Had far too much on this week then I managed to come down with a cold of flu or something. However the experimental wine is an unmitigated success. The second test batch has worked out really well and is probably best described as awesome but perhaps with a little too much alcohol. Even though you [...]
Since earlier in the week I’ve heard that Pernod arn’t the only ones getting out of Gisborne. But the big question is why Gisborne? My guess is that with the major players pulling back on production they are picking the area with least perceived long term potential. Ultimately you have to look at exports. The [...]
Oh Sh@%. The Gisborne Herald has reported that Penod Ricard have moved to terminate Gisborne grape contracts. I didn’t think things were this bad. Further reports suggest up to 25% of the regions grapes may be affected.
Tasted through several good Central Otago Pinot Noirs a couple of days ago. Domain Road 07, Lindis River 07 and Greylands Ridge 06. The Greylands and the Domain road were in the muscular mold while the Lindis was a more earthy style. All really nice in their own way though.
With a few winery recieverships behind us and no real end in sight to the recession, I’m expecting a few more. A comment in a NZ Herald article yesterday shows what the big boys are doing to mitigate the difficult times – namely reducing stock by bringing in smaller crops. My expectations is that the [...]
I’ve just added new page to list no preservative wines and information about them. The page link is above and here.
The bottle fermentation’s I’ve been trialling have just about finished but unfortunately there is far too much yeast deposit. Due to the nature of the base wines I’m working with the ferments have been difficult to get started. The base wines are essentially finished still wines with alcohol levels of 13% or slightly over. The [...]
Harpers reports a 5% off trade increase in sales measured by value and modest 1% increase in volume in the UK market. This is for the 12 months to the 16th of May. The other interesting factoid is the average 750ml bottle sale price of £4.25 in the off trade. That equates to about $11.20 [...]
Couple of weeks ago I read a piece in the New Zealand Herald by the Major Campbell Roberts of the Salvation Army calling for all sorts of draconian laws that would ban magazines like Cuisine, blogs like this and others by banning liquor advertising. Anything that promoted liquor could fall under such broad concept. You [...]
I’ve never really wanted to write one of these sad arse posts, but given the lack of recent content or quality I feel it’s perhaps necessary. Basically this is want happens when you are too busy. The wines I’ve been working on have taken up a lot of time as has client work, and you [...]
Last thursday I was out on Waiheke Island tasting through a number of post ferment wines from the latest vintage. I short things look good. Bordeaux varieties and Syrah look to be very good. Some wines tasted were superb. Well worth keeping an eye on.
Oh dear, someone said something negative about Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and then had the audacity to publish it. Jane MacQuitty has dared to critisise the quality of the 2008 vintage and despite hardly being the only person to do so is decried as being “unfair”. She actually goes on to praise a couple of Marlborough [...]