard concert in the Hawkes Bay. Go Lionel!!!!
Earlier in the year when I was in Italy, I posted about the funny little 3 wheel vehicles, known as Ape 50′s that were everywhere. Now I never expected that I would see one back in New Zealand. But what do you know. Not far from where I live , Scooter é Motion have one [...]
After posting a little data yesterday I though I’d add a little more. Below is a comparitive chart of the average dollars per bottle price of NZ wine exported into the Australian and UK market over the last ten years.
Some very interesting data came out last week regarding wine exports. It was announced that for the month of September New Zealand had reached 10.8 million litres and 101 million dollars (NZD), a one month record. There was no reference to bulk or bottled sales so I can’t tell if some of those very large [...]
This the first time I’ve seen a full nutritional break down on a wine back label in the New Zealand market. Interesting…
No reports as yet but vineyard telemetry indicates frosts in parts of Hawkes Bay, Marlbourough and Central Otago. Footage on TV 3 news is reporting temperatures as low as -4 degrees.
There is a high probability of frost in number of wine growing areas throughout New Zealand tomorrow morning. Hawkes Bay looks like it will be affected. I’ve trying to get on the metservice website but it’s crashed! Perhaps try Metvuw is you want some info. From what I can tell it looks like some South [...]
Vinitaly is a massive wine trade show featuring over 4200 exhibitors and in excess of 150,000 visitors last year. Unfortunately it has never featured a New Zealand exhibit. That is about to change though. Through some fantastic work by NZTE and Air New Zealand there will be a Kiwi stand. The dates for the show [...]
Just arrived this morning were some samples of the new Banrock Station No Preservative Added range. Tasting notes to follow shortly. UPDATE: The chardonnay is rather pleasant. Oily floral aromas on the nose. The palate is fresh with mineral flavours. All in all a nice wine for the price of $16.00. Both the Cabernet and [...]
I’ve been doing quite a bit of work on lately is sales strategies for wine. Given the current economic conditions this is becoming a pressing concern for many a producer. What I find particularly interesting in this is the relationship between vineyard size and the required sales volume. If you own a vineyard, this is [...]